'Question Of The Week' Discusses MMO Mainstreaming

The "Question Of The Week" feature, a specific industry-related question to be answered by professional game developers and Gamasutra readers, takes a look at the recent impressive numbers for Blizzard's PC MMO World Of WarCraft, and asks whether it can be seen in the context of a larger shift for MMOs. The new question, which can be answered at the official Question Of The Week page until June 29th, is: "Does the recent success of World Of WarCraft indicate that this once primarily hardcore genre is now reaching the mainstream? If not, what needs to happen for MMOs to radically expand their market?" As with the previous questions, the best responses will be compiled into an article to be published on the site, and users can either respond publically, with their name and company specifically cited, or anonymize their answers if they wish.