Working on a massively multiplayer online computer game seems akin to mining for gold.
Most studios working on these virtual living worlds of fun and narrative never strike it rich, some investing so much time and money that when their game fails, so does their studio collapse, tragically, spectacularly even.
But there's always World of Warcraft's successes beckoning new attempts.
With 12 million people around the world paying a monthly fee to play, the nearly 6-year-old Blizzard-created computer game is the mother lode of game development payoffs.
The latest contender to Blizzard's throne hit earlier this month backed by the popularity of a nearly 70-year-old toy and the design skills of a development studio with plenty of attempts under their belt.
LEGO Universe hopes to bring the ideals of the LEGO toy - build, create, share - into a virtual world that is not only safe for children, but also fun for everyone.
They seem to be off to a solid start.
When players log into the game they take on the role of a customised mini figure, choosing a faction, adventuring through stories, fighting the bad guys.
The difference with this game, though, is that its fantasy world is built entirely of virtual LEGO.
Developer NetDevil spent nearly five years working on and testing their game with Danish toy company LEGO.
The studio brought in LEGO experts to build everything that ended up in their game out of real LEGO first.
An entire corner of their cavernous studio of more than 200 developers is dedicated to a LEGO Library.
The brick forest, as some of the developers call it, is made up of rows of shelving stacked with plastic bins.
Attached to the front of each bin is a single LEGO piece indicating that bin's contents.
The master designers at the studio occupy the front of the library, their creations stacked up on desks and displays around them: complete replicas of the Star Trek space fleet, entire scenes from the movie Star Wars, animals big and small, boats, houses, creatures fill the space.
My short time with the game over the weekend turned into a late-night gaming session.
Players are encouraged to adventure through the different planets found in the LEGO Universe, going on short missions to learn how to battle the enemies of LEGO and creativity.
Players work to find the game's currency, new weapons, new items and collectable pieces of LEGO.
Players are also given their own space to create within.
In this space players build their own creations with the bricks they collected, just like they would with real LEGO pieces.
The game also includes the ability to design your own games.
By collecting "behaviour bricks" players can essentially program their own LEGO video games.
The behaviour bricks can make your LEGO creations behave in certain ways and react to certain things.
Players can then use this and their brick-building skills to create games like Pac-Man, Space Invaders or something unique.
Long burnt out on playing massively multiplayer online games, I was a bit surprised how much fun I was having checking out LEGO Universe.
Its whimsical mix of LEGO elements, humour and collecting is a powerful combination.
More surprising, though, is that my 9-year-old son has just as much fun playing the game as I do.
Creating a game that is equally fun for children and adults could help NetDevil find some measure of World of Warcraft's immense success.
