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Best theme and setting for a MMORPG
MMO.Maverick
Member CommonPosts: 7,619
What MMORPG, existing or upcoming, has the best theme and setting for a MMORPG?
And what theme and setting (or franchise) would you like to see yourself for a MMORPG?
Here's my list:
1. The Secret World: it has a great theme, 'what if all the myths, legends, dark secrets and conspiracy theories are true?'. Add to that mix secret societies a la Templars and Illuminati, conspiracies, a vibe reminiscent of Cthulhu/Lovecraft, Stephen King, X-Files and Supernatural and a world slowly sliding to the edge of the abyss and darkness, and you have a great horror/urban fantasy setting for a MMORPG. As the TSW site says, 'dark days are coming', indeed.
2. Fallen Earth: postapocalyptic era, always a great atmosphere with the faded memories of a shining past while having to wander around in a ruined, dangerous present.
3. EVE Online: especially the vastness of its universe, it's the '80s game Elite but then on steroids and then yanked into the Massively Multiplayer 21st century. With its depth, economy, politics and massive scale warfare it comes as close to a living, breathing scifi universe as a MMORPG can get.
What I'd love to see a MMORPG of:
1. Frank Herbert's Dune universe.
2. American McGee's Alice, a dark and twisted version of Wonderland.
The ACTUAL size of MMORPG worlds: a comparison list between MMO's
The ease with which predictions are made on these forums:
Fratman: "I'm saying Spring 2012 at the earliest [for TOR release]. Anyone still clinging to 2011 is deluding themself at this point."
Comments
I think the best setting is a medieval fantasy setting. Not "high fantasy", but something somewhat close to it. I don't think there's any doubt that fantasy is the number one setting, when something like 80% of gamers play fantasy games for MMOs. (I could be wrong about that figure, but it's very high.)
The other thing is, making a game based on an existing known IP story makes it harder to run the game with any freedom for the players. I think the theme for an MMO needs to be based on it's own story. And if you leave an IP story as the past, you are still locked into that past based on player expectations. You have to stay true to that story. I just think it's better to have your own story that you can do with what you want.
Once upon a time....
Sorry but have you been looking at what they have put out over the last five years? It has to be fantasy, it has to have Tolkien inspired Elves and Orcs. There should be a cute race too. Add enough quests to make you miss them when they run out and a half baked pvp option.
Your chance of them making something like the amazing Dune are next to zero. Unless the new film does amazingly that is.
I am looking forward to The Secret World and The World of Darkness MMO's. Similar settings, but very different. Modern day horror/occult really has not been done yet so should be interesting.
There has been enough fantasy and the Sci Fi ones have not been intersting other then Eve. And that has much more to do with the gameplay rather then the setting and story. Though I will be playing The Old Republic.
Post-Apocalyptic era is getting some attention lately. With Fallen Earth and Earthrise and Fallout being worked on. However, I am just not feeling it. For me I think this setting is just too depressing to play a MMO for months.
Dream MMO that won't happen and probably would't be any good if it did would be based on Firefly.
Give me lush forests and mountaintop dragons or go home
I personally favor a low fantasy setting/theme. A game that I would enjoy needs to have Magic, fantastic creatures, and rich storyline. It doesn't really matter what time period the game mimics as I am quite sure even with spacetravel vs medivel time periods, mystery and storyline can be extremely adequate.
I would really like to see a Dragon Age/Oblivion MMO. I love the idea of just a regular world with politics as usual, but if you want adventure, you go out and find it. I like the idea of having off the beaten path caverns that really may not have any real use, but you may find some sort of special named in the back or even signs of inhabitation etc. Everquest was great in this regard. You can venture out and still find stuff that you had never seen before.
I'd like to see:
-An MMO based in China Mieville's Bas Lag universe. His writing is so place-based, it would be so cool to actually explore and adventure in all of those locations. I have a feeling that some day this will be tried.
-This one is more iffy, but I'm thinking it would be cool to have an MMO set in the pre-colonial Americas. With lots of exploring and crafting...and then maybe 3 or 4 expansions in, the Europeans land, and there is a chance to re-write history and expel them.
-An MMO based in a world like The Littles or Bugs Life or something...where you are in our real world, but super miniature and have to navigate gigantic real-world objects.
I think Gamma World would be a great setting for an MMO.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma_World
I've made this same comment numerous times, but I have to disagree with you on this being ever tried. No way in hell is any developer in their right mind going to create a half-horror / half-steampunk game set in a brutal, hard-r-rated universe rooted in socialist values. Don't get me wrong, I'd LOVE to see it and there is certainly enough in the 3 books (and 1 story) to base it on, but it's just not something that would happen.
