Yeah, I definitely think it applies. The MMO condition was artificially introduced and isn't really that relevant.
your kind of logic lends itself pretty well to an apples vs oranges comparison imo
mmo is a different beast than a traditional rpg, and therefore requires special care in ensuring its success
this is the point I was trying to (albeit sarcastically) make, it's very indicative of the amount of support a
company is willing to put into a game if there are not even basic security measures taken. this is especially true of an mmo, where you interact with other users over a network.
you're basically giving away your credit card information to a company, and it's evident that security is an afterthought if even a thought at all in their development process.
so my question is, how many other mmos do client side calculations of spells yet remain successful? not many, and it's because of the reasons I outlined.
other genres remaining successful or not are irrelevant because the chemistry involved is quite different.