He gives me nightmares, I give him nightmares

#6 - The Work of Stephen King

Stephen King is perhaps the best known horror genre writer of all time. With more than 50 short stories and novels under his belt, King could easily be crowned monarch of his chosen genre.

In terms of developing an MMO based on the works of Stephen King, potential developers have a pair of interesting options to choose from:

Many of King's stories, whatever their theme, take place in the New England area of the United States, giving MMO developers an easy opportunity to combine many of his works into a single "world" for a game.

Alternatively, King's most enduring series, The Dark Tower, is ripe for an MMO adaptation. The Dark Tower takes place in an alternate reality that mixes Middle Earth with spaghetti westerns.

In either case, the MMO world could benefit from a game that relies, as do most of King's stories" more on the suspense level of the horror genre than the murder, blood and guts level.

#5 - His Dark Materials

The first book of the His Dark Materials trilogy from author Philip Pullman was published in 1995. The series, intended primarily for a young adult audience, takes place in worlds similar to, but not entirely identical to, our own.

Don't feed the bears... seriously.

His Dark Materials takes place on parallel worlds, following the adventures of Lyra Belacqua as she unravels a mystery that eventually brings her into contact with our own world and still more parallel worlds. One of the most notable aspects of His Dark materials comes in the form of animal "daemons", familiars that are bound to the world's people.

The parallel worlds premise as well as the seemingly made-for-MMO-pet daemons would provide an interesting backdrop for a young-adult themed MMO based on the popular series.

#4 - Dune

Even Captain Picard says Make it so!

Published in 1965, Frank Herbert's Dune is considered by many to be one of the forefathers of modern science fiction. Having spawned numerous adaptations including: video games, a movie, two television miniseries, prequels and more, Dune is one of the better known sci-fi IPs.

The universe of Dune is set two thousand years from the present day, in the time of a vast interstellar empire embroiled political struggle over a single desert planet which is home to the spice melange, known to be the single most valuable item in the universe.

The IP's depiction of a vast and complex universe, combined with name recognition, make Herbert's work a prime candidate for an MMO adaptation.

#3 - World War Z

Watch out for the Rob Zombie invasion!

World War Z, a novel from Max Brooks published in 2006, takes a unique perspective on the survivalist zombie genre as the author interviews survivors of a fictional zombie war that raged on for a decade.

World War Z's zombie outbreak decimated the populations, governments and landscape. It left very few corners of the world untouched forcing governments and survivors either onto islands (The US capital was forced to relocate to Hawaii) or government sanctioned safe zones and survival became of primary concern.

It has been said in prior lists that the MMO landscape could benefit from a zombie survivalist game and World War Z, by setting the scene through the stories of only a few of the survivors, Brooks created an open and vibrant reality that leaves so many stories to be told by individual players in an MMORPG.

Look, it's Ice... and Fire!

#2 - Song of Ice and Fire

Sex, violence, and gritty fantasy realism. To a point, at least.

Easily the most epic and well formed world in modern fantasy literature, George RR Martin's books have inspired board games, an HBO series (in production) and, just recently, Cyanide Studios picked up the game rights. While they have not yet said what kind of game they'll make, they are better known for Pro Cycling Manager and Warhammer's Blood Bowl. Odds are not on an MMO.

Martin's world is grounded in realism. Like Jordan, there are no Elves, but the idealism of Jordan is no where near these books. No one is safe and many people's favorite character is a deformed dwarf (and not the Tolkien kind) who lies, cheats and murders. This is a world where no one is truly good, and many are truly evil. 

The source material also supports this kind of game admirably. Unlike many of his comrades, Martin developed multiple characters, from multiple cultures within the world. Every series has a map, but where in most novels the core characters adventure around the world, Martin simultaneously tells inter-related stories from all corners of it.

If anyone is ever going to pull off the long fabled gritty, adult fantasy genre. Martin is the source material to do it with.

#1 - Harry Potter

Ever since the books hit the shelves 9and the movies hit the theatres), the MMO audience has been asking itself why no one has obtained the rights to and taken up the mantle of an MMORPG based in the world of J.K. Rowling's popular Harry Potter series.

MMORPG's Dana Massey, boy wizard.

Rowling's universe supposes that the world that we know actually exists parallel to one of wizards and warlocks. Over the course of the series' seven novels, readers were introduced to a fantastical world where good and evil do battle on a regular basis, young wizards are trained in their various arts at special wizarding schools and danger, excitement and mystical beasts lurk around every corner.

With the huge and living world created by Rowling in the novels, it is a positive wonder that no MMORPG company has picked up the gauntlet in an attempt to recreate a rich universe that is simply there for the taking. There are those who would argue against a Harry Potter MMO on the very grounds that were mentioned at the beginning of this list. The series itself was very much character driven, with the title character and his companions at the center of the action. While this is certainly true for the Voldemort saga, one has to assume that the HP universe would have other strifes and conflicts that didn't involve the boy wizard which would allow thousands of Potter fans the opportunity to jump into and take part in their favourite universe.