Capitalism definitely ruined mmo's, and I'm a staunch capitalist. There's just no financial incentive for the old monthly subscription model given the risk involved and the amount of labor needed to get it off the ground in any meaningful way on modern tech. The original EQ team was tiny by modern standards, it was actually a viable model at the time, in addition to the novelty factor.
We're all really just lucky that we got to play it when it was new, I chalk that up as a win.
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