Found this on Slashdot today--- it looks pretty interesting. For those of you who would love to create MMOGs, but don't have the necessary networks and programming foundations, you can license this company's technology for free. If you never charge for your game, you never pay.
http://www.multiverse.net
This overview was taken straight from their site. Anyone willing to try this out? I've never been into creating my own MMOG, but after reading this, my interest is slightly piqued.
Quote: "
LICENSING OVERVIEW
With Multiverse, you pay nothing upfront. Download our entire SDK (software development kit) with our full technology, or our free assets, and spend as long as you like building your virtual world. Have as many testers or free players as you like, and you won't have to pay us anything. We only make our money through revenue-sharing, when you charge consumers.
If you don't make money, we don't make money. And importantly, if you never charge anything, you never have to pay us anything.
You can build your game with whatever revenue model you want--subscription, flat fee, in-game micropayments, whatever works for you. Multiverse handles consumer billing and credit card processing. You don't have to worry about deadbeat charges or any of the other pitfalls of financial transactions.
Publishers usually only let you keep 8% to 20% of the money your game makes. Multiverse increases that amount to 50% to 70%! We will announce more details about pricing soon.
Here's what you get when you use Multiverse:
* The complete, enterprise-level client-server technology package.
* A set of pre-coded virtual world functionality plug-ins, including game rules, combat, basic physics, et cetera. These are customizable and replaceable.
* Our full set of virtual world creation and administration tools.
* A starter set of game assets for multiple game genres, including models, animations, textures, sounds, and user interface packages.
* An actual MMOG for modding.
* Full documentation.
* A built-in market of consumers.
* Consumer technical support for the platform.
* Network services, including:
o user registration and authentication
o world location and search
o content-rating system
o messaging system
o transaction system
o accounting and billing system (includes credit card processing)
"
