Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) is trying something truly new with its next EverQuest Free 2 Play MMO: instead of another cookie-cutter World of Warcraft clone, it’s making EverQuest Next stand out from the crowded MMO genre by making the game world out of fully-destructible voxels. That means potentially everything in the game, from forests to mountains to entire towns, can be destroyed, either by in-game events or concentrated efforts by players.

That’s a pretty brave move for a game that’s going to be populated by people, a notoriously mischievous and destructive species with a proven track record of not playing well together. Still, it’s intriguing as nobody else has dared combine thousands of simultaneous online players and destructive worlds before, and if pulled off properly it could revolutionise the entire MMO genre.

Gaming supersite Rock, Paper, Shotgun ran a First Look on it on Friday, and contributor Adam Smith was absolutely blown away by what he was shown. I highly recommend the article itself, as well as the commentary delivered by RPS’s apparently rather intelligent community.

Once you’re done reading, check out the video below for a more visual explanation of how some of the destruction mechanics will work. The game itself is not due until at least 2014 so there is still a long time to wait, but hopefully the coming months will reveal more about it and how, exactly, the developers are going to stop the game from becoming a griefer’s paradise over time.

Whatever happens, Sony Entertainment Online is doing a brilliant job of intriguing people like me who loathe the very idea of Free 2 Play MMOs with this genuinely innovative and exciting concept. Let’s hope their approach makes the game fun for everyone, and not just those who like ruining online experiences for others.