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Michael Jackson Themed MMO In the Works

Posted by samzenpus on from the who's-bad? dept.

norton123 writes "SEE has announced plans to published a Michael Jackson themed MMO. From the article: 'Planet Michael is described by SEE as "a massive social gaming experience" with "collaborative in-game activities," set in "an immersive virtual space themed after iconic visuals drawn from Michael's music, his life and the global issues that concerned him."'"

33 of 180 comments (clear)

  1. It's a shame by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Too bad about the COPPA Act. The intended target audience is impossible unless the chatlines and names were narrow pre-determined choices ala Toontown.

    Captcha: upward.

  2. WTF? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why? Just... why? Let his memory die already, please.

    1. Re:WTF? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      Because there are people who want to recreate the fun of diddling little boys? /ducks

    2. Re:WTF? by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Some memories are too profitable to die...

    3. Re:WTF? by spazdor · · Score: 4, Funny

      Say, does anyone want to buy some of these beautiful, gilded "Diana: Princess of Hearts" commemorative dinner plates?

      --
      DRM: Terminator crops for your mind!
  3. Let me guess by GodfatherofSoul · · Score: 5, Funny

    You can only play male gnomes and dwarves.

    --
    I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
    1. Re:Let me guess by Chucky_M · · Score: 5, Funny

      You've been hit by you've been hit by a smooth criminal....

  4. I can see the daily quests now... by CodePwned · · Score: 5, Funny

    1) change your skin color
    2) adjust your facial features
    3) buy a monkey

    I don't want to even THINK about the achievements.

    1. Re:I can see the daily quests now... by Lunix+Nutcase · · Score: 4, Funny

      Don't forget about trying to buy the skeleton of the elephant man.

    2. Re:I can see the daily quests now... by eamonman · · Score: 4, Funny

      1) change your skin color.

      It's not a daily quest; the longer you play, the lighter your skin becomes.

      --
      0- Eamonman Proud member of DNRC
    3. Re:I can see the daily quests now... by MozeeToby · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Make fun of him all you want for #2 and #3, and please disparage him for either being a child molester or at the very least being socially retarded as to not know how creepy he was.

      But #1 never happened. His autopsy confirmed that he had never bleached his skin, that he in fact suffered from an extreme case of vitiligo. In fact, all the evidence points to him being very uncomfortable with his loss of pigmentation; supposedly the reason that he started wearing the single glove was to hide the start of it on his hand, and he never brought it up in any of the interviews he did. It just seems harsh to me to make fun of someone after their death for having a disease that they were so obviously ashamed of.

    4. Re:I can see the daily quests now... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Does the game end when my nose falls off or do I just respawn at my plastic surgeons with my last face and pigmentation settings?

    5. Re:I can see the daily quests now... by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Oh, come off it. Micheal Jackson obviously had a huge complex where he wanted to be white. Look at the photos of him when he was young - he was a handsome African-American man with a wide nose. He could have done quite well with the ladies, had that been his objective. Obviously, it was not. As time goes on, he gets whiter and whiter, and his nose gets narrower and narrower until it became disfigured by too many surgeries. So he likes kids? Great! Get hitched and shit out a litter of his own pups. Then nobody will quest for inconvenient truths like why he sleeps in the same bed with children. If he honestly had a platonic idea of love with young'uns, then he wouldn't have needed his Jesus Juice, eh? The whole thing stinks of a tragic man, isolated from society by his wealth and his enabling entourage. Have you listened to "Thriller" in the past few years? Give it a fresh listen, it is an outstanding work. I cordially hated MJ during his popularity period in the 80s, mostly due to his endorsemanship of Pepsi (Coke or Dr. Pepper or DIE!)

      However, his music before "Bad" was outstanding, even I cannot deny this. When "Bad" was released, it was obvious to everyone that he had jumped the shark (even though this term was not in common usage at the time). When he started molesting little boys, that was it. He crossed the line. America is endlessly forgiving of popular celebrities...just look at how many of them are reprehensible in one way or another. All you have to do is go to rehab, don the sackcloth and ashes of the repentant, and claim you have seen the light and will sin no more. Look at Robert Downey, Jr...the man got high and broke in to his neighbor's house. He got the Emmy when he was released from prison! A personage no less than Mel Gibson himself took the financial risk to get him back making movies again, and just look at the Ironman franchise these days.

