

Marvel Goes MMPORG 210
traskjd writes "C|net reports that Vivendi Universal has announced that they are working with Marvel Enterprises to create a Massively Multiplayer online game. The game has your favorite Marvel characters such as the Hulk. However don't hold your breath as the game is touted as coming out in 2005." Ha. Maybe DC will get their act together, and then CowboyNeal can fufil his wildest dreams as the Green Lantern.
aren't they going to run out of characters? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:aren't they going to run out of characters? (Score:1)
to any
Create a Beowulf Cluster of your Favourite Characters!!!
(Sorry, could not help myself.)
Re:aren't they going to run out of characters? (Score:1)
Kierthos
Re:aren't they going to run out of characters? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:aren't they going to run out of characters? (Score:1)
Re:aren't they going to run out of characters? (Score:1)
*In this connotation, original is defined as not being deliberately based upon comic book characters I am aware of. If, through happenstance, I happen to greatly mimic a comic book character that I am unaware of (such as a great deal of independent comic characters, and most of the DC lineup outside of the Batman titles), I am not trying to "rip off" or "copy" this character.
Kierthos
Paper andPencil (Score:1)
They both had very similar (from a high level view point, don't flame me with the exact differences).
You created new characters with sets of powers, each having a cost. You paid for these costs with selecting weaknesses.
The most fun characters to play had really whacked out weaknesses. Picture building Superman, but having no balance, or orientation problems. Flying to save the day, and suddenly, wham, right into the ground.
Re:Paper andPencil (Score:1)
Re:Paper andPencil (Score:1)
Re:aren't they going to run out of characters? (Score:2, Insightful)
Mr. Furious and The Shoveler are two of the most interesting, unique, and sure as hell funny comic characters ever created. Not only that, but the actors who played there characters in the movie could actually act! (take note toby maguire)
Just because they don't actually have any super-powers doesn't mean their not cool. Although I don't think any normal person could throw cutlery like the "limey fork flinger" Blue Raja. That's quite impressive.
Character limit? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Character limit? (Score:5, Funny)
I would bet that only GMs would get to play any named characters to avoid such problems. Of course, that would pretty much make the game worthless. Who wants to play Color-Excreter Lad when you really want to play Black Panther?
Re:Character limit? (Score:4, Insightful)
Or, auction the Marvel characters, or compete for the right to play them. You could use a ladder system like Bungie did for Myth online, top player of the month gets to pick a Marvel character first, and so on.
aaaHAHAAHA (Score:1)
aaaHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
Yea, and pokemon is geered towards the intellectual masterminds such as Knuth. I remeber during one of his lectures he had a freudian slip of, "Alpha-Beta, I choose you" when he was doing a proof.
Thanks man you made my day, bro. True they're not only for children, but you have to admit they're made mostly for children. So don't get too surprised when blood doesn't spill and you can't rip people's heads off.
Re:aaaHAHAAHA (Score:2, Funny)
what's really funny is that he thinks that making a computer game out of something dispels the notion that the thing is just for children.
Well, duh.. (Score:2, Funny)
If you join NOW, you can practice throwing fireballs in 2018...
For those non-mutant wanna-be heros, there will be radioactive spiders, and gamma-ray explosions randomly througout the game... If you're lucky, you can take 99% damage, and have your gamma-irradiated friend heal you, greatly increasing your strength and agility (and breast size) permanantly (rather than just when you get pissed).
Re:Character limit? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Character limit? (Score:4, Insightful)
Presuming that there's interdependance on other PCs, then people will discover quickly that role-playing an "evil" character is no different from being an asshole. And in MMORPGs most assholes don't make it because they get a rep and can't advance by themselves.
So while there may be a preponderance of dark jedi (although I think SOE claimed they would be "limiting" the number of people playing Jedi somehow), they'll virtually all wind up being really nice guys, just like Dark Elves did in EQ.
Of course, as a reformed EQ addict, I can't implore people enough to stay away from EQ or SW:G or pretty much anything else like it. There are people who can balance something addictive like a MMORPG and real life, but most geeks don't fall into that category -- goal-oriented, highly focused personalities tend to get sucked in to this kind of thing, especially since it fulfills a social interaction need often not found elsewhere in geek life.
