In this week's list, Jon Wood looks at five IPs that, by taking the focus off of combat systems, might bring a new demographic of users to the genre.

When I originally sat down to formulate this week's list, I was going to call it - Five MMO IPs to bring in a female audience. Then, I thought better of it. First, because putting a title like that on a list is basically asking for controversy, then I'd spend the next week reading about how sexist I am. Second, because it would have been a misleading title. While I suppose that the demographic most missing from a lot of current style MMOs might be female, I think that there are probably a good number of men who fit into the category as well.

In order to explain the point of this list a little bit better, I'd like everyone to take a trip back in time with me back to the playground. If you look at the way that children play, there are essentially two kinds. The first, which is more stereotypically ascribed to males, is competitive and often at least slightly combat-oriented, whether it's tag, or the ever controversial cowboys and Indians, king of the mountain or something else. The second, which is more commonly ascribed to females, is cooperative, non-competitive and is explicitly non-combat related often involving group goals.

Read The List: Five IPs to Bring in a New Demographic.

#5 The Sims - I do agree that it should have not failed as it did but i think it was to clean at some things and didn't let you explore various senerios for some exotic stuff. The rest i agree with your assesment.

 #4 Nancy Drew / Hardy Boys - Not many people these days know of this series, but the mystery writing that the shows provided were sub par to the books which translated for better material. Otherwise i have nothing else to conclude.

#3 Star Trek - Well we will just have to wait and see how this turns out.

#2 LEGO - can be a popular and casual game with lots of fun if they do not limit the players ability to become any of the job choices that LEGO has popularized through out their fantasy land sets. Hard thing is balancing those different fantasy lands be it scifi, medieval or pirate lands.

#1 Harry Potter - I'll reserve judgement at a later date.

Not a bad list, interesting choices i do agree.

Thank God you put Harry Potter at the top of this list.  It's about time this idea caught on.  I've been trying to get people interested in an MMO niche for Harry Potter and I think you putting it at the top of this list will help.  I can't thank you enough.

Regarding your comments on the Star Trek IP, I think its a shame that it has to be a choice between a focus on the combat and a focus on everything else Star Trek was about.  I know it would be a hugely big project but Star Trek is a hugely big IP. Worth the effort.

A really good read.  I used to have a great time as Entertainer in SWG. Even tho I also had a combat character as well. I never understood why this model, which was very popular, never was applied to any other MMO. Indeed we see a way too big emphasis on combat. I mean I love combat, but a MMO with ONLY combat is somewhat dull. I feel the way Star Trek went is a HUGE missed opportunity. They could have made some onboard social environment similar to the entertainers in SWG, just adapted to the Trek universe. Look at the ongoing stories of TNG or DS9. Or Babylon 5 if you like.

No idea why this never was picked up. :(

God yes, they need a Harry Potter MMO.  I don't care if it's aimed at the younger crowd <.<.

I have to say, if done right, the harry potter universe would make an excellent MMO.

I'd just rather no one rushed into the concept.

For a bit there, I was worried someone would try to latch into the HP craze and develop an MMO...

 is wizard101 not considered a MMO ? 

One of the biggest rumors in the mmo industry is that Turbine is developing Harry Potter online.. so speculating that it is number 1 isn't exactly rocket science..

A LEGO MMO which focused on finding pieces and building and tearing apart creations could be a ton of fun. I would not be interested in just a standard MMO with a LEGO look to it.

"Let go of my nubby brick-blocks!" - bonus nerd points to anyone who can tell me the source of this quote.

How about Pokemon? Doubt I would play it, but with the collection aspect (PvE) and the duals it seems like an obvious choice for an MMO.

I would like to see something on the horror front and I think Underworld might be a good choice for an RvR game with Vampires vs Lycans vs Humans.

Seems you forgot Harry Potter Online was already attempted and failed to see fruition.

While it would be interesting to see a mystery MMO, the biggest challenge in bringing any mystery IP to the MMO world wouldn't lie in finding the right IP, or in avoiding combat elements - it would be in keeping the mystery. Once a particular riddle has been solved once, then you can be damn sure you'll be able to find answers on the internet somewhere. With no actual mysteries to work out (because they've already been solved), the non-combat, mystery game would lose it's fun factor, and fast.

Originally posted by n2sooners

How about Pokemon? Doubt I would play it, but with the collection aspect (PvE) and the duals it seems like an obvious choice for an MMO.

 

I would like to see something on the horror front and I think Underworld might be a good choice for an RvR game with Vampires vs Lycans vs Humans.

I think that if properly done, a Pokémon MMO could actually be a lot of fun - considering the complexity of the original gameboy games, and everything added after, as well as the size of the pokémon world, the 'built-in pvp' aspect (which could be done surprisingly grief-free), and all the collection and creature-build aspects, there would be something in an MMO like this to appeal to pretty much any type of gamer... Main question is if the Pokémon IP is still strong enough, and popular enough, to warrant investing millions into creating an MMO version.

As for your suggestion with an Underworld game, there's already two games like that in the works: The Secret World, by FunCom, and World of Darkness, by CCP and White Wolf. Especially the latter will fit what you speculated on (vampires, werewolves, reality-bending mages, ghosts and fae)

I have to agree, an MMORPG geared for adults, but not geared towards combat could possibly bring in an entirely new demographic not seen in these games before.

Sims was a good example, Myst would be another.  MMORPG's might be able to resurrect the Adventure genre in some fashion, especially if coupled with a good world to explore.

What ever happene to the Pokemon MMO that was in production?

I would like to see something on the horror front and I think Underworld might be a good choice for an RvR game with Vampires vs Lycans vs Humans.

I think World of Darkness is being created by CCP

I also think HP would be a great MMO. Overall I would like a MMO thats not centered on combat sometimes so I could chill out etc and it would bring a new group of players to mmo's.

Originally posted by Dekron

Seems you forgot Harry Potter Online was already attempted and failed to see fruition.

Really? Never heard about it! Who was creating it?

What about a wild west MMO?

Why do we need a new demographic again? I say we teach the old one how to play first...

Interesting list, 4 of these geared right for the kids.

While  would not e interested in any of these with the exception of Star Trek, I found the list made me laugh.

He he oh well. 

Civilizations or Alpha Centauri would make a cool MMO. Not sure about the whole demographics thing though.

Originally posted by erictlewis

Interesting list, 4 of these geared right for the kids.

While  would not e interested in any of these with the exception of Star Trek, I found the list made me laugh.

He he oh well. 

LEGOs aren't just for kids, BTW. I still build things with them, from time to time. It's quite relaxing.

As was mentioned, something from the Horror genre is definitely a better choice than picking out several pieces of IP that are in development already or have already failed. The suggesion of Underworld is definitely a good one.

That said, I've always chuckled to myself at the thought of "Smurfs and Snorks Online". Gargamel as the Lich King anyone? LOL. I dunno, if done tongue-in-cheek, but well, it could be a lot of fun and could easily bring in both sexes of a much older Demographic. We'd obviously have to abandon the "only 1 smurfette" bit.

And regarding mystery, I wonder if it wouldn't be better to turn to Hanna Barbera and assemble a team of caroon favorites like Scooby Doo. I loved the Hardy Boys growing up, but they're just not as well known as Scooby and Shaggy. Any mystery game would be highly linear, though, and require a lot of writers. Once a mystery is solved, onto a cheat website it goes.

I'd have to give it some thought as to what other ideas would be good. But that's just a start.

Need to add a 6th IP.  A Porno MMO or XXXMMORPG.  Real adult gaming at its finest.