Seven Things I Learned From WoW (The Business):<p>1)  Put <i>obsessive</i> attention into making the first five minutes of use of your product awesome.  It is the five minutes people are most likely to see.  It is also a gate through which all subsequent use of your product must pass.  (Seriously, folks, if you value conversion optimization, I want you to play five minutes of WoW and five minutes of any other MMORPG, and take notes on what happens.  WoW will drag you around by the nose.  WoW will point you in the direction of the next thing to do.  WoW <i>will</i> show you success in those five minutes, even if you're terrible at what you're doing.  We should all aspire to making products that nail those first five minutes as much as WoW does.)<p>2)  Do not devote disproportionate developer resources to content/systems which the majority of the user base will not interact with.  (It took them years to learn this, but they eventually go around to it.)<p>3)  Make it simple.  Then, make it simpler. WoW is one of the most complicated pieces of engineering the world has ever known, but six year olds can pick up and play it.<p>4)  People will put up with any amount of drudgery if you give them small, frequent, random rewards for doing so.  This is in fact so powerful I'm kind of scared of doing it.<p>5)  If people are bringing their boyfriends into your product so that they can spend more time together, that is probably a good sign you have reached mass market success.<p>6)  Monthly.  Billing.  Minor discounts for cashflow in advance.<p>7)  High quality visual design can be made rot-proof by using iconic representations, bright colors, and timeless aesthetics.  If you chase the leading edge of graphical sophistication, on the other hand, three years from now plan on doing a total graphical rip-out or you'll look dated.