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Avatar MMO? James Cameron Interview
Serelisk
Member Posts: 836
In an interview on IGN, James Cameron answers questions about the potential of the Avatar universe, and it's role in gaming and 3D entertainment in the future.
"I think Avatar is a perfect IP for an MMO. It's a very, very big world and based on the first film, you might not sense that, but we're talking about an entire planet, an entire alter world, and in fact a universe that has other planetary bodies, as well, and other cultures, other life forms. Eventually people will see enough scope to be able to see how the MMO will work, but that's going to have to be launched…the timing of that is going to have to be carefully orchestrated with the release of the second and third film because we don't want to be giving away elements before the fact. And also I think one of the cool things about an MMORPG is that you have to have a lot more possibilities for characters than what you see in the film. The film is really just a leaping off point, so we've got to create a rich and diverse world that lives well beyond the films." - J.C.
I've seen this talked about on the forums before, but I'm curious about people's thoughts after they've read this. Personally, I don't welcome the idea but I'll just have to see as this develops. 
(Not sure if this is a repost, I couldn't find a similar thread to stick this in)
Comments
No interest in this at all unfortunately I hardlined the movie too but when I finally saw it thought it was ok but no interest in an mmorpg based on this ip, now if it was good I wouldn't be opposed but it isn't something I'm looking for.
I'd have to see what he does with the other movies before I could decide.
EA will most likely buy the rights to the IP and turn it into the same old boreing themepark game this generation is accustomed to i wouldn't touch it.
But if the IP was licensed out by a small indie label that had backing from James Cameron himself (he has the money trust me) and turned it into a true Sandbox game i would give it a try...
"It would be awesome if you could duel your companion. Then you could solo pvp".--Thanes
oh god no more mmos based in movies or series......
The movie is bad once you look beyond gimmicky CGI and 3D, and the game would not appeal in the slightest.
i agree, apart from the OMG look those graphics and effects, the story is pretty lame (veyr similar to Pocahontas), also the unrealistic nature of the environment, i expected some more bizarre for an Alien Ecosystem...
so... a world that is connected by neural pathways is not strange enough..? okke dokke...
on another note, ive always thought the Avatar universe would fit very well into an MMO format.
as for the story... there 3 big archetypes of stories. this one very closely followed one of them. i would also like to point out that this was written (if i am correct) before pocahontas released.
the neural idea was cool but the animals still look very earth-like.....also the vegetation....plants dont need to be green always..
James Cameron has his hands in Multiverse I believe. Way back when the development was at its peak I was involved witht the engine on my project. After they got some 4 million investment the team went silent. Suspect he has already started development but not sure because things are very hush hush since 2010.
If you are interested in making a MMO maybe visit my page to get a free open source engine.
I'd have to say that I just can't wait to run out and not play this game. I loved the movie, but can't help but feel that they should just leave it alone. No sequels and no MMO.
You do realize Pocahontas is based on a real person, right? It's possible the script for Pocahontas was written after the script for Avatar. But Avatar most likely borrows from the life of the real person named Pocahontas: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocahontas
Anyway, an MMO based on Avatar would most likely attempt to attract all demographs, which means it would focus on accessibility and ease-of-use, have very low system requirements (deviating from the movie's astounding visual effects), and would turn out to be a very simple themepark. That's just speculation. When you get into a successful IP like Avatar, the big-wigs will be far more interested in money than designing a quality game, and the unfortunate devs will be forced to poop out another unfinished pile of blue monkey-alien shit.
Tho it would be fun to play as a mercenary/marine and kill blue cat people, not really seeing much potential in this franchise.
Might be fun to raid the translucant tree / natures internet where you can download your soul into a different body. not seeing the loot potential there.
The movie had nice visuals, the story was just a rehash of the colonial exploiter goes native and gives himself. Ferngully, Dances w wolves eh im not even go on.
I say nuke the entire place from orbit, its the only way to be sure
still a fail idea, all mmos based on series or movies are fail, they're not original, okai, SWTOR haves a point because the history is before the movies, but C'mon, Star Trek?, Dragon Ball?.......get over it.....
Game over man, game over!
"I have only two out of my company and 20 out of some other company. We need support, but it is almost suicide to try to get it here as we are swept by machine gun fire and a constant barrage is on us. I have no one on my left and only a few on my right. I will hold." (First Lieutenant Clifton B. Cates, US Marine Corps, Soissons, 19 July 1918)
Hmm my initial reaction was NO but Camerons statement sounds very good.
If there is a lot more to the setting than we see in the first movie, it might be complex enough to form a good MMO around it.