Of course, I appear to have replace the EQ addiction with a somewhat lesser
Re:Character limit? (Score:1)
Re:Character limit? (Score:2)
Kintanon
Re:Character limit? (Score:2)
Yes, but you're assuming the stereotypical notion of evil (similar to D&D's 'Chaotic Evil'), rather than the more interesting types of evil expressed in both Marvel comics and Star Wars.
For example, in the recent X-men movie, the bad guys weren't fighting others out of greed. Rather, they felt it was their only means of survival. Now I'll admit that they had distorted, extremist views, but they honestly did believe that what they were doing was the only way to ensure that they live, "by any means necessary".
Similarly, "evil" in Star Wars generally implies alignment with the Empire -- an organization attempting to bring law, order, and control to the galaxy via military means. At the end of the day, they merely want to make the trains run on time.
Re:Character limit? (Score:2)
Its a revolution in gaming! Systematic boredom, but with superpowers! w00t!
Re:Character limit? (Score:1)
If you can't kill Jar-Jar, what's the point in participating?
Re:Character limit? (Score:4, Funny)
Or, maybe a hole in the ozone layer allows the city to be bathed by those mysterious Cosmic Rays(tm).
Re:Character limit? (Score:2)
That's easy -- CLONES! (Score:3, Interesting)
I foresee two big problems with a Marvel MMPORG, though. First, the resurrection factor -- it's impossible to keep ANY Marvel character dead, whether he be good, evil or civilian. So there's no danger to the player, right? Get killed, come back a few days later, repeat ad nauseam. Want to fight? Just run in, guns or powers blazing, and expect to get resurrected next week if it turns out to be fatal.
The second is the power-upgrade factor. This is a corollary of the death factor -- ninety-nine percent of the time, in the Marvel Universe, a super-hero's resurrection is ALWAYS accompanied by an amplification of his powers, if not a completely new set of them. So there's actually an INCENTIVE for players to rush in and get killed -- they'll increase their level status that much more quickly, possibly taking entire quantum leaps with each successive death.
I'd like nothing better than to play a Marvel mutant super-hero online, myself. By skillfully employing the above tactics, I'd be at god-level powers in a month, no sweat.
Re:Character limit? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Character limit? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Character limit? (Score:1)
You can already do this! (Score:3, Informative)
Dreams Of Things Which Never Were (Score:1)
I see dead universes...
The Beyonder (Score:1)
Re:The Beyonder (Score:3, Insightful)
The problem with comic book universes is that they're always trying to one-up the past and come up with the REAL ultimate threat. Take a took at the X-Men. Magneto was the real badass mutant...but hold on, if you think HE was bad, just wait until you tangle with the Hellfire Club. Whoops, never mind...those Sentinels are even WORSE...except, well, for that Mutant Massacre thingy with Mr Sinister.
Re:The Beyonder (Score:1)
Re:The Beyonder (Score:2)
The Beyonder can seriously mess you up, so you won't see me putting dip on him, much less more than one. Unless it's his favorite dip? Mmmm... French-Onion.
i should be... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:i should be... (Score:1)
Really? What a coincidence, people say I'm like The Flasher in the park.
Superpowers in bed? (Score:2, Funny)
I don't think sex with Superman (DC I know) would be nice. Can imagine it would be rather lethal for the average girl. Picture this:
girl: how about this?
supe: nope, nothing..
girl: and this?
supe: still don't feel a thing
girl: but I'm biting in it!
supe: well... urm..let's try some Viagronite then
hulk: here it comes!
girl: aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarch!! aaaaaa..*
On the other hand:
Girl: WOW! is that your hand??
Mr.Fantastic: guess again baby!
Girl: WOOOOOOW!
Vision: Yea I know. I've upgraded it with the new Vibro Pro Powerpac. Btw, I'm using the lowest setting...
Girl: AAAAAH!
Girl: Impressive!
