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Role Playing (Games)

On MMORPG Franchise Fundamentals 111

Posted by simoniker from the wish-wish-wish dept.
Thanks to MMORPGDot for its editorial discussing some of the most interesting franchises which are yet to be turned into MMO games. The author mentions: "Personally, I think a franchise game can be just as good as a game with an original world, if not better. It's all a question of what you do with the IP and if you make a fundamentally fun game out of what you've been given", before suggesting MMOs based on Star Trek ("The other great science fiction franchise is easily as deserving as Star Wars of it's own graphical massive game"), James Bond ("More of a realization that I'd like to play in a spy MMOG than anything else, I think a spy MMOG branded as a Bond game would get really good traction"), and Oz ("I think Oz would be an amazing vehicle for a MMOG centered on younger gamers.") Other suggestions?
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On MMORPG Franchise Fundamentals More

On MMORPG Franchise Fundamentals

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  • Oz??? (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    A MMOG based on Oz, targetted at younger people? I hope that they leave out the shanking and anal sex.
    • A MMOG based on Oz, targetted at younger people? I hope that they leave out the shanking and anal sex.

      Although it would be intresting to see how your charicter handles not dropping the soap.

      Hey mom I just got a job in OZ!!! smuggling cigarrettes into cyberspace!
    • I think you'll find they mean the Oz with wicked witches and emerald cities, rather than gang rape and suicides.

      Pity, really.
    • Leisure Suit Larry

      'Nuff said.

  • Shadowrun (Score:3, Interesting)

    by EvilIdler ( 21087 ) on Sunday August 15, 2004 @03:42AM (#9972862)
    The authow mentions Shadowrun, too. That's about the only one
    I'd be interested in. Star Trek could potentially be as messed up as SWG.
    I dunno about a spygame - doesn't Bond work alone most of the time?

    • Re:Shadowrun (Score:5, Funny)

      by Impy the Impiuos Imp ( 442658 ) on Sunday August 15, 2004 @08:15AM (#9973368) Journal
      > Star Trek could potentially be as messed up as SWG.

      Or EQ or any other one out there. I can't wait: /kill SpaceStationRat

      Jhames Tibherihus Khirk 73 says, "Have at thee, kn4v3!"

      ** You attack a SpaceStationRat with your phaser

      You hit a SpaceStationRat for 2 points of stunning damage!

      ** A SpaceStationRat hits YOU for 7 points of damage!

      You hit a SpaceStationRat for 1 point of stunning damage!

      Jhames Tibherihus Khirk 73 says, "WTF"

      (clicks phaser adjustment on HUD)

      Majel Barret's Computer Voice says, "I'm sorry. Your Academy Level does not allow a phaser setting highter than '5 hits to stun a rat'. You need 3279 points of Ripped Shirt Experience to open up '2 hits to stun a rat, 5 hits to stun a Vulcan rat' level."

      Jhames Tibherihus Khirk 73 says, "F***"

      ** You hit a rat for 2 points of damage!

      Yes indeede doo! I can't wait!
      • Hey, it wouldn't be rats, it would be TRIBBLES!

        (At least they would have a believable reason for infintely respawning.)
    • I play Star Wars Galaxies and a lot of folks who have left the game lamented the non-existence of a Shadowrun MMORPG. Shadowrun is all ready to go as a MMORPG from a plot/story backround, even taking place mostly in a single city, Seattle. Anyone who played the game can tell you that it had really good skill sets, and the Matrix system was awesomely well designed and would easily translate to a MMO. Also, although it has a heavy magic element, it takes place in a postmodern, urban society, with huge tech

  • Prison rape? (Score:2, Funny)

    by dmayle ( 200765 )

    Oz [imdb.com] as an MMO setting!? I'm not sure I could stomach the prison rape scenes necessary for levelling up... ;)

    • Munchkin rape? (Score:2, Interesting)

      by bretharder ( 771353 )
      Even in the Oz they're refering to, The Wizard of Oz, according to a friend who read Frank Baum's books the Wicked Witch is green because her mother was raped by a munchkin.
    • Young un's forced to play 1 hour/day will be so averse to prison that they'll be good IRL.

