Already established lore means nice things. It means that we, players, can explore a setting what we love personally, by playing. Pre-established lore feels like it has a meaning, pre-established countries, history and major events. It gives the devs time to do something else than sit on their asses, thinking "Loool, lets just add dragons and mummies and pandas fighting orcs."
Pre-established lore quickly becomes a straight-jacket because you can't let the world evolve naturally, can't let players actually affect the course of history because you have to stay within the established IP.
You also have to end up building very artifical dynamics fior your world since the lore is telling you the outcome of the world's ecology, economics and politics in advance, rather than letting it emerge from a set of simulations.
( that said, there exists a niche for themeparks that walk you through lore and yes, right now they dominate the landscape. They will probably always exist because they are pretty reliable, measurable investments - you can predict the costs of generating content and run metrics on how fast people consume each zone and become impatient. It makes for a very manageable business ... and in that context, you're basically just taking more-or-less the same game and slapping on new skins of IP, so sure, it becomes just another way to present iconic stories as interactive walkthroughs )
this is exactly my point.
secondly, as for magic, all i did was present my feelings on it, not a dogmatic statement. i wouldn't see the point. if you actually know what the middle ages were like for the average person ... might make an interesting crafting game, or farming game. we could all play: avoid starvation in winter and malnutrition that drives the player to an early death? or dodge the plague? if you mean intrigue or power struggles that will be in the hierarchy, not with the average person. do you really want 3000 people on a server who are lords and ladies of ... whatever?
kidding aside, i would be interested in what the medievalists would want to do in a realistic medieval setting where most of life for the average person centered around raising and gathering enough food to survive. yes there were merchants and tradesfolk. but you didn't need 5 blacksmiths in a village. i dont mean to imply that the people of that time had no joy, or feasts, or enjoyment in life. i just think what they gained from life doesn't translate well into entertainment in this medium.
Nothing wrong with just being knights, mercs, assasins, archers, soldiers etc. I would love a game with grizzly melee without magic and magical beings.
Cold War Era Espionage. Top Secret PnP rpg from back in the day. It could be like EVE with all the crazy deviousness and plotting but with consequences that matter.
Oh also would like to see Kingdoms of Amalur finally get a MMO, looks likely after the November auction. The world and setting were great.
From fiction, I would like to see the world from the Spirit Gate universe get translated over to a MMO. Playing as a reeve and flying around on a giant eagle helping the commonfolk would be good fun.
Already established lore means nice things. It means that we, players, can explore a setting what we love personally, by playing. Pre-established lore feels like it has a meaning, pre-established countries, history and major events. It gives the devs time to do something else than sit on their asses, thinking "Loool, lets just add dragons and mummies and pandas fighting orcs."
Pre-established lore quickly becomes a straight-jacket because you can't let the world evolve naturally, can't let players actually affect the course of history because you have to stay within the established IP.
You also have to end up building very artifical dynamics fior your world since the lore is telling you the outcome of the world's ecology, economics and politics in advance, rather than letting it emerge from a set of simulations.
( that said, there exists a niche for themeparks that walk you through lore and yes, right now they dominate the landscape. They will probably always exist because they are pretty reliable, measurable investments - you can predict the costs of generating content and run metrics on how fast people consume each zone and become impatient. It makes for a very manageable business ... and in that context, you're basically just taking more-or-less the same game and slapping on new skins of IP, so sure, it becomes just another way to present iconic stories as interactive walkthroughs )
this is exactly my point.
secondly, as for magic, all i did was present my feelings on it, not a dogmatic statement. i wouldn't see the point. if you actually know what the middle ages were like for the average person ... might make an interesting crafting game, or farming game. we could all play: avoid starvation in winter and malnutrition that drives the player to an early death? or dodge the plague? if you mean intrigue or power struggles that will be in the hierarchy, not with the average person. do you really want 3000 people on a server who are lords and ladies of ... whatever?
kidding aside, i would be interested in what the medievalists would want to do in a realistic medieval setting where most of life for the average person centered around raising and gathering enough food to survive. yes there were merchants and tradesfolk. but you didn't need 5 blacksmiths in a village. i dont mean to imply that the people of that time had no joy, or feasts, or enjoyment in life. i just think what they gained from life doesn't translate well into entertainment in this medium.