Collusus: Yep. Wood is overrated.
Girls (in-sync): AAAAAH, so soft!
Beast: He, he, he well, in this case soft is a good thing!
Flash: Quit the crappy remarks!
Flash2:..I'm..
Flash3:..so fast..
Flash4:..I can be..
Flash5:..6 guys..
Flash6:..at once!..
Girl: I only got 3 slots!
Flash1-6: Thats what you think!
City of Heroes (Score:2, Informative)
Re:City of Heroes (Score:2)
I'm tired of games that just put a new candy-coating on games I played before. Every time a new FPS comes out, my response tends to be "thanks, but I already played Quake." To hook me into a multi-player shooter these days, companies need to be a little more creative.
Likewise with the MMOPRPG's... Simply putting it in a new genre (SW Galaxies, City of Heroes, Lord of the Rings, etc.) is not going to get me to re-play EQ. The act of slapping a first-person view on top of a MUD has been done. If the mechanics of the game don't offer something new and original, I'm not going to pay $60 + $10/month just to look at the new purdy pictures.
Re:City of Heroes (Score:2)
It's not so much about the game mechanics or the graphics as it is about the community. Just look at all the text muds that keep on going...
The big difference between Persistent worlds and the rest of online gaming is that PW have real communities that can interact inside the world by other means than shooting at each other.
That alone makes me believe that not only will MM games be there in 2005 but there will be many, many more. Each catering to their community in their own unique way. Eventually, there could even be one persistent world for every economically sustainable niche...
Peter Parker Use The Force (Score:1)
Re:Peter Parker Use The Force (Score:1)
Re:Peter Parker Use The Force (Score:1)
There is no "own unique" character for MMORPGs. Unless the servers each have a few megs of data on each characters, I don't think a population of +50k players will each be unique.
They may not be wearing the exact same color of hat, but the stats will be the same.
Maximization of a character is always what it gets to, in the end. That's according to my personnal experience, of course.
Marvel Superheroes (Score:1)
hyping up for hulk.. (Score:2, Interesting)
there is no mention of platform, gameplay, or anything really.
hehheh (Score:1)
and you could add two years to the developing easily, Duke's still not out..
seriously tho, i was going to first ask what platform it would be on, and then decided that i'd read the article before posting.. and couldn't find anything of about anything.
MMORP suckage (Score:1)
Read that wrong... (Score:2)
Marvel Comics must be doing something right now... (Score:1)
The Article speaks of "wondering how big the market can get," though and I think that statement is kinda silly -- it will end up similar to everything else, Blazingly Popular for a while, then gradually reducing to the dedicated players as everybody else moves on to the next great thing. It'll have to follow the path and example of Quake/Quake 2 [idsoftware.com]/ etc. and similar type games in order to keep in the "market."
but then thats just my $0.02
I'm a little skeptical (Score:4, Interesting)
An example is how Wonder Woman is not unique in her amazonian land. However, when she is off fighting against normal criminals she is unique. Imagine living (as an amazonian) in the land of the amazonians? Everyone is the same strength so it would be quite boring.
The only way to alleviate this problem would to make the server size limited compared to other MMORPGs and the size of the maps huge. If you could visit 30 cities, average of 50 heroes to a city, it would be fun. That makes only 1,500 per server. I have heard the new Star Wars MMORPG might have 50,000 per server (but I could be deadly wrong). If you end up in a city with 1,000 heroes it would seem like you wouldn't get that unique feel you read about in the books.
Re:I'm a little skeptical (Score:1)
I never really followed the comics at all... although I did buy an issue that George Perez penned. awesome artist.
Re:I'm a little skeptical (Score:5, Funny)
WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO DO TO ME!!!!!!
Re:I'm a little skeptical (Score:2)
Who's gonna play the non-heroes is another issue - It's gonna be a shitload of heroes and villians fighting for control of a city. It makes sense in Dark Age of Camelot - three lands, lots of heroes becoming an army and the armies fighting each other.
