Or at least something major. These are all MMOs slated for release in the next year or two that are at least substantial enough to generate some amount of hopeful anxiety within my heart of hearts. These are my current favorite unreleased MMOs of the ones that have given us anything to show for (as opposed to theoretical MMOs or just-bought-the-license MMOs). My choices here are fueled by any of:
- game mechanics beyond the copycat mould (“only we promise we’ll do it better!”)
- an expansion of a player motiviation or Bartle type currently underserved (builders, explorers, etc)
- a new gameplay genre or aesthetic genre which could move the MMO classification beyond EQ/WoW cloneage
- a new target audience and play pattern (e.g. casual or interstitial play – ease of getting involved in a large way without lots of personal/guild planning)
- a colorful presentation and high quality concept art and tech demos
So without further ado…
1. The Secret World
[Website | Interview | Art | Information]
What it could change: Storytelling within MMOs, ARG possibilities, Mystery Genre
The Secret World has an immense amount of potential for advancing storytelling within MMOs. Not only is it designed and developed by veterans of the Dreamfall team, but the project seems to be actively incorporating ARG-like systems into the early promotion and possibly into the eventual gameplay. The possibilities of an altered-earth virtual world are quite enticing and they are drawing from a large pool of mysteries, mythologies, and conspiracies.
Using mystery as a grounding point, true communal story development is possible, and they appear to understand how that will affect their content pipelines. My personal feeling is that the Explorer and Socializer are the two Bartle types that are most underserved by today’s online games – with the Socializer beginning to get some heavy attention. The leaning on mystery and intellectual themes offers a great chance to expand the Explorer element.
This is a highly ambitious project and one that may only appeal to a niche audience, but it may teach future MMOs a number of new tricks – and it creates some subgenre firsts (earth-based, mystery-genre) that will hopefully continue to unfurl to become the long tail of our salvation from the fantasy tolkeinesque genre.
2. Blackstar
[Website | Interview | Art | Information]
What it could change: The space flight and exploration genre, the anime-inspired sci fi niche
Blackstar is the game I foremost wish to have sex with. It may be a case of style over substance, but in this case the style is a lot more than a coating. The style imperative drives Blackstar into a niche that is relatively untapped (though growing fast) – the niche filled with games like S4 League – high speed action and anime influences. Don’t get me wrong, I love my slower more realistic games like EVE as well.
However, I often explain it in terms of mecha. There are two major ‘forks’ in the spectrum of mecha concept and design. There is the highly mechanical version used by things like Battletech where the mecha is very ‘vehicular’ and requires constant tuneups, has major heating issues, and is realistic in its movement and damage withstanding capabilities. Then there is the hyper-anime version where the mecha is a large superhuman extension of the human body – it behaves more like a Demi-god in various mythologies than a machine. Naturally these points came from a middle ground – the first Gundam books put forth the idea that to make the machine more than just a machine, the human would have to be more than just a human. The modern Gundam franchise however is fully on the immortal-demigod side.
There are a few modern properties to wedge themselves in the middle somewhat: Armored Core for example seems to steal equally from both sides, even though its roots lie more on the Virtual-On derived robot as shiny demigod side. However, this gradient can be defined in rather simple terms when it comes to video games. Much like the original Newtype concept, the question I ask myself is “How much does this experience make me feel like I am performing above my own ability?“. In reality, it is only at the ‘top’ of my ability, not beyond, but using style and rewarding the occasional random reflex move with the great results, this feeling can be achieved.
Games that evoke this feeling for me are: Zone of Enders, Wipeout, Descent, and Pop n Music (and many rhythm games). Zone of Enders is perhaps the best example (and Descent for the same reasons) – requiring an awareness of more than just 2 axis of movement and encounter somehow feels extra-human. ZoE uses just the right amount of glowy flash and style to make it feel like you’re this incredible 190 Beats-per-minute badass, computing every possible trajectory, even if you’re just mashing buttons frantically.
This is what I’m hoping Blackstar embraces, and seems to be doing with the pacing of its space combat. The future-anime aesthetic of glowy lines, light streaks left in the air,visible concussion waves, and intersections of reality and user interface with an overuse of reticles and indicators. If they can make a game with good mechanics, a fair amount of customization, that still makes me feel like a complete badass – I will be completely sold.
Interestingly, there aren’t many (if any) scifi-anime-franchise based MMOs, which could signify a lack of a niche, or (more likely if you look at the growth of anime in the US) a huge niche possibility. Phantasy star has a bit of this niche right now, but it’s a completely different beast. My bet is that Blackstar lights the fire of a small niche that will grow slowly over time and then eventually take off through some other means (for example a free-to-play anime-franchise world or similar), never reaping the success it deserves but I’ll definitely be playing it.
3. LEGO Universe
[Website | Interview | Art | Information]
What it could change: Collaborative building environment that isn’t rife with furry penises
Much like Kix, LEGO Universe is Kid Tested, Adult Approved (ok that was a stretch, but whatever). Basically, the kid in me wants to play with LEGOs again (the kind with bricks and nubs, not the kind that is practically pre-assembled), but the adult in me wants to see the utopian collaborative build-and-explore virtual world dream come true (in the way that MOOs are, and without the Furry Sex and aesthetic disparity of Second Life). This isn’t to say that there won’t be LEGO dongs galore, but I think this can only go so far and it can be quelled with proper presentation and filtering, much like Little Big Planet currently.
