In this week's column, Dana Massey explores a genre that might well finally solve an age old problem for game developers. How do you get guys and girls in the same game? The answer? Vampires!

There is one genre out there that is relatively untested by MMOs and even games in general. It’s popular, one of the hottest sub-genres out there right now in fact, and perfectly suited to gaming. It also appeals to both men and women, albeit in different ways. So today, I ask you: Why not a Vampire MMO?

MMOs have always been a bit of an old boys club. Sure, women do play them, but no game has come even close to an even split. It could simply be that women don’t like video games, but if anyone can overcome that and make a game that both men and women enjoy equally, they’re going to be a very rich company.

Read it all here.

I would play a Vampire MMO, but only if I could play a vampire hunter.

As for women liking to buy things? Yeah, and water is wet.

 pretty tired of reading these "Why nots" got anything else to write about? i got more why nots than you.

I /wrists at the thought of a vampire mmo....

A highlander MMo on the other hand....................................

Since vampires are awesome, and always have been (no, Twilight did not corrupt Vampires for me), a Vampire MMO would be good.

It's a good thing CCP and White wolf teamed up to make one, then. The World of Darkness MMO could be really cool.

Originally posted by Cpt_Picard

I /wrists at the thought of a vampire mmo....

 Remember to cut up and down. Not side-to-side.

  

A highlander MMo on the other hand....................................

An MMO based on "There can only be one." sounds unlikely at best.

the day you see the movie Twilight mentioned on mmorpg could mean the world is coming to an end or at least hell is freezing over

There is already a Vampire MMO in works, being developed by CCP/Whitewolf. World of Darkness is infinitely better than the T-word-book-movie-wannabe-vampires.

Seriously, here's the math.

(T-Vampire-movie) x Infinity = World of Darkness

Vampire: Bloodline is a vampire mmo.  or was.  Not sure if it exists anymore.  I've heard rumours of multiple vampire vs werewolf games in the works. 

Originally posted by MMO_Doubter

Originally posted by Cpt_Picard

I /wrists at the thought of a vampire mmo....

 Remember to cut up and down. Not side-to-side.

  

A highlander MMo on the other hand....................................

An MMO based on "There can only be one." sounds unlikely at best.

Highlander probably would have to be a perma death game, hehe.

Originally posted by aleos

 pretty tired of reading these "Why nots" got anything else to write about? i got more why nots than you.

I know you're trying to troll, but honestly, I agree. This was pretty close to the bottom of my "why not" barrel for now ;)

...I'm likely going to adopt a new premise in the coming weeks.

Anyone got any suggestions? ;)

Originally posted by Vynt

Highlander probably would have to be a perma death game, hehe.

Lol. Yup. If killed by another immortal. I'd actually try it if it was made right. Which it wouldn't be.

Could be pretty cool though, and the Epeen for the last immortal would be huge.

Originally posted by Dana

Originally posted by aleos

 pretty tired of reading these "Why nots" got anything else to write about? i got more why nots than you.

 

I know you're trying to troll, but honestly, I agree. This was pretty close to the bottom of my "why not" barrel for now ;)

...I'm likely going to adopt a new premise in the coming weeks.

Anyone got any suggestions? ;)

Dude, some of these have been pretty interesting discussions.

The survival horror thread, in particular.

Originally posted by MMO_Doubter

Originally posted by Cpt_Picard

I /wrists at the thought of a vampire mmo....

 Remember to cut up and down. Not side-to-side.

  

A highlander MMo on the other hand....................................

An MMO based on "There can only be one." sounds unlikely at best.

Oh, It would work perfectly and be insanely awesome.

All players are Immortals, so pvp could be handeled very interestingly.

Gear wouldn't be a huge thing except weapons

Death would be temperary, essiently to make the mmo fair, players heads can't be lopped off but NPC's heads could.

Queen could provide the soundtrack.....

It's setting to be any time, how ever modern would be the coolest; one could have instances which were memories to incorperate different times....

*Cough*, I'm running off topic.... Vampires are intollerable... I may be able to accept the idea of a underworld mmo though....

