Firefly MMO

[Skydiving_Ninja]

There's supposed to be a Firefly-based MMORPG due for release in 2008. Are any other browncoats as excited about this as I am?

Personally, the only thing I REALLY hope they don't do (other than make it suck) is putting it in the Unification War. If they did that, I think it would be way too "World of Warcraft"-ish. "You have two sides in a big 'ol war. Neither one can be really considered "evil" or "good." Duke it out!" A post-Miranda timeline would work better because the fans are more familiar with it, and you can get your skin sewn into the clothing of a Reaver.

I also hope they get Joss and the other scriptwriters to work on it. That would be shiny.

[That Lanky Bugger]

My lack of excitement is palpable.

Firefly and Serenity were special entirely because of the characters, not the setting. It just won't work in a video game. As much as I'd like to hope that the entire damned game will be filled with RPers with a genuine love for the setting, I imagine it's going to be typical MMO fare with typical MMO interactions.

Imagine, if you will, the following conversation:

Lily: Captain, I noticed you've got an opening for an engineer! I'd be willing to join your crew, as I've got quite a bit of experience working with CoreStat engines!
CAP'N_MAL34: STFU U RPER NOOB! UR NOT GUD ENUF 4 MY 1337 SHIP!
Lily: I've mastered engineering! I know everything there is to know about working with this sort of ship!
CAP'N_MAL34: UR RETARD! U DON'T GOT A WEAPON 4 SHIP 2 SHIP BORDING!
Lily: That doesn't even make sense!
CAP'N_MAL34: UR PROFILE SEZ UR NOT LVL 60 U NOOB!

...and so it will go.

In an ideal world with ideal players, an MMORPG version of Firefly would be a wonderful, magnificent thing to enjoy. It is something I would upgrade my system to play. In this ideal world, there would be a valid way of performing all the things we see in the show itself while not breaking the experience with unnecessary amounts of menus or game-interface.

The reality of the matter is that you're going to get an MMORPG filled with rude, obnoxious kids with mommy and daddy's credit cards, who don't even realize Serenity was a show before it was a game and play it because it's got some shiny feature or another.

[Skydiving_Ninja]

Actually, I doubt most kids will buy it because they don't know what Firefly is. Poor uneducated younglings...but your point is valid, and it seems like a Firefly MMO would be a game designed for actual roleplayers and not the obnoxious WoW lv. 10's who think they're cool because they're in double digits shouting "LFG RFC" and don't know how to use a gorram meeting stone.

But anyway, there are indeed some MMOs that are actually filled with intelligent people, namely, Guild Wars. I'd imagine that a Firefly MMO would attract the same crowd that plays Guild Wars, assuming Multiverse doesn't make something level-intensive like WoW.

[blackout]

I, personally, am psyched. I saw Serenity, and most of the Firefly series. :) MUST PLAY GAME NOW!

[melchizedek]

I'm hesitant to be too enthused until I know more. It has the capacity to be amazing. Unfortunately that just makes it more likely to fall short.

[That Lanky Bugger]

I have to disagree with your assessment... Most kids will play it because it's going to feature cowboys and ninjas in space. The setting is awesome enough that it will inspire a fanbase of it's own without the need for an influx of card-carrying browncoats. Depending on the overall playstyle, it might even encourage an influx of new blood. Unless it is a social encounter-based MMORPG (and these are rare indeed), it's going to attract a caliber of people which will be maddening.

[JadedDM]

I read about the Firefly MMO some time ago. I'm afraid to say, Whedon will not be consulted at all on it. He has nothing to do with the project.

And like Lankybugger said, pretty much no matter how amazing or well thought out any MMO may be, it will still be full of stupid people with no grammar or spelling skills.

[2 Eyed Cyclops]

OMG!!!!1111 FIREFLY IS LIKE SO PWNAGE LOLZ!!

Unfortunately, there will still be people that will talk like this, no matter what type of MMO.

[averagejoe]

I'm tentatively optimistic. But I agree that very many things could go wrong.

[The One_(part2)]

I love Firefly and Serenity (watched full series and movie roughly 32 times last month alone)

However, I cant help but feel a bit weary of an actual MMORPG based on the setting. I completely agree with lankybugger...that senario is very likely. Never actually played WoW, never intend to either. (I'm a CoH/V guy myself)

Slightly OFF TOPIC (?): I picked up the table top book for kicks, never actually got to play it though (grrr)

[Tengu]

I'd imagine it will look like EVE, but with Firefly-style spaceships - a boring, emotionless economic game, except when you are getting ganked by pirates. So not like the series.


