Obsidian Entertainment - Beware the MMORPG

In a promo preview of an upcoming Obsidian interview, Feagus Urquhart has warned that RPG developers need to be aware of the space that MMORPGs operate in and ensure their (single-player) RPGs use the advantages of the genre.  Presumably, the comments are aimed at action/RPGs with their MMORPG-like grinds but it's a welcome comment for the entire genre:

"For instance," Urquhart explained in an interview to be published on CVG shortly, "it used to be fine to make an RPG that was just wandering around and hacking things up with the player having very little effect on the world around them. Why play that game now if you could just play a MMO?" [...]

 Looking at the future of the RPG genre, he added that he'd "like to see RPG focus more on the world that they take place in with particular focus on making the player a real part of that world."

"Many RPGs, including some that I've made, allow the player to just stomp around and not really have to worry about the world that they are playing in. I think that really limits the feeling of you being in that world, which is what I certainly want when I'm playing a great RPG."

"I want that escape from reality and the more we can do to give that to players the better", Urquhart explained.