Syncaine posted an interesting article on his blog discussing why he thinks there hasn't been much uptake in the majority of MMOs released since World of Warcraft. Basically, he believes that just because you enjoy playing WoW, it doesn't mean you'll enjoy other MMOs.

The post goes on to say that there are many more non-MMO gamers than MMO gamers out there who simply can't fathom spending a monthly fee to repeatedly kill ten rats or grind out the perfect PvP character over several months time. They have much more accessible and engaging singleplayer RPGs or FPS games for that, right?

The main point he aims to make is that designers should stop chasing non-MMO gamers and focus on those who are already fans. On the other hand, hasn't our genre become a bit pigeon-holed as of late? Isn't the biggest and best part of an MMO the community aspect and not the DIKU-based über-grind? We hope so! Couldn't we maybe expand our acceptance of what MMOs are and challenge the boundaries of what they could be? Maybe that's a viable route toward making those who do not care actually care.

You may have noticed that Massively doesn't talk very much about World of Warcraft. Even though it's the biggest MMO on the block, our friends at WoW.com cover it so comprehensively that it seems silly for us to duplicate their efforts. But WoW is an MMO too, and it only makes sense to talk about it when there's news. So, from here on out, we'll be co-opting WoW.com's coverage when appropriate. When you see a post on Massively that says "WoW.com" in the upper left (as in the image above) with an unfamiliar writer's name -- that means you're seeing a post directly from our WoW-centric sister site! It should look and feel the same to you, dear reader, but if you head off to comment, be advised that you'll be leaving Massively for WoW.com, where the WoW fans outnumber the rest of us. You'll be able to comment with your existing Massively account, but tread with caution!

Yesterday, the news first broke that Blizzard had applied for a trademark on the name "Cataclysm", in the fields of computer games, paper-based products, and online entertainment services, according to an article at WoW.com. Speculation has spread across the blog-o-sphere as to what this new trademark could be. Could it be the next WoW expansion? More likely it's the name of their next-gen MMO they're said to be working on.

But what if it's not? As the WoW.com article points out, StarCraft: Ghost was also trademarked, and it never actually materialized. Is this Blizzard trying to throw us a curve ball, or is it really a solid lead into what could be Blizzard's second go at a successful MMO? Of course it's all speculation at this point, but from the information presented, do you think Cataclysm is the next Blizzard MMO?

We've been keeping our eyes on various blogs and forums discussing yesterday's big news that Mythic and BioWare are being restructured under EA's new MMO/RPG gaming division and that Mark Jacobs is no longer working for EA. Here's a summary of what we've found so far.

Many people are under the false impression that Mythic and BioWare have merged. One of Mythic's developers made this clarification: "We're still Mythic Entertainment, an Electronic Arts Studio, as we have been. I've posted this elsewhere, but we're not 'merging.' We are still a completely separate entity within EA, just as Bioware is, simply now grouped under the same MMO/RPG grouping and reporting to one person, collectively."

While the Borean Tundra in World of Warcraft's Wrath of the Lich King expansion is generally a cold and unwelcoming place, there are occasional bastions of warmth and fellowship across the landscape. Today, we bring you one such Alliance town, situated on the coast, surrounded by steep cliffs and some fairly nasty monsters (despite the fact that they don't show up here). This image, sent in to us by Soulbreeze, Level 80 Human Rogue from the guild Crimson Alliance, shows off a land many of us who leveled through Northrend saw. He writes in:
I've ran through this town a million times while leveling up my character, but it wasn't until I got a look at it from a nearby cliff that I truly appreciated all the work that went into it. Perspective is an amazing thing.

Do you have screenshots from a bit of cliffwalking adventure? If so, you should send those in to us -- after all, vistas like this are better when you share the experience! Just pop them in an email to us at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the name of the game, and a brief description.

Maybe you've been following an MMO for years through alpha testing and closed and open beta. Maybe you haven't been obsessing over it at all but decided to give it a shot anyway. You log in for an hour, day, week, or month. It just doesn't do it for you and you choose not to subscribe, or in the case of a F2P MMO, simply refuse to log back in.

Given the first month retention rates of most MMOs, it would seem many of us have gone through this experience. I only played World of Warcraft for a couple months when it first came out before running back to Dark Age of Camelot. I stuck with DAOC for roughly six more months before giving WoW another shot. I ended up playing WoW for nearly two years before giving up again after hitting 70.

I rarely give MMOs a second chance because one taste is usually enough for me to realize whether or not I'm going to enjoy a game. That said, MMOs undergo vast changes over time. How many chances do you give an MMO to impress you and what are the factors that affect your decision?

Oh boy, what have I gotten myself into? Comparing one of the largest and most popular MMOs with the current fastest-growing MMO? Do I have a deathwish? Well, it turns out World of Warcraft and Free Realms actually do have a few things in common, but a straight comparison isn't the point of this article. We at Massively have decided to compile a guide for World of Warcraft players who may be interested in checking out what Free Realms has to offer. Even better, for those WoW players out there with children, this guide could be valuable for some alternatives to your usual family gaming choices.

"But why would you want to play in a children's game? And isn't Free Realms all instanced anyway? I've heard it's not even really an MMO!"

These are the types of concerns and questions we hope to answer with this article, so follow along below as we take you through our WoW Player's Guide to Free Realms.

