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General: Five IPs to Bring in a New Demographic

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  • raidasfanraidasfan Member Posts: 1

    I'd like to see a Legacy of Kain MMO... or at least a movie series.

  • RealmLordsRealmLords Member Posts: 358

    Great list!  Its unfortunate but the real issue boils down to who has enough management and team able to pull of a successful release.  IP means nothing if the MMO is flubbered.

     

    I would really like to see a good Trek MMO.

     

    Ken

     

    www.ActionMMORPG.com
    One man, a small pile of money, and the screwball idea of a DIY Indie MMORPG? Yep, that's him. ~sigh~

  • ScotScot Member LegendaryPosts: 22,986

    What a cop out, call the article what it is “Five MMO IPs to bring in a female audience”. Grow a pair and say it as it is.

    We can already see the influence of women on the MMO genre. Food, housing and cuteness are all their legacy, one I am rather ambivalent too. I have noticed we have to thank them for the drive for character customisation too, non are more vocal than they, and that is a MMO element I regard as important.

    You could certainly enhance the social aspect of MMO’s without detriment to the combat element. Take your MMO housing space and turn that into a version of the Sims. On its own server if need be.

    Can any MMO which is not supposedly going to pull in every demographic get funding these days? I doubt it, but as he said he is waxing lyrical.

    Oh and Girls are not as interested as boys in Lego. It is a cause of hang wringing by social worthies at schools who just can’t accept that men and women are different. :)

  • SasamiSasami Member Posts: 326

    Nice list Im gonna comment what kind a people this would bring:

    5) Virtual Realm social porn masturbaters and teen whores(last was true in old sims online).

    4) Who the hell is Nancy Drew???

    3) Uber nerds, do we really need more of them?

    2) Middle aged mens (seriously have you ever seen woman near legos?) who think they are kids.

    1) Pedobears with Emma Watson posters

  • ShealladhShealladh Member UncommonPosts: 90
    Originally posted by Scot


    What a cop out, call the article what it is “Five MMO IPs to bring in a female audience”. Grow a pair and say it as it is.
    We can already see the influence of women on the MMO genre. Food, housing and cuteness are all their legacy, one I am rather ambivalent too. I have noticed we have to thank them for the drive for character customisation too, non are more vocal than they, and that is a MMO element I regard as important.
    You could certainly enhance the social aspect of MMO’s without detriment to the combat element. Take your MMO housing space and turn that into a version of the Sims. On its own server if need be.
    Can any MMO which is not supposedly going to pull in every demographic get funding these days? I doubt it, but as he said he is waxing lyrical.
    Oh and Girls are not as interested as boys in Lego. It is a cause of hang wringing by social worthies at schools who just can’t accept that men and women are different. :)



     

    LOL, I was trying to think of something and then read your post, DITTO.

     

    I just love journos and their view that an IP will bring change and shallow depth of even trying to describe what is needed in MMOs. For me I just need an MMO that;

    1. Isn't an IP - They alsways screw them up

    2. Fresh Ideas - Even with a bad B-Movie we can look back and remember how bad something was, yet when we do, there was something fresh and fuzzy about them.

    3. Isn't some alter-ego of some Dev that thinks he knows what I want before they give any facts or for that matter, asked me what I want and why I'm leaving. - Want detailed details, ingame shots, information about what I'm getting into and not some half baked Gold Farming dream MMO

    4. Is not a copycat sandbox game based around WoW, EvE, War or some other lame attempt at a computer game with no context - Give me a place to enjoy on my terms

    5. If all the books in the world were attempted to be translated into every language we could enjoy more entertainment. - Just because something sells a gazillion copies doesn't mean it HAS to have an MMO or Movie made!

     

    I thought I'd try 5 to fit into your theme of your article. I am just so sick of hearing WHAT IS NEEDED as much as NEXT GENERATION GAME, at least you might consider taking one topic and exploring options seeking further discussion rather than a bland coverup of the same 'ol @#$%

  • TharkisTharkis Member CommonPosts: 20

    While I agree those are good IPs and love the concept of a Harry Potter MMO (especially if you started in a school of your choice, and grew up during the course of the game), I think there are some other IPs you totally missed.