      Also can you imagine the avatar names: Chuckles Manson, Mr. Goatse...

  • Franchises MMORPGs (Score:5, Insightful)

    by RogueyWon ( 735973 ) on Sunday August 15, 2004 @03:50AM (#9972880) Journal
    Franchised MMORPGs are a risky venture. Get it right, and you can draw on an audience for your game which goes beyond the normal MMORPG-playing market, circumventing the argument that there are too many developers competing for too few customers. Get it wrong and you have an expensive mess on your hands which you then have to support for the next few years, while it damages the reputation of your franchise in the meantime.

    Success or failure depends on a large number of factors. Obviously, the biggest of these is how good the game mechanics are. A MMORPG lives or dies by these; players spend a lot of time in a MMORPG and a crummy interface, boring combat or a crippled economy will have them leaving in droves. However, the mechanics of a good MMORPG are a discussion for another comments thread. How a franchise can help a MMORPG succeed or fail is what's relevant here.

    To a large extent, I think the nature of the franchise is important. In particular, being tied too closely to a specific book or film is dangerous. I'll illustrate this by pointing out two recent franchised MMORPGs and how the franchises have hindered them.

    Final Fantasy XI (if you've read my posts elsewhere, you'll already know I love this game) has exactly the right kind of franchise. "Final Fantasy" is difficult to pin down; each of the games has its own characters, worlds, plot and game mechanics. The only commonalities between the games are a few core gameplay concepts, the names of a couple of characters and a few world-elements, such as airships and chocobos. Within those very, very few constraints, the developers were free to create whatever world they wanted. The result was a world which looked and felt like a Final Fantasy world, but which had been carefully balanced to work as a MMORPG. Sure, a lot of newbies wanted to be a summoner, because summons have been one of the cooler things about recent FF games, but there's no fundamental requirement of the game universe that Summoners be uber-characters (in fact, unless the player is willing to put a *lot* of time and effort into developing it, the Summoner's generally felt to be a weak class in most areas). For the most part, people accept this.

    By contrast, Star Wars Galaxies had a more unsuitable franchise and used it in a way that added further constraints. By setting the game during the time of the movies, when the Jedi were apparently nearly extinct and forced into hiding, the developers allowed the universe to constrain the game in a lot of ways. Let's face it, most of the players who tried out Galaxies wanted to be a Jedi. In the films, Jedi are uber-warriors, capable of all kinds of neat tricks. This already gave the devs a major problem, in that allowing a class like that, particularly in a game with PvP, is just not feasible in a MMORPG. So, the devs were forced to put Jedi in the world (upsetting those die-hard fans who dislike any deviation from the cannonical universe), make it extremely hard to become a Jedi (which upsets a lot of those who wanted to become a Jedi), and ensuring that the class wasn't actually all that powerful (upsetting those who put the time and effort into unlocking it). The result is pretty much the worst possible scenario. I think it would have been more sensible to set the game in an era more removed from the movies, as they did with KOTOR, to allow for a little more creative control, although it still wouldn't have solved some of the underlying problems.

    The Star Wars license also accentuated what was missing from the game when it released. Space combat is such a huge part of the Star Wars universe that it's understandable that people were so upset it wasn't there from release. Had the airships been missing from Final Fantasy XI when it was released, it wouldn't have been anything like such a big deal.

    Ultimately, Galaxies hasn't failed miserably and still has a respectable player-base. However, the damage that has been done to the franchise's reputation is not trivial and will be hard to undo.
    • The damage can easily be undone by distributing a free 2 week demo.. which they have. I'm actually rather shocked by how fun the game is. Certainly I'm having more fun playing my wookie industrialist than I ever did in EQ.
      • Dancing as a career and being a Jedi are the only two cool new things about it. Crafting is not. Trading is not, not even as a career.

