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What Would a Dune MMOG Be Like?
ianubisi
Member Posts: 4,201
It's the perfect IP for a great MMOG. But those of you who have seen the movie or read the first book, do you really know what you'd get?
A real Dune MMOG would have the following playable factions, depending on the historical timeline:
Landsraad houses, including Harkonnen, Atredies, Corrino, and many others. This includes a whole host of military and economic forces
The Spacing Guild which has a very storied group that have prescience to see how a navigable path can be made to fold space using Norma Cenva's foldspace engines based on Holtzmann technological principles. There are numerous ranks of navigators in the guild and plenty of influence and involvement.
Fremen, which would either be a fanatical fighting force or a long-entrenched theocracy (Rakis priests) depending on the era.
Bene Gesserit, which branches into either the Chapterhouse stronghold or the numerous embedded operatives in either the Landraad houses or within the Missionara Protectiva.
Bene Tleilax, which includes Mentats, Face Dancers, and Tleilaxu Masters. This is also the source of Gholas, which provides a completely organic reason for why we can die and be respawned (a bonus).
Thinking Machines, which are more of a remnant of an older era but are certainly not completely eradicated.
Ixians, brokers of machines and thus on the very edge of Butlerian Law.
Fish Speakers, the fanatical all-female fighting force of God Emperor Leto II. A major player in universal politics during his reign and after.
Honored Matres, wildly powerful women who use sexual prowess for human domination (no joke). Part of the Scattering that follows many centuries after the death of Leto II.
There are many other variations of playable races/classes. These are the best-defined, however, and supported by volumes of material.
Of course, to make such a MMOG with this entire list of avialable races/classes would place the game very far away from the Dune you may know (if you've only seen the movies or read the first book). Fremen of the ilk in the movies and first book don't exist in the same timeframe. The Spacing Guild no longer has a monopoly on space travel. But there are all kinds of amazing things that could be done with the IP.
If Dune is ever made into a MMOG I sincerely hope it's made in the model of the time following The Scattering. If it's a sandbox-style game, with mixed PvE/PVP elements it could be a stellar title.
Comments
If done right, it could be a killer IP to work with. So much variety and so much leeway to work with. You get a nice mix of sci-fi with a nice touch of mystical.
With PvE raiding, it has never been a question of being "good enough". I play games to have fun, not to be a simpering toady sitting through hour after hour of mind numbing boredom and fawning over a guild master in the hopes that he will condescend to reward me with shiny bits of loot. But in games where those people get the highest progression, anyone who doesn't do that will just be a moving target for them and I'll be damned if I'm going to pay money for the privilege. - Neanderthal
Unfortunately, due to the legal squabblings over the IP rights it won't be happening soon. I've even been in contact with the Herbert family over the matter, via email, and unfortunately it's very, very messy at the moment. Hopefully someday something like this can be done.
Now this would be a true "Sandbox", hehe...
Bless the Maker and all His Water. Bless the coming and going of Him, May His passing cleanse the world. May He keep the world for his people.
I think it would be next to impossible to do right. Too many people would want to be nothing but Mu'ad Dib's running around which wouldn't be too different from a bunch of jedi running around in SWG. I think it would start off great, although buggy, but eventually fall apart as the dev team loses sight of the "vision" and then starts trying to pander to the lowest common denominator
http://www.speedtest.net/result/7300033012
Unlike the Star Wars cosmology, where there were many, many Jedi in the world, in the world of Herbert's Dune there was only Maud'Dib, Leto II, and Ghanima who possessed such rarified talents. Jedi was an uncommon skill, but Prescience was a 1 in 100 billion chance (probably even more). I wouldn't worry about that...but there's plenty of other crap to worry about
I love the original Frank Herbert books, tho his son's a hack. Unfortunately you would have to say right up front that NO ONE is Ma'ud' Dib, but this IP is huge enough that you could have an amazing game set against the backdrop of the novel storylines.
The Moving Finger writes, and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.
~Omar Khayyam
sadly it would be a linear level based game with the Dune IP slapped on it
Not if it were done properly.
The Moving Finger writes, and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.
~Omar Khayyam
in a way, this is a strength of the ip. in the god emperor and later books, atreides genes begin to mark signifcant powers other than those of the kwisatz haderach. imagine miles teg for a moment. even thirneg from the first book would be an interesting play style as an "almost kwisatz haderach"
same jedi freaks who pushed LA/SoE to introduce jedis even when the era had only 1 known one,yoda(luke was in training at this time of history and obi wan was dead) will probably demand to have 1m Maud'Dibs running around i bet.
Now if the developers can stick to their guns and not fold as LA/SoE did they have a good game.
If they do same ones who whine on the SWG forum here will turn on them in time.
Otherwise an amazing mmo for sure.