    There are a wealth of traditional pen and paper rpgs that could easily be adapted to an MMO. World of Darkness stuff, Rifts, Cyberpunk, the list goes on and on. There's some genres that would fit really well with an MMO and aren't associated with an IP at all. Steampunk, Wild West, Civil War or any war really. Or how about old games that could be made into a MMO, such as Might and Magic, Elder Scrolls (yes I know the later versions had the feel of an MMO, but it wasn't an MMO), and others.

    The thing is, damn near anything can be made into an MMO. The problem seems to be doing it well, not over-hyping it and making it user-friendly. Warhammer is case in point to me. I think the Warhammer universe is an awesome IP and I think Mythic is an awesome studio, but it suffered (imho) from 2 of the 3 problems. It was insanely over-hyped,and in my opinion just wasn't done as well as I hoped.

  • Loke666Loke666 Member EpicPosts: 21,441

    Jon do have a point, MMOs focus on combat and there should be other options in most of them.

    Why can't I play a thief who is a cat burglar and try to avoid combat? And there should be more to dungeons than just mobs and boss fights.

    But I don't care much for Jons IPs myself, I rather have some non combat options into regular MMOs too.

    You can stealth in many MMOs and avoid some combat in them but it only works on regular mobs and it isn't that exiting. AoC do have some points here, the use of light and such is an interesting concept. I would love to see a MMO where you could rob the boss blind without fighting him but it would be a hard challenge.

    A "thief" MMO would be interesting in itself or added to a regular game.

    As for the Star trek MMO, I wish someone else than Cryptic hold the IP, combat should be something that you should be able to avoid in most cases, that is the lore.

    As for a Harry Potter MMO, so far have all companies not been able to make an good single player game so I doubt they could make a MMO that is ok. Besides did Rowling steal most of the stuff from Gailmans "Books of magic" (including the owl and the glasses) and books of magic would probably make a more fun MMO.

    A Lego MMO would most likely sell even though I wont play it.

  • StraddenStradden Managing EditorMember CommonPosts: 6,696
    Originally posted by Tharkis


    While I agree those are good IPs and love the concept of a Harry Potter MMO (especially if you started in a school of your choice, and grew up during the course of the game), I think there are some other IPs you totally missed.
    There are a wealth of traditional pen and paper rpgs that could easily be adapted to an MMO. World of Darkness stuff, Rifts, Cyberpunk, the list goes on and on. There's some genres that would fit really well with an MMO and aren't associated with an IP at all. Steampunk, Wild West, Civil War or any war really. Or how about old games that could be made into a MMO, such as Might and Magic, Elder Scrolls (yes I know the later versions had the feel of an MMO, but it wasn't an MMO), and others.
    The thing is, damn near anything can be made into an MMO. The problem seems to be doing it well, not over-hyping it and making it user-friendly. Warhammer is case in point to me. I think the Warhammer universe is an awesome IP and I think Mythic is an awesome studio, but it suffered (imho) from 2 of the 3 problems. It was insanely over-hyped,and in my opinion just wasn't done as well as I hoped.

    Seriously, and this is an honest question... Did you even read what the list was about? I mean how can you honestly come in here and criticize what was written and the choices that were made without even the most basic of understandings about what the list was actually about. Every single one of those that I "missed" would be a combat-centric MMO.

    Seriously, you don't have to read the article, but if you didn't read, maybe you should consider... you know, not posting about it,

    Cheers,
    Jon Wood
    Managing Editor
    MMORPG.com

  • tman5tman5 Member Posts: 604
    Originally posted by dhayes68


    Regarding your comments on the Star Trek IP, I think its a shame that it has to be a choice between a focus on the combat and a focus on everything else Star Trek was about.  I know it would be a hugely big project but Star Trek is a hugely big IP. Worth the effort.