        And since I'll never unlock Jedi as I am not a college or high school student with 8+ hours per day of free time...and since I've been a dancer for 9 months, and it's starting to get boring...

    • Final Fantasy XI (if you've read my posts elsewhere, you'll already know I love this game) has exactly the right kind of franchise. "Final Fantasy" is difficult to pin down; each of the games has its own characters, worlds, plot and game mechanics. The only commonalities between the games are a few core gameplay concepts, the names of a couple of characters and a few world-elements, such as airships and chocobos. Within those very, very few constraints, the developers were free to create whatever world th

  • The Forgotten Realms. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Arivia ( 783328 ) <arivia@gmail.com> on Sunday August 15, 2004 @03:51AM (#9972883) Journal
    (Even though it's a D&D setting, a properly done FR MMORPG would be much different from D&D Online.)
    The Realms is the most detailed, largest fantasy setting there is. It has an insane variety to it-games ranging from Chondathan caravan runs to Tuigan hunting excursions to searching for Netherese artifacts in Anauroch would all be possible. It lends itself equally to instanced events and random encounters. It would already have a large promised user base. User guilds are encouraged by the setting, and already have many existing parallels. It comes with an established rules system already in place. In short, it has endless possiblities as an MMORPG-if done properly, by a group paying attention to the 2e design philosophy and hopefully with a designer watching them carefully. There is a problem, however:

    Due to the layout of Faerun, a team would either have to cover a huge area or create arbitrary barriers to movement.
    • Why a 2e design philosophy?

      Granted, there was a lot more Realms material released under 2e, much of it good, but in terms of the rules themselves... ugh... why would you want to go back to that kind of retarded brokenness? Or am I just misunderstanding what you mean?

      • I don't mean the rules at all. Rather, I was referring to the switch of the content in Realms sourcebooks(amongst other problems due to the almost-script k1dd13 group WotC is currently trying to appeal to) from usable content detailing the Realms to rules that lazy DMs can rip off(as they think their market share is people wanting to rip the Realms off for their homebrewed groups). In short, compare the 3e version of Lords of Darkness and Cloak and Dagger-which one's a better product? I could write an essa
        • To a certain extent, I'm inclined to agree with you. I go back to the release of the original 1st edition boxed set with the campaign, and there was a lot of great FR stuff put out in 2nd edition.

          There was a lot of bad or weak stuff put out in that era, too, though. And the concept of tacking rules material onto story material to sell the latter certainly didn't start in 3e, though it seems to have become more the rule. In 2e, it was things like new spells, specialty priest types, kits, and magic it

  • Disney mmorpg (Score:4, Informative)

    by fabio ( 78385 ) <gifbmp@nospAm.gmail.com> on Sunday August 15, 2004 @04:12AM (#9972927) Homepage Journal
    Disney have entered the mmorpg market with their cartoony game aimed at children, its a pretty simple game

    http://www.toontown.com/ [toontown.com]

    (doesnt support other browsers than IE)

  • Say no to franchises (Score:4, Interesting)

    by BlightThePower ( 663950 ) on Sunday August 15, 2004 @05:20AM (#9973021)
    By and large the franchised single-player game stinks. And always has done, going back to ET on the Atari 2600 and the numerous 1980s 8-bit attempts from Ocean and the like.

    Franchises are worse news still for MMORPG.

    When we see a film or read a book, by and large we want to read about exceptional people who are (in scifi & fantasy anyway) usually heroic. A world of heroes just doesn't work. We can't ALL be off killing Darth Vader. We can't ALL be "the one" spoken of in prophesy. The scifi/fantasy genres don't lend themselves to being about the average man in the street (and lets face it, thats who we play every hour of every day in real life anyway).

