Yes, it’s an art because we can’t say that adding multiplayer or even online feature to a stand alone video game will guarantee the game to be a success hit.  It is not an exact science that can be formulated as:

Video Game Title + Online Feature = Great MMOG

This is WRONG!!!

Is it possible to adopt a video game to be a successful MMOG?  Yes it’s possible, but it will depend on many factors!  The stand alone game and video game will still find it ways to survive EVEN WITHOUT online feature.  Many people believe that the future of game will be the online one.  That may be true.  However, if we take a look at game (not just video game) history, each new genre of game is growing into culture and not just trend.  A trend would kill the last category, but a culture will give birth to a new category.  Confused?

Let me give an example:

Before we know any video games in this world, people already play games using card.  Before we play any MMORPGs, people already play RPGs based on physical rule.  Can we still find card game and non electronic RPGs today?  Yes we can still find them.  In fact, some of the new card game are getting more and more popular.  Why would an already successful online game like World of Warcraft give birth to an old non online card game called WoW trading card game?  In my country, the number of pre release event of Magic The Gathering card always growing! 

Sample of Legend of Norrath, WoW, and MTG card

So I don’t think that online game will pawn video games.  GTA IV has US $500 million sales on their opening week!  I don’t think there is any MMOG with that kind of sales in their opening services.

Back to the main topic.

So if it’s not always necessary to give online feature or to adopt your video game title to the online one, when will “one title” can be considered as a good one to be adopted as MMOGs?  Let’s get back to the first paragraph of this article.  It’s an art, so there is no definite formula about which kind of video game would be good to be brought as an MMOG.  The most important thing is, when you want to bring them into MMOGs, what will you offer to the market?  If that feature highly differentiate your product and can fullfil the need of market, you will succeed.

But there’s certain area that I want to highlight when developers want to bring their video game products to MMOGs.  The concept of MMO born from the perspective that “the more the merrier” is expected.  When electronic RPG was introduced, it was only a single player game, where usually you, as a hero, must slay some (read: a lot of) monsters so you can improve your character’s capability and finally kill the ultimate evil lord, or you managed some group of heroes to do that.  So, developers start to think: what if you can do this together with your friends?  And that’s where Richard Garriot start to give birth to the terms MMORPG.

 TO

Ultima TO Ultima Online

So the basic of adopting video games to MMOGs, should be around this question.  If you do that together with your friends or people out there, is it going to add more fun?

For me, fighting game genre is not one of them.  Because I can still find worthy opponent by inviting my friends to my house or visiting their home and have a duel.  I can also feel the emotion around the “fighting ground”, where sometimes we can laugh together at some failed skill, we can laugh together at some abusive movement towards computer’s AI, and many more.  Somethings that even missing if you bring it online.  Not to mention if I met childish player that whining about the reason that they loose in the online feature: “Laugh all you want noobs, I only lost to you because it’s laggy in my side, that’s why my skill is not out to kick your butt.”  It’s just an example but can you see why the online feature of fighting genre is quite iritating for me?  More over, the concept of “the more the merrier” is limited to the fact that fighting genre is naturally a duel between 2 people.  It’s different from racing game, where you and your friends (more than 2 players) can be in the same arena and laugh together by typing some emotion sentences.

Mario Kart

Anyway, for me, it is not a bad idea to adopt video games to MMOGs.  But it will need some thought about how to adopt them.  It’s an art, and if you really play the instruments right, it will be a masterpiece.