My lack of excitement is palpable.

Firefly and Serenity were special entirely because of the characters, not the setting.

Agreed wholeheartedly.

[Logic]

Well, I'm a Redshirt first and a Browncoat second. I, however, hated MMOs with a passion. Too much competition in a game that should be more about cooperation. The Red-Mage from 8 bit theatre comes to mind everytime I think about an MMO.

[ReluctantDragon]

Something that could be done(never will be, but a browncoat can dream) is the license that old text-based MUD's and MUSH's used to have. Submit your character idea before creation. A team of admins peruse it and grant you the ability to create said character. Again this is something that will never happen, as it is almost certainly a logistics and profit nightmare. However, it would be neat to see an MMO that has such a stringent application system.

[McDeath]

Could be beyond amazing if handled correctly. Will not be be. Will be less than cool.

[TheOOB]

There is a lot of potention in that game...a lot, but the chances that the game will live up to that potental are slim to none.

I imagine a game combining the best aspects of SW:G, Eve, and Wow into a huge user run galaxie, rife with political turmoil and roleplay oppertunities. We can dream.

[invisiblejon]

Is it possible to make something that's economically viable while keeping the hard-core fans happy? Given that most of the concerns focus on the attitude and vocabulary of the average MMO player, I suspect not.

[indianajoe]

I will say I am excited yet hesitant about it. I would be more excited about the prospect of the mmo if I knew anything about previous projects that the company had undertaken.

That and some actual news about the game. But hey that's just me.

[Eldan]

It may have some potential to be cool. They should just include the following:
-No levelling or not more levelling than, let's say... level 10 or so. Most of those kiddies would hate it.
-As someone on some other bord suggested: A language filter that replaces certain expression with chinese signs. That would be cool.
-And a feature I always wanted: If you type more than five words in a row all CAPS, your account is automatically deleted.

[Catch]

The idea of a Firefly MMO really makes me *glee* sometimes. But after having lost almost a year of my life to World of Warcraft, having witnessed the sheer abject horror of IC interaction with anonymous people, I'm the picture of abject pessimism.

It just ain't gonna fly.

Really, if you want to avoid the ever-present issues with MMO settings (faction imbalance, world inaccuracy, griefers/jerks/people who don't get it) then I'd suggest playing the tabletop game. Honestly, that's the only way I've been able to quarantine my ideal setting from all the internet people whose life-goal is to ruin it for the rest of us.

The saddening inevitability is that it's the internet, blessing and curse that it is, and that with your rich world and rapidly thickening plot you're going to get a nice hot helping of "HOW I MINED FOR FISH!!?"

[Dragor]

Basically agreeing with all of the above. I think, however, that it'll be a strictly fan-based game. You never know, it could put the 'RP' into 'MMORPG'.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Don't make it an MMO... make it an RPG with Multiplayer options. That way you have your dedicated server with your buddies on it working together to complete a mission without all the 'I PWN J00 N00BZ' nonsense of an MMO.

You could have different classes you can play (Captain, Medic, Engineer, Marine/Grunt...) and depending on which class you play, you have different challenges ship-side. Of course, groundside, you still have all the action adventure no matter the class.

And I was just thinking... post-Miranda, would there be many reavers left? From the movie, they pretty much had every single reaver vessel following them to run into the Feds. While I'm sure some of them must have survived (Well, maybe not, if the Reavers stayed until either the last Reaver was dead or the last Fed), their numbers had to have been decimated. It's not like they can reproduce rapidly.

[slapdash]

I loved the show, but I agree with whoever said that the show was special because of the characters, not the setting. If they're going to make a MMO in an AngloSino future, I'd much prefer they get to work on a Bladerunner MMO.

...Please?

...Pretty pretty please?

[indianajoe]

I would actually like to see what they would do with space travel.

[Sailacela]

Ugh. Right, what we need is a game chock full of RPing companions. *Insert excuse for lewd conversation here*

[ghost_warlock]

Ugh. Right, what we need is a game chock full of RPing companions. *Insert excuse for lewd conversation here*
You got that right! I have a couple female characters on W.o.W. just for variety and I'm constantly getting hit with random whispers like:

* "Do you look like that in real life?"
* "Im 16 hw old r u?"
* "hey sweety"
* "will u b my wow-gf?"

How do you girls put up with it, seriously? :smallfurious: My female characters are already trailing level-wise because I get sick of hearing it...

