When the PS2 becomes obsolete Square will keep the servers up, because they also have a PC version that they aren't just going to scrap. Most likely the PS2 game will be compatible with the next version. The only way that players might find themselves getting screwed is if new expansions come out for the new system.

As for the single player option in the online world it's really just not feasible. Unlike Diablo, Arcanum, Neverwinter Nights, and other games of that nature with an online as well as single player nature the game is designed for multiple players and to be maintained. Without the aid of other groups you wouldnt make it that far, and without a gm what do you do when you find a bug that is screwing something up? You might think that these are just typical errors and that they could release solo pathces to fix them. The problem is that games like this work on such a larger scale that the cost of maintenance can ONLY be maintained by fees from the users.

A single player online game sounds cool really in idea only. Maybe if it was your first time playing it it wouldnt matter as you couldn't care less about talking to other people and just wanted to do some exploring for yourself. But in the long run the game would become tedious and boring without a community for support and assistance. UO had a single player crack that I played for about 10 minutes before I was bored because there was no one else and it felt empty. EQ was cracked in it's pre-windows form and I found out very quickly that I couldn't kill a damn thing as a cleric that would give me experience by myself.

Simply put, online games are designed to be such. There's just too many other complications is releasing a solo version, otherwise I'm sure they'd do it. Profit is profit, and the people who were going to play online would probably still do so.

As for being propositioned to cyber that hasn't happened to me in a long time. I played UO when it first came out and it happened like twice. I played EQ for over a year and a half and it never happened once. There are guys who still make suggestive comments, but it's always with a comical tone. And I didn't really mind it too much because they tend to be nicer to you and not as pissed if you screw up and forget to heal =).

And lastly, jerks. Yes, there are jerks in every online game, it's unavoidable. But there are usually fewer in pay games. The only logical reason I can think of is kids. They immature little hell-spawn who think that it is just amazingly funny to download new hacks and screw with people, but can't afford an online fee. With age not being a factor I think jerks are just as likely to pay to play as anyone else. But the majority of jerks I've met online were little kids, so I assume many of them get weeded out from lack of funds.

Also, stop writing so I can stop to replying. Or at least space out the posts by 8 hours+, thank you =).

Leighton