     

    I so agree with this and am very disappointed Cryptic is talking the approach they are with STO.  The article makes valid points that bringing the noncombat portions of Trek to a game - "True Trek", as I say - would be extremely difficult, yet to not do so misses the important quality that makes Star Trek different from any other SF franchise.  It is too bad Cryptic is taking the easy road.

  • cwRiiscwRiis Member Posts: 32

    Two data points: my two daughters, one is 21, the other 19.  The 19 year old has played MMOs since the ealier days of Everquest.  She curently plays AoC and Champions.  The 21 year old toys around with the FFP stuff coming out, but still dedicates much of her time to CoH.

    Neither girl is interested in SIMS.  Both are dieing to play the MMO KoTOR when it comes out.

    About 10% of the pilots I run into in EVE are female (or great impressionists on Ventrillo).  About half the A0C group I run with are female.

  • sijmistersijmister World of Warcraft CorrespondentMember UncommonPosts: 47
    Originally posted by n2sooners


    How about Pokemon? Doubt I would play it, but with the collection aspect (PvE) and the duals it seems like an obvious choice for an MMO.
     
    I would like to see something on the horror front and I think Underworld might be a good choice for an RvR game with Vampires vs Lycans vs Humans.

     

    OMG YES Pokemon would an awesome MMO. I still play the handheld games too, on occasion. Don't try to pretend that you don't I know plently of people that stuck with it past the age of 13 =P. Who wouldn't want to run around challenging other people to pokemon battles? Yea, it would (and should) be combat based, but there are plenty of aspects to the handheld that could be added to an MMO version of the game that have nothing to do with combat.

    The Sims would make a good MMO if it were reincarnated with the Sims 3. That game almost screams MMO, and my sisters play that damn game almost as much as I play WoW . Ok, not nearly as much, but still a lot =P.

    Regarding the Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew IP, in some of the newer books that have been written, they actually do get into fights, so while it may not be combat based, you could get into the occasional scrap to either defend yourself or to stop a fleeing suspect.

    And as for the LEGO idea, a LEGO MMO would just rule. I would buy it and play it for the first free month just cuz it's LEGO, and if it was good, I would gladly pay to play for a few months. But I am not in the casual demographic, and I do like my combat based games.

  • OzmodanOzmodan Member EpicPosts: 9,726

    Problem with your list, you are talking mostly about MMOs with a social theme.  Problem with such, they attract some of the, as you called them "stalkers", most of us have another name for them.  Controlling such people would have to be a major design decision and difficult to implement.  The problem with the internet today is you really have no idea and no way to determine who the other person is at the other end.  Hence the tendency of these social MMO's to self implode.

    So while it is nice to dream, reality says any of these would be very difficult to design.

    Here is something for you readers to consider.  I have a good friend who plays 2nd Life and participates in several social networks.   She had a great job offer from a company, but lost it because she needed a security clearance and failed to pass the test.  When she inquired she was told that the 2nd Life account and the social networks were red flags.  So the establishment views them very negatively.  Nothing was mentioned about her MMO play.

  • GikkuGikku Member Posts: 208

    I would have to agree on your points on the ones I am familiar with.

    I also agree fully on the Harry Potter. It would be interesting if this one was developed like it should be and I believe if done right would draw a huge band of players.

    Combat is the bases for many of the top MMO's /MMORPG's. I agree this does not appeal to many and as yet I have not seen a game that has successfully made it possible to advance and not do battle on a fairly heavy note.  It would be nice to have one  where you could choose to battle or not. I think there was an attempt at this to a degree in one game but the name slips me at this time.

    I like the combat at times but it would also be nice to be able to advance and not always do combat. /shrug

    Gikku

  • mokoleusmokoleus Member Posts: 142
    Originally posted by MMO_Doubter


    A LEGO MMO which focused on finding pieces and building and tearing apart creations could be a ton of fun. I would not be interested in just a standard MMO with a LEGO look to it.
    "Let go of my nubby brick-blocks!" - bonus nerd points to anyone who can tell me the source of this quote.
     

     

    since it went seven pages without even a guess, corner gas.....

  • Kushiel666Kushiel666 Member Posts: 29

    Harry Potter has so much potential to have an MMO made that goes beyond the traditional genres dynamics.

