General Discussion

If the game ever gets made, I'd propably buy it. While they are on it, I'll be in my bunk.

bronks ... theres some truth in what you say .. there have been few good space tv shows stargate startrek ,battlestar galacitca,space above and beyond are the the only ones that spring to mind other than firefly . to be honest although i enjoyed it i can see why it was nt a success . the wild west in space theme was a bit hoaky and would ve put a lot of people off . but i did nt only mention tv show franchises that are more popular theres a huge amount of vastly more realised worlds in literature and film that would make great mmos , far better than a faliure of a tv series .

narnia , harry potter , terminator , aliens preditor , shannara , dc or marvel universe and dune all immediatly spring to mind as well as countless video games .

re battlestar galactica .. it may be over but it ll live on in the prequal series called caprica

 As a self proclaimed Browncoat, I'd want to see this MMO become a success.  The hitch, as others have pointed out, is that movie and TV based Ip's seem to fall short of gamers expectations.

 The reasons for this, seems to be, that the big/small screen Ip franchise initialy brings in the gamers but the lack of a 'true to lore' storyline and/or intuititve game mechanics shows them the exits.  This leads to the Ip based  MMO's decline, in client numbers.  Gamers want to experience the Ip's lore and have fun doing it, not have fun in a game loosely based on their favorite Ip's.

 The line in the article; ...producing a “good Firefly game” as opposed to a “good game about Firefly”, is exactly the issue when it comes to consumer loyalty in franchise based games.  It's fine to expect your chance at meeting a few of the Ip's stars, in game, and get your toons screenie oportunity with them.  But, when faced with sketchy game mechanics or complete breaks in a franchise's established lore, your core  clients lose interest, in the MMO.

 In SWG, the game mechanics worked and the franchise was well established but the breaks in the lore were overwhelming.  Although, you could see how the Reb. and Imp. players may infrequently need to do business with one another but this was never meant to be constantly or without serious consequences. 

 The fact that they, as players who have chosen sides between warring factions, could live together in the same player cities, was a break in immersion and established lore.  Same can be said about Jedi and prospective jedi everywhere you turned.

 The reason that SP games, based on major Ip's, tend to be better received when compared to MMO's is the immersion factor.  ie- Your playing Spiderman in the spidy game.  

 In an MMO, there's a real need to stay within the lore's boundaries, more often than not, all the way through.  In this, the upcomming AoC MMO, has a real opportunity to do just that, as it's a straight forward lore.  Conan is the man and as a player when your in doubt, you stab it to death.  Keep it dark, sensual and brutal and your Ip will keep it's core player-base. 

 As for Firefly's proposed ground/space mechanics, it seems like a winning combo., but I feel that it will end up competing with STO and/or a new SW:O, directly, as I can see them using the exact same formula.

 Again, a 'true to lore', current graphically styled game, that's setup to run smoothly for it's client side, ingame, mechanics is not only the key to success, it's nothing more than the 'foundation' of tomorrow's MMO's.

 I'd still welcome the Ip's release but I feel that it's facing serious sci-fi competition, in the near future, and that the formula, if handled improperly,  would be called out as nothing more than a type of a re-skin clone MMO.

 I want more movie and TV based MMO's but I want them to be the best game that they can be.  If the 'foundation' isn't, always, a main focus or it's ingnored completely, in a new MMO, than forget making it and save the venture capital for ground breaking, yet, unknown lore type games.  Let them be the high risk testing bed for future MMO's and leave the established Ip's fan-base intact.

 In short, do it right or don't bother.  Take stock of the 'foundation' and limit your overall risk and don't release a title during a saturated market, unless you can deliver something extraordinary to the consumer.  Other than this, goodluck and see you at launch.  

Originally posted by Bronks

 As for a Firefly game? I think a subscription based mmo might be wrong. Something along the likes of mission-based playing (like Guild Wars) could probably work. If not a GW-style game then something massively single player like Enlight Interactive's X-Universe of games would work pretty good and make gamers feel like they were involved in something similar to an MMO. 

unless there is more than one Enlight Interactive Thats actually egosoft's X-universe games (Enlight Interactive is a publisher)

I can see FireFly working as a stand alone but not as a MMO for the reasons already stated. For the game to have any hope at all Joss has to be involved, it was his vision and creativity that made FireFly what it was.

funnily enough i ve just read an artical with joss whedon about firefly and rumours of a sequal to serenity .he has described it as wishfull thinking on the fans part . i think this really also applys equally to it as an mmo . sorry browncoats time to move , theres plenty on interesting new shows coming to interest you . this ones in the cult camp like space above and beyond and land of the giants . i dare say it ll carry on in some form over the years . maybe a single player game would work and if thats successful and after a few single player titles following it and maybe an expanded universe in literature as well then maybe just maybe an mmo would work . at present other than its relativly small but loyal fanbase it would lose out to the likes of stargate and a new star wars mmo

there just isnt enough interest at present

I really loved the Firefly universe, although I probably don't qualify as Browncoat. I really enjoyed the Tabletop RPG, but I don't think you could easily transfer such an openhand experience into something programmed. Too many balance and programming issues I suppose.

The Firefly Universe is the perfect setting for a space MMO. However, licensed MMO's are too restricted to work properly. SWG was a fine game when it first launched. The combat was ok, but the world was teaming with life and excitement. However, as everyone knows Fan Pressure and Player Jedi destroyed what could have been a great MMO.

Since then Sci Fi MMO's are basically treated as if they had lepracy. The last thing the world needs is another Sci Fi MMO going belly up due to a strong oppinionated fan base. On the otherside of the coin are the nay sayers that will point out that Firefly was a commercial failure and therefore a bad property for a game...

What would be cool and possibly crazy successful would be a Firefly MMO... without the actual pain of the Firefly license :D

Back, to waitting on a real space MMO... god SWG was close... but SOE is absolutely awesome at taking the best MMO's and running them into the ground.

I'd definately try a Firefly MMO if it came out.  Certainately has potential, but would really need Whedon himself involved to make sure it lived up to fans' expectations.

There is a real lack of scifi type MMO's out there, so something liket his could really draw a respectable size player base.

IIRC, Joss isn't actually involved in the design process of the Firefly MMO.  Multiverse obtained the licence from Fox and thats about the limit of concrete information that Multiverse have given out regarding this MMO.  Also, I believe it wasn't Joss who wanted t