Could you describe more what you mean by a canned game? What would be an alternative?

EDIT: While I asked this question of Tyche, I would like anyone/everyone to give input/opinions/2c/rants/angry shouting….

I believe he means if you're going to make a commercial game you don't actually want the gameplay these stock games are bringing to the table. You're going to spend a lot of time reinventing the entire server. Or you're going to fail. All things being equal, I agree with him that there are far superior servers out there which allow commercial use.

Although one might argue that that's exactly what EverQuest did (graphical front-end, but the gameplay was very much like stock Diku) and that was pretty successful.

But I think one of Diku's biggest strengths is also one of its biggest weaknesses - it offers a full game out-of-the-box that's easy to set up and run. It's extremely easy to get started and make small changes, but it can become increasingly difficult to make major changes (and by that point you've usually already invested a lot of time and effort into developing the mud).

I think it's certainly possible to make a successful commercial game using stock gameplay if you have original content, good customer service, excellent staff, etc. I've never played either of them, but AFAIK the gameplay on Medievia or Materia Magica is still very much diku hack and slash, yet they are both commercially successful.

I've seen successful commercial muds with stock gameplay, appalling customer service and thoroughly obnoxious staff. It strikes me that as long as you've got a passable product, the most important thing is proper marketing - if you can be the first to reach a specific audience, many of the players you attract will stay even if there's something "better".

Everquest is a farcry from the stock gameplay, balance, and content. That was the point.