"The reason I disagree is that single player games with compelling story, although my favourite, eventually run out of content, even if it's compelling and if the world is open and freeform"
That is true, and that alone would make the necessary development not economically viable for any game whose life is measured in few years, but what if, along content provided by players, the game creators could insert new environments with NPCs and new stories without ditching the game? In a few years/decades probably AI could also generate characters that develop themselves according to the environment they "grew" into or events happened during their "life". Dreaming too much maybe:)
I am wholeheartedly hoping for that to happen with Fallout76. Permanence gives a lot of the stuff you do in Fallout a bit more purpose. Like crafting good weapons and building a settlement you like. In non permanent versions the story was the main point so you could skip the looting and crafting if you wanted as you didn't really need it. But in a perfect world F76 you have a reason to build worthwhile settlements and gear and collect resources and so on. I have been playing it as if it were a singleplayer game, so although it is multiplayer that doesn't affect my play through that much.
That is true, and that alone would make the necessary development not economically viable for any game whose life is measured in few years, but what if, along content provided by players, the game creators could insert new environments with NPCs and new stories without ditching the game? In a few years/decades probably AI could also generate characters that develop themselves according to the environment they "grew" into or events happened during their "life". Dreaming too much maybe:)