Anyway, I would be interested in seeing how they'll pull FireflyMMO off, but I'm not sure how into it I'll get.

[twerk_face]

My lack of excitement is palpable.

Firefly and Serenity were special entirely because of the characters, not the setting. It just won't work in a video game. As much as I'd like to hope that the entire damned game will be filled with RPers with a genuine love for the setting, I imagine it's going to be typical MMO fare with typical MMO interactions.

Imagine, if you will, the following conversation:

Lily: Captain, I noticed you've got an opening for an engineer! I'd be willing to join your crew, as I've got quite a bit of experience working with CoreStat engines!
CAP'N_MAL34: STFU U RPER NOOB! UR NOT GUD ENUF 4 MY 1337 SHIP!
Lily: I've mastered engineering! I know everything there is to know about working with this sort of ship!
CAP'N_MAL34: UR RETARD! U DON'T GOT A WEAPON 4 SHIP 2 SHIP BORDING!
Lily: That doesn't even make sense!
CAP'N_MAL34: UR PROFILE SEZ UR NOT LVL 60 U NOOB!

...and so it will go.

In an ideal world with ideal players, an MMORPG version of Firefly would be a wonderful, magnificent thing to enjoy. It is something I would upgrade my system to play. In this ideal world, there would be a valid way of performing all the things we see in the show itself while not breaking the experience with unnecessary amounts of menus or game-interface.

The reality of the matter is that you're going to get an MMORPG filled with rude, obnoxious kids with mommy and daddy's credit cards, who don't even realize Serenity was a show before it was a game and play it because it's got some shiny feature or another.

I disagree. First of all, the Firefly/Serinity world, simply as a setting, would be an amazing place for a MMO, IMHO. And I really think you don't have enough faith in humanity. In WoW, I play on a non-rp, non-pvp server, and belong to a guild filled with only mature, nice people, who enjoy the game, and not just "tey phat lewtz". Sure, there will be the people you described, but they won't be the only players. And plus, you always haf to put up with the idiots in life, so why not in game?

Also, ninja, i think the unification war would be a great setting for it. Your saying it would be too much like WoW, but really, almost ALL MMORPGs are like that: either a two faction system, or no aliances at all, and not much of a fleshed-out world. The unification war would do what you said it would: make it two distinct, non-evil sides of a conflict, and i think that that's a good thing, not bad. It works perfectly for an MMORPG.

Twerk_out.

[Wehrkind]

Heh, being female isn't an annoying way to get stupid tells, it is a trade skill. Seriously, look at some of Something Awful's articles about it. A screen shot of 1000 gold mailings is enough to make me want to reroll night elf.

One thing I thought about last night was if they do an MMO, how are they going to do space travel in regards to ships? Being able to travel from planet to planet is fairly central to the show, and the cowboy/western feel of it, but if everyone has their own ship it sort of defeats the purpose, and if only "Captains" can get them, people might be disinclined to play other classes, or always have to tag along.

I came to the conclusion that a Never Winter Nights style RPG with multiplayer built in/expected would probably be the best way to do it. Sort of a mix of Freelancer with NWN type ground action. I just don't see how they can merge space travel's long times with ground based fast action in an MMO. At least in a multiplayer RPG space travel can be "instant" with chances for random encounters thrown in, which are real time, and no one on the ground thinks "He was across the galaxy like 2 minutes ago, what the hell?" when you planet hop.

[JadedDM]

And now...the obligatory webcomic posts!

http://www.homeonthestrange.com/view.php?ID=168
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/12/11

:smalltongue:

[Wehrkind]

Hehehe yea I saw the PA one coming sooner or later. The second is pretty good too.

[Duraska]

Forgive if I'm wrong, but the last I heard this game was still looking for a publisher (or has that changed?).

Until it gets a solid publisher, I would consider this game to be vaporware (just like Horizons originally was).

If the game does in fact have a publisher, I give it less than a year between its release date and when they yank the servers down.

Sorry to sound so negative, I really do LOVE Firefly and Serenity, but do they seriously think they can compete with the juggernaut that is World of Warcraft?! MMORPGS live and die by their hardcore, 40+ hours per week fanbase. I just don't see an independantly developed MMORPG ever making it. Maybe if this came out 3 years ago...

[indianajoe]

So, I know its been a pretty freaking long time since anyone has spoken about the prospect of the Firefly MMO...

I just wanted to say that after seeing the demos of games that are currently running the client software that will be used on Firefly.... I have lost much hope.