    Some argue that existing in the universe of X is fun enough. But if we look at SWG as a testcase, many said they were happy to be a humble citizen (say, a crafter or small time hunter, what have you) but it hasn't worked out that way ultimately. Every other person (before I left) was a level-grinding Jedi wannabe. And from what I've seen since, every other person just about is now actually a Jedi. Good intentions came to nought as SOE pushed the Jedi class in order to ramp up interested in putative subscribers (never mind alienating their existing player base, but thats another rant).

    In the end the best MMORPGs will not be based on franchises. In a genre supposely all about imagination and open horizons we don't need or want a roadmap.

    • A world of heroes just doesn't work. We can't ALL be off killing Darth Vader.

      This franchise [cityofheroes.com] would probably disagree with you.
      • Thats why it works and really it illustrates my point.

        Imagine if it was Marvel Superheroes. Half a dozen spidermen and a twenty Captain Americas all of whom have killed their ninth Dr Doom of the day. Bit silly.
        • Not to mention how silly it is either of those two could kill Dr. Doom...

          Witness:

          ** Spiderman3764, who can lift a bus, punches a rat for 3 points of damage.

          ** A rat bites YOU for 8 points of damage!

          ** Hulk4885, who throws a 60 ton tank a mile, punches a rat for 4 points of damage.

          ** Hulk enrages!

          ** Hulk punches a rat for 5 points of damage.

          etc.

        • /Dr Doom

          You fools! Dr. Doom cannot die! He is so mighty that you merely lull him into a (painful) sleep! /end Dr. Doom
    • However franchises can bring a huge amount of people to the game. Look at SWG if it did not have the Star wars name would anyone have even looked at?
      However they do need to just ignore the big name, famouse people from the franchise and focus on presenting a game based around the world, aka knight of the old reblic.
      If will be interesting if middle earth online does any better. They have decided that they will have the various game area set after the ring bearer and after major events have already happe
      • Well we'll never know is SWG would have gotten off the ground without the big name. Obviously it helps from a marketing point of view. I can't think of many other space MMORPGS, but I know the downfall of Neocron wasn't because it didn't have a big name license but because of game play and balance issues. EveOnline is still going (see FP story about it currently here on slashdot) but in my view it was inordinately time consuming and frankly a little dull (spend money to play with a graphical version of Exce
  • Pong MMORPG. Be the ball. Be the paddle. Be the line in the middle of the screen!
  • In my opinion would be a translation of the 80s table top RPG "Rifts". I still GM a game myself, and it's quite fun. Some years back me and some friends begun drafting an engine that could support a universe of unlimited size (macro infinite), with a real sense of scale on individual planets, particually earth. We even came up with a way to effectively simulate other "dimensions" - populated by tons of unique and varied AI that reminds you of KOTOR or GTA at first glance. The idea was to space out playe
    • Hell, I wouldn't mind seeing a Rifts game period.

      I always thought the world and story to Rifts was cool. However, although I tried playing in a few different campaigns of it, I ultimately decided I couldn't stand it -- the game mechanics in general and the combat in specific just bogged down WAY too slow for me. It wasn't unusual for a decent sized combat to suck up an entire night by itself.

      A computer, on the other hand, could crunch those numbers and make all of those parry/dodge/roll/etc. rolls
      • I agree, the depth of the Rifts universe was awesome. The universe well beautifully detailed in the books, but like you said, the combat mechanics were slow. Unlike D&D where you could get somewhere in a couple hours, Rifts always bogged down in combat that would get stretched over a few days.

  • Xanth (Score:3, Interesting)

    by offerk ( 764276 ) on Sunday August 15, 2004 @05:43AM (#9973055) Journal
    I think Xanth [hipiers.com] would make a great "magic MMORPG". Everyone could choose to have a unique magical talent that would be weak to begin with, but unlike the books [amazon.com], with experience you could "level up", and make your talent stronger or different. The game software could keep track of assigned talents and make sure no two are exactly the same (one of the base assumptions of Xanth).
    Imagine- fighting the Gap Dragon or dueling with another player who can create holes under your feet. Way cool :-)
    • As a huge fan of the Xanth series, I would love to play this game. However, I don't think anybody could pull it off successfully. Why?

