In this week's list, MMORPG.com Managing Editor Jon Wood takes a look at ten IPs from the world of books and literature that would make good candidates for future MMO projects.

Do you want to live forever?

In 1984's Ghostbusters, Egon Spengler blithely announced that "Print is dead." Fifteen years later, even with the rise of the internet, the medium is still alive and well. Literature has been telling stories and creating vast and unexplored worlds for years. Literature, it could be argued, is the forefather of all storytelling media from television to movies to video games.

Hollywood has been mining the world of literature IPs for decades: Independence Day, Jurassic Park, The Da Vinci Code, Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, A Beautiful Mind, The James Bond series, The Bourne Series, the list goes on. So why then, when scanning the vast list of games on the MMORPG.com game list, do only Turbine's Lord of the Rings Online and Funcom's Age of Conan stand out as a novels-turned MMOs?

Read Top 10 Books That Should Be MMOs

I totally agree with Wheel of Time and Song of Ice and Fire!!! Those could be epic mmo's.  I hope that perhaps this company that purchased the rights see this as an opportunity to make their first mmo :) cause it could be really cool.

A Song of Ice and Fire MMO would be amazing, especially given the fact the Lore is 1000 times more gritty and interesting than most "fantasy" MMO's or stories out there. I'd play it.

The Idea of using as established IP sounds like a great idea but it has its many flaws as well.  Most good IPs will have a high $$$ just to buythe IP then you will have the hordes that will not be happy with the MMo for not being true to the game.  Then you have all the problems of trying to be true to the IP.  You have so much freedom when you create your own IP that you dont have to worry about what come before that said a good IP will bring in alot of fans of the IP will bring in the fans of the IP so you have an established player base but depending on your IP may keep people from playing IE i have friends that will never play Star Trek Online cause they like Stargate better and vice versa.  It sounds like a great idea and I know i love to play a game based on any 10 of those you listed but I think that most would never make it as an mmo except maybe HP how can anybe bet against its success.

There are some true classics in your list, like HHGTG and Dune. The only issue I have with them is that they are such classic and dear IPs, not just to me, but to many people I am sure, that I would hate to see them destroyed by some botched attempt at an MMO.

most would be better suited to be single player rpgs

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Making an MMO out of a single fairy tale might not seem feasible, but creating a gaming universe using fairy tales and their lore as a background might prove an interesting diversion for adult and child alike. The idea isn't a new one. Disney was actually extraordinarily successful with its Shrek franchise based upon a similar theme.

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I propose:

Waiting for Godot

The ultimate sandbox. No hand-holding here. :)

Snowcrash would be at the top of my list.

Battlefield Earth by L. Ron Hubbard.

The novel, not the movie, of course.

Originally posted by ProfRed

Snowcrash would be at the top of my list.

btw even if just a collection of short stories, I think Bruce Sterlings Shaper/mechanist universe would be an awesome setting as well.

 Simon R Green - Deathstalker series would make a good mmo imho

I agree completely with Harry Potter as the #1. Theres just so much that can be done with that universe. Dragons, Dementors, Trolls etc would all make for good raid bosses i think.

The Wheel of Time is also a very good one. Although i don't know how they would implement character classes, as Aes Sedai,   Wise Ones or anyone who uses the One Power would be infinitely more powerful than anyone else in the world. It would be cool to be able to be a darkfriend though and be on the evil side...

Originally posted by Reizla

 

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Making an MMO out of a single fairy tale might not seem feasible, but creating a gaming universe using fairy tales and their lore as a background might prove an interesting diversion for adult and child alike. The idea isn't a new one. Disney was actually extraordinarily successful with its Shrek franchise based upon a similar theme.

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I hope Steven Spielberg doesn't reading these forums... Shrek comes from Spielburg's DreamWorks studio's. That's why it's so well done - no Disney work :D

 

Not only that, but the whole point of Shrek was making fun of Disney cartoons' conventions in the first place. It was a good move for DreamWorks SKG to set themselves apart from reigning tradition - which was, yep, Disney (not to mention it must have made Katzenberg feel good). The story in Shrek is a keen antithesis of Disney movies' messages. Even visually you can spot the mockery easily. The scene where Princess Fiona begins to sing with the little bluebird, and in the end burst it with the high pitch she strikes? Yep, a send-up to Snow White and the bluebird.

In the end, Shrek is funny, but it's sort of a parody, that's why all that mixing blending works.
 

only one i can agree with is Wheel of Time

Books to be MMOs...

To me it'd be the DragonLance saga by Weis & Perin, and Forgotten Realms by Greenwood & Salvatore (the best 2 writers for FR IMO)

....yeah... AD&D player here ;-)

The Wheel of Time mmorpg is in the works, it was even announced here on mmorpg.com. Stradden, how did you miss this?

Wheel of Time MMORPG Announced

Originally posted by ProfRed

Snowcrash would be at the top of my list.

Absolutely!

 Great writeup!

   I am an avid reader and have read most of what you mentioned, Stephen King's works going back to Carrie and when he wrote as Richard Bachman. Would make a dark and very deep MMO, Lovecraft without all the shogthoth's and stuff

     Also, Dune, which I felt was boooorrrrrring, makes a great setting and the different houses would make for great pvp.

Martin, I read all of the Song of Ice and Fire books and I'm waiting for him to finish with the newest installment, "Dance with Dragons" that was pushed back to September. He wrote from points of view and it would be interesting to actually roll a Crow and live primarily on "The Wall" but fight the ice wraitths of the north.

World War Z, awesome book, going to be a great movie. MMO? Fallout meets Left for Dead? Heck, I'd play it. I'll play anything.

However, What about the Piers Anthony "Xanth" series? Everyone was born with a unique magical power and everything was a pun. Wouldn't it be fun?

See you soon, I've gotta run! 

Before you leap into that pit of zombies, just think!

Play safe,

Ink

My #1 book that would be fun to play as a MMO

Elric of Melnibone series