By way of Broken Toys, a link to an interview by Shaknews with Magnus Bergsson of Iceland-based developer CCP, developer of Eve Online. The quote that caught my eye:

The biggest [new?] thing inside the game itself is the contract system. It is going to play a huge role [...] We created the most complex and extensive contract system in any MMOG. It is absolutely quite amazing. It will facilitate any type of business you want to do, with complete control over the conditions of the contract. Say you are an alliance leader and I want to command ten people to go out and mine one million trit [tritanium]. I can actually create a contract and say ‘okay, I want you to go and you have one week to comply to this contract’. When you accept the contract you might get a ship and the modules to fit on the ship, then you go out to mine a million trit, then to complete the contract you have to return the ship and the modules and one million trit.

Wow. Way cool. Eve, despite the space setting (which doesn’t really appeal to me), seems to offer some of what I’m looking for in a MMORPG (my ideal MMORPG). Mayhaps time for me to give it a try.