Are pandas, bunnies, and asian clown outfits really selling points?

jackie28

Every time I see a game like this I wonder if certain cultures are mentally friggin ill.

Anything with anime, flying Pokemon things and panda outfits have got to be the very last thing I'd want to do in a fantasy universe.

At least this game doesn't have children for avatars.  Thats another thing I can't stand.  Seriously, do asians imagine themselves as children?  Western MMOs don't do this.

I've often noticed that asian MMOs are always utopic ( boring ).  Westerner MMOs are almost always dystopic.  There has to be some psychology to this.  Anyone?

colddog

I do not think those words mean what you think they mean.

Methos12

That's precisely one of my problems with Asian MMOS - they lack firm identity and willpower to be consistent (aka. if you're going fantasy, STICK with it). I don't really have anything against bunny costumes and what not... if it fits the overall game theme, but you can't give me that stuff if the game tries to pass as some kind of serious fantasy setting. I understand micro transaction and that people want to spend their money on aesthetic stuff, but at least offer something that makes sense in the game world, not this "random crap", so to speak.

jackie28

Originally posted by colddog


I do not think those words mean what you think they mean.

 

I know exactly what they mean.  Asians tend to write games where everything is flowery and beautiful ( i.e. Perfect World, Flyff, Maplestory ), whereas westerners tend to write games where the world has gone to some Draconian or Orwellian crap ( Fallen Earth, Warhammer, Crimecraft, Darkfall ).  Even Aion lacks a real dystopic feel.

Maybe part of the problem is that asian games also invoke cultural elements that I really have no point of reference for.  Its kinda like watching Kung Fu Hustle and having the movie end with the main actors inexplicably transformed into children with lollipops.  I mean, WTF!?

Seriously there ought to be a separate bin / category for these games.

colddog

Originally posted by jackie28

Originally posted by colddog


I do not think those words mean what you think they mean.

 

I know exactly what they mean.  Asians tend to write games where everything is flowery and beautiful ( i.e. Perfect World, Flyff, Maplestory ), whereas westerners tend to write games where the world has gone to some Draconian or Orwellian crap ( Fallen Earth, Warhammer, Crimecraft, Darkfall ).  Even Aion lacks a real dystopic feel.

Maybe part of the problem is that asian games also invoke cultural elements that I really have no point of reference for.  Its kinda like watching Kung Fu Hustle and having the movie end with the main actors inexplicably transformed into children with lollipops.  I mean, WTF!?

Seriously there ought to be a separate bin / category for these games.

 

There is no question that you know what the words mean and I agree with you.

 

I look at it as alcohol vs opium.

kirawats

Biggest anime style are taken from Japanese culture across the Asia (China, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, and many more), through the sell of manga (comic) and television cartoon (anime), translated into different Asian's languages. It's something that build up from childhood, I guess?

I did suggest the idea of fantasy theme for MMO to Asian developer where the look of the game and playstyle similar to European's MMO, but I got the response back that such game would not sell well because Asian prefer anime art than realistic looking style.

If one have been to Asia (especially Japan), you would have found that anime art is a big thing there from signs around the street to the cafe where you can rent/read manga. You'll see people of all ages read manga on subway and train. With such style of art became part of their life throughout their childhood to teenager. Cosplay became one that resemble their favorite characters from their favorite manga, rather than what Western would dress up like character from Star Wars, Star Trek. Can this be see as people would like to dress up as such in Eastern MMO?

Panda is the Chinese icon that widely know across the Asia and it's use to promote China. When you mention "panda", China would be the first place you would have thought. It is an icon to promote the country, just like if there is a game from Australia I would have expect that there will be Kangaroo and Koala somewhere even if it's a fantasy game.

Talk about the art style of Pokemon, it's best to look back at the history of anime looking type character from Japan. I'm looking at Astro Boy. The original style was try to mimic the style of Disney (look at Mickey Mouse). The manga was a massive hit and inspired many manga that came after ever since. Originally aim at children, but somehow it became widely accepted by people of all ages. "Cute" factor seem to sell well in Eastern, especially in MMORPG where it is supposed to be a social game (look back at the cosplay). MMO players in the East would mostly be playing their MMO at the internet cafe with friends than playing alone at home. Hint why grind became acceptable there but not in Western MMO.

It's like make MMO based on anime/cartoon than MMO based on movie where realistic graphic is a must. Anime is much more popular to the Eastern general audiences, and mean more money, I believe this is the reason Asian developer would prefer to stay that way.

Everquest 2 also have special character style for Japanese market where the avatar has anime look more than original look. If any mad scientist would want to do the experimental on this, try to remove anime references out from the history of universe, and it would be interesting to see where Eastern art style would turn out to be.

Us human we all have different ideology about our view, depending on the environment we grew up on. Different places, country, parent, religious. We have religious because we have different view of the world and how we believe in, and religious is one form of the culture. When we believe in something, but other does not, we would consider them to be weird, or mentally ill, while such other culture are seeing them as normal, or even look at us back and think we are weird because we are different than them also.

I haven't study in Psychology but only Media studies, so I'm not sure if this help. Well, hope it rise up some thought anyway. Cheers.