Like a previous poster said, games based on 3rd party IP rarely succeed, and mostly suck. There are very few exceptions to this.

Cant beleive you missed out The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. Its like it was written to be an MMO. 

Discworld indeed

planescape

Those are some examples I never would have thought of.

And as far as I know... NO ELVES! YAY!

I'd love to see some form of:

MAGIC THE GATHERING: MMO

Another one I think would be good could be based on the computer animated TV series Shadowraiders. The show has been cancelled for a while (Booh! Hiss!) but there is a LOT there to work with MMO-wise. Four initial races based on primary elements (Fire, Ice, Rock and Bone), plus the Beast Planet. You could have fleet battles, politics between the various races, do resource raids since each planet doesn't produce enough of various resources, etc...the MMO could be based before the series, so during the resource wars, or perhaps just after the series ended and the Beast Planet shows up again since it was able to absorb the warp engine technology of the prison world.

Hands down...

   The series Rings of the Master by Jack Chalker.  Mankind invents a super-computer and imbedded in it's programming is the rule to save mankind.  The computer takes out all other technology, reverting earth to the 14th? century and then transforming man to colonize space, thereby "saving" mankind.  Four books in the series and a great read.  This series is so ripe for a MMO conversion, not only the layout of the worlds, time and the plot, throwing in the controlling computer for spice.

"Long ago, the machines had rebelled, wiping out most of humanity and exiling the survivors in widely scattered reservations. Master System ruled unchallenged, the key to breaking its power -- five microchips disguised as gold rings, carefully hidden away. But then an Amerindian called Hawks stumbled across information about the five rings, and suddenly Master System developed an interest in seeing Hawks dead . . ."

http://www.librarything.com/series/Rings+of+the+Master

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_L._Chalker

Night Watch was brilliant, even if the storylines became a little confusing later on (for me) both films were great too.

My IP vote will always go to a Stargate MMO - one that gets made and delivered that is. So much potential :)

Originally posted by Keogh

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  Riverworld

My first thought was of Riverworld, but I never expected to see it in the thread. I was quite surprised to see it in the first post.

I was also thinking of a series by the same author (Phillip Jose Farmer) where the world was to crowded so everyone could only be animated one day a week and the other six days they were put in a state of suspended animation. Of course some of the people figure out a way to get around it. Can't recall the name of of the series, think it was Dayworld, or something, but I see a lot of potential for that.

How about a Dayworld MMO. The future setting is an overpopulated world so humans are put in a state of suspended animation for six days out of the week, and are allowed to live one day a week, thus only 1/7th of the worlds population is active at any given time. Of course the main plot of the stories are people that figure out how to get around the suspended animation to be active on the days they should be asleep.

Written by Phillip Jose Farmer who wrote Riverworld. (I tried putting this in my quote of Keoughs post, but must have goofed up.)

Soulmirror, I really enjoyed Rings of the Masters. That would be a good choice too.

The world of Lone Wolf (Magnamund).

Eclipse Phase or Cthulhutech.

Deadwood or some other Old West setting. I think it would have to be a full sandbox style game. Having too much of the world already built would take away the best aspect of the setting which would be building your own towns and businesses.

I tried to come up with some answers, but the thought of seeing another IP that I love and cherish being destroyed by the likes of EA or ATARI just seems unforgivable.

If I were to list one favorite old school Playstation game that I wouldnt mind seeing fleshed out into a MMO, it would be "Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen".  However, I can't see the replayability in something like that. 

The only things that stand out for me that would make it unique would be that the player has to level and unlock new skills in order to reach new areas and solve new puzzles to progress further in the game.

I could see the choice between becoming a "Good Vampire" by feeding only off of evil creatures, and a "Bad Vampire" who feeds off helpless humans being a pivotal feature, with good and evil townships that are safe-havens for each, but then it gets into the murky waters of being another clone based on factions, and that's getting stale unless you throw more than two factions into the mix (ala DAoC). 

But we already have CCCP's "World of Darkness" based on Vampire: The Masquerade on the way, so the vampire thing is already being done.

I didn't read all the comments but did see the words Shadowrun, Rifts and Pokemon plus the article said Magic which I would love to see all of them as well done MMOs but not sure if they would be.

Since playing videogames and reading the books about planeswalkers then Magic does seem like it could be a lot of fun if you actually had to go and recruit creatures and learn spells and make connections with the lands.

Pokemon seems like one that should be so good to do. With the ability to do battles, contests, training, breeding and all the other activities then that would be one that seems to offer so many options. Enough lands with championship battles that could actually have large events ever few months.

Rifts just has so much stuff that could be used. 

Shadowrun is one that I am not sure how well it would work but sounds interesting with Rigging and Decking combined with bioware and cyberware with magic being alive but seems like it would be more of a heavily instanced game with potential PvP missions but still small numbers of people.

The only decent MMO adaption was Star Wars Galaxies. Let's please stop trying. They never work. The more money that goes into an MMO, the more boring and disappointing it becomes.

Originally posted by Vesavius

Space: 1899

Car Wars/ Interstate '76

Sub Culture

Traveller

I'm  right there with you.  There were a few TSR games that got over-shadowed by D&D.  Add Gamma World, Boot Hill, and even the Cold War setting of Top Secret to that list.   There are so many possibilities for each of those.  When I was a kid we played mixed Car Wars and Gamma World rule sets and played some Gamma World by itself.  Top Secret is kind of dated and limited as an MMO.  TSW fills the action spy concept much better, but I don't like how some of the core details, especially the cash shop part.

I loved Traveller.  It was my favorite.  There was so much you could do with that universe.  It still has a lot of potential.

The devil is always in the details with any MMO and they never end up how the early concepts envision them.  The closer they come to release the more they take on practical aspects of revenue generation, mass appeal, publisher demands and requirements, advertising, and so on.  The more the practical comes into being it seems the more the deeper appealing concepts get watered down.

The World of Ravenloft: Done with the Mists and all

Farscape/Firefly/ Homeworld/ Mass Effect: A scifi MMO that can manage to mix grit into the fantastic is sorely needed.

 Jim Butcher's Codex Alera series: Multiple branches of magic in sprawling areas with multiple hostile races/ furies in the setting of the Roman Empire.

Originally posted by PyrateLV

No, No, No..just NO!

Look, I know you guys need something to write an acticle about, but these "What IP/World would make a good MMORPG?"  discussions arent helping move the genre forward.

In fact I believe it contributes to holding it back.

We dont need any more established IPs becoming MMOs. They all fail.

Putting up articles like this, and having people respond with their own ides, just adds fuel to the wildfire that is substandard and shallow MMOs because it gives game companies the idea that we the players would prefer them over something original.

 

Please, please, please! Game Development Companies! Create something unique to you. Not something already thought up by someone else.

 

Original MMO Worlds > Pre-established IP Worlds

 

Just because you have a famous IP doesn't mean you can't have good gameplay too. The fault is with gamedevs/companies take the easy/less risky route, not IP vs original creation.