I think an mmo where your out of shape progressively aging toon wakes up to some sort of horribly annoying sound then stumbles off to some no where job would be awesome. You could farm faction by working over time or by doing self degrading things for your significant other. 

OH WAIT>>>>we already have that one - it's called RL (real life).

Anyway, yeah Massey is spot on.  Folks would play a vamp mmorpg - you would have to include clans though (Kindred the Embraced). However, pvp would confuse the developers, and most likely it would be a gang land free for all or have really pointless pvp with titles that could go back and forth or such. The numbers would shrink until only the severely obese would keep playing so that they could pretent they are going to live forever...and the developers, in all their brilliance, as the game ticks its dying breath would ignore the please of a shrinking fan base, state something like "LET THEM EAT CAKE" as the Bastille crumbled...and would instead create a patch that gave silly masks to their suck...er subscribers.

Make games for gamers by gamers - death to the burgoise mmorpg industry!

Originally posted by Kalefen

and the developers, in all their brilliance, as the game ticks its dying breath would ignore the please of a shrinking fan base, state something like "LET THEM EAT CAKE" as the Bastille crumbled...and would instead create a patch that gave silly masks to their suck...er subscribers.

 

Make games for gamers by gamers - death to the burgoise mmorpg industry!

Vive le Revolution!

I'd play an MMORPG based on the p&p rpg V:TM. Would have one big problem though: expectations. V:TM has been there for dozens of years, has lots of fans and tons and tons of background and stories and lore and whatnot. I don't know how an MMORPG could pick up all that and then not disappoint.

In theory though... it would be great. The intrigues... games with might and power... the hunt for blood, the clans and stuff with their abilities and whatnot. Practically though, I doubt that there is a company out there who would have the patience and knowledge to successfully create an mmorpg about that without disappointing. I mean, creating an mmorpg about v:tm that does not disappoint... it's about as possible as writing the complete history of egypt onto your fingertip. Or if someone would try to wrap up the contents of all star-trek episodes within 3 words.

Originally posted by MMO_Doubter

Originally posted by Vynt

Highlander probably would have to be a perma death game, hehe.

Lol. Yup. If killed by another immortal. I'd actually try it if it was made right. Which it wouldn't be.

Could be pretty cool though, and the Epeen for the last immortal would be huge.

Probably wouldn't be made right. Would be cool if the perma thing was optional, so if you went to a certain area to fight another immortal, the winner becomes stronger while the loser loses his character. It gives incentive for risking your character while the rest are just run of the mill weak types.

That or there truly would be only 1. i think that way though, the game would end so kind of need a mix. Probably have to find a way to prevent people from inflating another's power by losing to 1 person over and over with a new immortal.

How can you guys all sit here and talk about no Vampire MMO's when we have the awesomeness known as Bite Fight just a few clicks away?

It boggles the mind really :(

Heh, sorry, off track with the Highlander thing.

As far as vampires, I think that would be interesting. As previously said, world of darkness, or maybe some mixture of vampires, demons wizards etc. Maybe something like Jim Butcher's Dresdin series. You have all kinds of options and variety to make an interesting game and it would be set in our world basically.

Have to add in some of the others monsters to spice it up and allow for hunters of the creatures.

Originally posted by Dana

Originally posted by aleos

 pretty tired of reading these "Why nots" got anything else to write about? i got more why nots than you.

 

I know you're trying to troll, but honestly, I agree. This was pretty close to the bottom of my "why not" barrel for now ;)

...I'm likely going to adopt a new premise in the coming weeks.

Anyone got any suggestions? ;)

I have one. "Why haven't they..." First topic?

Why haven't they fired you as a writer yet? You're by far the worst addition to MMORPG.com and even though I will probably be banned for that statement, I stand by it. A vampire MMO? Really!? REALLY!?

It's bad enough that I have to deal with my 12-14 year old students convinced that vampires are real because of garbage like Twilight, Vampire Diaries, True Blood, etc. It's ok to have fantasies but to feed this continual delusion of vampiric beings just to profit off the insanity of youth is another thing. This industry does not crave a new audience, it craves a unique world that does not promise everything and fail to deliver on anything. The MMO community has burned itself out on investing time, fandom, money, and patience into developers that only seek to get World of Warcraft-like returns off something with minimal work on their part.

