Transcribed
from the pages of my new Hello Kitty notebook is a list of Japanese MMOs and Asian
MMOs currently available in Japan. Not surprisingly, yet possibly
scarily, this isn’t a list of all the MMOs, but rather a sample size of the
most recent and/or big name ones.
Quarda
Online (http://www.denyu-sha.co.jp)
– Currently in development, it touts itself an MMO that introduces the ability
to host game sessions.
Yogurting (http://www.yogurting.jp/start/?ban=yg02)
– Everyone’s favorite psychedelic
saga where you’re the schoolgirl
fighting off things. Like tentacles, I guess.
Emil
Chronicle Online (http://www.econline.jp/?ban=eco02)
– Cuteness on acid. Spiked acid.
A3 (http://www.a3online.jp/?ban=a302) –
Apparently it’s all about the Love and Hate...
Tantra (http://www.tantraonline.jp/?ban=to02)
– Judging by the pictures on the right, half-naked men and meat on a plate are
somehow involved. Just another regular day in Japan.
Ragnarok
Online (http://www.ragnarokonline.jp/?ban=ro02)
– Other than Final Fantasy XI, this is perhaps the most successful Japanese MMO
to penetrate the Western market. Its Eastern subscriber base isn’t shabby
either.
Final
Fantasy XI (http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/index.shtml)
– Come on. Do I really need to explain this one to you?
Freestyle (http://fs.hangame.co.jp/fs/index.asp)
– A basketball MMO with a cel-shaded urban look. Word.
Lineage (http://www.lineage.jp/) – Where everyone, and I mean
everyone, is more hardcore than you.
Tales of
Eternia Online (http://www.toeo.jp/) – Namco’s
long running “Tales Of...” RPG series taken, well, online. Standard Japanese fare,
complete with isometric layout.
Barvillage
(http://barvillage.net/) – Owl + Bear =
Owlbear. What else needs to be said?
DarkStory (http://www.darkstory.jp/) – How they tease
me with their English named links only to present me with more kanji than I can
poke a kimono at. Oh yeah. Apparently there are big explosions and giant white
fighting teddy bears.
Xenepic
Online (http://www.xenepiconline.jp/)
– Your one-stop shop for all your epic xen. Looks quite similar to Ragnarok
Online.
Mabinogi (http://www.mabinogi.jp/) – Buy cuddly animals
and stuff. *Squeeeeeel*
Tales
Weaver (http://www.talesweaver.jp/) –
Clone number 43 straight from the Nexon MMO mould. Nexon are the masters of
churning out these low resource intensive games.
Haten (http://www.haten.jp/) – Blue hair. You’ve got
to have blue hair. It’s doctrinal.
Ran (http://ran.excite.co.jp/) – For anyone who
has ever wanted to dress their avatar up as Lara Croft.
Risk Your
Life Part II (http://www.ryl.jp/) - This time they’re offering $2,000,000.
They’ll pay up. Really. Hello?
Derby
Owner’s Club Online (http://www.doc-online.jp/)
– Sure, you can ride a horse. But can you whip the competition off theirs?
With Your
Destiny (http://www.wyd.jp/) – Oversized
weapons at no extra cost.
Tokimemo
Online (http://www.tokimemo-online.konami.jp/)
– Schoolgirls kicking arse. No, no. Kicking
arse. In any case, go back to school and live your dreams of making out with
the captain of the football team. Erm.
Fantasy
Earth: The Ring of Dominion (http://www.playonline.com/fe/index.shtml)
– Square Enix states this “RPG x Action X Strategy hybrid” fits no current
genre. As McIGN states,
“The game promises to ofer [sic] the fun of an MMORPG, with character
building elements and battles taking place over a network. It also promises the
depth of a real time strategy title where you team up in battle with friends.
Finally, the action elements see players take control of a general”. Free set
of steak knives is included.
Trickster (http://www.trickster.jp/trickster/index.html)
– Epic animal ears ftw.
Granado Espanda (http://granadoespada.jp/)
– One of only a few Asian MMOs with a distinct visual style rather than falling
back on “Hay! It’s fantasy. Big swords and blob pets olol!!1”. Offers the
player a team of characters to control and adventure with instead of the usual
single avatar.
Silkroad Online (http://www.silkonline.jp)
– Sharing similarities with Guild Wars and Lineage II, the game would probably
enjoy some success if translated to the Western market.
