Richard Garriot, the executive producer of NCsoft and creator of the Massively Multiplayer (and massively popular) Ultima Online, has criticised the genre for becoming stagnant, claiming that MMO design has adopted elements akin to "whack-a-mole" games and data management in favour of innovative design.

Speaking at the Develop Conference this morning in Brighton, UK, Garriot said that developers were running in circles and resetting the "fundamental expectations of gameplay design" every time a new piece of technology emerges, reports Next-Gen.

He went on to blast modern MMOs for still relying on the decade-old model he pioneered with Ultima Online, saying that combat, character progression, mission diversity and A.I. are all stuck in the past (the latter as developers expect players to act as the A.I.).

Garriot added that game missions were repetitive and that time spent in virtual worlds can be described as environments where players only continue grinding away to boost their stats by that one extra percentage point.

Garriot hopes to correct many of these issues in his upcoming project, sci-fi MMO "Tabula Rasa", with a focus on ethical choice, dynamic missions, and battlefield choices.

We wonder if World of Warcraft's Blizzard (and its recently reached 9 million subscribers) have heard Garriot on this, or whether they even care as the coffers continue to bulge.