A View From The Road: Smile, You?re Raiding On TV
- Thread starter John Funk
- Start date
As terrible of an idea as this sounds, it also has some intrigue to it. Now, whether that's because I think the idea is cool (maybe a little), or because I want to witness the trainwreck (maybe a little) is still to be decided.
Honestly, John, it's less bad of an idea than it seems. If the game tanks but the show does well, excise the game from the universe and keep the show running. If the show tanks but the game does well, turn the show into FMVs or something that are streamed to players who care to watch. If both do well, no problem, if both do bad, then it was a failed venture. But at least they tried.
File this one under "cautiously optimistic".
Honestly, John, it's less bad of an idea than it seems. If the game tanks but the show does well, excise the game from the universe and keep the show running. If the show tanks but the game does well, turn the show into FMVs or something that are streamed to players who care to watch. If both do well, no problem, if both do bad, then it was a failed venture. But at least they tried.
File this one under "cautiously optimistic".
This should help you out. http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NetworkDecayscifidownbeat said:
^^
Seeing as how anything original from Syfy except Battlestar Galactica is god awful, I'm gonna chock this one up for "doomed to fail"
Well, I would almost say that I think it's a nice experiment and I'll watch it, but then I remembered that 1) I hardly watch any TV any more and 2) I'm in Brazil and shows take anywhere between six months and a few years to be broadcast here, so if I happened to be playing the game by the time the events mentioned happened they'd be old news to me already.
Can't help but think there might be a way for that to work. There's this company that runs MUD-style games, Iron Realms, that has a strong roleplaying policy and won't allow players and clans with silly names. If the game was run like that, it might work, but of course would drive away a bunch of the potential playerbase.
Can't help but think there might be a way for that to work. There's this company that runs MUD-style games, Iron Realms, that has a strong roleplaying policy and won't allow players and clans with silly names. If the game was run like that, it might work, but of course would drive away a bunch of the potential playerbase.
Well, someone told the company's top execs that some people thought sci-fi was silly and weren't interested in watching it. Rather than decide to milk the niche they had already stronly estabilished themselves in, the execs decided to rename it to something that sounded like sci-fi, so fans would still know what it is, but was different, so people who didn't like sci-fi would be interested. In the end, sci-fi fans were angry that their favourite genre was being considered something shameful again, and people who didn't like sci-fi continue to not like sci-fi and never bothered to understand what that weird word was supposed to mean. The End.scifidownbeat said:
Storm's a-brewin'. Gonna bring nothin' but trouble, tell ya what. Them there fellas messin' with things they don't fully comprehend. Gon' be like the Potato Insanity of '76. Won't make none sense at all. [/crazy old guy]
Someone decided they absolutely had to copyright the name of the network, and they found out they couldn't copyright the term "Sci-fi". Shocking, no?scifidownbeat said:
haha, i wondered the same, but have resolved to, it doesnt matter.scifidownbeat said:
Well if this hype-shit hits the fan they will easily hit the critical-mass point for the game, but the show wont really be much after maybe the first season where it will end up, if it even lasts THAT long, into just the new highscreens board for the same 5 groups of characters/guilds/factions. And i'm pretty sure atleast 2/5 of those same groups will have a very awkward name.
I only see two ways of this even remotely working;
1: Making the TV-show revolve around canon, filling in the bits and pieces of story that players are missing while playing the game. This would also serve as a tool to get players psyched up for upcoming content, keeping them interested to discover more of the game and play further. Or simply having people think "Hey, I was totally there when that boss was killed/city was raided, sweet reference"
-In this situation, the influence players will have on the show would be fairly minimal, maybe writing in some guild/clan names or characters from the game for an episode or two. Grand-scale player-organised events might make it to the show, but those are quite server-bound.
2: If the TV-show actually revolved around ingame activity, say following a raid, a leveling character, a PvPer or whatever.