Front Mission Online (http://www.playonline.com/fmo)
– Square Enix’s long-running mech game taken online. It has still a while yet
to go in development and will definitely need that time if previews
are anything to go by.
Phantasy Star Universe (http://www.phatasystaruniverse.jp)
– The sequel to the ground-breaking Phantasy Star Online, PSU sports both
online and offline play. Expect a large number of people trying to hack
character data when the game goes live.
Gundam Online (http://www.universalcentury.net)
– More a simulation and less of an RPG, this online version of the widely
popular anime/game/franchise sees you piloting giant robots. Duh. The
expansion, Dawn of Australia, allows me to crush my noisy neighbor under my
giant steel foot. Yay.
Lineage II (http://www.lineage2.jp)
– Castle warfare, farmer versus non-farmer gank fests, elf upskirt shots. You
know the drill.
Kwonho (http://kwonho.hangame.com/)
– Created in Korea,
the Japanese are taking great interest in this online fighting game. With
almost nothing but fighting games being played in Japanese arcades, it’s not
hard to wonder why.
Come on Baby (http://www.comeonbaby.co.kr/)
– As above, a Korean game with interest from Japan.
Less fighting this time and more drug-induced kart racing.
Note: Dark Age of Camelot and Everquest 2 (published by
Square Enix) both offer Japanese localization but are yet to enjoy any
significant subscriber numbers. Even with a large nod to a mechanic loved by
and introduced by the Eastern market (PvP), taking an ancient European-themed
and Western-styled MMO in the form of DAoC to Japan was a gamble at best.
----------------------------------
Disclaimer. Jet-lag induced rambling to follow. If you do
not wish to be subjected to thoughts possibly devoid of any thought, click here
and enjoy true
love.
Thwack.
Looking back up at the list, I’m struck by something. A
something that has little to do with the correlation between mini-skirt length
and the level of an avatar, and more to do with the types of online virtual
worlds available to Japanese consumers.
Sure, my list contains your standard stab-a-rabid-rat-in-the-rat-spleen-eight-times-please-can-I-have-some-more
fare. Japanese gamers play that stuff as much as anyone and they are damn good at it. Japanese gamer skills
are pretty much classified as an export product these days.
Instead, if I may draw your attention away from the
mini-skirts and to the selection of MMOs within the above list that eschew 10
foot long swords, ogre populations requiring a player-driven genocide, and a
world in the throes of torment from which only you can save it as the One True Hero. Nevermind those hundred
thousand other One True Heroes also saving the world.
Pony clubs and horse racing. Team-based basketball. Stylized
kart racing. School-themed advancement. We Westerners had always known Japanese
games to be a little, well, different. You see, there’s this little thing
called the Internet, so we’re not totally isolated from getting our daily hit
of J-Pop
encrusted multimedia. But perhaps in much the same as your typical cable
channel watcher will exclaim “Oh, that’s those crazy Japanese for you” in reply
to Mr. Takahashi from Kyoto smothering himself in breadcrumbs and jumping into
a tub full of cockroaches in an effort to win a holiday to mainland China, we
had partly dismissed Japanese MMOs as nothing worth looking at. “All I see
hitting my shores from Japan is the latest Mario title and Dragon Fantasy Hunter VI for the PS2.”
And yet, as we Westerners have repeatedly lamented the current situation in today’s MMOs – the lack
of any diversity between DikuMUD_clone_14 and DikuMUD_clone_15 in terms of
setting, character advancement, end game, and skill system – those crazy
Japanese have not only been exploring alternative virtual world mechanics, but
have made a bona fide business out of them.
And what do we have? A bunch of DikuMUD clones that Western
consumers could quite possibly handle being the norm if only there was
some…wait for it, this is going to be a revelation…variety. Hallelujah, yes! It’s variety. Puzzle Pirates, Second Life
and A Tale In The Desert are notable and welcome exceptions, but they are quite
obviously failing to fill the current demand for varying MMO types. And simply
put, this demand will only continue to rise, rise and rise like a dress on prom
night.
Ding.
So why is it that in this Western castle of ours - one set
by ourselves high above everything and filled with academics, developer blogs
and armchair critics – are developers afraid of acting outside the box?
