Tobold has an excellent definition and opinion within his blog post: Time for a New Vision.

Here's my $0.02.

Many are waving Vanguard's failure as a flag to discount 'The Vision'. I'd love to myself, I don't like the grinding aspect that nearly every MMORPG follows, but it's been too damn successful for Vanguard to tank it.

I think Blizzard fully intended to make a game avoiding this formula, their leveling grind is easier, but the endgame brings it right back into the fold. WoW started off as an excellent core game, but since then a lot of raiding content was thrown on the pile. Moreso, they've boosted the whole thing with a good heaping dose of competitive spirit between players. I've never seen a game where people are so often jealous of each other and that includes Everquest. It's all push, push, push to the top and it feels terribly linear in progression.

The worst insult an MMORPG player can be called is 'Noob'. That to me, is the essence of 'The Vision' at work.

I wonder how trapped by 'The Vision' newer MMORPGs will be. LOTRO certainly hasn't offered many new surprises, there's no paradigm shift there. Will Age of Conan or Warhammer Online avoid 'The Vision'? I think not entirely, more likely they'll chip away at individual features rather than reinvent what SOE and Blizzard have proven to be a very profitable wheel.

I'd love to see a 'New Vision' as Tobold defines it: MMORPGs with non-linear challenges, multiple goals and no clearly defined best result, yet retaining fun gameplay. I don't think that's going to happen just because one large game failed. The cynic in me says they've still got a cash cow and they'll keep milking it.