Not sure where to write this but I have seen some iunteresting games online like dragon quest and adventure quest.
What they do is they play in an explorer window using Java and our basically a single player game you log into and play while online. These two I mentioned are very basic in design adn graphics but I wonder if someone put the time into one if they could design a system that allowed the devs to add modules as they went along and it would basically eliminate piracy since its required to be logged into and you have to be online. Of course the negative is you have to be online to play but I could see this as a viable alternative to making a standalone game for the indy dev. This could be the cutting edge stuff of the times now...I seriously would like to see someone like Basilisk or some team take a shot at it and see if it would work.
http://www.battleon.com/
This shows what one company did with it and like I said basic graphics and simple design ideas but if someone did a deeper version I bet it could work out neat...just an idea really thought I would throw it out to you guys and see what you think.
ps And no I'm not shillin this just been thinkin bout it.