      Simple. The talents would be too difficult to make unique. On top of that, part of the coolness of the series was to see how creatively people could use their talents (which often times relied on puns). Computers really aren't capable of handling that kind of reasoning yet. Another reason it would flop is that part of what created the world and drove it was the fact tha

      • Dear Lord,
        (Sorry, couldn't resist :-))
        The talents would be too difficult to make unique
        I think I mentioned in my post that a game software (server) would make sure that talents are unique. Surly that would be fairly easy to program into the game?
        As for your other points, I agree it would not be easy to get people to be creative with their talents, but I think it is not impossible- not every MMORPG involves killing monsters and amassing gold. Some are about building communities, buildings, trade, etc. I
        • "I think I mentioned in my post that a game software (server) would make sure that talents are unique. Surly that would be fairly easy to program into the game?

          I'm sorry, but I don't know why you think the fact that a server will make it somehow magically easier to implement. Part of the problem is the insane difficulty of coding something that unique, and part of it is todays computers not being powerful enough to handle the detailed interaction with the world necessary to make the talents actually worka

  • Snowcrash (Score:4, Insightful)

    by lllama ( 228050 ) on Sunday August 15, 2004 @06:08AM (#9973101)
    Deliver pizza, be a Kourier, practice your sword fighting, stake your claim in the Metaverse, buy your own Rat-thing, live in Mr Lee's Greater Hong Kong, work for the Feds, tool up with goo guns, ride your bike, design an avatar, be a rock star.

    Or declare yourself a nuclear state and hi-jack a submarine.
    • Ender's Game battle school. The gang tension inside battle school. Minigames with their computers. Battles. As you progress, you gain command of other students and maybe even your own army. And then the obvious Bug-war expansion.

  • Stargate (Score:4, Interesting)

    by theCoder ( 23772 ) on Sunday August 15, 2004 @06:09AM (#9973104) Homepage Journal
    I was actually thinking about this the other day, and realized that Stargate would make a very interesting MMORPG. Lots of different worlds and races, and a lot of conflict to induce fights. The biggest disadvantage is that there aren't a lot of classes (fighter, medic, scientist, anything else?) and no real magic system (though varying levels of technology could be considered magic).

  • What about Alice in Wonderland?

    Wouldn't it be interesting to have an MMORPG where there isn't a focus on leveling or combat, but to see just how weird the place can be?

  • How bout one based on /. (Score:5, Funny)

    by foidulus ( 743482 ) * on Sunday August 15, 2004 @07:48AM (#9973297)
    I can already hear it now, "damnit, my level 15 cowboy neal was slain by a level 13 Commander Taco, now I gotta get enough karma to revive him!"

  • Babylon 5 (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Dachannien ( 617929 ) on Sunday August 15, 2004 @08:21AM (#9973397)
    Personally, I think Babylon 5 would make for a far more compelling MMOG than Star Trek would. Star Trek's sense of conflict was always generated by large-scale disagreements which disturbed a utopian balance - in essence, there were a few major characters (Federation, Romulans, Cardassians...) duking it out. But B5 brought that sense of conflict down to a personal level, where individuals had conflict with one another because they lived in an imperfect society - one wrapped up in a spinning tin can, to boot.

    You could *have* space combat, if you wanted. But you wouldn't *need* space combat in B5 - there's enough potential for plot material right there on the station. Star Trek would be hard-pressed to do the same, since generally everybody on board any ship or space station was already on the same side.

  • If you were really trying for the Oz crowd (scarecrows and ruby slippers not shankings and rapes), the Harry Potter machine might be a more profitable choice. Lots of possibilities, and a very large and loyal fan base.

    And if they did want the other Oz, they could always hang out in the Azkaban section of the game.

    • Re:Harry Potter (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Calmiche ( 531074 )
      You know, when I first read this one, I didn't think much of it. Then, when I started thinking about it, it got better and better.

