It's all about changing the mindset of the current MMO audience and opening the market up to the huge amount of gamers who won't pay a monthly fee.

The current free games show that there is a large market for games without subscriptions, most of the top free games have numbers that make subscription MMO's look like failures, with WoW being the only exception that has good numbers, but still below some in the Eastern market.

It will only take a few top AAA titles that go with the microtransaction model, which SOE will be doing most likely with some of it's upcoming releases, and that we may see more of in the future from other games like APB and TOR. Once that happens, the current subscription games will need to either change or die off.

Subscription doesn't mean it's a good game, it just means you are forced to pay if you want to play, even if you only play a couple days a month, you are still forced to pay.

DDO is doing something smart though, they are giving the option, letting players pick both ways, and while not perfect, it's a start.

The markets going to change, whether people like it or not. There's just too much money to be made by luring in all those who won't do subscription gaming, but would pay $5 or $10 here and there, if they like a game.

Subscript worked when there were only a handful of MMO's, but the market is too saturated to work any longer with that business model. You simply end up with games that have thousands of players, not millions.

Just remember, WoW has been the exception to the rule, not the rule.