SWTOR

Bioware's upcoming MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic promises a lot with regards to the traditionally neglected "fourth pillar" of MMOs - story. There's a lot of hype surrounding the whole "light" vs. "dark" path, and how your choices really impact your character. But this has already been done in the KOTOR series. Multiple storylines can also be implemented via different character classes. So the question is, how can you add the multiplayer dimension to story in a meaningful way? One-dimensional storyline progression has been the perennial bane of MMOs - side quests merely put more branches on the tree. The way I see it, the answer lies in democracy and real inter-player interaction. Only if each player has the ability to influence the game world and his or her fellow players (no matter how small the scale) will multiplayer make the difference between RPG and MMO. User-generated content, plus a dynamically malleable world. But a complicated system of representation is probably asking too much from Bioware. Perhaps the only thing we can dare expect is "KOTOR, but online", much like how you can co-op with another player to finish campaign missions in RA3. Nothing groundbreaking, but still eminently marketable and playable.