- Publishers want to back a sure-fire money maker. Mr. Smith-Smythe, President of Marketing at NCBlizz Online, leans back in his plush office chair that took a whole family of cows to make and skims over the latest MMO market report. Even his wife yelling at him over the speaker phone does little to dissuade Mr. Smith-Smythe’s eyes spinning like bags of phat loot as he observes the top 3 MMOs all follow the same fantasy level-based whack-a-mole formula. The newest MMO to hit the market has even reached the second highest amount of subscribers in a record time. Bling! More phat loot spins through his skull.
- Making a clone of a product currently on the market is easier. Part of the battle of achieving a moderately successful MMO is getting it on the market when the time is right, with it on budget, and without making any clusterfuck problems putting it there. So, what better way to achieve this than by doing what other companies did right and not doing what other companies did wrong. Playing with new genres and sweeping mechanics to game moulds scares the suits, and let’s just say it’s not their pants they’ll be shitting in.
- Developers like making and playing the current games. Wow. Who’d have thought someone would actually, you know, want to make this stuff? Crazy thought, huh?
To which I offer the flipside and perfectly good reasons to
make Cosmik’s Virtual Date Sim Online. With mechs.
- Money, money, money. Sure, publishers want to make money. Don’t we all? I’ve got habits to meet, dammit. But there’s a saying in the games industry that rings a great deal of truth - “Publishers don’t know what they want until you give it to them.” Giving a marketing executive access to data on the subscriber data of the top 3 MMOs only encourages them and that’s something we can certainly do without. Take a look at the Star Wars: Galaxies NGE for an example of what a publisher making design decisions can do for you. Meanwhile, a potentially huge part of the market remains untapped because no one is making an online world for the stay-at-home-mum who loves her daily dose of quick puzzle games, the 14-year-old-student that has no interest in dragons but wishes he could step into the shoes of his favorite sports player, or the Vietnam vet who couldn’t give a flying fuck about an avatar in girly clothes and instead wishes to control a country. Niche? No, I don’t think so. The market share is there, and slooooowly Western developers are becoming aware of it; eyeing each other off to see who makes the first move so they may clone the success. The first developer to comprehensively serve these potential consumers will never have to make a level-based fantasy game again.
- Easy moder! To quote another much-quoted passage, “Making games is hard.” I don’t have to spell it out that MMOs are not exempt from this. Even with current MMO paradigm as a benchmark, no one is spared from troubles within their own project during pre-production, production and release. So, hey, you may as well make any type of game you want, right? Well, that and fantasy level/class-based, loot-centric MMOs are one of the highest resource intensive online games to make and balance. There is enormous scope out there for virtual worlds that utilize simple, and most importantly fun, mechanics – those from your Maddens, your Katamaris, and your Tetrises…es - not yet properly explored in the multiplayer arena; an example being those translated from single player games such as the Asian market is currently exploiting. The result is a line-up of Japanese, Chinese and Korean companies that have obtained the enviable position of maintaining a stable of online worlds that offer distinctive play styles and compliment each other within the company’s portfolio. The aforementioned stable is a notion that Western companies like SOE and Turbine are trying to achieve, but they are ultimately falling short of their expectations due to product monotony and product overlap.
- It’s my dream game, dammit. Well, what can I say? If a developer loves the current flavor and wishes to keep contributing to the bloated belly, all the more power to them. But it is here that I must suggest – nay, insist – that it is becoming increasingly more crucial to the growth of people within a company and to the success of the company itself to be flexible and willing to explore alternative mechanics. In the very least, hammering out a non-conformist title that lends itself to fewer resources through the intelligent use of its game mechanics will provide a company with the increased revenue that is needed in order to create their DikuMUD-clone-to-beat-all-DikuMUD-clones.
Thwack.
“Ok,
Cosmik. Quit yer blabbering. What do you propose be done about it?”
In much the
same way that relates to the current MMO paradigm, I doubt there is any
sure-fire recipe that will churn out a successful alternative online world –
much to the chagrin of Mr. Smith-Smythe. But I’ll be damned if I wouldn’t enjoy
playing MMOs that entertained some of the following:
- I take off my robe and wizard hat –
A small, yet albeit expanding group of sci-fi and super-hero games aside, your fantasy themed online worlds stack the lineup. This is still your daddy’s MMO, boy. Content-rich worlds such as the Era of Exploration (1500s), steampunk, and weird fiction (HP Lovecraft) fail to raise a hand even with the considerable weight of their fan bases behind them. It is to our own detriment that we have yet to experience the joy of discovering a new island off the coast of South America and trading with its natives, the delight of finishing the assembly of a brand new rocket powered machine, or the sheer thrill of being scared out of our pants upon entering a demon shrine deep beneath Paris. Yet, it must be said here that the setting of an online world is merely the paint job; it is what’s under the hood, the game mechanics, which really gets the motor running. Set yourself up with the right engine and you can spray your ride whatever color you damn well choose. So let’s
move on.