The other advantage LEGO Universe has is that it has near-infinite genre and licensing capabilities, allowing it to become a centrally controlled megaverse (and yes, I know how much of an anathema this idea is to virtual worlds nuts out there – but currently every megaverse attempt has been controlled by its lack of established norms). Want to go to a pirate world, then a ninja world, then to space and then a dinosaur-laden past? This is theoretically possible with this property because the verbs define it more than the nouns or adjectives (a quality about any service that I find admirable)
Hopefully LEGO Universe will not sacrifice design too much for the youth audience – a fear that is fairly well contained by the knowledge of the LEGO Universe Partners Program. Deciding to make it contain no PvP is a wise decision, though they may learn that PvP is an expansive concept that does not need PKs to work. Now that this property is nestled well within the new Gazillion label, I have little fear of it failing.
4. All Points Bulletin
[Website | Interview | Art | Information]
What it could change: The advent of the modern-day crime genre, new levels of character customization
Modern day crime seems to be perfectly at home with the social structures common in MMOs. The idea of getting together a gang who associate themselves by names and colors such that there is brotherhood even with members you haven’t met, and then engaging in a resource war to stake out territory for your gang – I’d venture to say it’s the thing in real life that most closely resembles MMO PvP. Life resembles art, etc I suppose.
As it stands, the Grand Theft Auto multiplayer has done fairly well, but lacking the persistence that makes such a world truly thrive, it becomes more like a large game of counterstrike overrun with cheaters and those who are only playing ‘for the lulz’. Bringing a real sense of property into this seems only natural.
Most of my questions regarding APB have to do with the larger social economics – how is equilibrium maintained (if you can steal cars from npc pedestrians and sell them, this would be an open economy and as such would need considerable drains), what avenues of PvP are available (stealing? territory? police griefing?), and what degree of continuity are they attempting to provide (shards, instances, fragmented economies, etc).
One of the most impressive things about APB so far has been the character customization. It’s so nice to start seeing current-gen MMOs start to take this seriously. The flexibility they were showing in the tattoos and face were pretty impressive. I hope they treat clothing the same way, as that tends to be the part of character customization most often forgotten – the part that isn’t a couple sliders during the sliver of time we call creation.
5. Free Realms
[Website | Interview | Information]
What it could change: The quality of casual and youth targeted MMOs, achievement structures, minigames in MMO, web cross-media support, business models
Free Realm is the only game on this list currently in Beta and about to release, so I won’t need to say as much here. Of all games out there, Free Realms comes the closest to what I was trying to accomplish with Twin Skies – indeed it was considered our closest competitor. Free Realms is really looking to up the bar on free-to-play MMOs in terms of production quality and content and so far they seem to be delivering.
The main design element above all that I hope this game spreads to the genre is the interplay of activities and minigames to the play landscape. By removing the fixation with the singular linear (well, typically logarithmic) power curve and replacing it with many orthagonal curves, achievements, high scores, and social interactions, Free Realms has moved us one large step towards putting this hole ‘end game’ obsession to bed. I urge everyone reading this blog to check this game out – I’m sure I’ll also be talking about it more in the future.
6. The Agency
[Website | Interview | Art | Information]
What it could change: Interstitial play and true MMO integration for FPS nuts, the spy genre
I love me some Team Fortress 2. The thought of being able to play something like that and call it an MMO feels almost like cheating. And yet, the bridge we could architect to cross this gap is looking more and more comical each day until the point where we can instead take a deep stride and cross. Before you tell me about Planetside however, let me just say that that game was likely ahead of its time. Not because MMO players weren’t ready to FPS, instead it was because FPS players weren’t yet ready to MMO.
Since then, we’ve seen the Battlefield series, Call of Duty 4, CounterStrike’s experiments with global economics, and even Team Fortress 2 having persistent improvements now through achievements. It seems that persistence in FPS games is going to, well, persist. The biggest difference to me, however is a mindset. When I think about logging on to an MMO I think about all the things that need to be done, the time each of them takes to complete, travel time, organization time – I’m generally exasperated before I log on. However, playing a quick round of TF2 requires no preparation. Better yet, pickup groups in TF2 are the norm and they are often FUN! I don’t even need my friends to be online to have a good time.
If The Agency gets these things right, then it will be a blast. The promise that I could have a slew of missions of known lengths (7 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes) and hop into the action immediately with friends or with people who are insentivised properly for doing their role is a tantalizing one.
Add to all this the spy genre possibilities (please have information warfare /espionage forms of PvP), and some of the more interesting mission mechanics I’ve seen in an MMO, and there is some serious possibility for win here. Perhaps my single favorite design mechanic of The Agency that I have seen so far is the quality of completion for missions. It’s a very console mentality idea that seems entirely at home in the genre even if it didn’t have the console release. Having a gradient of completion means that you can win small and then keep improving, instead of failing to win (as is WoW’s predominant instance methodology).
Conclusion
There is no doubt in my mind that the release of these games will inspire improvement in the MMO genre – either through the flames of user exceptance of the subtle kindle of future designer inspiration. This isn’t to say that other games won’t, but these are the ones that have caught my eye, and I believe deserve yours.