Bravo on the good taste in literature tho
And the universe of Kraken is a lot more likely, though it's pretty similar to what TSW is doing.
Best settings for me are always sci-fi. I guess it comes down to it being a lot easier to roleplay and relate to people that are closer to our times. The MMOs I've played with the best stories and immersion have all been sci-fi - AO, SWG, TR, EVE. I can totally get into the idea of being a space trucker surfing for porn while mining an asteroid. It's just so easy to reconcile the player vs. character stuff in those games.
The problem with the fantasy-based games is that when these universes are created (even for books and movies, not just games), it's generally not really thought through as to what the world would be like with the presence of magic. Take the simplest thing - religion. Religion is generally treated very similar in these games to the way we treat religion, but this would never be the case in a world where gods actually show up on a consistent basis and there is actual hard proof of their existence. It wouldn't be called "Faith" as there is nothing arguable about it, it's as concrete as science. The same for most other things. It's just extremely easy to find great inconsistencies in worlds of magic, which always take away from the overall ability to immerse yourself in a world. Anyhow, enough of me rambling.
Also, +1 for Dune being the one great, unused IP for an MMO, although AO is very much inspired by Dune.
Richard Morgan's world of Altered Carbon would make a great setting. There is even a death/fast travel mechanic in place.
"Id rather work on something with great potential than on fulfilling a promise of mediocrity."
- Raph Koster
Tried: AO,EQ,EQ2,DAoC,SWG,AA,SB,HZ,CoX,PS,GA,TR,IV,GnH,EVE, PP,DnL,WAR,MxO,SWG,FE,VG,AoC,DDO,LoTRO,Rift,TOR,Aion,Tera,TSW,GW2,DCUO,CO,STO
Favourites: AO,SWG,EVE,TR,LoTRO,TSW,EQ2, Firefall
Currently Playing: ESO
I'd quite like to see a dark, adult, noir styled Blade Runner IP mmo. Given that Roy Batty (I know great name eh) speaks of "Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I've watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate." there is clearly plenty of scope in the IP.
"Come and have a look at what you could have won."
IM ready to take a break from Elves and orcs.
Secret world seems like a decent transition away from them
Torrential: DAOC (Pendragon)
Awned: World of Warcraft (Lothar)
Torren: Warhammer Online (Praag)
I think maybe my reply spurred yours. And, really, you're right. I do have this second idea of a fantastic game that's sci-fi, Sandbox, Worldly. A universe where I can live out of an all terrain vehicle as a home, load up my dune buggy and my hovercraft, house a science lab, as well as living quarters and storage, with defensive armament. Maybe even a space shuttle to get to my orbiting space ship. And robots or hirelings for menial labor.
Moving my thick hulled motor home around to set up base camps to explore and harvest resources, discovering mysteries from a deep past of a world (universe) destroyed and remade. Maybe even some strange magical forces from unknown universes.
Yeah, Scot, I could go for something other than Elves and Dwarves (and especially those cute little precious moments people). Mainly I want Sandbox, world interaction, mystery, and lots of discovery mixed with lots of fun.
If ya got a cool hundred mil, lets talk. heh.
Once upon a time....
Prehistoric setting would be nice. Not quite sure how the chat would work though...
All statements I make is from my point of view unless stated otherwise.
Id like to see:
Dragonlance (with Kender and Tinker Gnome races lol kender with pickpocket and gnome can design inventions)
Shadowrun
The Labyrinth (with David Bowie the end boss mob! hahaha)
NEWS FLASH! "A bank was robbed the other day and a man opened fire on the customers being held hostage. One customer zig-zag sprinted until he found cover. When questioned later he explained that he was a hardcore gamer and knew just what to do!" Download my music for free! I release several albums per month as part of project "Thee Untitled" . .. some video game music remixes and cover songs done with instruments in there as well! http://theeuntitled.bandcamp.com/ Check out my roleplaying blog, collection of fictional short stories, and fantasy series... updated on a blog for now until I am finished! https://childrenfromtheheavensbelow.blogspot.com/ Watch me game on occasion or make music... https://www.twitch.tv/spoontheeuntitled and subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUvqULn678VrF3OasgnbsyA
Wheel of time would be dope too!
or a Star Trek MMO thats worth playing . ..