Oh well, I gave up MMORPGs several months ago and don't intend to go back. They were mostly a banal experience - I met some interesting people online, but I'm a gamer and I don't consider it a game if I can't end it (apologies to Scott Kurtz
how to deal with the characters (Score:1)
Some variants:
1) Marvel auctions off the popular characters. Everyone else gets no name characters. Long standing characters in the game who reach past a cerain level or accomplish a certain quest get to have their character appear in a comic book Imagine how much money Marvel would make if they auction off the popular characters?.
2) The big name characters are NPC's who move the plot. You play a created, unknown character that interacts with them. If you get to be famous (achieve a certain level/prestige, accomplish a certain task) you get to team up with Spider Man, or join the Avengers...
3)Big name characters are awarded people via a lottery process. You enter the lottery via a) accompilshing a big task with your created character or b) paying for lottery tickets online. If you win spiderman, you keep him until you die, or you fail to maintain the character properly (like a tamagotchi, or that fish video game)
Just some possiblities that I like better than 50 000 different peter parkers living in New York And what do I have to do to get to play Galactus? I'll send the ultimate nullifier to the end of the universe, and then chow down on earth... bwa ha ha!
Re:how to deal with the characters (Score:2)
Now that is an idea I can get behind! What a great MMORPG a "Marvel Villians" game would be. Play a super-villian, and try to cause as much mayhem and distruction as you can before Spidey comes in to ruin your diabolical schemes. Curses! Foiled again!
Being a bad guy on a server with 1500 other bad guys, all trying to plunder the city, would be a blast.
It would certainly be more fun that being in a League of Heroes so big that you gotta carry union cards, which is what this announcement sounds like.
Re:how to deal with the characters (Score:1)
You'd think it would be, wouldn't you?
Just check with the guys who play 'Teams' PvP on EQ. On the servers were the alignment works as 'Good', 'Evil' and 'Neutral', there is a massive number of evil characters, a few more 'Neutral' characters and a really small percentage of 'Good' characters. The evil characters are so numerous that they don't really get into the whole PVP vibe until much later in the game and then only to make sure that the other teams can't havea successful raids or dungeon crawls.
PVP is just not enjoyable for people who enjoy roleplaying (as compared to people who like player-killing) in the context of MMORPG's.
Reverse the characters (Score:4, Funny)
I'm not into Marvel, having been a DC kiddie, so forgive the character references. But if you kick some ass outside a cinema you get a pounding from Batman, if you don't wash for like, a year, you get a fungus on your toes that Swamp Thing has to come and eradicate. Say 'Im gonna shag that Lois Lane good' enough and eventually Superman will kick your ass.
You build up 'exposure' points until you earn the right to BE a supe for a while!!! Then you can go around listening out for people saying "Where's little jimmy!"
Re:Reverse the characters (Score:3, Funny)
Well no. Say that for long enough and eventually it would be Lois Lane that kicks your ass...
Cheers,
Ian
MMPORG? (Score:1)
Slashdot newsflash: "Spelling mistakes attack Headlines too and not only content!"
Comic book setting not appropriate for an MMORPG (Score:1)
Sometimes I think the current MM craze in gaming is like the early days of the
Still, a superhero MMORPG could have great comedy potential, if only to laugh at the absurdity of it all. For those of you who have played Ion Storm's great game Anachronox, this recalls that Planet of the Heroes where Paco Estrella was from.
Re:Comic book setting not appropriate for an MMORP (Score:1)
The only way for this to work well is for new players to either have some base super-powers to start or be normal humans who get the urge to put on a domino mask and spandex tights. Let them fight the small crimes to gain experience (forget the machinations of Dr. Doom and find a child that was abducted a few hours ago), eventually moving up the chain. Marvel's established super-heroes should only be NPCs in this system...or trusted players hired by Marvel.
Re:Comic book setting not appropriate for an MMORP (Score:2)
I don't agree. X-Men is a team for a reason. So are all the other teams: X-Force, Excalibur, Fantastic Four.
You must be thinking of DC. DC is more 'one loner vs them all'. In Marvel, the good guys get their asses kicked all the time, and regularly get help from other characters.
