According to a few sources, James Cameron has said that he is interested in creating an Avatar MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game - think World of Warcraft). Am I the only one to think this will be average?
I mean, sure, James Cameron has a lot of money to put towards creating a well-received game. However, there have been very few successful conversions from movie to video game, or vice-versa. There are far too many examples of game-to-movie gone wrong, such as Street Fighter or Tomb Raider. Taking a movie and turning it into a game that people actually want to play always takes more effort than people believe.
A game set in the fictional world of Pandora. Pandora is a place where many die-hard fans of the movie Avatar wish they could live in, and in the movie is where the Na'vi (blue people) exist. The one thing enjoyable would be exploring this vast world. However, what would you do? Hunt? Fight off humans? To be honest, I think it's hard to come up with any actual "game" concepts for this MMO - it was hard enough for the single player Avatar video game released not too long ago. Avatar will aim to be a fancy-graphic MMO that will draw in a large audience due to its movie popularity, but, in my opinion, it won't have the key parts, such as World of Warcraft's raiding, or Mabinogi's storyline, that give other MMO's their sparkle.
What do you guys think? Would an Avatar MMO be a success or a flop?
6 comments:
This could turn out well. There is a great opportunity for PvP, exploration, and various economical systems. Perhaps there could even be a system where the humans and Na'vi fight over control of various areas. Perhaps players could also be able to switch their alignments (hey, the main character in the movie did it).
Basically, it's a cool idea, and it has great potential. However, they need to ensure it's executed properly.
@goatsgomoo I think picking human or Na'vi would be a great idea - in theory. Unfortunately, you can predict that nearly everyone would flock towards the Na'vi, because, "Who wants to be a boring old human? I get to be that everyday."
@Zack: I don't really agree.
If the MMO is similar to the movies, the Na'vi and the humans would have drastically different playing styles. The Na'vi would rely on stealth and superiority in the jungle, while the humans would rely on firepower, better defenses, and superiority in the skies.
But even still, in other MMOs where humans and other, more exotic, races exist, many people do choose human. In fact, according to a survey conducted by The Daedalus Project, humans were the 2nd most common race in WoW (behind Night Elves). Here's the link: http://www.nickyee.com/daedalus/archives/001365.php
@goatsgomoo WoW is full of hardcore MMO players...the Avatar MMO will be filled with people who watched the movie, most likely. It won't be filled with hardcore gamers and whatnot (in general.) Therefore, the people who would play the Avatar MMO, who are the people that watched the movie, would, in my opinion, almost definitely choose to be one of the Na'vi (I prefer blue people :P)
Sure, there are some hardcore MMO players in WoW, but I wouldn't say it's "full" of them. For instance, in another survey conducted by The Daedalus Project (http://www.nickyee.com/daedalus/archives/001585.php?page=2), fewer than 40% in each respondent group desired to be one of the most powerful players in the class or profession, and 15% or fewer in each group said it was important to have early access to high-end content.
Basically, most WoW players are not hardcore players. In addition to that, I don't think there is much of a disconnect between hardcore gamers and people who watched Avatar, although I don't really have data for this. Actually, trying to predict how many people would play as humans and how many would play as Na'vi is basically impossible without actually surveying people after they get some information, such as gameplay footage of Na'vi and of humans. And if one species is chosen predominately over the other, there are things that can be done to balance the game to counteract the difference in numbers. Again, going back to WoW (because there's more data about it than other games), servers tend to be 1.6:1 to 1.7:1 Alliance:Horde, but there still isn't a huge balance issue. Now, this is probably because in WoW, numbers don't matter that much. In PvP matches, equal numbers of people are matched up against each other, so the server's A:H ratio doesn't matter. A similar system could be implemented for an Avatar MMO, essentially eliminating any problems which may arise due to imbalance.
@goatsgomoo I don't think those statistics represent the percentage of hardcore gamers. IMO, solely due to the reputation of WoW, anyone who plays it is almost definitely a "hardcore gamer". There isn't anyone who casually plays Wow (unless they have a lot of money to waste, in which case $15 for a few hours wouldn't be much to them.)
Also, although a fix could be made, it is still my opinion that players of an Avatar MMO would be more those-who-watched-the-movie and less WoW hardcore gamer and whatnot. And in THAT case, the average moviegoer who saw Avatar would much rather be a part of the Na'vi than humans. Of course, this is still all speculation, and there really is no evidence at the moment that points one way or the other. One thing we know for sure is that the target audience is much, much more different than any other MMO created; is that fair to say?
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