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Can a Doctor Who MMO work?
SirCedric
Member CommonPosts: 46
I know there are tons of Who fans out there like me, and in my case I been watching since the 3rd Doctor until now.
So I was thinking, can this type of format work as a MMO?
Now I am not saying we play as the good Doctor, but maybe as a different Time Lord. Make it were we have to escape the time trap we are in, and the story goes forward from there. There would still be the same enemies the Doctor faces, and maybe a few others. But how could you get this type of MMO to work?
Comments
I wouldn't be a fan personally, theres nothing that would make being a doctor feel so dull and non-unique.
Love doctor who, but i think It's not the right universe for a MMO setting.
There's a PnP Doctor Who game, where one player plays the Doctor and the rest are companions.
In the case of an MMO, I'd imagine you'd be an operative like the folks in the spinoff series; the name escapes me.
I self identify as a monkey.
Good point.
Many IPs would make good story-driven games, but when brought to the multiplayer arena, they tend to fall apart or, at best, get diluted. Massively multiplayer design and persistence exacerbate that.
SirC, like with the Heroes MMO suggestion you had, what is the multiplayer aspect you are looking to get out of it?
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
Not really. Take a look at Shards Online. They've got a system of player-driven content. So something like time travel could be handled the same way, right? I think that it would actually be quite doable.
Crazkanuk
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Torchwood.
Its probably a theme that would work for a single player game, but, for an MMO, no, as the players would not only be unable to be the Doctor in question, but, also would not be able to be Gallifreans, due to the Doctor effectively being the last of them, that wasn't locked inside some type of extradimensional time loop.
Even if a Shards-like design is used, it would still mean that any travel would be limited to the few thousand player-created worlds. It would also cease to be time-travel per se.
And I'd shudder to think what the quality of experience would be like on random player-created worlds.
Think of the worst exigences of Saints Row and Second life, in other words, lots of ambulatory, possibly lethal, male genitalia. And thats probably the least offensive i could come up with.
No.
It's a step even beyond shows like Firefly, where the thing that makes it awesome is the script and characters (things games are worse at capturing.) It's a step beyond because Dr Who deliberately avoids combat as much as possible. So it wouldn't work as a typical MMORPG. The closest you'd get would be more like the game the Puzzle Pirates guys did for it (a puzzle game, though it wasn't nearly as good as Puzzle Pirates imo)
"What is truly revealing is his implication that believing something to be true is the same as it being true. [continue]" -John Oliver
Doctor Who is an IP that really wouldn't translate well into an MMORPG. First, someone would need the rights to the IP. That might not be terribly difficult, the BBC has allowed quite a few Doctor Who themed games in the past. If the IP rights do not contain image rights of the individual actors, those would also need to be obtained -- maybe a bit more difficult, but probably not impossible. Then, rights to individual creatures appearing in the series might be under another IP -- more hassle and expense. The costs of IP rights alone might shoot down such a game.
The big hurdle for any Doctor Who multiplayer game is the series is built around a single character. Everyone would want to play that singular role of the Doctor. Even Torchwood has the same issue, being built around the Captain Jack character. Playing as companions to the central figure may not be fun, and creates other issues. Just how many gender-crossing Leelas are acceptable in a RPG. ("Knife him in the neck")
A Torchwood-like game, individuals employed to protect Earth, might be an easier approach, from a game perspective -- something set in the Doctor Who universe. It could still run into the licensing issues. Multiple Time Lords romping around might work, but that is against the general nature of the series lore.
On the positive side, constructing quests for this might be painfully easy for the developers ("When I say 'run', run. Run!")
(Clever or particularly alert readers might recognize the quote in my signature line. Second Doctor to Zoe in the 1968 episode Wheel in Space. So, yes. I am a long time fan).
Logic, my dear, merely enables one to be wrong with great authority.
Well...........................Like in the Heroes post, I am looking for something that will be deep and fun at the same time. With Dr. Who, you have tons of content to take from, maybe don't have the Player Time Lords traveling trough space and time at 1st, but have fixed points in time to play your game from. Maybe setup mini-servers to act as points in time the players can go too, just tossing out an idea. What we would do in a MMO based on Who? Well look at the shows, and take what can work within a Game model, and go from there.
Shards online isn't released yet, so I can't say whether it would work or not.
I self identify as a monkey.
A Doctor Who MMO would be probably have the same level of success as the Stargate MMO:
http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/forum/604/General-Discussion.html
Again, you have presented what you would like out of a game, most effectively servers through a single-player environment. I am asking why MMO, as both the multiplayer aspect and the persistence break any semblance of what makes Dr. Who, Dr. Who.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
Why not Dr. Who? But I am think more in lines of the Dr. Who Universe, vs just focusing on say the good Doctor and his friends. Even if you didn't use the Time Lords, you could in turn use any of the Races of Doctor Who, and do a story/ game from that. If Time travel is the issue, and I don't see why something could be worked out, then stay in one time to start the game universe.
Now thinking outside the box, maybe there could be a 2nd Universe, one that was born from that time war, and it would fix the Time Lord issue. After all time travel can be messy, if you don't do it right.
So why not use the Who Universe in a MMO setting? You can have tons to do as a player, no one said you have to stick with what Dr. Who does, many times other people have been blasting and blow things up, you just have to think outside the box on what you want to do in a MMO based on Dr. Who.
As a very niche game, sure.
But I doubt that many ppl even know who dr Who is and travelling through a telephone box...well...it isn't gonna attract hundreds of thousands of gamers.
"going into arguments with idiots is a lost cause, it requires you to stoop down to their level and you can't win"
There were too many cooler shows to watch back then so i doubt i ever watched more than maybe 5 minutes of any Doctor Who episode.
What i did find noticeable watching that video was how much of a resemblance to the Star Wars logo there is.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
I just don't see how it would work. A single player game, even with co-op options to play the doctors companions are fine but as a MMO it wont work.
First: having thousands of time lords going around would screw the story over badly.
And technically would you get just a few time periods and very limited places to visit.
Some series work very well as MMOs but one about the last time lord wont make sense. And playing while the other time lords still was around would take away most of the charm with the IP.
Agreed, this isn't really fit for an MMO.
Executive Editor (Games) http://www.wccftech.com
Thing is the moment you say Dr Who MMO, fans will say great I want to be Dr Who and travel through time. If you set the game in a fixed point in time and play it as a reg-joe or someone who is not Dr Who, you have kinda taken all the things out of the game that make it Dr Who.
Cool idea!
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre