Since there seems to be a certain quiteness in the mmorpg world I thought I would look at the trend of devleoping mmorpgs based on well known IP’s. We currently have Warhammer, Age Of Conan, Stargate, Star Trek on the horizon and the recent release of Lord of the Rings what IP is next …?
There certainly seems to be a slight trend in jumping on to the IP wagon and It does have plenty of merits, well known environments that people can instantly relate to, no need to build up an extensive world background, and an inbuilt audience. However is there room for more ?
I say yes, however is the mmorpg genre able to attract those who dont usually play mmoprg’s based on the an IP’s name alone. Again I say yes, just take a look at Lotro and its sucess, although no hard numbers have been release, there is a large proportion of ‘newbies’ to the mmorpg genre. Just based on those I have met in game. However I feel there is going to be a cap on the number that are willing, or able to play them for a long period of time. So choosing a big name IP is probably the way to go to generate enough hype to build an audience.
Now saying that, I thought I would ask readers what IP would you choose if given the choice of designing a mmorpg based on an already established IP.
I personally would love to see a mmorpg based on Michael Moorcock works … Elric or Hawkmoon. I would think of the two, Harkmoon would be a great choice. It may be a more niche game but it has a more unique feel to it, that is to say less generic fantasy and yet still having his toes in that genre …
What do you think ?
As a side note due to excessive work load this week and next week there wont be many posts by me, however regular services will resume in August …
Honestly, with the 7th book at the close now, I’d love nothing more than to take a trip to the world JK Rowling’s created. Not set during the 1st 7 books, but after.
that was going to be one of my suggestions but I think much like lotro running the adventures running in conjunction with the on going story … might be a better option
I agree that Rowling’s universe would be great for an MMO setting… but only if it didn’t include any of the characters from the books and wasn’t centered around Hogwarts (which isn’t going to happen).
The universe in The Death Gate Cycle by Margarett Weiss and Tracy Hickman could be awesome. That series included some very imaginative worlds. One world is covered in massive jungles, heated by the planet’s core (it had no sun, if I remember right), and its civilizations were built on top of the trees’ thick canopies. I’d also love to see a rune system that mimicks the runes Haplo (the main character) and his people draw on their bodies as a source of magical energy. Imagine being able to read another player’s magical specializations by the particular runes glowing on his or her skin.
That was an awesome fantasy series.
I love the idea of seeing the Stargate universe in action, although of course I worry about how it’ll work out in practice. Battlestar Galactica might be another interesting universe, perhaps set before the calamity or after they reach Earth.
Certainly be intersting to see how stargate does, seems that sci-fi is not the most favourable genre for mmorpgs … with this and tabula rasa on the horizon and eve being so succesful I wonder if it will be enough to open up the genre
I met some of the Cheyenne Mountain folks (Stargate MMO devs) at the AGC last year, but I hadn’t seen any Stargate episodes at the time (I had seen the film). So when I got back home, I went through Stargate: Atlantis and loved it. A good mix of humor and action is always fun.
But that’s also why I decided against applying for a job there and don’t have much hope for the MMO. The humor is such a pivotal aspect of Stargate, as is the particular mesh of characters (the impulsive soldier, the smartass nerd, etc.). And the particular sort of humor that was most important to the series was spontaneous humor, like circumstantial wisecracks and insults.
I just don’t see how anyone could pull off a Stargate MMO.
My ears perked up a while back with the mention of a Firefly/Serenity MMO. Along the same lines, I wouldn’t mind something along the line of the old Wing Commander series.
firefly would be great however with the seemingly lack luster response from gamers to that genre I would think it would be a tough sell …
I’d be all for a Firefly MMO too, it’s an amazing universe he created and the setting would seem to lend its self to an MMO design.
I’d also like to see an MMO developed around Alan Dean Fosters “The Tar-Aiym Krang” (and the rest of the the Commonwealth setting http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanx_Commonwealth).
Maybe EE “doc” Smiths Lensmen series would make an interesting MMO as well.
But really, one they’ll _have_ to do will be an MMO based in the Fallout university…
Another IP i would like to see, well two actually is a mmorpg based of the ccg Legend Of The Five Rings, or even Deadlands, both have game with a wonderful background that isnt to cliched …
battletech
If I could design my own MMO based on an established IP my first choice would be a Doctor Who/Torchwood MMORPG; I blather on a bit about that on my blog. It would be hard to implement it well as an MMO (since there would be no place for grinding mobs in that setting and thats all that developers seem to be able to give us), but I can dream, right?
Another IP I would like to see would be an MMO conversion of the Cyberpunk 2020 RPG gameworld. Joygirls and thugs jacked up on ‘dorphs by a dilapidated Eiffel Tower, megacorps ruling the world. That would be beautiful.
hmm dr who and torchwood would be great although I think the latter is in the similar vien as Funcoms new mmorpg. Either way they certainly would make a great game.
Cyberpunk is something I’m surprised no one has done before. The scope of the genre would certainly be very interesting to do and quite popular as well.
Would also love to see a mmorpg based on Neverwhere book by niel gaimen. another intersting background that would lend itself to a mmorpg