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On MMORPG Franchise Fundamentals
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?
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.
(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.
The role of the writer is not to say what we can all say, but what we are unable to say. -Anais Nin
Disney have entered the mmorpg market with their cartoony game aimed at children, its a pretty simple game
http://www.toontown.com/
(doesnt support other browsers than IE)
*resistance is futile, or fuzzy, i dunno*
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.
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!"
> Star Trek could potentially be as messed up as SWG.
/kill SpaceStationRat
Or EQ or any other one out there. I can't wait:
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!
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
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
To celebrate the occasion of my 1000th post, I will post no more forever on Slashdot. Goodbye.
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.