Necro! An idea for hosting an MMO game:
Not an MMO in the traditional sense, not one world copied on multiple servers (WoW) or one world on one big server (EvE).
It would be one big world, with different servers for the different parts of the world. A bit like DayZ (items/stats transferring between servers), but with a different map for each server. Essentially a stylized server list in the form of a map, the twist being that the players would have to host the different areas of the world themselves. But I imagine there's no real way of protecting against hacking/modding then, so potentially only allow them to rent servers from respectable companies.
You'd have a big world map. You click on an area you wish to settle. If the are on the map is forested, you'd get a forest map, near the ocean and you'd have a shoreline etc. The size of the map would depend on your server capacity.
It would be a cheap way for indie devs or even big dev studios to host an MMO, no? The game would have to be designed around the concept obviously.