According to a market research firm study conducted by Parks Associates, in order to keep the MMORPG realm thriving, more free games will be needed. Why? Not enough people are willing to pay a monthly fee to participate in the virtual worlds.

Over 2,000 online gamers were polled for the research, and the results were that only 'hardcore' gamers were interested in subscribing, while "social, dormant, and leisure gamers all show significant interest in a free-to-play, microtransaction-based model." Moreover, 14% currently not playing subscription-based MMORPGs would be keen on playing them if it was free, and 2% from the same group were up for the idea of paying.

The conclusion reached is microtransaction models (where players can purchase goods and whatnot in the game for what is typically a small fee) work best.

"World of Warcraft, with over 10 million players, exceeded expectations for subscription-based MMORPGs, but it's unlikely any other publishers will achieve the same in the near term using a subscription model," said Parks Associate's director of broadband and gaming, Yuanzhe (Michael) Cai.

Of course, this should raise the question "Why can WoW be so successful but not anything else?" Should then other developers be learning something from WoW, or offering their own equally solid and innovative take on the genre and charging monthly for it? Has the game crowded the market, and the only hope now for MMORPG devs to be successful a different model? Many questions, so feel free to debate.

I, for one, fully relate to those who don't want to pay a monthly fee. I'm pretty into games and all, but it's certainly not my life (not to imply everyone who pays for an MMORPG makes games their life). In either case, I'm not willing to pay a monthly fee for such a thing, but MMORPGs do interest me. The appeal is pretty obvious, but to some it's just not worth a monthly admission. I applaud the study, but I think the answer is more specific: we need good free MMORPGs. There are tons and tons out there (seems like more lately), but they all seem more or less mediocre, and judging from forum posts all over, the attitude is often this: give up on the idea of a solid one, comparable with say, WoW or Age of Conan. Mythos was looking great, but internal problems saw that get canned, so who knows if it'll see the light of day now, especially in good form. But the point is this: there seems to be a wide open gap for an addictive, innovative free MMORPG waiting to be filled. I'm thinking the only questions are when will it be filled, and who will fill it?