      I mean, you pretty much have the entire world to explore! Start off a new character and use Hogwarts as a base to learn basic spells and skills, as well as a healing location. Have a room with limited storage for you character and hundreds of low level quests based around the castle.

      You can integrate the sorting hat into character creation, specalize in whatever class you wa
  • I can't believe that Mechwarrior or Battletech isn't on this list. Engines alerady exist for online Mech Combat (instanced battles). All that is needed is to fill in the details of FASA's gritty "outside the mech" world. I would love to build a full Mercenary company and fight bad ass coordinated Mech Battles. The only problem I would see is lag, lag, lag.
    • The Battletech/Mechwarrior universe is a great choice for a MMOG. I myself am amazed it has not been announced yet. I have talked with a number of MMO gamers, and almost all of them were drooling at the though of a game being based on that franchise. It has content that is just asking to be in a game of that scale. It is expandable to the limits of what the game developer can physical build. It can have both rpg elements, and fps combat. Mech combat including all elements of the BT universe. SOE's Planetsi
    • Remember Battletech 2035? I played the beta for a few weeks, and it was a lot of fun. Not quite an MMORPG in the traditional sense, but it was an MMO game nonetheless.

      Pity it was canceled.

  • At least I'm not the only one (Score:5, Funny)

    by zangdesign ( 462534 ) on Sunday August 15, 2004 @10:25AM (#9973899) Journal
    who thought "gee, prison rape doesn't sound like a good MMORPG to me" before I remembered the Wizard and the Flying Monkey thing. Of course, I also thought Australia before I thought L. Frank Baum, so that shows you how long it's been since I read the books.

    Australia would make kind of a cool MMORPG for those of us who haven't been there. Being a 10th level croc-botherer ("OY! I'm gonna move this here croc from this bit'o mud to that bit'o mud") or a barbie-wrangler ("Ay! Lemme go get some shrimps, mate!") has it's attractions when you're only half-awake. Plus there's that bit about gravity reversal since they're on the bottom of the world.

    Man, I really need to start drinking coffee instead of gin when I wake up ...

  • The problem with MMOs isn't lack of good ideas... (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    ...it's the players. Or rather, the general vacuum of etiquette, intelligence and propriety.

    That's the problem with pay-to-play... anyone who can pay, can play, regardless of their social deficiencies. For a game genre whose major component is social this is a quite an oversight... but the alternative - turning away money - is worse than having a festering, rotten community to every MMO publisher.

    I'm sick of the "Bob's Dance Club" MMOGs, regardless of what license-of-the-month they're bearing. Where ar
    • anyone who can pay, can play, regardless of their social deficiencies

      I have another way to describe your sentiment:

      The problem with online games is that you, and everybody else online, are a jerk.

      I can complain about how bad everyone online is, but then I realize that honestly, I'm doing the same stuff. I slowly started to realize that it's the games, it's not just me. The games require just enough twitch to make socializing difficult. You have to type the key to swing your axe at the spider at the
      • The games require just enough twitch to make socializing difficult.

        On the other hand, are you really supposed to be socializing, or playing a game? Some online games which don't require constant button-pushing evolve to be "a chatroom with monsters", where players discuss completely irrelevant topics as they play. Anyone who chats too much about the game is branded a newbie (because if you think you need to discuss something, it demonstrates that you haven't played it enough to already know what everyon
        • Well, really, online games have me doing my best performance of attack, while the monster does their best performance of attack. I will switch tactics only if something goes radically off script, like if I've lost too many hit-points, or if a friend starts running away, or if another monster starts hitting me with a wet noodle. But those events are fairly rare - they happen maybe 1 in 10 - more likely 1 in 30 combats, in most of the games I've played. That's because non-suicidal players are very careful
  • There are LOTS of franchises out there that could be used.

    The Matrix (set before the movies). You could play a human or an AI.

    Zelazny's Amber books would be very cool, but hard to get right. Items that are powerful in one universe could be useless in another, etc.