      But the whole "adopting white kids" thing took him really over the edge. There are millions of colored children who would love to be adopted by rich celebrities...just look at Madonna or Brangelina. It's fashionable! Micheal Jackson was a man with serious issues. If he wasn't the son of Joe Jackson, he would just be another 50 year old child molester serving a long sentence in a California prison.

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    6. Re:I can see the daily quests now... by mattack2 · · Score: 3, Informative

      I'm not sure what you think Michael Jackson owned, but read and understand this: http://www.snopes.com/music/artists/jackson.asp

      He owned particular _rights_ to the music, but was not "in control" of the Beatles music.

    7. Re:I can see the daily quests now... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

      My personal opinion why my generation never developed a mashed potato or a time warp or much of anything other than standing around in a mosh pit and bouncing up and down is because Micheal Jackson killed dance. Killed it dead. The 2 or 3 people at the highschool dance who could do the moonwalk without looking like crap couldn't manage any of his other moves, so we all just gave up.

      After that, MTV kept dance from rising from the grave by making sure the 2 music videos they showed had nothing but scantily clad women shaking their tits and ass at the camera.

    8. Re:I can see the daily quests now... by BlueParrot · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I've seen African-Americans with the disease before, they just have patches of pigmentless skin.

      That is the most common symptome, but it isn't always like that. Vitiligo comes in different forms and the more severe cases can very rapidly remove pigmentation in huge areas of the skin. Theres even a name for it "vitiligo universalis". As it happens, it isn't actually possible to bleach your skin the way people thought Michael Jackson did. For peopel that have vitiligo you can sometimes get a more even skin tone through the use of bleaching, but there is no reliable way to turn a healthy black person white.

      Ok, explain to me this: how does mutilating your nose help in any way with vitiligo?

      It doesn't. However as somebody who've had some severe issues with body image, I can tell you from personal experience that this kind of irrational responses to body changes is not at all rare. In my case it was rather mild, but MJ allegedly suffered from Vitiligo, Lupus , Anorexia Nevrosa, had problems with drug abuse and was abused as a kid. Now add in to that the stress from being the focus from tabloids, having everybody speculate about why your appearance is changing... Heck the anorexia nevrosa alone can kill people from self-starvation. Imagine throwing in the rest of that cocktail of issues he was dealing with ( and there is little doubt he had a lot of issues ) and it's surprising the guy was even able to perform on a regular basis.

  5. Character selection screen by js3 · · Score: 4, Funny

    The character selection screen will have two choices. Micheal Jackson and a Little White boy.

    --
    did you forget to take your meds?
    1. Re:Character selection screen by spun · · Score: 4, Funny

      I thought you said two choices? What's the other one besides Michael Jackson the Little White Boy?

      --
      - None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
    2. Re:Character selection screen by jornak · · Score: 4, Funny

      Ding! You've leveled up! You can now change your class to "White MJ"! You've learned the skill "Dodge Lawsuit"! You've gained 3,000 MP (Molestation Points)!

  6. First question on signup by Caerdwyn · · Score: 4, Funny

    A/S/L ?

    --
    Everybody gets what the majority deserves.
  7. At level 40 milliion$, you can buy your 1st mount! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Well it is not so much buying, as paying off his parents.

    They Are also introducing an SciFi themed Michael Jackson FPS called Alien vs Child Predator.

  8. Re:LOL by MaWeiTao · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I'm fairly certain this will never see the light of day. I'm doubt it will even get beyond the concept art phase.

    Michael Jackson's musical talent aside, who in their right mind would care enough to play a game like this? The kind of people who might actually care that much about him are unlikely to ever touch an MMO. Unless it's developed as a Facebook game perhaps.

  9. this aint right by frovingslosh · · Score: 5, Insightful

    A MMO based on abusing drugs, molesting little kids and buying white babies to claim they are your own? Just doesn't seen right.

    --
    I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
  10. Is this really just... by drc003 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    ..a fake /. story posted as a beautiful "set" for unlimited +5 Funny "spikes" for everyone?