    1. You create your student.  

    2. You progress through your seven years at Hogwarts and show growth/aging as a result.   The seven years would be the leveling dynamic. 

    3. End game content starts after you seven years and you choose your profession, of course your OWLS must meet the scores required for that profession.

    4. While at school there are classes which would be scheduled events that run 24/7.  Classes are where you learn and hone your skills through mini games that teach you said magic.  You don't have a set schedule, you just attend the classes you want to hone those skills as needed when time a lots.  If there are currently no classes to attend that you are interested then quest, missions, and what have you are available... or you can go to the library to learn skills from research that may not be taught in classes.

    5. PvP in school?  Pranks, pranks, and more pranks.  

    6. Quiditch teams? Yes please?  Of course another modification to the lore, there would have to be more than four teams.  Perhaps one team per "guild" perhaps?  Force the guilds to have try outs.  Get bonuses if your quiditch teams win.  Lots to work with here.

    7.  Mission could involve surviving death eaters searching for a way to resurrect Voldemort or a new power comes out of the woodworks which rallies a new group of death eaters.  Another mission set could be to attempt to thwart the death eaters.  While another mission set follows the Ministry of Magics attempt to control all.  Students could progress to become a death eater or to fight against the death eaters on the fringe, or become an employee of the Ministry of Magic.  Which ever path the student takes will determine the mission path they go down and what future quests/missions become available to them.

    8.  Controls would be something like as follows: Movement AWSD, camera controls would hold right mouse button down and move mouse, casting magic would be a combination of hitting a numbered key followed by holding the left mouse button while movie the mouse in certain formation to control your wand.  Each spell has a specific want movement.  So pressing the number will utter the magical words needed to cast a spell, while the left mouse button + movement performs the necessary want movement.

    9.  Early combat use would in duals and quests into the forest and whatnot.  It would not be about killing stuff, but rather using spells to get through incapacitate.  Granted, once your out of school and end game who knows what kinda dark arts magic will be cast around.

    10.  Detention, some kinda game aspect involved with that.  Haven't really thought it through, but I am sure there is something fun and interesting that could be incorporated into that.

    11.  Trips to Hogsmeade could become available to those students that excel in subjects.

    12.  OWLS and NEWTS for determining profession.

    These are just a few things that I thought of that could make for some interesting game dynamics.  Not even a full list of ideas that I came up with while reading the books the past couple months and thinking how fun it would be to have an MMO in this world.  Obviously some stuff I listed would need to be reworked and added to, but it lays a good ground work I think.  Anyway, I'm sure plenty of people would disagree in what I would find fun in this, but oh well.  What kind of ideas do you guys have that would make such a game fun and interesting?

  • MMO_DoubterMMO_Doubter Member Posts: 5,056
    Originally posted by skeaser


    I still want a real DDO. Make a tabletop gaming MMO.

     

    Except for the "massively" part, that's what Neverwinter Nights was. Amazing game.

    If an MMO version came out with user-created content, I would be all over that.

    "" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2

  • StarDaggerStarDagger Member Posts: 135
    Originally posted by bigdaddysfe


    I get a Raging Clue just thinking about a Hardy Boys MMO.

     

    It is a funny idea, especially when you put it that way.

    I don't blame the author, he needed to come up with some material for an article, but Nancy Drew, lol.

    I wonder if he understands the true nature of the internet, there would be 15 young girls playing, 70,000 pedos and 2,000 FBI agents.

    Think things through people of 2009!!

  • StarDaggerStarDagger Member Posts: 135
    Originally posted by Ozmodan


    Problem with your list, you are talking mostly about MMOs with a social theme.  Problem with such, they attract some of the, as you called them "stalkers", most of us have another name for them.  Controlling such people would have to be a major design decision and difficult to implement.  The problem with the internet today is you really have no idea and no way to determine who the other person is at the other end.  Hence the tendency of these social MMO's to self implode.


