MMORPG: Start small?

Being serious about this idea, I've gone and contacted my guys at EA. It turns out one is now at Microsoft and the other is doing his MBA.

The two pointed out the obvious difficulty in starting an MMORPG from scratch.

That brought up the obvious - why not start a Mud, and grow it into an MMORPG over time?

We get the software infrastructure up and running as a Mud, and gradually roll out the features and innovations that depart from a Mud and turn into a real MMORPG game engine (not graphics engine). It could even depart from a Telnet interface, and replaced with something akin to a really Spartan 2D interface, something sufficient to make it an MMORPG and demonstrate it to potential investors.

At that point we begin the fundraising drive, incorporate, print stock on toilet paper leafs and pay people in shares. ;)

Thoughts? Sorry for using so much blog space Boris. Is this OK?