MMORPG Subscription Economics Discussed

Thanks to GamePro for their article discussing why MMORPGs charge a monthly subscription fee, discussing the "extra developer attention and player community" a monthly payment allegedly brings. It quotes a Blizzard spokesman as saying "running a massively multiplayer game like Blizzard's upcoming World of WarCraft costs about three times as much as running an online server like Battle.net, because MMO games require constant maintenance, 24/7 customer support, and an ongoing dedicated development team", and NCSoft's Robert Garriott, brother of Richard, says: "Think of it as running a small city. Many of these games have hundreds of thousands of 'citizens.' NCsoft operates the 'government' that builds new roads, puts criminals in jail, and digs new caverns for citizens to explore and enjoy. All of that costs real money."