Neopets trends and Virtual Worlds Expo

[eilu]

Not sure if this should go here, it's largely neopets related, but not quite, so here goes...

Just read an article on the "trends" on virtual worlds/MMO's like Neopets based on what they saw on the Virtual Worlds Expo. The article can be seen here:

In summary they said the trends were:

1. War on geekiness: games becoming more mainstream by focus on a simple and fun user experience
2. No To Large Client Downloads: games are largely browser-based, with plugins like flash and java
3. Virtual Brands Go Terrestrial: Neopets was the poster child for this one, with real-world merchandise
4. Branded Items: Not Free For Long: the idea was for 'exclusive items' having that extra cachet by being priced (and thus even more 'exclusive')

Neopets already does this, but trends tend to grow- what re everyone's ideas or thoughts on this? What can we expect from it? Personally, I hope they don't go too far down the line on "simple user interface" as to dumb things down.

[Blake]

Everquest and WoW are never going to die...


...or change!