вЂњOur design goal when creating вЂGuild WarsвЂ™ was this: вЂIf IвЂ™ve got 30 minutes before dinner, will I have fun playing this game?вЂ™вЂќ says Strain.Д«ut despite this success, вЂњGuild WarsвЂќ exists mostly below the radar.

They wanted to create, as Strain puts it, an вЂњMMO for the rest of us.вЂќ Those folks who may have played their fair share of вЂњUltima OnlineвЂќ as teenagers, but were now looking for something that didnвЂ™t require five hours a day to feel satisfying. For these players, time spent leveling up is a badge of honor.Д«ut Strain, OвЂ™Brien and Wyatt wanted to do something different. So developers architect gameplay that rewards those who spend hours and hours online killing rats for experience points. And the whole design of these games is indivisible with the business model: If people are paying $15 a month, they want to get their moneyвЂ™s worth. Traditional MMOs like вЂњWorld of WarcraftвЂќ and вЂњEverQuestвЂќ are based on this subscription system. But the upkeep would be paid for by the $15 monthly subscription fees. It was a pricey proposition, requiring constant care and feeding. And Blizzard was looking ahead to вЂњWorld of Warcraft,вЂќ an extension of its popular вЂњWarcraftвЂќ games played completely online. Because it was free, it was an instant hit - and, as Strain puts it: вЂњone of the single most important and positive decisions in the history of that company.вЂќД«ut was expensive to maintain. OвЂ™Brien was the original creator and champion of BlizzardвЂ™s, a free service that let gamers go head-to-head against each other online. All had been involved, in one way or another, with the companyвЂ™s string of successful franchises: вЂњStarCraft,вЂќ the вЂњDiabloвЂќ games and the вЂњWarcraftвЂќ games.

Strain and the two other ArenaNet founders, Mike OвЂ™Brien and Patrick Wyatt, held big-time positions at Blizzard in Irvine, Calif. The idea, an online game without monthly fees, was born in 2000. In seven years, Strain and its co-founders, have taken a pretty radical idea about online gaming and built it into a successful company. вЂњBecause of those big numbers, and because вЂWoWвЂ™ is the first subscription-based MMO thatвЂ™s broken out of hardcore market, gets a lot of attention,вЂќ say Jeff Strain, co-founder of ArenaNet, the company that developed вЂњGuild Wars.вЂќД«ut small, scrappy ArenaNet thinks it has plenty to brag about, too.

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