This question has of course been put forth many times before, but in light of some recent happenings, I thought I'd pose it again. :)

For myself, I would have to say I'd most like to see The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever made into an MMO. The tone of the work, the depth of the story and the wealth of characters to draw from for factions, races (I'm sure many people would love to play a horse!), characters and NPCs is just immense...The Land - it's nature and scale - lends itself very well to an MMO, and I can imagine all kinds of unique PvP dynamics that could manifest following the series' content.

That, or maybe John Steakley's Armor. :)

What say you?

 I would like to see NOTHING. MMO market is oversaturated and mostly by the same crap with a slightly different theme. Personally, I'd be happy with not seeing a new MMO crop up every two days, and for companies to actually put some thought and depth into their games for once. 

Originally posted by Kordesh

 I would like to see NOTHING. MMO market is oversaturated and mostly by the same crap with a slightly different theme. Personally, I'd be happy with not seeing a new MMO crop up every two days, and for companies to actually put some thought and depth into their games for once. 

I agree with you regarding 'the same old crap lacking thought and depth' issue, which is one of the reasons why I think using an existing intellectual property as the basis for an MMO would produce something far better than most of what we've had to deal with lately. The fact that the licensing of most properties would require decently deep pockets, also bodes well for the quality of any resulting game...though it takes more than money to produce something of quality, as we know all too well.

One of my big problems with most games these days is that they either have no real story or depth to them, or they do, but they lack the kind of backing it takes to allow for a high quality experience. A few games are exceptions of course, but as you say, the market is saturated with unimpressive dreck for the most part.

Assuming there were not so many games out there...is there anything you'd like to see made into a game? :)

Hmm, the Covenant books might be hard to turn into a MMO, the feeling of the books might be hard to actually catch into a game. Also, it have to be an adult game. The books are not anything for kids (I wont tell you what he does to his daughter in the second book).

But it might work of course.

There are many fictional works that would work perfectly for a MMO, Bladerunner, Wheel of time, The witchworld and many more..

There are also a lot of real historical periods that would make an awesome MMO like the Crusades, the 100 year war, the 30 year war, Vietnam, the french revolution and many more.

And many pen and paper RPGs that are well suited for adptation into MMOs like: Shadowrun, RIFTS, Warhammer (No, WAR is not based on the warhammer roleplaying game, it just have a little lore from the tabletop) Runequest, ARS magica...

My favorite game would be based on Shadowrun, it is a great system that would fit perfectly for a MMO as long as you use the original mechanics and not the usual level based stuff.

Originally posted by Anthrage

I agree with you regarding 'the same old crap lacking thought and depth' issue, which is one of the reasons why I think using an existing intellectual property as the basis for an MMO would produce something far better than most of what we've had to deal with lately. The fact that the licensing of most properties would require decently deep pockets, also bodes well for the quality of any resulting game...though it takes more than money to produce something of quality, as we know all too well.

One of my big problems with most games these days is that they either have no real story or depth to them, or they do, but they lack the kind of backing it takes to allow for a high quality experience. A few games are exceptions of course, but as you say, the market is saturated with unimpressive dreck for the most part.

Assuming there were not so many games out there...is there anything you'd like to see made into a game? :)

Many games use a existing lore and still is kinda shallow.

Warhammer have great lore but they cut out 95% of it for the game (to make it suitable for kids).

LOTRO have one of the best fantasy worlds ever created but it still feels like something is missing in it.

Same things with Turbines D&D game.

Cryptic will probably do to Ed Greenwood and Bioware in "Never winter nights online" what Lucas and Spielberg did to Indy in his last movie.

So a good world is not enough, you actually need to make justice to it also. In Mythic case I think the problem was that no one in Mythic played the Warhammer games.

Originally posted by Loke666

Hmm, the Covenant books might be hard to turn into a MMO, the feeling of the books might be hard to actually catch into a game. Also, it have to be an adult game. The books are not anything for kids (I wont tell you what he does to his daughter in the second book).