    If it isn't then this will make a great "Really?" segment on SNL's Weekend Update.

    1. Re:Is this really just... by dkleinsc · · Score: 5, Funny

      How come you're such a fussy young man?
      Complaining 'bout the jokes if people come to play?
      You better settle down, or be modded as a troll, so
      quit it, just quit it.

      Is there a reason you don't wanna behave?
      Expecting stupid parodies or tech news you crave?
      Just remember samzenpus is editor today, so
      quit it, just quit it.

      Quit it! Quit it! Don't you make me submit it!
      Have an Insightful, have a +5,
      if you don't like it then post some dumb flame, and
      quit it (quit it, quit it)

      --
      I am officially gone from /. Long live http://www.soylentnews.com/
  11. Truly sad by BobMcD · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Now that he's dead the owners of his 'brand' will sell, sell, sell his image until it becomes a mere parody of someone famous.

    I imagine he would have wanted better. Respect, for example.

    1. Re:Truly sad by Microlith · · Score: 3, Interesting

      sell his image until it becomes a mere parody of someone famous

      That was the case well before he was dead, and he did it himself. The rest of this is latent greed, just like all the inevitable "Michael Jackson Xth Anniversary Greatest Hits" album to be released every 5 years from here on out.

    2. Re:Truly sad by BobMcD · · Score: 3, Insightful

      That was the case well before he was dead, and he did it himself. The rest of this is latent greed, just like all the inevitable "Michael Jackson Xth Anniversary Greatest Hits" album to be released every 5 years from here on out.

      Eh, maybe, but I see this as distinct. They're making an MMO. This doesn't appear to be a product that would appeal to Michael fans NOR to MMO fans. It appears to be a blatant cash grab, with little-to-no actual reason for it to exist.

      At least with the every-5-year CD's you're getting music on a disc that you might actually enjoy.

  12. Re:LOL by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 3, Insightful

    As a game proper, this sucker is toast, unless Jackson fans are more rabid than they appear.

    On the other hand, observe the gradual accretion of "casual" features(ie. screensaver-eque autoplay modes that basically make the game function as an MP3 player with visuals) in the Guitar Hero/Rhythm game genre, along with the move toward online digital distribution/marketplace models and the ability to aggregate songs from multiple games...

    As a game in the more or less classic sense, the project seems as doomed as it is stupid. As a game-esque mixture of themed social networking and micropayment nickel an diming for Jackson themed digital "merchandise" I can imagine it at least breaking even.

  13. I just can't wait! by Locke2005 · · Score: 3, Funny

    How can I be one of the first to sign up, so I can make sure I grab the "Pedobear" screen name?

    --
    I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
  14. Re:Funny? Really? by Wyatt+Earp · · Score: 4, Insightful

    His body guards came out and gave interviews. You know the guys in the best position to dish out dirt and make a buck off him.

    They all said he wasn't a child molester, he was shy but did date adult women. He just had a hard time acting like an adult. The bodyguards liked working for him, they had fun with the boss, doing stuff like letting him drive when they went through drive throughs just to freak out the people working.

    While I did believe some of the hype about him in the 1990s, when I read what the body guards said, I figured if anyone knew he was doing bad things, it was them.

  15. Enough With The Trial By Media, Already by damn_registrars · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Naturally a small army of people started threads here asserting their certainty that Michael Jackson actually did what he was accused of doing.

    Yet not one of those people bother to point out that there was never a criminal conviction on those charges. Instead they keep bashing him over what can't be taken to be anything more than accusations.

    And if you think he did do what he was accused of, the person you should really be directing your anger at is the parents of the child who was victimized. Those parents would be roughly the fourth or fifth worst parents in the world; not only for allowing their young child to spend the night with a weirdo but then for dropping the charges in exchange for money. No decent parent, regardless of their financial situation, should ever be willing to compromise on matters of the law in exchange for money. Ever.

    --
    Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
    1. Re:Enough With The Trial By Media, Already by tepples · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Yet not one of those people bother to point out that there was never a criminal conviction on those charges.

      There was also never a criminal conviction of Orenthal James Simpson. He was acquitted of murder but found liable for wrongful death months later.