Nothing wrong with just being knights, mercs, assasins, archers, soldiers etc. I would love a game with grizzly melee without magic and magical beings.
i appreciate what you're saying, what threw me off was that while this seems cool to me as well, its most certainly not a 'realistic' setting. the middle ages didnt have assassin's creed types running all over europe and the middle east; mercenaries were typically hired from another lord or other person of prestige with vassals, they weren't free wandering ronin really; knights were not typically counted in the thousands, except by a king perhaps, and even then they were typically more subject to their local lord and stayed put geographically speaking for the most part.
the setting you are describing could work and could be terrific fun, especially with a solid crafting and building sandbox element. it just wouldn't be realistic in the historical sense. so perhaps freeing it from fantasy would also include freeing it from historicity. an alternate history or alternate earth type of deal.
"There are at least two kinds of games. One could be called finite, the other infinite. A finite game is played for the purpose of winning, an infinite game for the purpose of continuing play." Finite and Infinite Games, James Carse
3 or 3.5 edition forgotten realms..... There are so many meaningfull factions, base your game around those factions. And you have a perfect MMO world..
Best MMO experiences : EQ(PvE), DAoC(PvP), WoW(total package) LOTRO (worldfeel) GW2 (Artstyle and animations and worlddesign) SWTOR (Story immersion) TSW (story) ESO (character advancement)
Cthulhupunk. The only game we've really had (that I'm aware of) with a similar setting was Hellgate: London. Really fun game too, shame it was ruined by poor business decisions by Roper & his gang of idiots.
Super Hero. I miss City of Heroes badly. I also think Marvel Online is a horrible waste of the IP. How about a Star Wars MMO that doesn't suck? I also think it would be cool to play an MMO based on Magic the Gathering. The Dragonlance idea would be cool as well. Imagine instead of Neverwinter 3 it was Dragonlance: War of the Lance. Everything however is subjective to how well they pull it off a mind blowing game would get me to look past the setting but the setting/lore even if it was awesome would never be able to make up for a bad game.
"You CAN'T buy ships for RL money." - MaxBacon
"classification of games into MMOs is not by rational reasoning" - nariusseldon
Anything but an existing IP. It never ends well if someone can pull the plug on your world when they are no longer happy with their royalty checks.
"The Victorian/Wild West setting, but add in Lovecraft."
I like this idea, but make it alternate world steam punk. Could do almost a Secret World goes back in time to an alternate history. Add in a little Journey to the center of the World as well.
Another interesting possibility would a 1920s/30s art deco modern industrial struggle against fascism alternate history with a some "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow", some of "The Rocketeer" the and a little bit of "Indiana Jones" as inspiration.
Michael Moorcock brought this world to life during the late 80's With the Eternal Champions novels that include Elric, holder of the cursed, blood thirsty blade Stormbringer. The franchise also included The Chronicles of Corum, near last of his kind maimed, losing an eye, and a hand to this upstart new breed, man.
Stormbringer was made into pretty darn cool pen and paper rpg around the same time.
Warhammer 40k as an MMORTS with each player controlling a squad
An MMORPG set in the Age of Sail
A Shadowrun CORPG
Spaceship Sci-fi MMORPG where mankind has not yet left the solar system - no aliens
I'd really like to see a Warhammer 40k RTS if it followed the same rules of the table top miniature game. Buying even a single 2000-3000 point army costs an arm and a leg. After painting one of them, I wanted to stick a screwdriver in my eye.
There are certain queer times and occasions in this strange mixed affair we call life when a man takes this whole universe for a vast practical joke, though the wit thereof he but dimly discerns, and more than suspects that the joke is at nobody's expense but his own. -- Herman Melville
Comments
Nothing wrong with just being knights, mercs, assasins, archers, soldiers etc. I would love a game with grizzly melee without magic and magical beings.
Survivor of the great MMORPG Famine of 2011
Website: http://www.emrendil.com
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http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1014633/Classic-Game-Postmortem
Oh also would like to see Kingdoms of Amalur finally get a MMO, looks likely after the November auction. The world and setting were great.
