I don't see anything wrong with starting on your own. However, my caution is against *planning* to do *everything*, from start to finish, on your own. When I first worked on OtherSpace in 1998, I focused on theme development on my own. I then got together with more technically minded people who could help 1) host the game on a server and 2) code the bells and whistles to accessorize the game.
After that, it was a matter of growing a playerbase and then adding more staffers to help flesh out theme and promote the game.
There's plenty that you can do in the way of advance work before opening the doors to new players. It helps a lot if you're jumping into the project with like-minded compatriots, though. (Not the fair-weather friends who vanish to do their own projects and leave you hanging, of course, but people really dedicated to helping bring your vision to life.) It has to be something you really believe in, and that belief has to be something contagious when you try to get other people involved.
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