I have been talking to a few of my friends who play Warhammer Online lately and they are all feeling the same thing: pre-expansion apathy. This is basically a feeling of indifference or a lack of motivation to log in and play WAR knowing that The Land of the Dead live expansion is going to release soon.

This is not the only MMO they have experienced this in either. I remember playing World of Warcraft before Burning Crusade and organized guild raids were nearly non-existent for two months leading up to the expansion. Many were either PvPing or crafting to pass the time or simply not bothering to log in at all.

The reasoning my friends are using for not playing WAR right now is actually pretty logical. Why should they bother trying to grind for gear and wards when the 1.3 patch will introduce the sigil and vessel systems? Also, the gear in The Land of the Dead is said to be better than city dungeons and roughly on par with that found in Lost Vale, so why would they bother farming the same dungeons they have been grinding for months when a new one is coming just around the corner with potentially better itemization?

Do you ever get the same feeling in your MMO? Do you think this is more strongly felt in gear-based progression MMOs or is it a result of something else?

Foreign game companies operating in China face a business, regulatory, and legal climate that can be confusing or even turbulent at times. These are the chances a game company takes when trying to succeed in the China market; there are risks, certainly, but there's also a great deal of profit potential. Blizzard Entertainment partnered with games operator The9 to bring World of Warcraft to millions of gamers in China in an arrangement that's worked for four years. Things must have soured in this last year of operation, however, as Blizzard has dropped The9 and partnered with NetEase to operate World of Warcraft in China as of this month.

Clearly, this does not sit well with The9. The latest report we've seen on the fallout from the Blizzard/The9 split shows it's getting ugly. The9 is taking action against Blizzard in the Chinese legal system, with lawsuits over software copyright infringement, assets damage, and commercial defamation. All three suits are being heard in Shanghai courts.

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	One of Azeroth's millions of citizens? Check out our ongoing coverage of the World of Warcraft, and be sure to touch base with our sister site WoW Insider for all your Lich King needs!

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Life can be better, down where it's wetter. Well, if you don't mind all the murlocs, orcas, sharks, and other various things trying to eat your face in the waters of Northrend. Today's aquatic World of Warcraft One Shots comes to us from Trixxy, just in time to have a relaxing World of Warcraft image for the stress of patchy downtime. So, while the servers are down, think about all the places you'd like to be relaxing in-game with friends. Or if that doesn't do it for you, just think of all the murlocs you'd rather be killing while you're doing laundry or working.

One Shots is looking for screenshots from all different manner of MMOGs - but we need you to send some in to us! It's easy to do. Just email them to us at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the name of the game, and a quick description of the area. We'll post it up here and give you the credit!

As if we weren't all busy enough keeping up with E3 news, the biggest fish in the MMO sea has chosen this hectic time in the games industry to change things in their popular game world. Our newly renamed sister-site WoW.com has gotten word that World of Warcraft will be updated with Patch 3.1.3 during the scheduled maintenance for June 2nd, and their sources combined with MMO-Champion's reporting of the same thing mean that this is probably quite accurate. Keep in mind that this isn't the Call of the Crusade patch we learned about recently, and is more about class balancing than anything else. We've got the patch notes posted after the break.

With E3 2009 officially underway, it's a great time for devs and CEOs to chat about their games and Blizzard's very own Mike Morhaime has been talking about the company's position in the MMO market with Develop. He believes that Blizzard is uniquely positioned within the industry and that it's all about the players:

"The story behind us is the passionate community that has grown up around our games," he explains during the interview. "Our commitment to quality has helped us grow a global audience that has grown with every release. While our competitors will be trying to overcome these challenges to grow their brands, we're already a major player there. None have achieved the same level of online growth as World of Warcraft. We're able to leverage huge investments in new content across the world's largest MMO subscriber base."

World of Warcraft is perhaps the only Western MMO to enjoy tremendous success thus far in China, the world's fastest growing market for online games. It's been a difficult road to the top though, if recent news reports are any indication. In addition to government regulations preventing Wrath of the Lich King from releasing for the Mainland, we've reported that The9 has lost the rights to operate World of Warcraft in China to competitor NetEase. Now we learn that the transition of operations from The9 to NetEase will mean World of Warcraft goes dark in China for a matter of weeks.

JLM Pacific Epoch in Shanghai has been following the story and reports that The9 will cease mainland operation of WoW at midnight on June 7th, after four years of continual service. World of Warcraft will return to China in "late June" under the banner of NetEase. It's expected that character data will be preserved with the handover.

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	One of Azeroth's millions of citizens? Check out our ongoing coverage of the World of Warcraft, and be sure to touch base with our sister site WoW Insider for all your Lich King needs!

Many gaming companies are beginning to become interested in the online arena, especially when it comes to MMOs. World of Warcraft turned many heads when it came out and proved that a video game can work extremely well as a service, to the tune of millions of subscriptions per month in constant revenue. We've just seen Bioware enter the fray, offering up Star Wars: The Old Republic up as their first MMO title.

What we want to know is what game company would you like to see step up to the plate? Who do you think could enter the MMO genre and provide us with another killer app?

You've got an opinion and we would love to hear it. Drop your thoughts into the white comment box after the break, and share what you have to say with the rest of the Massively loyal.