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Licenses And MMO Games - A Good Pairing?
Thanks to GameSpy for their article discussing the realities of building MMOG world based on existing licenses. They point out: "The rush is on. Star Wars Galaxies, released this past summer, was only the beginning. Middle-Earth Online is gearing up to bring The Lord of the Rings to life... The Matrix Online, still secretive, is a real noodle bender: A virtual reality based on living life inside a virtual reality?" But, as Will Wright points out: "Books and movies are by definition very linear properties, as seen from a single protagonist's point of view. That's very hard to put into an online world." The article concludes: "Most agree that great licensed games have to be based on a sense of place, as opposed to character."
Sure, they'll sell well. But until they stop being just another MMORPG with a pretty face (ie, Galaxies is Everquest meets Star Wars, FFXI is Everquest meets [a little] Final Fantasy, etc), many people will be reluctant to try them out. That and the fact that many of them want to charge $15 a month or so...
To think that they could still make a nice profit on a $5 a month charge, and make their fans SO much happier. That and once their game is unsupported, to release the code and allow people to create their own servers, thus not making every Fantasy so Final once the servers are cut.
*End dream world*
I remember seeing this in a Slashdot discussion just a couple of days ago - Burke's rant about SW:G. I don't remember if it was in the editorial itself or in the comments (and I can't really be arsed to search, perhaps someone could karma whore a little for me?). It was a point I found pretty lucid, however: movies will usually focus on a few exceptional characters, but... not everybody can play them. Of course everyone will want to be a Jedi, but having everyone run around with lightsabers won't work in a game. And everyone wants to be Legolas or Gimli, not $randomOrc[351].
It's very hard to convey a sense of being in the licensed universe, unless you get the hierarchy and the composition of trades and races right. For every Frodo you would need 50 resident farmers living in Bree to make it seem real, and NPC's will only get you so far. Until someone can think up a new way of doing MMOGs except the old fight-insects-for-a-couple-of-hours, these licenses will only be a gimmick to make the publisher take less risk and feel safer.
Just my 0.15 SEK.
Quoting the article:
"A big name draws attention, it's really that simple," argues Sony Online Entertainment's Chief Creative Officer, Raph Koster.
Well some people will find atractive to live the same experiences that are on the movies/series/comics/etc, but sadly most of the licences today are really vague on content.
It looks like most of the games tied to an allready developed marketing campaing (SWG, etc) seem to lack a certain appeal to the mayority of the players.
I dont deny that some licences have some good theme to develop content from them, but it will seem that most of the game publishers are rushing the products to meet the deadline, and deadlines and creative content usually dont mix very well. (HULK, Matrix, etc)
IMHO Middle Earth has the great advantage that Tolkien's fans have plenty of well known places they would probably visit, the Shire, Bree, Rivendell, Moria, Smaug Mountain, Minas Tirit, just to name somes, so it's thinkable that people will hang around in the MMORPG just as tourists, just to say I was there... the world has been described in thousands of pages covering differents epochs, so the world itself isn't just a background for the adventures of Bilbo or Frodo...
Starwars's universe has been described in movies, so the additional elements were introduced to give a stage to the characters, so if you're not fighting against (or maybe for) the empire isn't so interesting to be there, and what's the big deal meeting Darth Vader or Jabba the Hutt if you know that they eventually die and lose?
The point is that every MMO game can be very addictive if you have the time to live estranged from the real world for a couple of months and play 24/7, but for the masses of "casual players", who are the key to turn MMO games into a very big businness, it's quite difficult to get involved... so i think that even if being the One on matrix is more appealing than be the average joe in Sims, if you don't have the whole night to stay online you would eventually log in Sims half an hour just to see how your petunias are growing and to chat a little with your neighbours.
I think making MMO based on existing fictional universes is a good thing, although I don't think many things will translate well to a MMO or Have enough fanatical fans to shell out money for them. I have never been intrested in a MMO before, but if they made a StarTrek one I'd definatly give it a try, I know alot of Star wars fan who would never play/pay for a MMO, but now do, so its a great way to bring new audiences into this type of game.
I agree with many of the posts I've already seen - being in a fantasy world built around a few well known characters whose fates are scripted is boring!
For a MMOG to be truly great it must be new, and the well known characters should emerge during game play, from the players.
I think using a popular pre-existing setting leads to people EXPECTING the scripted characters, or at least being able to turn their character into a replica of one of the heroes or villans they remember.
It also tends to invite nitpicking which decreases satisfaction. Just my opinion, of course.
I think that immersion is the largest problem in MMORPGs today. You wouldn't belive how large the percent "churn" (people who cancel accounts early on) is. The problem lies in the fact that it's difficult to really get into a lisenced game world when you feel like the actions that you're allowed to take are all superficial.
I played SWG for exactly one month after launch, just long enough to get out without having to large a time or monatary investment. Everything I was allowed to do in the game was superficial. I could kill randomly spawning rocks (burrows) or randomly spawning rats. I could craft using randomly spawning resources, or go on randomly spawning missions to destroy randomly spawning burrows for a random amount of gold. I don't remember the Star Wars Universe as portrayed in the movies to be anything like that. Heck, they STILL don't have landspeeders!
the more work the developers have.
Worlds (or Galaxies rather) for Star Wars have been so well defined in the books, rpgs, computer games, movies, etc. across sooo many mediums and in such detail it would be near impossible to create an MMORPG setting that remains true to all of it and has enough depth to keep hard core SW fans interested as well as appeal to casual gamers. Granted MMORPGs don't tend to lend themselves to casual gamers but my point is for someone who only plays a few hours a week and/or isn't a well versed SW fan, the depth of such a setting would be lost on them. As gamers we are often critical of the absence of such detail or any inconsistencies too, so it is very hard indeed to create a game based on SW and have it considered to be true to the original spirit.
Therefore, it stands to reason the less detail has already been established in books and movies, the easier it is on the developer in many respects, simply because they have more freedom within which to build.
Take the Matrix - we will have (soon) one game, 3 movies, and one anime film which details the setting. A lot of information to build the Matrix Online with, but not so much that you will be overwhelmed by the details.
On a side note -
You don't need to have ten thousand 'Ones' running around to make the player special. You just need them to have a sense of control or purpose - that they can affect the world. I'd be perfectly content playing an Agent in The Matrix. I'd have a purpose, some measure of power, and a lot of fun taking down other players and roleplaying it out.
if there were a new nintendo console with dvd and dvr, i'd buy it... but why would EVERY nintendo have to have the pvr? why not have 3 or 4 versions? one with dvd, pvr, media center, tv tuning, vga out, games/etc... one that's just dvd/games, and another that is somewhere between?
I've been worrying about this for a while now. What if Middle Earth Company X decides that MUME is taking away their clientle and tries a C&D on them?
The easiest answer to that question is to play SW:G for a month or two.
-e-