There is an audience for vampires but the MMO community is not that audience. If we were, a developer would have already made such a game. Perhaps I will eat some crow when the new Whitewolf MMO comes out but until then, I think it will be an abysmal failure. I know MMO players good sir, and MMO players are not teenage girls getting goofy romantic over the idea of someone biting their neck in the dead of night.

Originally posted by LtJohnnyRico

Originally posted by Dana

Originally posted by aleos

 pretty tired of reading these "Why nots" got anything else to write about? i got more why nots than you.

 

I know you're trying to troll, but honestly, I agree. This was pretty close to the bottom of my "why not" barrel for now ;)

...I'm likely going to adopt a new premise in the coming weeks.

Anyone got any suggestions? ;)

 

I have one. "Why haven't they..." First topic?

Why haven't they fired you as a writer yet? You're by far the worst addition to MMORPG.com and even though I will probably be banned for that statement, I stand by it. A vampire MMO? Really!? REALLY!?

 

It's bad enough that I have to deal with my 12-14 year old students convinced that vampires are real because of garbage like Twilight, Vampire Diaries, True Blood, etc. It's ok to have fantasies but to feed this continual delusion of vampiric beings just to profit off the insanity of youth is another thing. This industry does not crave a new audience, it craves a unique world that does not promise everything and fail to deliver on anything. The MMO community has burned itself out on investing time, fandom, money, and patience into developers that only seek to get World of Warcraft-like returns off something with minimal work on their part.

 

There is an audience for vampires but the MMO community is not that audience. If we were, a developer would have already made such a game. Perhaps I will eat some crow when the new Whitewolf MMO comes out but until then, I think it will be an abysmal failure. I know MMO players good sir, and MMO players are not teenage girls getting goofy romantic over the idea of someone biting their neck in the dead of night.

Yet you play games where you pretend to be something you aren't....nice logic.  I pity our public schools.  Obviously you missed out on Castlevania...

Well a purely Vampire MMO i dont think would be such a  great idea, however a book series which does incorporate vampires as well as many other things (werewolves, undead, etc) into it which i think would make for an awesome MMO is Necroscope. A lot of the story takes place in modern day earth and is a mix of ESPers/Telepaths, modern technology, and the supernatural all fighting alongside and against eachother. As far as the ESPers go they have many different talents such as speaking with the dead, telepathy, mind control, locaters, empaths, precognition, teleportation, and many other things. Then as you get into the story it takes you through a portal into what would be considered the "vampire world' (knows as Sunside/Starside in the book) where vampires are pretty much dominant over the humans and hunt them freely while ruling from their aieres (towerlike castles) infested with all of their underlings and horrible creations of flesh that they breed from their own imaginations to suit their powers. in this world the humans tend to live in gypsy like tribes constantly on the move hiding from the vampires. also each of the ruling vampires & their underlings also have very unique capabilities to set them apart from eachother and they are constantly vying for power.

Anyway, with such a concept of the different types forces as well as the 2 different earths/worlds linked by portals you could have some very nice faction pvp. Our earth could basically have 3 factions, the espers/telepaths vs the supernatural vs advanced technology... then also have Sunside/Starside with different factions of vampires, as well as the human tribe factions. This would allow the factions to battle not only within their own worlds, but also to travel between the two worlds and choose to join with or fight against the various factions from the other world

I'm actually very surprised that a vampire mmo hasn't been created yet. Even before Twilight (which is utter crap), we had some interesting vampire settings. Anne Rice's vampire world, Vampire Hunter D, Bram Stoker's, hell even Blade (it is an interesting idea in theory).

PvP would have to play a huge role in the game, and of course there would need to be at least two factions. Werewolves seem to be tied into Vampire lore as of late, so a Vamp vs. Werewolf vs.Human's would be an interesting idea. If you want pure vampire goodness, could have Evil Vamps with their Human followers vs. Humans and Reluctant/Rogue Vampires. Even Good Vamp vs. Bad Vamp. The possibilities are near limitless.

Vampire mythology has always intrigued humans. So many taboos are incorporated with vampire mythology, so it's a natural outlet for us.