    Lovecraft. "Hey, let's go raid R'Lyeh and gank Cthulhu!"

    Niven's Known Space. Lots of interesting races to play. As a subset, it could be limited to Ringworld.

    Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time, but it'd have to be set before the books.

    The Tho
    • Fitting right in there would also be Julian Mays Pliocene Epoch Earth...
    • Gor. Adult only.

      This one seems to be invading most of the social MMOGs. It's definitely been spotted in SecondLife and The Sims Online, and I suspect there's a Gorean group in There.

      Anyone know about Disney's Toontown?
    • The Matrix (set before the movies). You could play a human or an AI.

      Uh, you know it's coming out this year, right? [warnerbros.com].

      And it's set after the movies, which doesn't matter, since the events of the films changed NOTHING... (Incidently, the game's timeframe was announced before Matrix Revolutions came out, which was a spoiler)

      Lovecraft. "Hey, let's go raid R'Lyeh and gank Cthulhu!"

      Better if you play as alien monsters... manifest temporary physical forms on earth to hunt mortals, seeking to devour either fl
  • To me, the obvious next MMO is based on either the Fallout series of single player RPGs, or the Mad Max movies: either way, a post apocalyptic desert-world where inhabitants must scrounge weapons and resources and survive in a harsh environment.

    Closely related would be a massively multiplayer version of Car Wars/AutoDuel, in which the scenario is the same, but the gameplay focuses on your vehicle. Sort of like Eve Online translated to the wasteland.

    Finally, Frank Herbert's Dune novels present a rich world
  • Or War World. Or the Sopranos. *heh* Or Shannara. World of Tiers. Well World. Retief. There's tons of good worlds to exploit.

    Brian
  • There are a couple of problems with certain types of franchises. Several have been mentioned previously, but I noticed that the James Bond MMOG franchise idea wasn't brought up much. Creating an MMOG based on a franchise that is character based (which is true to the extreme in the case of James Bond), is a very bad game design decision. With an MMOG, you have to consider the number of players involved. A James Bond MMOG simply wouldn't work because you can't have 10,000 James Bonds. And someone who's play
  • I recommend Oz [hbo.com].

  • There are tonnes of great MMO ideas. (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Inoshiro ( 71693 ) on Sunday August 15, 2004 @12:33PM (#9974650) Homepage
    Harry Potter's got to be the most obvious one, overlooked by EA in their lust for shitty game design.

    Seriously, with the books and movies being so good, why would you want to rehash the action again in a game? Wouldn't it be more fun to make your own character's story in the HP universe? I'd love to see a virtual hogwarts, filled with thousands of other subscribers who are enjoying making their own way in the magical world. They could have their own groups and alliances, explore different sections of the grounds (perhaps using something like instancing so that more people can go in the same areas without choking them ;)), learn magical powers, etc. Carving one's own story is always more interesting than rehashing an oft-retold one.

    Whenever a book comes out, EA wouldn't have to wai for the movie to come out, too. They could just add the characters and areas as a small expansion. There's plenty of source material already, and I know a lot of people (such as people who also frequent HOL [hol.org.uk]) would love to be involved in that kind of fun game.

    I hope someone ballsy enough to do this gets the licence at some point. It's so great an idea for an MMO :)
  • Harry Potter Online has been worked on by EA for years. The first one was cancelled at the same time they cancelled UO2 (OWO:O) and Privateer Online. I've heard the second attempt was cancelled, too. The current version under development is called "Hogwarts Online" which gives you an idea of where they are headed with it. Battletech 3025 was also developed previously by EA, and cancelled. The Matrix Online is coming out this fall. There are several other IP franchises that are worth considering: Trave

  • Do we really need more MMOGs targeted for younger demographics?

    We've already seen how an MMOG can ruin the lives of fully-grown, critically-thinking adults. Setting up an addictive game targeted to those who haven't yet developed the responsibility structure and critical thinking skills necessary to protect themselves from addiction can't be a good idea.

