Opportunities online: fact or fantasy?

Countless ads, seminars, and publications describe the Web as a vast, untapped market for software vendors, both as a means to reach customers directly and as a venue for applications that require both an initial purchase and a monthly fee. The challenge thus far has been to provide content that people will pay for. Origin Systems, based in Austin, Texas, (USA) may have found a solution with its massively multiplayer role playing game, Ultima Online. Although UO´s initial sales have outstripped any previous Origin title, the game has fallen prey to design, technical, and social problems that provide profound lessons for other online content providers