- Multiple avatars – This essentially covers what Granado Espanda is promising
to bring to the table, but why has no one done this before? We’re not talking about alts on the same server here, bub.
- Avatar-less – Go for the Big Picture. Trade in your naked elf for control of a
nation, your skills for the command of an army. Players take on the roles of countries and interaction with other players unfolds in the form of wars (PvP and PvE), diplomacy (socialization), allegiances (guilds),
foreign affairs (crafting and trade), and homeland affairs (a new mechanic
that sees you managing your population in order to gain added benefits).
There’s money in them thar war game hills.
- Do-be-do-be-doo – If there’s one constant across the world, regardless of race,
religion or sex (tee hee) it’s music. Allow players to take up an
instrument, improve their proficiency in it within a real player skill-based system, and form a band with other
like-minded individuals. Give players the in-client tools to film themselves and create video clips. Use VoIP to freestyle on the streets.
Play from bar to arena and bling yourself like there was no tomorrow. Oh, and dancing. You can never have too much dancing. If push comes to shove, I guess you can always add kobolds
and allow players to smack them over the head with guitars.
- Hi, I’m your sports role model – Building upon the competitive nature of
human beings, offer a virtual playground for players to immerse themselves in. For example, allow the world to be a ski field. Include a class-free
system that gives players the opportunity to ski or snowboard when they
want to, mechanics free of any levels resulting in the player needing to
use their skill to navigate a tree run, embedded games in the form of
snowball fights and giant inner tubing, socialization within the nightclubs and bars of the town, competition as a result of downhill runs
and half-pipe jams, and construct beautiful log cabins. The snow industry
is undeniably massive in terms of income and customers, but feel free to
swap it out for your sport or lifestyle activity of choice.
- Create and meditate – Puzzle Pirates and Second Life are merely the tip of the proverbial iceberg for puzzle and sandbox based online worlds. As more and more a)
mature gamers and b) casual gamers begin to arrive at our virtual world
doorsteps – and they are - , they will be searching for online versions of
the crosswords they enjoy completing in the newspaper and the creation hobbies they undertake on the weekends. We shouldn’t write off this demographic just because they can’t take Ragnaros down in an hour. These are the people buying all the internet connection starter kits at this very
moment.
- No, you carry it – How’s this for a proposal? A virtual world where players compete against another for control of the real-world simulated economy, whilst at the same time cooperating with one another for survival of the virtual
world. Hey look, it’s M.U.L.E.
Online. Make it.
- Woof – Their success is no fluke. They cater to the very nature of human beings and
have solid game mechanics to boot. I am referring to games such as Pokemon, Nintendo, and on a similar level, Tamagotchi. Money hats to the
developer that creates a virtual world catering to and facilitating the
bond between customer and virtual furball. Show contests, walking in the park with other players, sharing breeding tips. The kids go nuts for this
stuff. Hell, I’d log in every other day just to make sure Fluffikins
stayed worm free.
Ding.
Ok, here’s
the deal. Not everyone wants to level up their Orc Wizard up to level X and
then go raid 3 times a week, replaying the same game patterns over and over,
learning nothing new and, as Raph would put forth, not having fun. It’s the
reason why even amidst this fresh new wave of WoW-induced popularity we are
experiencing, players are reporting more cases of burnout and cancellations
amongst the current generation MMOs.
Yet we
Westerners remain to look sideways. To look elsewhere for stimulation. We’re so
intent on feeding the bottom line that we resign ourselves to churning out the
next clone even when we’ve had our fill. We’re taught to fear chance or change,
and dismiss anything that doesn’t fit our mould. We look for validation, not
inspiration.
There’s a
huge Non-Level Non-Skill Non-Fantasy market out there waiting to be tapped for
both monetary and enjoyment value. It’s no rumor of a secret southern
counterweight continent (hah, who would believe that?) – it’s true.
We say the
Japanese with their stylized arcade and action themed online games are crazy.
Are we not
in fact the crazy ones?
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