Here is a written version of the speech I gave at GDC 2006 Europe on “A MMO doesn’t have to be fantasy” James A: “The MMO industry has been going for years and most MMO’s we see today fall into two categories. Fantasy & Sci-FI. Have we not learnt that remaking games/ideas is a bad thing? Although most MMO’s do sell these days within these two categories I for one am tired of seeing the same dragons and medieval knights or sci fi soldiers and space craft. Man gamers hopefully agree with me, you are just paying for something that has been redone twenty times over.
Today is the future of the games industry and next generation of technology. Which means NEW ideas. I stress this as many game designers of all kinds be they Indie or commercial still seem to go along the lines of Fantasy or Sci-FI. There’s so much room for more than just these two. I do state there are MMO’s currently on the market which are unique. One in example is Second Life. I’m sure many of you have heard about it and how players generate real money from it from just building houses and online business’s. I’m talking about having Social + Game play meets as well as keeping the ongoing new experience. For the new experience to be given to a MMO we need to be thinking of something unique and not just Fantasy or Sci-fi. Examples of such as a Wild Western MMO were players can go back to the times of the Wild West. Certainly giving GUN and Call of Jurez and run for there money. I know i have seen on the realm crafter forums which currently supports indie developers and Bug MMO, were you are shrunken down to bug size.
Exceptional idea I must say. Ideas don’t have to be based on human characters, why not have cars? Planes? Ships even. I know a good MMO in production A Burning Sea which is a pirate MMO. Maybe Game Designers need to look into idea generation more. An Egyptian MMO “A Tale in the Desert” is a prime example of looking back into history for game design ideas. I think we need to broaden the horizon and I’m pleased to introduce Andrew the Lead game Designer from Axion. “ Andrew G: “As Mr Allsopp stated MMO’s need to look towards new ideas, I personally like the idea of a prehistoric MMO, fighting and owning dinos. Building small cave man villages and working together as a team. Yes I’m her from Cambridge today to talk to you about Team Work and Social ability in a MMO.
I myself are looking at Team Work within a MMO. Most MMO’s I know have this from the feature Guilds/Party group, but what if we needed another team mate to boost you up a wall in a MMO. Yes I have had a chance to glance into the future of MMO technology and a bit like splinter cell a MMO (Wont Spoil The Name Yet) will be offering that sort of technology. Getting back to our team work talk we can clearly see that many game designers allow some sort of interaction with other players but do they really have enough available. I will now hand you back to James who will talk you through the features and new experience with there title in development Ancient World Online.”
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