I agree with your 4 points… and with dropping subscriptions. One model for a profitable game could be a system where the world is provided for free and it is the buying and selling of products which provides the company with income.

The company could set up a virtual fantasy nation, for example, and apply a tax on all economic interactions… sounds kind of like the real world, really, doesn’t it?

You should join RPGBloggers.com! All you need to do is ask, and write decent stuff like this! Best part is that nobody decides the decent part besides you

Or don’t, I’m still gonna read you.

I like where you went with it though. IF (and it’s always in the if) a “blade-runner”-esque game was to be made with an assumed modest initial advertising profit, and users:

1-Were able to limit the amount of money they could incidentally expend in the game in an absolute sense (i.e. set “fair” prices, no “Holy shit I spent $122!!”)
2-The merchandise was of a nature compelling and unique enough to merit the cost
3-The system was secure, guaranteed
4-There was still a game that was playable and fun with a bare minimal cost.

Dumping fixed subscriptions would definitely be a big step forward. Look at how much people pay for uber-epic WoW junk! If you made the “average” cost to play for a month, say, $5- flat, and added the caveat that you buy in game gold at an arbitrary rate, as well as commodities and such, you stand to make a mint!

Wish I was an entrepeneur instead of a lazy bastard!