I really think a mmorpg like this would sell really well, they should make it atleast halfsandbox and have mulitiple monster classes/races. I know you could play something like this in shadowbane but they where to small Im talking about huge mythical beasts. I think many of us are tired of little characters using the typical class system, cleric, paladin, mage, warrior and so on, if they did this they could really change the cookie cutter classes forever.

To me it seems like a good idea, plus if you could fly like in that other monster mmorpg its deffinatly dated I dont remember the name but I believe they did something similar. I also think you can have ground beasts but can be extremly fast, it would be nice if you could fit smaller beasts in the game but it just might not make any sense.

It make sense to me.

One MMORPG about "Aliens", with the tiny facehuggers, and stuff, and queens.

For some odd reason most people seeem to want to play an avatar that looks like themselves, not some monster or odd looking being.  This is one of the reasons the Alliance outnumber the Horde in World of Warcraft.  It's why the Blood Elves were brought over to the Horde in order to balance the numbers.  It's one reason why many people didn't play Ryzom either.

It doesn't quite explain the apparent popularity of the upcoming game Spore though.

Well in games I never want to be human except in lotro on my loremaster because elves are just weak in this game kind of silly actually, anyways we play games that expand the imagination people need to stop worrying about if they loot hot in games there are plenty of online chat room simiulations for that now days, and start worrying more about gameplay/imagination/freedom.

I never could get into eve much maybe now days I could but I really needed to control something that felt alive in some form, but now I think differantly about mmorpgs.

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Originally posted by grunty
For some odd reason most people seeem to want to play an avatar that looks like themselves, not some monster or odd looking being. This is one of the reasons the Alliance outnumber the Horde in World of Warcraft. It's why the Blood Elves were brought over to the Horde in order to balance the numbers. It's one reason why many people didn't play Ryzom either.

It doesn't quite explain the apparent popularity of the upcoming game Spore though.

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Actually, if it's really fun, people will play it regardless of how their avatar would look like. Imagine "Worms Online". Now that's what I wanna play.

I like RP characters that are kinda like me......  I tend to take on the more evil side of me in game.  I like to do stuff that I normaly wouldn't do in real life cuz of the concequences.  But I play and Undead in WoW and I will be playing a Greenskin in WAR.   But really the only creatures I would want to play in game would be, Goblin, Vampires, Undead.  

Istaria (Horizons) has playable dragons

That's the only game I know of that has any non-humaniod avatars. You can "grow" and eventually fly.

Other then that, not much out there in terms of non-humaniod that I am aware of.

As far as "looking" a bit different maybe SWG. Some of the aliens are pretty unique looking. One of the problems with them however is they all use the same animations as humans so it feels more like a human in a funny suit then anything else. Silly more then anything. They all move the same, run the same, dance the same....

I hate to say it but I like the Tauren in WoW. Yes they are humaniod but they have a very unique look and feel to them. To bad WoW homoginizes all of its races into a bland point grind like almost every other MMO.

The sad truth of the matter is the vast majority of MMO players really like to play elves..... Little elves going under the guise of "halfing", tall elves, dark elves, light elves...look at any fantasy MMO...by and far the most numerous player race you will see are elves. Everyone wants to be Legolas or Gladriel... Look at AC2, no elves...and what happened? Its a good thing Star Trek has Vulcans so everyone can make a space Elf.

Yes, I'm being sarcastic, it probably has more to do with risk and right now, in todays market with MMO's crashing as fast as they launch, its probably a risk no one wants to entertain at this moment. IMHO you are not going to see a whole lot of dynamic change from the current formula until Devs figure out how to launch a working game.

Originally posted by grunty

For some odd reason most people seeem to want to play an avatar that looks like themselves, not some monster or odd looking being.  This is one of the reasons the Alliance outnumber the Horde in World of Warcraft.  It's why the Blood Elves were brought over to the Horde in order to balance the numbers.  It's one reason why many people didn't play Ryzom either.

 

It doesn't quite explain the apparent popularity of the upcoming game Spore though.

Well I want to add that I am one of those people that prefure's playing a avatar, but this doesn't mean it has to be a human, I played Horde when I played WOW pre-BC, I simply can not identify myself with something like a spaceship, tank or other type of vehicle to be a main character ( love EVE's feature's, just the being a spaceship is something I could not get used to, but make me some strange alien, heck even some sort of droid or creature I don't mind. And generaly would love to see a MMORPG with Mystical Creature's, would even like to see some sort of insect type of MMORPG.

Picking up Spore tommorow btw. 

The trouble is, for games that actually let you think outside the box, one must search far and wide. Or go over to say, wikipedia and grab their list of MMORPGs.  And then plow through the list one at a time to find something you like. Xfire has a game's list too, just about any respectful game site as well. Far as playing creatures of some kind... I am all for it. Im RF Online you get the humans, the elves... and an entire sentient robot race. In Age of Armor you have 3 different types of humans that you walk around in town with, but once you leave town, you get into your mech. And because it is 3 different types of humans, each mech looks quite different from the next. Standard humans pilot clunky box/squares that can eventually turn into a race car thing. Enhanced pilot animal types, lizards and such, that can eventually turn into a bigger animal and such. And Neo's turn into jets eventually, they look very sleek and skinny...

