Michael Jackson Themed MMO In the Works 180
norton123 writes "SEE has announced plans to published a Michael Jackson themed MMO. From the article: 'Planet Michael is described by SEE as "a massive social gaming experience" with "collaborative in-game activities," set in "an immersive virtual space themed after iconic visuals drawn from Michael's music, his life and the global issues that concerned him."'"
WTF? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:LOL (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm fairly certain this will never see the light of day. I'm doubt it will even get beyond the concept art phase.
Michael Jackson's musical talent aside, who in their right mind would care enough to play a game like this? The kind of people who might actually care that much about him are unlikely to ever touch an MMO. Unless it's developed as a Facebook game perhaps.
this aint right (Score:5, Insightful)
Truly sad (Score:5, Insightful)
Now that he's dead the owners of his 'brand' will sell, sell, sell his image until it becomes a mere parody of someone famous.
I imagine he would have wanted better. Respect, for example.
Re:WTF? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:LOL (Score:4, Insightful)
On the other hand, observe the gradual accretion of "casual" features(ie. screensaver-eque autoplay modes that basically make the game function as an MP3 player with visuals) in the Guitar Hero/Rhythm game genre, along with the move toward online digital distribution/marketplace models and the ability to aggregate songs from multiple games...
As a game in the more or less classic sense, the project seems as doomed as it is stupid. As a game-esque mixture of themed social networking and micropayment nickel an diming for Jackson themed digital "merchandise" I can imagine it at least breaking even.
Re:Truly sad (Score:4, Insightful)
That was the case well before he was dead, and he did it himself. The rest of this is latent greed, just like all the inevitable "Michael Jackson Xth Anniversary Greatest Hits" album to be released every 5 years from here on out.
Eh, maybe, but I see this as distinct. They're making an MMO. This doesn't appear to be a product that would appeal to Michael fans NOR to MMO fans. It appears to be a blatant cash grab, with little-to-no actual reason for it to exist.
At least with the every-5-year CD's you're getting music on a disc that you might actually enjoy.
Funny? Really? (Score:3, Insightful)
Assuming the accusations were true, it was tragic, not funny.
Assuming they were false ( as we should seeing he was never convicted in a court of law ) the joke is even more tasteless.
Seriously, considering how often people here point out how society tends to fucking lose its mind once children are involved, it is a bit tragic to see people repeat this tasteless joke and get moderated funny for it.
Re:LOL (Score:2, Insightful)
The man was a pedophile.
You need evidence. You need evidence because one day someone will accuse you of something like that and you will be desperately trying to convince everyone that it isn't true, and that evidence is not the plural of rumour.
As a young man I hung out in a social group which didn't care much for standard social etiquette. Sometimes we would all fall asleep under the covers of the same bed or floor together, male and female, single and partnered. It wasn't an orgy (honest, officer), nor a drunken heap (I still don't drink)... I guess it was a classical sleepover, but with everyone 16+ and within a few years of age of each other. Just because the age gap has widened in MJ's case, it doesn't suddenly make something /more/ sexual... at least, not automatically in my mind.
Re:Funny? Really? (Score:4, Insightful)
His body guards came out and gave interviews. You know the guys in the best position to dish out dirt and make a buck off him.
They all said he wasn't a child molester, he was shy but did date adult women. He just had a hard time acting like an adult. The bodyguards liked working for him, they had fun with the boss, doing stuff like letting him drive when they went through drive throughs just to freak out the people working.
While I did believe some of the hype about him in the 1990s, when I read what the body guards said, I figured if anyone knew he was doing bad things, it was them.
Re:I can see the daily quests now... (Score:5, Insightful)
Make fun of him all you want for #2 and #3, and please disparage him for either being a child molester or at the very least being socially retarded as to not know how creepy he was.
But #1 never happened. His autopsy confirmed that he had never bleached his skin, that he in fact suffered from an extreme case of vitiligo [wikipedia.org]. In fact, all the evidence points to him being very uncomfortable with his loss of pigmentation; supposedly the reason that he started wearing the single glove was to hide the start of it on his hand, and he never brought it up in any of the interviews he did. It just seems harsh to me to make fun of someone after their death for having a disease that they were so obviously ashamed of.
Enough With The Trial By Media, Already (Score:5, Insightful)
Yet not one of those people bother to point out that there was never a criminal conviction on those charges. Instead they keep bashing him over what can't be taken to be anything more than accusations.
And if you think he did do what he was accused of, the person you should really be directing your anger at is the parents of the child who was victimized. Those parents would be roughly the fourth or fifth worst parents in the world; not only for allowing their young child to spend the night with a weirdo but then for dropping the charges in exchange for money. No decent parent, regardless of their financial situation, should ever be willing to compromise on matters of the law in exchange for money. Ever.
Re:I can see the daily quests now... (Score:4, Insightful)
That is the most common symptome, but it isn't always like that. Vitiligo comes in different forms and the more severe cases can very rapidly remove pigmentation in huge areas of the skin. Theres even a name for it "vitiligo universalis". As it happens, it isn't actually possible to bleach your skin the way people thought Michael Jackson did. For peopel that have vitiligo you can sometimes get a more even skin tone through the use of bleaching, but there is no reliable way to turn a healthy black person white.
It doesn't. However as somebody who've had some severe issues with body image, I can tell you from personal experience that this kind of irrational responses to body changes is not at all rare. In my case it was rather mild, but MJ allegedly suffered from Vitiligo, Lupus , Anorexia Nevrosa, had problems with drug abuse and was abused as a kid. Now add in to that the stress from being the focus from tabloids, having everybody speculate about why your appearance is changing... Heck the anorexia nevrosa alone can kill people from self-starvation. Imagine throwing in the rest of that cocktail of issues he was dealing with ( and there is little doubt he had a lot of issues ) and it's surprising the guy was even able to perform on a regular basis.
Re:Enough With The Trial By Media, Already (Score:4, Insightful)
Yet not one of those people bother to point out that there was never a criminal conviction on those charges.
There was also never a criminal conviction of Orenthal James Simpson. He was acquitted of murder but found liable for wrongful death months later.