  • real life (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 15, 2004 @04:00PM (#9975811)
    I think the best mmorpg would be based on real life.
    No weird ass magic, no weird ass weapons.

    set in some realistic looking city.
    just you, weapons that really exist and your wits, and societies lack of morals,

    Wanna be a crime boss. go for it.
    Wanna fight crime. go for it.
    Wanna be a corporate bigwig go for it.
    there would be lots more.
    psycho killer, grifter, medical, shop keeper, maufacture of needed items.
  • People. Longest running sci-fi series EVER! Dr. Who. While you might not get to be a Time Lord, you could be a Dalek (Nations estate willing), Cyberman, Auton, hell, there's too many to consider here... But yeah, being a Time Lord would kick a$$.

    BBC? You listening?

    How about Hitchhiker's Guide?

    There's a gazillion comic book franchises... But those are truly character-driven and yes, I know it's being done already...

    Seems like all the old school RPG's would be ripe as well. I've always wondered why Steve
  • The reason the Bond type games won't work is because everybody wants to be a star, and that just doesn't work. Period. Level grinding to become one of the few top people sucks, plain and simple.

    Personally, if I had to pick a franchise, it might be the World of Darkness. PLENTY of customization options, and whole different realms of gameplay as often times vampires, werewolves, mages, etc don't interact with each other as much as they interact with members within their "game". The potential for that worl

    • whole different realms of gameplay as often times vampires, werewolves, mages,

      The traditional powers/vulnerabilities of vampires and werewolves would create a specific game design challenge: Just what would the day/night cycle be?

      Vampires shouldn't be able to go outside in daylight, but an MMORPG won't survive if 50% of the time its subscribers can't log in and walk around.

      Possible solutions:
      1. Make vampires immune to sunlight. But this removes dark, gothy style.
      2. Eternal darkness. For some magic reason,

  • 78 comments, and they miss the obvious answer. (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Incoherent07 ( 695470 ) on Monday August 16, 2004 @02:36AM (#9978371)
    Think about it. What current, wildly popular game series has a huge young fanbase, and is based on the idea of striking out on your own to seek fame, fortune, and power?

    Pokemon. You know... "I want to be the very best, like no one ever was"?

    Actually, the Pokemon series is fairly deep, and was fairly innovative the first time around. Given that the gameplay already revolves around PvM (fighting and capturing wild Pokemon) and the occasional PvP (fighting other trainers), it'd be way too easy. Plus... I for one would actually play a 3D Pokemon MMORPG.
  • Arguably his best work, Lord of Light postulates human refugees who fled from a devasted Earth to land on a planet dominated by beings who gave up their physical forms to become energy, based on "Universal Fire". Once the humans land, they realize they want bodies - human bodies.

    Using high-tech cloning and other methods, the colonists begin to develop strange talents and powers (Attributes and Aspects) based on the deep mythological patterns of their past plus cold-blooded calculation. They battle against
    • Zelazny is my favorite author. Lord of Light is my favorite novel of his. (Though I maintain that his natural length is novella.) But I'd have to say it's wrong for a MMORPG.

      Part of the thing with the Attributes/Aspects is that they were so rare. Maybe if you set it earlier in the timeline, when there were fewer people and so more of them had powers, but it still seems clumsy to me. Plus, I don't think you could safely run a MMORPG where the subject matter was so closely tied to real-world religion. (Part

  • Dragaera would make a great MMORPG setting. You've got a couple of different time periods they could choose from to set it in. Two different magic systems. The different Houses for factions, all of which already have built in ranking systems (which could be different for different houses if they wished.

    Only problem I can see is that you'd end up with too many Jhereg, Dragons, and Easterners, and not nearly enough Teckla, but that's going to be a problem with any world. Not sure how popular Brust is still,

  • Seriously. I remember some people on a gaming forum talking about what it would be like if there were a Pokemon MMORPG. It definitely has the potential for being one at least..

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