    So while it is nice to dream, reality says any of these would be very difficult to design.
    Here is something for you readers to consider.  I have a good friend who plays 2nd Life and participates in several social networks.   She had a great job offer from a company, but lost it because she needed a security clearance and failed to pass the test.  When she inquired she was told that the 2nd Life account and the social networks were red flags.  So the establishment views them very negatively.  Nothing was mentioned about her MMO play.

     

    Any job that makes decisions like that is a horrible corporate job and she is better off without them.  People need to stand up for their rights when dealing with corporate creepiness like this, if no one accepts this crap it will go away, because then NEED people to run their crappy company

  • Kushiel666Kushiel666 Member Posts: 29
    Originally posted by StarDagger

    Originally posted by bigdaddysfe


    I get a Raging Clue just thinking about a Hardy Boys MMO.

     

    It is a funny idea, especially when you put it that way.

    I don't blame the author, he needed to come up with some material for an article, but Nancy Drew, lol.

    I wonder if he understands the true nature of the internet, there would be 15 young girls playing, 70,000 pedos and 2,000 FBI agents.

    Think things through people of 2009!!

     

    Honestly I think he just threw out a couple well known and established mystery solving characters to solidify the idea of a mystery MMO.  He could have just as easily said Scooby Doo or Sherlock Holmes, or maybe even Alfred Hitchcock with such movies as North by Northwest and Charades in mind.  A suspense mystery MMO, wonder how that would work.

  • Xondar123Xondar123 Member CommonPosts: 2,543
    Originally posted by dhayes68


    Regarding your comments on the Star Trek IP, I think its a shame that it has to be a choice between a focus on the combat and a focus on everything else Star Trek was about.  I know it would be a hugely big project but Star Trek is a hugely big IP. Worth the effort.

     

    Tell that to Cryptic. 99% of the information they've released on this game has been combat, combat, combat. We don't know how anything other than combat works. They've built a combat/PvP game and so far it seems that there is very little else to do in it.

  • RohnRohn Member UncommonPosts: 3,730

    I think Avatar: The Last Airbender would be an interesting IP for an MMO, and I think it fits within the scope of the OP.

    Also, perhaps something based on the works of R.L. Stine.

    Just thoughts.  Otherwise, I like the ideas the OP had.

    Hell hath no fury like an MMORPG player scorned.

  • flydowntomeflydowntome Member Posts: 106

    Not bad, but there is one IP I think which would bring in a ton of people and would probably kick the ass of even Harry Potter:

    Kingdom Hearts.

    You know the female demographic would go nuts over it.

  • Kushiel666Kushiel666 Member Posts: 29
    Originally posted by flydowntome


    Not bad, but there is one IP I think which would bring in a ton of people and would probably kick the ass of even Harry Potter:
    Kingdom Hearts.
    You know the female demographic would go nuts over it.

     

    A few things I would like to point out here:

    - I'm a guy and love Kingdom Hearts.  Most people I know that have played them are also guys, and also enjoyed them.  There are no gender focused attributes of the series that would say this game is designed for a specific gender demographic.  Both those of the male and female variety can enjoy Kingdom Hearts, and thusly just as much of the male demographic to go nuts over an MMO as their female counterparts.

    - As awesome as Kingdom Hearts is, there is no way it would kick Harry Potter's ass.  The following for Harry Potter is much larger and stronger than the following for Kingdom Hearts.  Sure Kingdom Hearts reaches out to both fans of Disney and SquareEnix (Final Fantasy) fans; however, the combination of the two does not reach out to both groups.  

    - Though I would be interested in seeing how a Kingdom Hearts MMO would play out, I'd be more interested in a strictly Disney MMO (minus the present day Disney drivel like Hanna Montana and High School Musical).  I guess it would be similar to a Kingdom Hearts MMO just without the Final Fantasy character cameos.  Final Fantasy XI and XIV give me all the Final Fantasy in MMO format that I need, can't wait for FFXIV.

    Anyway, that's my thoughts on the subject, take it as you like! :D

  • DaX.9DaX.9 Member Posts: 192

    I do not want any more IPs made into MMO, commpanys have done lot of damage already tranfering famous IPs into MMOs.

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