Interactive War

Something like this may have been done before (if so, I want to own it.)

In this form of game, the setting doesn't really matter, as this is a concept that revolves around a game, not a game idea in itself.

In this Interactive War setup, the game acts much as a MMORPG, except quite different. Main servers would run an actual world that continues to be played even when you're not online, and even if nobody is online at all. That may be a little confusing, so let me try to lay it out:

Let's say this is a futuristic combat game. When you open up the game, you can view universal news about the war and what battles have been won and lost, especially those concerning whatever squad you belong to. Or, you can get straight into a game. Rather than selecting what you play as when you enter the game, you pick what role you wish to play as and the game finds a matching host.

You can select things such as Infantry, Tanks, Space Gunnery, Mobile Armor pilot, Fighter pilot, etc. If you pick to be an Infantry, you're given a list of current battles being fought across the planet/space. You join the action as a soldier, and participate in a "real" battle involving only other Infantries you belong to or fight against (this way there's no mismatches in power.) Numbers of players don't matter too much, as things are run by AI unless a player is taking up its spot.

Some players (dev team/other company players) will be assigned roles in the game to direct the war as it continues. In effect, there will be administrators to the war, and will assign battlefields and hand out strategies (which are received by the players through their own browser). In effect, you'll be playing as a soldier in a "real" war. Games won't end until an objective is met, such as all enemy players killed, or certain areas destroyed. If those objectives aren't met, the battle just keeps going, and the mission ceases to end. When the objective is completed, the territory the battle was held in is given to the winning side's alliance.

Eventually, if one side begins to amass a lot of territory and starts to win the war, to push it on, the administrators can create global news such as a political coup or an incoming grouping of reinforcements. This keeps the war going for as long as players play. If the company ever decides to stop carrying the game, these features (territories and resources) can be removed so that the war is perpetual, and won't need to be handled by anyone, although it'll become less interesting.

The main draw for such a game would be that it will be several games in one (because of the differing yet limited types of playable characters/vehicles you can use.) Also, the ongoing "plot" behind the game gives the player more of a feel of interacting with the game on a single-player campaign level with other humans. Also, whatever news is created in the process of the game's existence can be carried over into a sequel (if one side wins, it will remain as a power in the next game). So, squads can actually become an official part of the game, if they're good enough to be noticed by the admins.

Really, the game could be continuously updated to newer versions over and over, since the game is a continuously changing environment. Alterations in gameplay can be passed off as new technology, etc.

You get the idea though. Sorry that took so long, and even now I don't think I've put forth the idea too well.