From fiction, I would like to see the world from the Spirit Gate universe get translated over to a MMO. Playing as a reeve and flying around on a giant eagle helping the commonfolk would be good fun.
Caveman: The Ultimate Sandbox
Game O' Thrones. I'd happily throw money at a subscription for a well-made game with this IP. I also really want to see a well-done apocalyptic MMO.
What Setting/Lore would you like to see in a MMORPG? Oregon Trail!
Or even any Oregon Trail type game in pretty much any era or genre
Hardmode Raiding is nothing compared to dysentery lol
FireFly
(Dear FOX ... you could make much money here, come on.... see the carrot...)
I'd like to see a modern or ultra modern setup like the Matrix with vampires and spells and stuff.
All of it wrapped up into a 'current setting.'
With over-the-shoulder cam and PVP and Crafting from PVP.
Discuss. Reason. Society.
Become a Dragon. Take your world back.
i appreciate what you're saying, what threw me off was that while this seems cool to me as well, its most certainly not a 'realistic' setting. the middle ages didnt have assassin's creed types running all over europe and the middle east; mercenaries were typically hired from another lord or other person of prestige with vassals, they weren't free wandering ronin really; knights were not typically counted in the thousands, except by a king perhaps, and even then they were typically more subject to their local lord and stayed put geographically speaking for the most part.
the setting you are describing could work and could be terrific fun, especially with a solid crafting and building sandbox element. it just wouldn't be realistic in the historical sense. so perhaps freeing it from fantasy would also include freeing it from historicity. an alternate history or alternate earth type of deal.
"There are at least two kinds of games.
One could be called finite, the other infinite.
A finite game is played for the purpose of winning,
an infinite game for the purpose of continuing play."
Finite and Infinite Games, James Carse
Best MMO experiences : EQ(PvE), DAoC(PvP), WoW(total package) LOTRO (worldfeel) GW2 (Artstyle and animations and worlddesign) SWTOR (Story immersion) TSW (story) ESO (character advancement)
Cthulhupunk. The only game we've really had (that I'm aware of) with a similar setting was Hellgate: London. Really fun game too, shame it was ruined by poor business decisions by Roper & his gang of idiots.
Ancient, unspeakable, sanity draining horrors + futuristic weapons & cybertechnology? Yes please!
"classification of games into MMOs is not by rational reasoning" - nariusseldon
Love Minecraft. And check out my Youtube channel OhCanadaGamer
Try a MUD today at http://www.mudconnect.com/OMFG X-FILES MMO !!!
/Nergasm
Any real world UFO/Alien type of investigation MMO
Anything but an existing IP. It never ends well if someone can pull the plug on your world when they are no longer happy with their royalty checks.
"The Victorian/Wild West setting, but add in Lovecraft."
I like this idea, but make it alternate world steam punk. Could do almost a Secret World goes back in time to an alternate history. Add in a little Journey to the center of the World as well.
Another interesting possibility would a 1920s/30s art deco modern industrial struggle against fascism alternate history with a some "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow", some of "The Rocketeer" the and a little bit of "Indiana Jones" as inspiration.
All die, so die well.
They are making a FireFly MMOG but it will only be on mobile devices.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y364b2Hcq7I
My pick is what I always answer when this thread pops up, An Old West MMORPG is way overdue.
I only want to see it though if it is a full sandbox game. Maybe have one starting town but everything else in the world is built by the players.
I have another one!! The world of Stormbringer!!@
Michael Moorcock brought this world to life during the late 80's With the Eternal Champions novels that include Elric, holder of the cursed, blood thirsty blade Stormbringer. The franchise also included The Chronicles of Corum, near last of his kind maimed, losing an eye, and a hand to this upstart new breed, man.
Stormbringer was made into pretty darn cool pen and paper rpg around the same time.
I'd really like to see a Warhammer 40k RTS if it followed the same rules of the table top miniature game. Buying even a single 2000-3000 point army costs an arm and a leg. After painting one of them, I wanted to stick a screwdriver in my eye.
There are certain queer times and occasions in this strange mixed affair we call life when a man takes this whole universe for a vast practical joke, though the wit thereof he but dimly discerns, and more than suspects that the joke is at nobody's expense but his own.
-- Herman Melville