NEWS FLASH! "A bank was robbed the other day and a man opened fire on the customers being held hostage. One customer zig-zag sprinted until he found cover. When questioned later he explained that he was a hardcore gamer and knew just what to do!" Download my music for free! I release several albums per month as part of project "Thee Untitled" . .. some video game music remixes and cover songs done with instruments in there as well! http://theeuntitled.bandcamp.com/ Check out my roleplaying blog, collection of fictional short stories, and fantasy series... updated on a blog for now until I am finished! https://childrenfromtheheavensbelow.blogspot.com/ Watch me game on occasion or make music... https://www.twitch.tv/spoontheeuntitled and subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUvqULn678VrF3OasgnbsyA
The studio doing Wheel of Time scares me... could be epic.
What I'd most like to see would be an MMO based on The Night's Dawn Trilogy (beginning with the Reality Disfunction). Anyone else ever read this one?
- A setting in the style of Cowboy Bebop.
- An MMO based on the Mortal Engines IP.
- A medieval MMO a la Mount & Blade - no wizards, just a nice historical bash of the swords and shields (and bows).
I love the setting of EVE, it has a great lore and style. But sometimes I hunger for a sci-fi that doesn't take itself quite so seriously and isn't so dark, hence Cowboy Bebop.
Mortal Engines is a really unique setting from which you could create some very interesting game mechanics. It would also be really beautiful if done with good art direction. It also has a vaguely steampunk feel to it (though it doesn't fit the technical definition) and it's post-apocalyptic, so it would fit those niches.
I like the style of Mortal Online a lot, but I really hunger for a historical setting. I find that magic in a world actually quite annoys me, except in a few cases (e.g. the Earthsea novels) because so many things are just explained away by it. It's an annoying plot device. But even outside of story it makes it harder for me to take a world seriously.
Oh and I love the setting of World of Warcraft because it is a beautifully designed world with more varied zones and terrain types I have seen in any other game, and I like the fact that it doesn't take itself too seriously (and so I don't feel like I'm expected to myself. See my rant on magic above).
Always read the small print.
I like my fantasy MMOs. The Everquest (eq2) setting is perfect for adventure style MMO gaming. Lineage II also had a nice setting and theme.
I'd personally love to see an MMO based on the discworld books...
What can men do against such reckless hate?
I'd love some dystopian setting, a la 1984 or Brave New World. Throw in a bit of Bladerunner and Deus X steampunk futuristic influences and I will be first in line for your game.
Wildstar:
Phantazm, Pago(PvP), Exiles
Guild: Socks with Sandals
Playing: Wildstar
Retired/Tried: DCUO. The Secret World, Darkfall UW, Darkfall, Mortal Online, DDO, Rift, Fallen Earth, Aion, APB, EQ, EQ2, PoTBS, WoW, WAR, SWG, CoX, Vangaurd, CO, GW, EVE, DAoC, LotRO, SW:ToR, GW2, Dragon Nest
Fantasy settings are obviously the most popular, but here are three others I would love to see:
1. Shadowrun
2. Battletech/Mechwarrior
3. Early Americas. It would have multiple "origins" (native american tribes or European countries) and a non-class, skill based system. Players could pursue careers as hunters/trappers, warriors/soldiers, traders, explorers, shamen/preachers, crafters/settlers, or anything they want to try. Although relatively safe around towns/villages, out in the wilderness it's open world pvp with wandering wild animals or outcasts of society. This is a vague outline, but that's the gist of it.
Heh, hadn't thought of it. But yeah, a Discworld MMORPG sounds like crazily fun too.
There is a studio doing Wheel of Time?
Read the Reality Disfunction and other series from Peter F Hamilton, loved it
The ACTUAL size of MMORPG worlds: a comparison list between MMO's
The ease with which predictions are made on these forums:
Fratman: "I'm saying Spring 2012 at the earliest [for TOR release]. Anyone still clinging to 2011 is deluding themself at this point."
Hmmm a time travel mmo where you can travel to diffrent time periods and the whole world changes that would be friking amazing
i would like high scool MMORPG with housing and some crafting (cooking shopping etc)
Firefly2003 uses the name of some fiction I enjoy....that of course being the short lived series, and spin off movie Serenity.
You had Aliance that had defeated rebels, but some rebels still floating around
A lunatic faction of human flesh eating twisited individuals
Various planets displaying different aspects of the old west.
Several criminal underground factions
And last but not least there was Mal, Zoe, Wash, Shepard Book, Jayne, the operative, Anora, Kaylee, Simon, and most of all River.
Gah I wish that series had worked out....but folks like me were to blame. I wasnt even aware of its existence until Serenity was showing on HBO
Asking Devs to make AAA sandbox titles is like trying to get fine dining on a McDonalds dollar menu budget.