Website News

Top 10 Books That Should Be MMOs

发布：2009-06-17　浏览：455

In 1984's Ghostbusters, Egon Spengler blithely announced that "Print is dead." Fifteen years later, even with the rise of the internet, the medium is still alive and well. Literature has been telling stories and creating vast and unexplored worlds for years. Literature, it could be argued, is the forefather of all storytelling media from television to movies to video games. Hollywood has been mining the world of literature IPs for decades: Independence Day, Jurassic Park, The Da Vinci Code, Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, A Beautiful Mind, The James Bond series, The Bourne Series, the list goes on. So why then, when scanning the vast list of games on the MMORPG.com game list, do only Turbine's Lord of the Rings Online and Funcom's Age of Conan stand out as a novels-turned MMOs? The absence of novel and literature IPs is made even more surprising given the success that Turbine has found in LotRO. Granted, The Lord of the Rings was an obvious choice for a transition from the written page to the virtual world, but the possibilities don't end there, and this list was built to prove it. Not just any book or series of books would make a good MMO. In order to be made into an MMO, the IP in question would have to have created not just a few memorable plots or even characters, but would have had to have created a vibrant and living world above and beyond the immediate plot of the story or the people within it. That's the mistake that people most often make when discussing this subject. Often, there is an assumption that if the story was good and enjoyable, it would be a prime candidate for conversion. The truth is though that it isn't. The Bourne series from novelist Robert Ludlum is a prime example of this. While the books themselves were action packed and enjoyable (moreso, say many who have read them, than the movies), they centered heavily on the series protagonist and the world behind the scenes really wasn't anything exceptional or interesting enough to serve as the virtual setting. Ditto James Bond. #10 Starship Troopers Do you want to live forever? While many are familiar with the somewhat campy 1997 film of the same name, the Starship Troopers IP actually started in 1959 in "The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction". The "Terran Federation" is at war with a race referred to in the stories as "the Bugs". The IP's universe is explored in the novels through the eyes of young Johnny Rico as he joins the military and advances through the ranks as the war progresses. While a first person narrative might at first appear to be quite character-centric, it is through the character's eyes that readers learn the details of the universe, from brutal punishment to extensive training to the style and pace of battle and the political climate of the world at large. While it may have been tried before, the MMO world is probably ready for another full scale futuristic War MMORPG and if Richard Garriott's name wasn't enough to carry the idea, maybe the Starship Troopers IP will be. #42 - Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy If you're gonna play bring your trusty towel. The number ten spot on the list goes to an author whose name is near and dear to many fans of the science fiction genre and the series that put a humorous face on the sci-fi genre: Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Adams' Hitchhiker books center around the universe's favorite whipping boy in hapless Arthur Dent, a character who learns that humanity represents but a small fraction of the strangeness in a vast, bizarre and ultimately quite dangerous universe. The universe of The Hitchhiker's Guide "Trilogy in Five Parts" would serve as an excellent backdrop for an MMO. Not only would the MMO landscape do well to have an MMO (Dungeon Runners notwithstanding) that infuses its setting with humor, but the very nature of the books saw its protagonist learning more and more about the universe around him, creating a rich tapestry from which developers could draw to create a functioning, immersive game world. #8 Fairy Tales Fairy Tale Chicks Pwn. Perhaps the best known stories in literature are fairy tales. Nearly everyone, in one form or another, is familiar with a wide variety of these tales we tell to children. Snow White, Goldilocks, Rumpelstiltskin, Rapunzel, Hansel and Gretel, are just a few well known classics. Every individual fairy tale is steeped in its own traditions, setting and story but are held together as a genre through common themes and ideas. Making an MMO out of a single fairy tale might not seem feasible, but creating a gaming universe using fairy tales and their lore as a background might prove an interesting diversion for adult and child alike. The idea isn't a new one. Disney was actually extraordinarily successful with its Shrek franchise based upon a similar theme. The wheel and Father Time. #7 - Wheel of Time Robert Jordan's epic Wheel of Time series has already spawned a Multi-User Dungeon (MUD) in its own image. With more than a dozen novels, the story and the world that has been woven are understandably vast. Aside from the fact that Jordan's universe is popular and expansive, a Wheel of Time MMO would give players the opportunity to play in a world that skirts real life history (no elves or gnomes or Halflings, just humans), and fantasy (the premise is held together by a mystical prophecy). He gives me nightmares, I give him nightmares #6 - The Work of Stephen King Stephen King is perhaps the best known horror genre writer of all time. With more than 50 short stories and novels under his belt, King could easily be crowned monarch of his chosen genre. In terms of developing an MMO based on the works of Stephen King, potential developers have a pair of interesting options to choose from: Many of King's stories, whatever their theme, take place in the New England area of the United States, giving MMO developers an easy opportunity to combine many of his works into a single "world" for a game. Alternatively, King's most