Every once in a while I find myself too busy to come up with a serious article. Lately, I’ve had so much on my plate in real life that it is hard to really focus. It also doesn’t help that I’m really enjoying EQ2 and have nothing to complain about. When I sat down to plan this article I had no ideas and went to Twitter. Professor Beej suggested that I write about pop culture references in MMOs. I’m taking his idea and bastardizing it. Today we’re going to attempt levity and ask, “What happens when 80′s remakes become MMOs?”
Dangermouse Online
MMO Premise: Dangermouse Online is a rapid paced, super spy, action MMO set in a persistent world of rodents fighting for global domination beneath the very feet of society. Band together with your fellow hole dwellers to fight the evil forces of Greenback and Count Duckula. Drive fast cars, foil devious plots, escape perilous traps, eat cheese, and meet loose kangaroo rats in your quest to become the James Bond of the underfoot!
Playable Races: Mice, rats, voles, squirrels, prairie dogs, gnomes, chipmunks, gerbils, hamsters, and chinchillas.
The Gimmick: Dangermouse Online shows you just what it is like to be a rodent in a human’s world. Players will compete against evil NPCs while trying not to be domesticated by well meaning but frequently dense human beings.
Thundercats Universe
MMO Premise: Take your place at Lion-O’s side on Third Earth as he tries to defeat Mumm-Ra once and for all. Grow from a young thundercat into a mighty hero in this action packed martial arts MMO. Seek out other marooned thundercats and explore an expensive universe in a quest for New Thundera.
Playable Races: Lions, Tigers, Cheetahs, Leopards, Panthers, House Cats, Ocelots, and whatever the heck Snarf is.
The Gimmick: One out of every 15 accounts will only be able to play a Snarf character at first. After 4 seasons of being annoying you’ll be able to roll a thundercat!
Fraggle Rock: Underworld
MMO Premise: Join the epic struggle between the Doozers and Fraggles in Fraggle Rock: Underworld. In the gritty world beneath the human’s house, players will take on the role of the industrious Doozer or the carefree Fraggle as they struggle for dominance. As a Doozer you will spend your days tediously constructing elegant and functional structures. With our in-game architecture system creative players can design anything they like and invest months of time painstakingly building it. Fraggle players will live a carefree life of wandering around stealing vegetables and eating Doozer sticks without regard to the sheer amount of time that went into building the structures upon which they feast.
Playble Races: Doozer or Fraggle.
The Gimmick: FR:E is expected to be the preeminent game to play if you’re a PvPer. Imagine the joy you’ll get when you eat in 30 seconds something that another player took six months to build. In addition, Fraggle players will be able to achieve five levels beyond the Doozers. After all, who wants to actually fight someone their own level?
The Embarrassing Conclusion
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is my attempt at humor in writing. With any luck you’ve enjoyed the concept and can ignore the poor attempts at wit. Feel free to come up with your own 80′s children show MMOs and blog/comment about them!
Consider discussing “When MMOs go 1980s!” on the new Epic Slant Forum!
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No Smurfs? That’s a perfect IP for a game where everyone looks pretty much the same. The male/female balance is even closer to the real life balance behind the keyboard. (Of course, female smurfs would only be able to be played by females, via application process.)
Oh, and I’d play a Duck Tales Online. Nothing like questing around the world, looking for crazy treasures in booby trapped archaeological ruins. Playing through Carl Barks’ imagination would make my day.
I wanted to do the smurfs but I actually made a list of 80s cartoons and let the fellows at work pick which ones I did. I stacked the cards to ensure Fraggle Rock was one of them. I love that show.