I like the idea of playing something that isn't even close to human. But then again, all creatures you've ever seen in movies or in games... ALL were influenced by SOMETHING on earth. They will have eyes, or arms or a tail or something. It is outside the human imagination to create, to invent something no one has ever seen before. The first attempt humanity tried was the minotaur, a human cow mix. So they simply replaced a head, and end-cap limbs (hands, feet) and said it was a new thing. No, no my friends that isn't a new thing. Even still, people try their best.

Playing a dragon sounds fun, but now consider to how many people it sounds fun to? EVERYONE! If you had the choice to play between a big ass flying dragon that breathe fire or something... Or say, a rhinoceros or maybe even a pterodactyl... The odds you would go for the dragon out number any other critter. It would be the 'elven race' of beatie games. Sure the pterodactyl can fly 3 times as fast, but has no attacks in flight really... Not like breathing fire. And the rhino would be obviously a tank class, near invincible. But it would be very slow.

Anyway, I am all for beatie games, but it seems the close as we will ever get is humanoid beasts. Or piloting starships/mechs or some other machinery. I'd like a starship troopers game, where I could play the bugs lol. In all of the lord of the rings games, can you play an Ent in any one of them? I don't think so, haven't really looked into it... Or that giant, what did they call them Olyphant? In any case, there is a market for playing things that are close to not of this world. But game companies have yet to realize it. Also, it helps if the company doesn't suck. And has proven themselves as good. Now days, everyone wants pretty graphics and great gameplay and great voice overs and great everything. I come from sprite based games, chrono trigger, mario, sonic... 2d games that had none of that. Super Metroid was just fine being a 2d side scrolling platformer shooter... Much like Blackthorn. I don't care much about graphics as I do a great story line, and fun play mechanics. It can look a bit dated as long as it plays at a decent speed and has a good story and purpose going on. I tried out Last Chaos, it had worse graphics than a PS1 game... I would of stayed, but I got massive lag, the char moved slow and the attacks didn't 'feel' real. It didn't have much of a story either. Now, with something so damn dated looking, how come it moved so slow on my semi-powerful system? I've played RFO and had no problems, I've played WoW and had no issues. I've played games that require a ton of power, and no slow down at all... Yet this really old looking game gave me problems? Don't seem logical. If you are going to make your game have a retro look and feel, at least make the thing run at 60 or even 90+ frames per second. Fraps said I was moving at 15 fps!

Ok, my rant is over. In short, I agree with the topic of this post.

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FOX

I think this would work quite well. You can play a Dragon, a Giant, a Griffin, a Unicorn, Mermaids, etc., etc. It could be a lot of fun.

They tried this with Horizon's (Now istaria) And playing a dragon was very popular.

However, I did gather some numbers from close to 600 characters on  MMO Burialgrounds. Of all the race choices, humans are still the most played. See graph HERE (5th graph down)

Also there was some Deer MMO (forget the name of it). All you did was run around, marking your territory and doing other deer things.

And aside from the character graphics, how would this be any differerent than any other fantasy MMO?

What is the differance in everyone rolling elves or humans then people picking 2 favorite races, regardless people will favor a race so why not make it a hell of alot more interesting and get rid of the cookie cutter crap if they are going to release more fantay then its time for a differant kind of fantasy with 10 times more imagination, and griffons, uncirons, dragons are great dont think mermaids will work since they are limited to water mostly, maybe a changling of some kind hmm.

I would try horizens if it was a good game I keep reading how boring it is after level 20 because of lack of content and etc, and the game is to solo based for my tastes.

As a poster said not so much though,

It's a psychological effect of sameness we humans have.

We gravitate towards characters like us because we are able to identify with the character. Be it struggle or success we can identify with it.

Try identifying with Abe (From oddworld) it should be easy.

Now identify with one of the various three armed slags you kill.

Humans react humanly to human elements. (Or Humanoid).

It's the same reason people find monkey's endearing but not rats.

Crocodiles vs. Hippos FTW.

I know this is outside the realm of fantasy, but how about a dinosuar creature mmorpg.  Remember back in the day, the old arcade fighter game Primal Rage. Can you image a M rated mmorpg like that. You could play dinos like a T-Rex, Raptor, or any of the carnivores and the herbivores would be NPCs. PVP would be total carnage with a fatality system. Where you could rip another dino's head off with your jaws. Eating their stomach out would be the loot system. How cool would that be, I'd play a game like that.

Well I think people are starting to grow out of it, personally ive never felt this way about monkeys I prefer other animals much more that resemble nothing about human beings. Anyways I think many find it more fun to play something differant this generation.

Mabinogi is the only game I can think about that allows to role play as your pet.

And given certain quest conditions you can role play as the monsters in the game.

I never understood people that played humans in a fantasy game.  it's like you get to play an 8 foot bullman, or you get to play someone who looks just like you do in real life...

there are games out there that get close to allowing 'weird' races ( shadowbane had centaur and minotaus,  wow has tauren).

I think it just comes down to being to 'fringe' of a game.  when you don't have elves, humans dwarves you really put yourself 'out there' as far as possiible subscribers.

WoW has done a lot of things right, but one thing they are doign that is bad is 'cementing' stereotypes for new developers.  The whole Blood elf thing just proved that the majority of players do not want to play the 'uglies'.   My server is old (well before TBC) yet we currently have more BE's then any other horde race.

It is very hard for a company who is investing money in a game to go with the 'minority'.