The Daily Grind: Would you like to see your favorite IP as an MMO?

MMORPGs often take their inspiration from existing intellectual properties including novels, films, and even pre-existing games. A few of the comments on yesterday's edition of The Daily Grind got us to thinking about untapped IPs that could conceivably be made into online games. Whether they should be made into online games is another thing entirely.

Take George R. R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire opus, by most accounts one of the landmarks of fantasy literature and an absurdly detailed feat of world- and character-building. Would it make a great MMO? Eh, I'm not so sure. The ground-work would certainly be there, but at the end of the day, it would likely turn into some sort of faction grind, skill grind, or level grind, and much of the human drama that makes the books what they are would be lost. A similar fate might befall Frank Herbert's Dune, another genre classic based in a world that lends itself to game settings, but again featuring a narrative driven by memorable characters, not PvP, questing, or lulz-worthy avatar names.

What do you think, Massively readers? Would you like to see your favorite world given the MMO treatment, or are you skeptical that it would be the same old same old with new skins and a built-in audience?

Reader Comments (151)

Mechwarrior/Battletech for all of the obvious reasons.

@brent610: Preach it! Personally, I'd love one set in the Dark Age (the "latest" era) that would allow player factions to fight for and take control of areas within the Republic--if not the entire Inner Sphere!

*has awesomeness induced anuerism*

I'm both in love with and shudder at the thought of a Mass Effect MMO.

I think it's a rich, detailed world with plenty to build an MMO around.

I also think that MMO's have a way of tainting your favorite setting with the holy trinity of MMO groups and turning favorite villains into a repetitive farm for gear.

"LFHealer for Reaper. PST"

So, err... I guess my vote would be both for and against a Mass Effect MMO. /nod

This.

None of my favorite franchises or settings would ever be made into MMO's, though, so I'm not really all that concerned about getting a crappy, watered down version of a setting I love.

Nope. Hollywood already killed one a few months ago.

Which franchise?

And yes I would love to see this. I guess we will see how well they handle SWTOR to see if they can pull off anything of that magnitude. I love it if there was a Mass Effect MMO, but yeah, I get the fear they would blow it.

I would love to see the Mortal Engines series done as an MMO. It's a bit young for me now, but the world is truly fascinating, and I think that if it had a good mix of sandboxy elements (i.e. you can be an air-trader, a mercenary, part of a city, part of a static etc etc) but also with a decent combat system and a nice storyline/quest series to help you move along. The possibilites for what you could do in that universe are quite literally endless, and I just think it would be such a treat to see it happen. Of course, it requires a lot of changes to the current system, since there's moving cities and all that.

I'm baffled when I see people suggested A Song of Ice and Fire as a MMO. The only kind of MMO I can see it being is hardcore PvP with a large helping of diplomacy and (like you said) some kind reputation grind. It would resonate horribly with the average MMO gamer introduced to the genre by WoW. One race. No magic. Most players would land up being Knights or Farmers. I could see it appealing to a very narrow niche of gamers who love medieval simulations.

My top two IPs I want to see as MMOs won't win me any cool points: Pokemon and Harry Potter. The idea of Pokemon is tailor made to be a MMO, and if any company but Nintendo owned the IP, it would definitely be one by now. Harry Potter would make an incredible sandbox RPG. You spend your first 10-20 hours at Hogwarts, being introduced to the different schools of magic and game basics such as spellcasting, crafting, and combat. Then you can do anything you want in the world. Become a dragon tamer, open a potion shop, or be an auror and catch dark wizards.

Uh???
There's mages in the Song of Ice and Fire! And wargs, shifters, warlocks, assassins and a lot of other possible classes to be integrated in a MMO.

Granted that it doesn't translate well to the predominant genre of theme-park MMOs but i could see it working if it was based on the EVE model (hardcore PvP, shifting "political" alliances and a lot of treachery since the game is mainly PvP). EVE even originates great story telling with it's player driven dramas!

But i really wouldn't like to see this come true. For me the setting is too mature and very distant of the type of mentality of the average MMO player.

It baffles me, too. The magic in the world is minimal, and most of the story revolves around the political situation in the world. It's also very mature, with the child murders, child brides, incest, torture, and abuse. It's an amazing book series, one of the best I've ever read, but it's not exactly a fun story.

There's very little magic in the world, and most of it is very subtle. Having tons of mages running around would make no sense. Ditto for assassins. And shape shifters are incredibly rare. The vast majority of characters are either knights or children.

Now if you wanted to butcher the IP and turn it into a generic fantasy setting...but then again, if you're not going to play to the strengths of the IP, what's the point?

It might work on a system like the original SWG, actually. A cross between original SWG and Eve.

First, I love the book series. But my one biggest complaint with the way he writes is all of the 'main' characters NEVER have anything good happen to them. The books are a series of bad events happening to good people. Its almost irritating.

If this was an MMO you'd have to stack the RNG heavily in favor of the game. See the RNG article recently.

Ideally, to be true to the book series, we would raise our characters to level 50, at which point the game would switch to open-world PvP and permadeath.

Going along with the Book theme as an IP, I would love to one day see Stephen R. Donaldsons work come to a video game. Of course an MMORPG would be outstanding, But I'd settle for even a text type game like the Zork of of old.

The Thomas Covenant novels were the first thing that came to mind when I read the headline, but I really, really couldn't stand to see a digital interpretation of The Land lolerskated and roflcoptered to death by morons with no idea of the source material.

It's a pity too, it would have such huge potential - who wouldn't want to be a lord, giant or haruchai? Or an ur-vile for that matter.

You are one hundred percent correct there, Sleepy. Trade spam would be horrible with the youngens spamming things they know nothing about.

But yes, the world has so much lore to draw from.

Imagine the epic win when your guild finally defeats the "Well of Souls" instance, and raises the Ark of the Covenant" for battle in mass PVP.

Seriously, my favorite IP (at least the one with the coolest potential for fun mmo gaming) is Warhammer 40k. I just hope it is as cool as it could be.

The Black Company.

Very rich "fantasy" setting, many factions, it has magic (though not for your average player, maybe just the very powerful NPCs...hmmm), and has a "hub world" built right into the canon.

Good series of books, but tough to translate that to an MMO, I suspect. Specifically, it would be tough to maintain that gritty "war is hell" sort of feel from the books while still making it an MMO where you fight a LOT and progress to tougher and tougher enemies. Just as books don't always end up translating well to the big screen, they don't always translate well to an MMO.

Far in the future, once the MMO industry has been pulled kicking and screaming from the cliche mire it is stuck in, I'd be happy to see a few of my favourite IP's made into games.

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The Daily Grind: Would you like to see your favorite IP as an MMO?

Reader Comments (151)

Posted: Aug 22nd 2010 8:07AM (Unverified) said

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