People are quick to judge when the main dude himself says the first movie is only but a leap off.
I liked the first film very much, even though one of the reasons was it was my first 3D movie I went to watch, thinking that 3D in theaters are crap but I was proven wrong.
However, based on the first movie I would never want to see a mmorpg based on the title. It feels like there's not enough going on for a mmorpg. Then again, there's not enough going on for anything but a movie if you just take that short timeline and the events from that period when some aggressive mining company rampages over some tribe of aliens. How should I know what unfolds in the second and third movie, on a bigger scale considering the whole world(s) and not just some merc band digging, or some non-movie lore drops.
There's a good possibility for a mmorpg where a lot more humans arrive to Pandora and the nearby other moons or planets. The Na'vi does not have enough depth or "power" to be a faction (yet) imo, but there could be several human groups, or some other intelligent alien life. I'm not really interested in speculating about what's going to happen so I'll just wait and see, but obviously the lore has potential for a lot of things.
People judging something without knowing basically anything about it just feels so damn short sighted. Cameron also should have enough dollars to make the game big, if he manages to choose a good studio and people around it.
Thats funny because i was about to post that he should do one or 2 more sequels to give some thickness to this ip before doing an mmo before reading the article. So its a good news to hear they are doing just that, great!
And i didn't know they already had a game about it, i'll check it. The movie is great a bit too "creamy" for my taste, but not that much, still a very good film, in my top 30 scfi list.
PS i found the story great, slightly overdone as i said, but nothing to spit on really.
I think an Aliens MMO would be the one that has the best chance of success based on Cameron's films, but Avatar could easily be adapted too, IMO.
I think the success of any MMORPG is a very open world with depth of content. Avatar just doesnt have anywhere near the depth that fantasy worlds have already defined. As one example fantasy worlds have hundereds of traditional weapons - swords, axes, daggers, maces, polearms, with all those variations we are familiar with. Avatar has guns and bows and arrows and thats about it.
This is what Blizzard are working on, Titan is Avatar, and Titan will launch after the second movie and before the third.
I do think it could work, which is odd because I'm not really supportive of Film ip based mmo's or games in general. I do agree with above as well though, that an Aliens mmo would be an awsome mmo setting,all that backstory and still so much scope.
But Avatar does have some good elements which could transfer really well to a game, especially an mmo. I thought the film (story wise) was a bit naff tbh but then I guess with all that money at stake he had to play it a bit safe, maybe with the sequals we'll get a bit more from the script.
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The person who is certain, and who claims divine warrant for his certainty, belongs now to the infancy of our species.
I think it would be a great success, they already have a huge and psychologically vulnerable (= addictive) fan base:
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/Movies/01/11/avatar.movie.blues/index.html
http://www.avatar-forums.com/general-avatar-discussions/ways-cope-depression-dream-pandora-being-intangible-43/
They could even call the "subscription fee" a "medication" and try to have it reimbursed by medical insurance companies.
This does not make any sense. First of all, Avatar is a fantasy world since it is fantasy in the sense of made up world that can hide whatever in it, it already has proven to have vast wildlife, mysteries, strange eco-system, aliens and a hell of a lot of unknown. Movies aint about how many different variations of your standard assault rifle or tribal spear you have so ofcourse the movie wont be packed full of different kinds of guns/swords/bows.
It's also sci-fi, sci-fi is a world with no limits just like fantasy, so I dont get where you're coming from, you dont know anything of the world or Cameron's plans and you come up with this? You've seen one very narrow story from the world we are talking about and you think you know everything there is to the whole world and lore? Lol?
Well I guess it's cool to be always negative in internets towards things you dont know much about.
Cyberpunk mmo in Avatar's earth would be cool, the glimpse you get from the polluted man-made hell is kind of interesting in the extended version of the movie. Or maybe in Avatar mmo a huge amount of corporate bastards are headed to Pandora to turn it into a polluted tech hell just like earth, and some other factions try to prevent that, or loosely something along those lines, I wouldnt mind a base story like that
Anyway, the possibilities are limitless, since the game wont be a mmo-version of the first movie there's no need to treat it like that.
it would become the same shit than the other movie based games. also the same grindfest and other fucked content that companies use to make MMOs....
Totally Pocahontas. As annotated by Mr. Bateman http://failblog.org/2010/01/10/avatar-plot-fail/
"Never met a pack of humans that were any different. Look at the idiots that get elected every couple of years. You really consider those guys more mature than us? The only difference between us and them is, when they gank some noobs and take their stuff, the noobs actually die." - Madimorga