Well, I don't see how the actual events depicted in the series would need to be - or could be, in the case of what you are referring to - played out in a game that was based on the novels. As is the case with most such games based on existing fiction, no player would play as the main character or characters, so while I agree with you regarding the mature nature of the books, I don't see this as a real problem for any game based on them.

That feeling you mentioned is one of the things I think that would make such a game somewhat different from most games currently on the market...many if not most games today contain 'negative' or morally questionable things such as (in a real-world sense) PK'ing, griefing, theft, betrayal, destruction of property etc...it would be interesting to see how the feeling of the books and the attitudes of some of it's characters, those that are greatly flawed, would be manifest in a genre where being some kind of hero is the usual aspiration. Exploring the grey area between the usual dark and light, good or bad, would be pretty cool I think. :)

Other than a new D&D set in the Forgotten Realms or maybe Dragonlance, i think maybe the Sword Of Truth series of books would make a great MMO world.

In a way i agree with the oversaturation idea but since they're going to keep making the games I'll present my wish list (well 1 item anyway) for an MMO property.

Farscape. As far as scifi properties it would lend itself great to the MMO genre. Several factions to play, a varried cast of races and easily an action based storyline. Could follow the events of the mini series that wrapped up the show. It would have a great amount of room to grow as well. Well, that's just my oppinion anyway, for what it's worth.

Hmm, well I always had a couple of what-ifs.

One would be a Quest for Glory MMORPG. Players can complete hero school, and wander around Spielsburg and other locations and be the hero they think they are. But only to die in some obvious and humiliating, yet, humorous way, possibily involving some innuendo *nudge nudge, wink wink, say no more* or a purple saurus. Also, x-ray glasses. I'm sure many players won't become paladins anytime soon.

Or maybe a Zork MMO (if one doesn't already exist). I can only imagine how it would be done, maybe something close to Uru. Besides, it's pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.

Have always wanted to see Steven Kings the Dark Tower books as a game. Not sure it would work in an mmo but always wanted to play a Gunslinger. Or World war z by Max Brooks, or if anybodys read any David Gemmell books, think something set some of his worlds would be brilliant.

I'd like to see LOTRO as a real full-featured hybrid mmo rather than a half-assed wow clone.  I'd also like to see Harry Potter, but I admit that there are limitations on the base game with the focus on magic.  Of course, all this would be moot if SOE would have continued to improve on SWG rather than make it a worse than half-assed wow clone.  I'd still be playing the darn game with no interest in much else.  Oh well, life can be cruel sometimes.

I would have to agree. As much as I like LOTRO and as much as I agree with some of Turbine's decisions, I would have preferred something a bit more serious. No trainers, a more open world. A bit darker I think.

Otherwise, the world of Elric of Melnibone. That would be great.

Phillip Jose Farmer's Riverworld would make a fantastic sandbox MMO.

Harry Potter would be class, however given the amount of fans that would play this game; the Abraham Lincoln principle applies: "You can please some of the people some of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time."

There would be a lot of nerd debate on how to approach it but I'd certainly play it if it was made.

The Battletech universe for sure.

Originally posted by jamizzle89

Harry Potter would be class, however given the amount of fans that would play this game; the Abraham Lincoln principle applies: "You can please some of the people some of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time."

 

There would be a lot of nerd debate on how to approach it but I'd certainly play it if it was made.

Agreed, I was going to put the smae thing. A harry potter MMO would be awesome if done in the right way. The only problem is that the amopunt of people wanting to play and when it would be set, and this would cause a proble for the name. You cant really call it Harry Potter: .... if its set in the past or the future with other probles arise. And what would you do if it were to be set in the same time as the books. Would it follow the story line of the books and would you be a par tof that???