Look at Spiderman.. He gets help from/helps other 'New York' superheroes all the time. Having 50 in a large city such as NY still makes it a rarity.
Re:Comic book setting not appropriate for an MMORP (Score:1)
Re:Comic book setting not appropriate for an MMORP (Score:2)
Everone will start as equals (that doesn't necessarily mean equal to you and me - see my other post [slashdot.org]
Just like any other MMORPG, there will be a slew of 'normals' and then a small number of higher-ups. Even on UO, 'normal' is much more advanced than a 'regular person'. I sure as hell can't make myself invisible ;)
Re:Comic book setting not appropriate for an MMORP (Score:2)
Of course. Who wants to play Leo the Newstand Guy?
Normal people are represented by NPCs.
Nobody in Ultima Online wanted to be a goblin foot soldier, did they?
-l
Re:Comic book setting not appropriate for an MMORP (Score:4, Funny)
Yes. You see, it's all in a day's work for Bicycle Repair Man...
Cheers,
Ian
MarvelCrack. (Score:2)
It's all good, I prefer getting my online drugs from Captain Picard in a Wheelchair (TM) than some silly EQ dwarf.
Reservation (Score:1)
The Problem with Marvel is... (Score:1)
Did anyone ever read Zenith? (Score:3, Insightful)
It's about a superhero who couldn't give a toss about saving the world.
One point in the story line was that there were multiple universes. In one of these universes it was all populated with superheros and only one normal person, who was being pestered the heck out of.
In a world where everyone wants to be a hero, who plays the normal people?
One of the things, well really the only thing that makes MMORPG's is the human element. I think this alone is what may stunt the growth of such games. If all the normal characters are NPC's then there are no worries about secret identitys and a lot of players will treat the NPC's as fog of war.
By the way, anyone who can't wait until 2005 I recommend you check out City of Heroes [cityofheroes.com] which plans to Beta test in early 2003 and has some nice movies of the gameplay. They also have a very indepth FAQ [coh.com] (Geek level :)
Re:Did anyone ever read Zenith? (Score:1, Offtopic)
Who wants to be a super hero... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Who wants to be a super hero... (Score:3, Funny)
Superheroes are not suitable for MMORPGs (Score:1)
Mosts MORPGs seem to lack real content - a fact that is hidden by a grueling leveling thread mill and a hundred colorful cape-designs.
To keep players and collect the monthly fee, the games make character advancement slow and painful for the casual gamer. In a fantasy game, your character advances by killing monsters and doing quests. He starts as a lv 1 rat basher and eventually becomes a lv50 nut crasher. But a super-hero who starts at lv 1 is about as much fun as Clark Kent with a stick of kryptonite stuck up his ###. You need to start as the real Superman, otherwise it just sucks.
In a superhero-game you would want to be -- a Hero! And this entails being better than someone else or at least being able to do something that is remarkable and exciting. If 1000 players do rescue Ms Nobrains from stepping into doggy poo, there is very little heroic about this, even if they burn the offending substance with laser eyes or push it out of the way by their flatulent power move.
You could play a superhero RPG with a couple of players, but having a Massive Multiplayer environment of hundreds or thousands of would-be-heroes? A Hero is something unique. Make a 1000 of them, and you have... Munchkinland.
What is next? A MMORPG chess game?
Of course, a Slapstick MMORPG with weekly replays of the most funny things the players did...*g*
Re:Superheroes are not suitable for MMORPGs (Score:2, Insightful)
And as far as it being armies trying to capture a city, I'm imagining it being more like groups of heroes claiming sections of the server as under their protection.
Scattered throughout the server would be "objectives", basically areas that have missions that villians can undertake (I'd imagine there would be missions that heroes could undertake, too). If a villian or multiple villians initiate a mission, the heroes in that area are alerted, so they can rush over in their superheromobile.
A mission objective would be something like a bank, or a mayoral debate, and would have goals and scripted events. For example, the bank goal is to open the vault and get the money. A random scripted event might be a NPC having a heart attack. Thus the villians have to decide whether to let some of the hostages in the bank take him out, and it would make the heroes have to decide quickly what to do.
