Teala, I honestly want you to understand one thing.
MMORPGs have, for the last half a decade become a genre of their own, almost completely divorced from the term "RPG." There is no roleplaying in MMORPGs, and where people struggle to have some, it's half-hearted at best, and at worst, a joke. The admins do not encourage it, and the Code itself actively discourages or usually forbids it (you cannot RP if you don't have a completely free Emote command or 123213+ emotes in your disposal).
There have been a few shiny exceptions. A hard-core RolePlaying intensive server for Ultime online, with all-original world, items, graphics and other stuff I don't know about. You had to read a background for your character and actually RP him, the way you would in a tabletop RPG game. But this is not about RP alone, since MnB is really not an RPG either (it has elements, mostly mechanic). But it shares one grand and important thing: Immersion. Along with the suspension of disbelief, pseudorealistic battle (I have had my share of medieval research and some sparring and MnB is not very close to the real thing - but much, much closer than 99% of any other current battle system in games out there), the way it stays true to some "harsh", histoerical medieval concepts. Its theme is solid, grim and gritty. Most RPGs are aiming for that sort of thing as well, to a dgree.
I don't agree with the MMORPG community needing a game like MnB. To be honest, if MnB is made into an MMORPG, as many other posters have said, it will either become like all other MMORPGs (and we all know that up until now, even those "innovative" alternative ones, have offered 0 new things, and much of the same pointless grinding and 99% Out of Character socializing). Of course single player MnB has leveling , even grinding, of course you wouldn't call it an RPG, probably. It doesn't even have an awesome story to immerse you in it like some cRPGs that became famous (Baldur's gate, Final Fantasy, Planescape Torment, Morrowind in its own way.)
I personally don't hate MMORPGs. I just see them more as a joke that satisfies the masses who have not really seen anything better (nor want to, and its their prerogative, not everyone wants to spend time to look into this sort of entertainment any deeper). I prefer my single player games to have fun with a storyline and action, and I prefer my "multiplayer" tabletop RPGs to have actual RP with friends, drama and theatrics. And of course war games, strategy games and a mix of the above that wonderful MnB is, I prefer them to demand strategic thinking and intelligence (not Math-calculating and repetitive grinding).
The person who made this very funny set of pictures of a nightmarish version of MnB MMORPG has it right as things stand. You know why? For ONE reason only: Marketing has proven to us beyond any doubt that if a MMORPG is to be successful at this age (and for at least many more years to come, in my opinion) will have to target the widest, easiest player groups and audiences out there. That's what the typical MMORPG does. Its theme says "Easy" all over it. Zero story. ATtempts at a totally mechanics-driven "economy" made of caricature characters and completely unrealistic trading. GLobal Channels, anachronistic talk. Completely Out of CHaracter communication. It's as if logging on mIRC and chatting, but you are playing a single player game with your friends while at it.
If MMORPG ever manages to have a strict RolePlaying-loving audience or a strictly Strategy and (pseudo)Realism-loving audience that will be able to be monitored by admins who would judge if someone is a suitable player (something that cannot be done if people are to pay to play such a game), then we coul have a MMO MnB that keeps true to its original spirit. I hope not a MMORPG, because MMORPG equals Easy Fun for the Masses in my book.
I love fantasy, I love spells, monsters, dragons, knights, ogres and all that stuff. Hell, I've been playing RPGs like that since childhood. ButI hate it how the MMORPG community has turned them all into something so mundane, casual, usual and devoid of mystery, suspense and all that "Deeper" stuff. I came to appreciate the mercenary company captain, the scholar strategist, the merchant prince and other concepts, even though the heroic warrior remains one of my favorite.
I believe that you find MnB so perfect a candidate to be "converted" into an MMORPG because you love the game, as most of us here do. If that is so, try appreciating why you love the game, why the elements it has are so unique and special. I think it is a disservice to want to passionately to make it like the rest. Instead, we should try to make MMORPGs more like MnB.
If, on the other hand, at some point the entire population of young kids and youths who mostly enjoy MMORPGs and the simple silliness of theme and the convoluted complexity of mathematics and absurd reliance on l33t equipment instead of actual player skill (and by skill I do not mean memorizing stats and doing calculations, but the way you have to act in MnB) start appreciating what was closer to "real" with subtle hints of fantasy instead of high magic and an overflow and overuse of magicky whatevers (few warrior classes have a normal "Attack" function anymore in MMORPGs, as much as possible gets to be semi-magical so the children will bite on it), then MnB might became a grand, amazing, unique wonder.
I personally don't see that day anywhere close, but someday. Things change. Before MMORPGs, for instance, few people IRL even knew what a "paladin" was. Maybe we'll get quality and pseudo realism counting again in the whole fantasy/medieval theme someday.