Just think of how many videos are constantly being uploaded of MMO raids, tactics, tutorials, arena battles and so on. Even video blogs of people talking about their MMO. And how much time people spend watching them next to playing the game.
-The problem here would be that the show would (for lack of interesting activity on most accounts) follow a minimal amount of players, creating the same sense of elitism and hate revolving around current high-end guilds. "stfu, I was on telly" or "tv fags think they is bettr den me" come to mind.
Entertaining the idea, and assuming they've somehow managed to combine their sugar, spice and everything nice to create the perfect little... errr.. TV-MMO. Managing to find the right balance between an interesting show and a good game, and having enough content to keep the show fresh for plenty of seasons, I figure there won't be much of a problem keeping either one up, since they would be sustaining each other.
The people playing the game would watch the show for obscure reference of their achievements, or just because they're immersed in the game's world and the show is a part of it, no matter how repetitive or bland the show may get after a while. If enough people play the game, more will join, if anything, just to see what all the fuss is about.
People watching the show would play the game, just because they like the show and they want to be a part of it. If the show actually manages to be interesting on its own as well, it would keep drawing in more and more players.
That being said, I doubt this will last any longer than it takes for the novelty to wear off or for people to realize either the show or the game is horrible.
1: Making the TV-show revolve around canon, filling in the bits and pieces of story that players are missing while playing the game. This would also serve as a tool to get players psyched up for upcoming content, keeping them interested to discover more of the game and play further. Or simply having people think "Hey, I was totally there when that boss was killed/city was raided, sweet reference"
-In this situation, the influence players will have on the show would be fairly minimal, maybe writing in some guild/clan names or characters from the game for an episode or two. Grand-scale player-organised events might make it to the show, but those are quite server-bound.
2: If the TV-show actually revolved around ingame activity, say following a raid, a leveling character, a PvPer or whatever.
Just think of how many videos are constantly being uploaded of MMO raids, tactics, tutorials, arena battles and so on. Even video blogs of people talking about their MMO. And how much time people spend watching them next to playing the game.
-The problem here would be that the show would (for lack of interesting activity on most accounts) follow a minimal amount of players, creating the same sense of elitism and hate revolving around current high-end guilds. "stfu, I was on telly" or "tv fags think they is bettr den me" come to mind.
Entertaining the idea, and assuming they've somehow managed to combine their sugar, spice and everything nice to create the perfect little... errr.. TV-MMO. Managing to find the right balance between an interesting show and a good game, and having enough content to keep the show fresh for plenty of seasons, I figure there won't be much of a problem keeping either one up, since they would be sustaining each other.
The people playing the game would watch the show for obscure reference of their achievements, or just because they're immersed in the game's world and the show is a part of it, no matter how repetitive or bland the show may get after a while. If enough people play the game, more will join, if anything, just to see what all the fuss is about.
People watching the show would play the game, just because they like the show and they want to be a part of it. If the show actually manages to be interesting on its own as well, it would keep drawing in more and more players.
That being said, I doubt this will last any longer than it takes for the novelty to wear off or for people to realize either the show or the game is horrible.
Well, in some ways this has already been done, and it worked very well might I add, in The Matrix Online. Yes, the movies and outside fiction were already done by the time MxO's storyline picked up, but the players and storylines in MxO were a direct continuation of that fiction. It's not too large a stretch to see the same thing done again but with the outside fiction and the game existing at the same time.
The thing about MxO, however, was that it was based on compelling and inspiring fiction that fostered role playing and, by and large, taking things seriously. I find it hard to believe that this new property will be the same, especially with the lure of "being on TV" as part of the hook instead of being a reward for solid gameplay/roleplay (as was the case in MxO).
The thing about MxO, however, was that it was based on compelling and inspiring fiction that fostered role playing and, by and large, taking things seriously. I find it hard to believe that this new property will be the same, especially with the lure of "being on TV" as part of the hook instead of being a reward for solid gameplay/roleplay (as was the case in MxO).