There could be lots of these objectives scattered around, and they could have a variety of scripted events and mission conditions... So that every time you rob the same bank, it's a bit different.
There could also be certain time-limited missions. For example, the newspaper (which could flash up every time you log on) might report that there are protests today against a uranium shipment that is going through town... Villians could then decide - hey, let's hijack it! And heroes might think, well, let's go there in case some villians show up.
As far as armies go - you could also encourage "caps" on the size of supergroups... An easy way would be to only allow so many heroes to claim one neigborhood as their own. This wouldn't effect the villians, but there are other things you could do... Such as only allowing so many people to communicate on a shared channel, or something. OR, simply only allow X number of PCs to gain "karma" from a mission or encounter...
The problem with these licenses (Score:2, Interesting)
Take Star Wars: most people will want to be a Jedi, right?
But you can't have 100k Jedis running around choping heads with their light sabers: that just wouldn't work nor would it be true to the license. So the designers have to come up with game design tricks to limit the number of people that can be a Jedi at any given time. And that's just one example of the hundreds of problems that will pop up when you to stick a license on a MM game: it's like trying to force a square peg in a round hole.
Persistent worlds are communities. As such they have dynamics of their own and the best way to stick to these dynamics is to craft a world specifically around them.
I believe that, in the long run, MM games that will be the most successful will be the ones that take into acount the nature of online communities and tailor their game design accordingly. Unfortunately, licenses that come from other media aren't flexible enough to do this...
Re:The problem with these licenses (Score:4, Insightful)
Kintanon
Re:The problem with these licenses (Score:2, Informative)
They are building a community within the continuity of the Star Wars Universe. The game will be huge and well accepted. Even if everyone can't be Jedi.
VS Fighting (Score:2)
Marvel/DC (Score:2, Interesting)
I don't think the comic book industry is doing as well as it once was. I mean didn't marvel almost go bankrupt a few years back? Now it seems as if they aren't really competing anymore. I mean they both have Heroclix http://www.wizkidsgames.com
Both companies should merge and pit the marvel heroes against the dc villains. it would be like the second coming of the golden age of comics.
Re:Marvel/DC (Score:2, Interesting)
There are a couple of exceptions, though. Lex Luthor is a pretty damn good villain in any book, and the Joker is my favorite bad guy ever. He's a shining example of how pure unbound psychosis can overcome superhuman abilities. Serves as a shining example to the common man trying to get somewhere in life.
MMORPGs, MMORPGs, everywhere MMORPGs (Score:1)
Dunno what the point of this post is. Maybe I don't see the reasoning behind a MMORPG based on a comic universe? I can just picture some NPC running a red light in an urban area and a couple thousand superheroes obliterate the area to catch him. Then sit around doing nothing while their superpowers recharge. *snore*
MMPORG!?? (Score:1)
Re:MMPORG!?? (Score:2)
Seriously, I'm surprised it hasn't been done already.
Earth - Smoking hole of hellish torment (Score:3, Insightful)
The major problem will be PvP. You can't really have a Marvel story with out Super-hero vs. super-villian.
Chase
I just want.... (Score:1)
Dr. Doom? nah, not enough vision.
Galacticus, now there is a serious bad guy....
Jaysyn
Read the article (Score:1)
Likely "roll your own" characters... (Score:2, Interesting)
('course, I'll only play this game if they bring back Nightcrawler, I still miss 'im.)
Anyone see the actual press release? (www.vivendiuniversal.com gives me a ColdFusion error, heh!)
Weighty subject (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Weighty subject (Score:2, Funny)
also on CNN (Score:3, Informative)
2nd rate heros (Score:5, Funny)
Dibs on... (Score:2)
Re:Green Lantern ? (Score:1)
Re:Green Lantern ? (Score:1)
Re:So the whole world is about to be blown up and. (Score:2, Funny)
Re:will it.. (Score:1)
Re:will it.. (Score:2)
Re:is n't the green lantern (Score:1)
oh, c'mon, i was just kidding