enduring series, The Dark Tower, is ripe for an MMO adaptation. The Dark Tower takes place in an alternate reality that mixes Middle Earth with spaghetti westerns. In either case, the MMO world could benefit from a game that relies, as do most of King's stories" more on the suspense level of the horror genre than the murder, blood and guts level. #5 - His Dark Materials The first book of the His Dark Materials trilogy from author Philip Pullman was published in 1995. The series, intended primarily for a young adult audience, takes place in worlds similar to, but not entirely identical to, our own. Don't feed the bears... seriously. His Dark Materials takes place on parallel worlds, following the adventures of Lyra Belacqua as she unravels a mystery that eventually brings her into contact with our own world and still more parallel worlds. One of the most notable aspects of His Dark materials comes in the form of animal "daemons", familiars that are bound to the world's people. The parallel worlds premise as well as the seemingly made-for-MMO-pet daemons would provide an interesting backdrop for a young-adult themed MMO based on the popular series. #4 - Dune Even Captain Picard says Make it so! Published in 19665, Frank Herbert's Dune is considered by many to be one of the forefathers of modern science fiction. Having spawned numerous adaptations including: video games, a movie, two television miniseries, prequels and more, Dune is one of the better known sci-I IPs. The universe of Dune is set two thousand years from the present day, in the time of a vast interstellar empire embroiled political struggle over a single desert planet which is home to the spice melange, known to be the single most valuable item in the universe. The IP's depiction of a vast and complex universe, combined with name recognition, make Herbert's work a prime candidate for an MMO adaptation. #3 - World War Z Watch out for the Rob Zombie invasion! World War Z, a novel from Max Brooks published in 2006, takes a unique perspective on the survivalist zombie genre as the author interviews survivors of a fictional zombie war that raged on for a decade. World War Z's zombie outbreak decimated the populations, governments and landscape. It left very few corners of the world untouched forcing governments and survivors either onto islands (The US capital was forced to relocate to Hawaii) or government sanctioned safe zones and survival became of primary concern. It has been said in prior lists that the MMO landscape could benefit from a zombie survivalist game and World War Z, by setting the scene through the stories of only a few of the survivors, Brooks created an open and vibrant reality that leaves so many stories to be told by individual players in an MMORPG. Look, it's Ice... and Fire! #2 - Song of Ice and Fire Sex, violence, and gritty fantasy realism. To a point, at least. Easily the most epic and well formed world in modern fantasy literature, George RR Martin's books have inspired board games, an HBO series (in production) and, just recently, Cyanide Studios picked up the game rights. While they have not yet said what kind of game they'll make, they are better known for Pro Cycling Manager and Warhammer's Blood Bowl. Odds are not on an MMO. Martin's world is grounded in realism. Like Jordan, there are no Elves, but the idealism of Jordan is no where near these books. No one is safe and many people's favorite character is a deformed dwarf (and not the Tolkien kind) who lies, cheats and murders. This is a world where no one is truly good, and many are truly evil.  The source material also supports this kind of game admirably. Unlike many of his comrades, Martin developed multiple characters, from multiple cultures within the world. Every series has a map, but where in most novels the core characters adventure around the world, Martin simultaneously tells inter-related stories from all corners of it. If anyone is ever going to pull off the long fabled gritty, adult fantasy genre. Martin is the source material to do it with. #1 - Harry Potter Ever since the books hit the shelves 9and the movies hit the theatres), the MMO audience has been asking itself why no one has obtained the rights to and taken up the mantle of an MMORPG based in the world of J.K. Rowling's popular Harry Potter series. MMORPG's Dana Massey, boy wizard. Rowling's universe supposes that the world that we know actually exists parallel to one of wizards and warlocks. Over the course of the series' seven novels, readers were introduced to a fantastical world where good and evil do battle on a regular basis, young wizards are trained in their various arts at special wizarding schools and danger, excitement and mystical beasts lurk around every corner. With the huge and living world created by Rowling in the novels, it is a positive wonder that no MMORPG company has picked up the gauntlet in an attempt to recreate a rich universe that is simply there for the taking. There are those who would argue against a Harry Potter MMO on the very grounds that were mentioned at the beginning of this list. The series itself was very much character driven, with the title character and his companions at the center of the action. While this is certainly true for the Voldemort saga, one has to assume that the HP universe would have other strifes and conflicts that didn't involve the boy wizard which would allow thousands of Potter fans the opportunity to jump into and take part in their favourite universe.

上一篇:Mountain Dew pets not for EU gamers 下一篇:Enjoy the Runescape Game

评论
姓名
内容
验 证 码

e	http://www.virmoney.com/faq.html
KristinMcfadden25	I had got a dream to begin my firm, but I didn't earn enough amount of cash to do this. Thank God my friend told to take the <a href="http://lowest-rate-loans.com/topics/mortgage-loans">mortgage loans</a>. So I received the small business loan and made real my desire.
jane	www.items4eve.com! Buy eve isk ,buy eve items ,just come www.items4eve.com! www.items4eve.com Eve Online,eve Online Isk, Eve Online Items,Eve PLEX ,Eve Online Ship, Eve Online A ccount www.items4eve.com