Firefly
Harry Potter
Age of Empires - ala Mount and Blade.  ^_^
Robotech -  During the time after the Invid have been defeated.
Conan - not Funcoms version - but a real seamless world version sandbox MMORPG that uses Mount and Blades combat system with some additional combat  tweaks to make it even better.
 

It may sound odd but Venture Brothers.

Great art style, great humor but still is a really cool universe.  If you could capture that in a game that would be amazing.

 Shadowrun ftw.

The Black Company series by Glen Cook.  The Mount & Blade system would lend itself well to the title.

The Three Musketeers by Dumas.

Hmmm, have there been any Western-style MMOs? Say something based on Westworld, I know there is a remake coming out soon...

Honestly, nothing.  No more intellectual property knock-offs.  Game developers have always flubbed IP's, and its not entirely their fault.  Most IPs are restrictive with iconic characters, places, and events.  Throwing gamers into these sorts of situations there are bound to be problems.

It is the largest issue for me with LoTRO, for example.  I actually enjoyed the game quite a bit but the bastardization of the lore kept my enjoyment way way down.  SWG another one that suffered because of its IP and warhammer doesn't really capture the feel of the whole thing.  DDO as well... Most of the pen and paper people I know have soundly rejected changes to the rulesets made over the past few years and are secure in their 2nd edition or 2.5 rulesets.  Eberron, as a setting, is weak and brings the entire thing down.

I want to see more creativity from our developers.  Dungeons and Dragons has always been a general guideline to assist people with the creating of their own worlds... using the rulesets they could have (turbine) created an entirely new world for gamers.  The Old Republic, I hope will not be strangled by the Lucas Arts involvement with the IP.  Luckily it is an era that is not entirely fleshed out which provides the developers with much leeway.  Had Turbine gone with something along the lines of Middle Earth Online and set it during the 4th age, again they could have avoided all the hassles of timeline and allowed for the players to have been an important part of the world's lore going forward.

Raymond E Feist..RiftWar Saga

Vast worlds ,vast lore and tons of races,real nail biting stuff..

www.crydee.com/

Shadowrun

Because it manages to combine everything cool about multiple and very different genres in one go, yet still somehow gets away with it without ending up being cheesy or leaving you with a big WTF? exploding in your head. Big guns and razor sharp swords, dragons running mega corporations that makes Microsoft look puny, elven chicks, nasty trolls, creepy bugs from hell, sports cars with hidden missile launchers and drones, cybernetic upgrades and enough biotechnology to take out your very soul if you go too far, magic and magical creatures, martial artists that use superhuman abilities (magic), shamans walking the streets of Seattle, Native Americans reclaiming their lands, virtual realities and software that can fry your brain while surfing the matrix. Phew... It has it all except spaceships.

Battletech

Because the lore and setting is immense and big clunky anthropomorphic tanks carrying too much firepower for their own good is just waaaay too awesome to miss out on. The fact that it could combine both FPS, complex vehicle simulation, RPG gameplay and perhaps even large scale PvP that changes the world dynamically just makes it even better. PvP would be the specialty of this game for sure.

Earthdawn

Because it's the only RPG I've ever played where having classes made complete sense since they are integrated into the lore of the gameworld. All in all, the feel of the mechanics would translate easily into an MMORPG and while it looks like traditional fantasy at first glimpse, it feels quite different thanks to the dark nature of the world and the different spin it puts on the races. For best effect, the developers would have to make it easy to find groups and work on community development as the setting just screams heavy group PvE play. I mean, who wants to go alone and fight scary things in the dark that can kill you at the flick of a tentacle, or simply take over your mind?

Can you tell by now that I'm a big fan of what FASA put out back in the old days?

I agree with severius, companies have screwed up IP's so much I'm leary of another.

Now if we're talking completely hypothetical that the game would be everything it's advertise to be and just 100% badass then:

Dragonlance

The Black Company

and I never played Shadowrun but have seen many people post it in threads similar to these and from what little I have seen it does possess the most flexibilty to make a very entertaining game.