I hear there's some Warcraft something or other that charges for a subscription and somehow the games market has survived.

This is sooo wrong.  There have been MMO's charging the standard 15$ for 15 years or more.  This is the standard really, the other methods, free to play and microtransaction, are newer.

Ok narrow the scope:

My argument is simple.

LucasArts just spent millions on a game that is charging you monthly.

They didn't spend those millions on a one time purchase Star Wars game.

I glad Skyrim is doing so well, it flies in the face of MMO's.

It does?  How?  How does it fly in the face of MMOs?  And I don't know what the first part of the post means either.  I'm confused by all of it.  Lucasarts/Bioware/EA spent a bunch of money to create a game that charges me money...okay.  They did, and they will make their money over and over, and their customers are happy with that.  They didn't spend that money on a one time purchase?  I think I understand what you are saying, but I still don't get the point.  And what does Skyrim have to do with it?  They spent 5 years and millions on a one time purchasable game?      So?  I bet there will be half a dozen purchasable downloads for Skyrim.  Different type of game, different type of development, and different type of marketing.  Apples and Oranges, I think.  I'm happy with both.

Considering the millions they spent on twenty or so other Star Wars games I think the point is a bit moot.

Ok.  Here's a "narrow scope" for you.

Like many other fools, I purchased BF3 when it was released.  I (and much of the community) barely played the game for 2 months because so many things are glitchy/broken and so many other things will never get patched (including keeping up with the anti-cheat protection to name one).  That equals more than $25 / month.  Oh and don't say that I now own the copy though and can play it whenever because without a thriving community it means balls that I have a copy of the game if I can't find anyone to play with (Red Orchestra 2 anyone?!?).

With SWTOR I paid for the initial game (which also includes one month game-time) and have subsequently paid for another 2 additional months on top of that.  Each additional month will cost another $15.  The difference here is that the community will only grow as the game evolves.  The devs (If they are smart RPG/MMO devs and Bioware are certainly experienced in the RPG world) will keep adding content and patching things into the game for those $15 / month whereas a single-purchase game such as BF3 appears to be on a continual (albeit expected) decline.  Even SKyrim will not survive over the long-term without some form of paid-for expansion etc.  So MMO's (done right) simply charge you for additional content and patch-pattern each month.  Show me the problem with that?