World of Darkness MMOG In Active Production

Laying the fears of tabletop gamers to rest, CCP (makers of EVE Online) has confirmed that they're already working on a Massively Multiplayer game set in the World of Darkness. The dark setting, a property owned by CCP's new purchase White Wolf Games, will be translated to the Massive genre some time over the next four to five years. There's no word yet on which portion of the setting will be used for the game, but the Eurogamer article hints that vampires will feature heavily in the title. "The World of Darkness MMO was announced when the two companies merged last year, with both the American and Icelandic operations staying quiet on the subject ever since. Fans have since speculated that the game isn't in active production - rumours Bergsson laid to rest last week. '[World of Darkness] is one of the reasons we were so interested in White Wolf,' [Magnus Bergsson] said. 'It's a very mature IP. It's a great title for us to take and make into an MMO. First of all there are no MMOs like it. We kind of like that, and we want to explore some new avenues with that type of MMO - character-based and not being fantasy, per se. It's a real opportunity for us.'"

Comments

More developer interference?

[rbanzai]

Have they outlined how much the developers plan to interfere with the players? It would be nice to see a timeline!

Re:More developer interference?

[LordPhantom]

I suspect Grandparent was making reference to several infamous incidences of the CCP folks (specifically GMs) 'cheating' in EvE Online. The GM/dev incidents and the way CCP mods handled it are one of many reasons I canceled my subscriptions(and no you can't have my stuff, someone else does), and is the prime reason I'm not sure I can invest any time or money in a new effort on their part. I sincerely hope that they do make a great product and maintain the game world integrity - as far as MMOGs go, EvE is the most conceptually interesting game out there.

Re:transition between media.

[Diss Champ]

If anyone can avoid turning it into just another level grind, they have a good shot. Eve is more outside the mold than the other MMO that are doing well, and rather than just licensing the world they have the people who do the tabletop/larp games on the inside now. I'm also glad they are willing to take 4-5 years to do it- too many games these days schedule just enough time for the interface without enough for gameplay, and launch with what would be better called a proof of concept demo than complete product.

Good and bad

[bar-agent]

On one hand, there will be more roleplaying. On the other, the roleplaying will be all angsty and goth. On the gripping hand, roleplayer or not, all players will be griefers and minimaxers.

I forsee one problem immediately. Most of the WoD stuff is set in modern times, in modern cities. I don't see how a MMORPG can do that right. Let's say, for example, Chicago. Chicago is big. And we know what Chicago is supposed to be like, what the streets are, etc. And it is full of people. A tiny Chicago with a handful of NPCs is not going to work.

So, they will either have to use the middle-ages stuff, or use fake cities and tricks like keeping you in one neighborhood while showing the rest of the city "just over the wall."

Re:Good and bad

[jollyreaper]

I foresee one problem immediately. Most of the WoD stuff is set in modern times, in modern cities. I don't see how a MMORPG can do that right. Let's say, for example, Chicago. Chicago is big. And we know what Chicago is supposed to be like, what the streets are, etc. And it is full of people. A tiny Chicago with a handful of NPCs is not going to work.

So, they will either have to use the middle-ages stuff, or use fake cities and tricks like keeping you in one neighborhood while showing the rest of the city "just over the wall." Unless they license the content from Google Streets....:)

Seriously, I wonder how long it will be until Google Earth content gets included in serious gaming. I've heard some people were working on a novelty port of Risk but what I'm thinking of is more like X-Com. Especially when you consider the stuff they have going with the 3D Buildings, textures and all, it gives me flashbacks to the traffic control program from the Ghost in the Shell movie.

Maybe the actual satellite imagery wouldn't look as good in a gaming environment but it could probably be a start for seeding procedural content generation code ala Spore. "Ok, this area should be shoreline, make it look so. Flat grasslands here, steppe and plains there, mountains over yonder." Generate flora and fauna and there you go. "Bullshit," you say? "Impossible?" "Too much work?" I would have said the same ten years ago if you told me about even half the stuff we're playing with today.

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