Lore = Longevity

A game is a like a song for me. The melody is like the game play and a good melody will keep me listening, just as good game play will keep me playing. But once the novelty of the music wears on you, the only thing left are the lyrics. And Lyrics are like the lore of a game. I can listen to a song with a good melody for awhile, but I will listen to a song with good lyrics for far longer.

The best however is when the two meet. When you have both an enchanting melody and powerful, thoughtful lyrics. Songs like that, never get old, they become the classics that define an age.

To answer the question however. Lore is not integral to just any MMO. Some MMO's have no need for lore it is just not their format. SecondLife as an example simply has no need for a long deep storyline of their world.

However for a game set in the fantasy genre like Copernicus. Lore is absolutely needed for the world to be complete. I don't think anyone could deny that. The real question is, "How?" How to convey the Lore of this world to the players that inhabit it. In games past, Lore is written and the world progresses with out much involvement from the players. There are variations of this. Players discovering the lore, unlocking the stories of what has already been written. Other worlds you are but an insignificant insect that is just along for the ride as the world twirls with or without your influence.

In most other MMOs today, the player plays little to no role in how the world progresses. The world is on a rail, and we can either jump the train or ride it to its very predictable end.

It is my personal opinion that the next great MMO will be the one that innovates how the lore is presented to the people. A lore that is not one written to follow the set tracks of a train, but one that allows the players to take the world down very different roads. I am not sure what Copernicus will end up being. Another WoW clone achieving nothing but mediocrity, the next flagship of the MMO genre or a failure the likes of Vanguard. I do know however that no matter what their aim, no matter what they become, the lore of their world will play a role.