I don't agree with the assumption that you fit one mold or the other. I do believe there is a market of people that would be willing to play an MMO if the rules

I don't agree with the assumption that you fit one mold or the other. I do believe there is a market of people that would be willing to play an MMO if the rules were different (as mentioned below, Eve is evidence of this). Blizzard did an excellent job solving MMO problems that were major problems at the time, and they solved it so incredibly they completely dominated the market and squeezed out any room for new concepts. Not everyone needs or wants the hand holding and artificial barriers that are put up between players and see some see that as a detriment to the experiences that could be created in this type of game.