I’ve made no secret of the fact that I’m not a huge fan of mamorpaguhs (otherwise known as World of Warcraft). I’ve tried a few times. I gave WoW a whirl once just to see if I could understand what all the hype was. I downloaded the free trial of EVE Online after reading about the epic GHSC heist (seriously, click that link and read about it). I even purchased Guild Wars and gave it a few hours of my life. All of them fell flat for me. The truth is that I play games for the stories – I’m not a big fan of multiplayer in general (Team Fortress 2 being a notable exception). That’s why I was so disappointed in Demigod; also why I never caught on to the Counter Strike/Quake/Unreal craze. MMOs are built around the social gaming concept, and thus rely on players to interact with other players to truly enjoy the game. Take away this socializing aspect and the games themselves are pretty much boring and as all get-out.

It is needless to say, therefore, that when the rumors that the next game in the Knights of the Old Republic series was to be an MMO were confirmed, my gamer’s heart broke in twain. I felt betrayed and unloved. KotOR and its sequel are easily among the best games ever made, and even more easily the best Star Wars releases in any medium (including the movies). The secret ingredient behind this excellence was the storytelling – it was epic. And it still is epic – go buy both of the KotOR games right now and play them, n00b. If you already have played them, I take back that horrible insult and salute you.

However. As more details have been released, I’m finding myself growing cautiously optimistic. Optimistic because it sounds like Bioware is attempting to take the MMO genre in a new, story-focused direction; cautious because that is a monumental task and my heart can’t take much more breakage. But if anyone’s up for the job, it’s the master storytellers at Bioware (for the less informed among you, they’re the ones behind the first KotOR, Baldur’s Gate, Mass Effect, and the upcoming Dragon Age: Origins).

I’ll update you all with more details as they’re released – for now, keep an eye on this title. If Bioware can craft a perpetual-world MMO that still focuses on epic storylines and character development, I will be both impressed and probably sucked into the world of mamorpaguhs. We shall see what we shall see.

Jerod Jarvis is an independent gaming journalist and founder of Duality Games. He maintains gaming columns for The Washington Times Communities and for The Outpost. When not blogging madly about games, he freelances for the Spokesman-Review in his hometown of Spokane, Washington and attends school at Whitworth University. Check out his presence on Facebook and Twitter to stay up on Duality Games updates and the inside scoop on the gaming news you care about.