It's relatively common nowadays when people refer to MMOs, they immediately think about World of Warcraft or the MMO-king has-been EverQuest. But the first pioneers of MMO gaming know that the virtual worlds available online never started as a glorious 3D game. The first MMO was a MUD.

Short for multi-user dungeon, the MUD was the first online interactive community that offered virtual worlds, without the graphics. Until the likes of Microsoft's Asheron's Call, the MUD was preferably text-based. Worlds were described through words, and those words sparked imagination. Dungeons & Dragons was most enjoyable on a MUD.

It was in this respect that Dr. Richard Bartle, co-creator of the MUD, spoke about imagination being key to the success of the massively-multiplayer online game in a keynote speech at the 2007 Indie MMO Game Development Conference. To him, it wasn't enough that everyone followed the typical (orthodoxical) path toward fantasy-based realms that are threatened with apocalyptic destruction.

Telling Indie MMO developers how to succeed in the industry, Bartle emphasized that games that strive to be "amazing" never last forever. Aside from bringing new ideas to the MMO gamer's desktop, imagination also invites new ways of circumventing the current "World of Warcraft" title from keeping the MMO throne forever.

He is hopeful of the current generation of developers, who are in touch with creativity rather than orthodoxy, because "designing virtual worlds is fun." He stresses that similarities in games are unavoidable, but the way those ideas are presented are often different than competitors' ideas. Bartle said, "the details will be different. Dark Age of Camelot is not the same as Avalon, even though they're both set in Arthurian Britain."

He also wants developers to know that games don't have to be bleeding edge in graphics. "Don't worry about not having state-of-art graphics. So long as what you've got is professional, it doesn't have to be amazing. And even if it is amazing it won't be for long, because other peoples' will be better than yours," Bartle wisely said.

The "dinosaur in virtual world history" requested at the end of his speech that the new independent game developers rise to the occasion and put Bartle, the dinosaur, to rest.

For the Indie Game developers (and disgruntled World of Warcraft players) out there, something's brewing up next year. Last Straw Productions announced today that registration for the Indie MMO Game Developers Conference 2007, to be held in Minneapolis, is now open.

The event, to run on April 14 and 15, will serve as a venue for the aspiring Indie and hobbyist developers out to find other people who share their aspiration of creating their very own virtual worlds. It will feature several talks regarding Indie MMO development, with sessions ranging from game design, legal issues facing Indie developers, and team building "elevator pitch" sessions meant for developers to pitch their projects or their talents to other developers.

Participants can also look forward to talks done by famous MMO pioneer Richard Bartle and game developer Brian "Psychochild" Green to help give them hints on how to get their whole venture started. Interested participants can register over here, with a registration fee of US$ 49 for a two-day pass, including sessions, parties and access to the elevator pitch sessions. Make sure to registers early though, as tickets bought after December 15 will cost you US$ 99.