Sci-Fi Channel Merging TV Show With MMO
Posted on 02 June 2008 by Erik
In a fairly bold (and quite possibly stupid) move, the Sci-Fi Channel has announced plans to use missions and campaigns of players in their own developed MMO to shape and guide a new ‘ongoing’ television show. They hope to have the project up and ready to air by 2010, as they work with game developer Trion World Network to create ‘the ultimate merging of the TV and gaming mediums.’
Dave Howe, CEO of the Sci-Fi Channel commented:
“A television show that is on once a week isn’t enough. The fans today
want the experience to go beyond that. For example, we can tell them that there will be an alien invasion at a certain place in the game, at a certain time, and to be there with all their friends and be ready. The outcome depends on them. And then that battle will be part of the universe in the show.”
Originally, Sci-Fi had planned a similar project for Battlestar Gallactica, but instead decided to start fresh so they would be allowed to create a world in which the players decide who the heroes and villains are.
The only other real crossover of computer game and television show came last year when CSI used Second Life to create a virtual experience where players wandered around looking for clues that corresponded to the episode.
This project is unique in that the players are actually shaping the world, instead of reacting to the events of the show. The show’s creators will also be able to get instant input on how viewers feel about the direction the plot is taking them and adjust accordingly, even launching expansions and new areas based on stops
players visit in the game.
Little is known about the world being created for the crossover; it will take place about 100 years in the future on a very unfamiliar Earth. Sci-Fi plans on revealing more about the project later this year at the San
Diego Comic-Con.
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Tags | Battlestar Galactica MMO, Sci Fi Channel MMO TV Show, Sci-Fi Channel Announces MMO TV Television Show Crossov, TV Show MMO
June 8th, 2008 at 8:26 am
Sorry for double post above. Connection issues.
A cartoon type series makes sense.
June 8th, 2008 at 8:24 am
They have probably layed out the whole series, main characters and interactions, the only thing that will not be scripted will be the walkons, or nobodies.
They will have player events that will require forces of nobodies to participate, but the outcome will already be known, rigged.
They have to. Anyone who plays an MMO knows the difficulties of logging into the same server, the lag caused by mass populations, the connectivity issues, the patch problems.
They also have to have the story all laid out in orfer to pitch the series for financing. I know if I were producing a series within an Active MMO, I would figure that I would need the MMO developers assistance, there is a huge chunk. I would need responsible people to control key characters, KEY CHARACTER, so there would be more money…and so on.
They will have to do some editing and with most MMOs, there is like 10 base character looks, your name is what makes you different….
Look MOM, there in the left side its D-CKH–D…Whats that mean?
June 5th, 2008 at 5:03 pm
A more simple method might be…
Put in big events, like, an alien invasion. Base the plotline’s continuation on how many successful ‘kill the alien’ missions are completed within X timeframe.
This avoids the whole ‘PaedoBear 192′ situation entirely.
June 5th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
Hmm. Someone’s mentioned ‘RPers’ on MMOs who are primarily interest in cybersex (not particularly accurate, but we’ll go with it for the moment)–given that this show was *originally* being planned as a neoBSG tie-in (you know, the show with the central plot involving a weenie who caused the near-extermination of his race just so he could get laid with an android?)…sounds like a perfect match to me!
June 3rd, 2008 at 2:41 pm
I honestly hope this works out.
I have been thinking about this as the next evolutionary step of current technologies and have been waiting for the idea to be brought forth by people who can actually make it happen.
I originally had high hopes that FireSky would include something like this in their highly secretive “Project Ascension” (and still do), but from the looks of it they only got it partly right. I had to re-read the article to see that Trion World Network are the ones actually teaming up with Sci-FI channel for this instead of FireSky. I honestly assumed FireSky would be the ones to get it done, especially given their current relationship with Sci-FI on the Stargate Worlds project, but after going to the Trion website I can clearly see that they have the resources to make it happen.
FireSky’s idea of a “Matrix”, or core construct, type of solution that games are built around is dead on in my opinion, especially when you consider the “one hit wonder” nature of MMOs. The question becomes, how do we keep gamers interested in US? FireSky has the right idea with their “SNAP” game ideas, especially if they can successfully implement it with their ideas of character development and economies being static within the core construct…meaning they are actually dynamic across multiple games. Now, if you can add all that to the idea of environment/storyline manipulation by the player base and weekly updates to keep the players playing…well, you may as well put it on television.
My only fear is that, while Trion has the resources to pull it off, they won’t have the right perspective to make it successful. The only way something like this could reach its full potential is for the experience itself to take first priority rather than profit, the latter of which is generally the way it goes when you have such large companies behind a project, while the former (I put FireSky in this category) usually results in huge success…until the company gets gobbled up by the companies of the latter persuasion.
The old adage that if you ‘have something people truly want, they will build a road to you’ is the one point that I see gaming companies miss time and time again. Putting profit first is something that is never transparent in an MMO. The best example of this is the plethora of previously released failures that did not fail because of the genre, concepts, storyline, or even the programming…but because it was either released before it was ready due to pressure for profits, or because greed became the motivating factor for an already popular game..which always destroys the experience that made it popular in the first place.
If the stakeholders of this project can let the road be built to them in this instance, the profits will be greater than even they can quantify. The basic idea of Risk = Reward…you know that old saying “Make it profitable and people will people will buy it”… yeah, me either.
June 3rd, 2008 at 1:19 am
I think it would be interesting if they made a show that was actually conscious of the fact that it was a game. Then all the drawbacks (griefers, stupid people, endless quests, etc.) become what makes it interesting, what it’s about.
IMHO, “.hack” had a lot of potential to be interesting in that way, but they made the fantasy world rather not like any real MMO. It became just another fantasy story with the real world side tacked on.
June 2nd, 2008 at 11:13 pm
I can haz Farscape?
/frell you Skiffy
June 2nd, 2008 at 9:41 pm
Hmmm… maybe they could base it around SPORE.
June 2nd, 2008 at 6:59 pm
The article seems to indicate that they mean to make this some sort of story-driven show. An idea like that would require certain things from the game it is linked to. For instance, the game would need constant intervention by game masters who create the scenarios for the players to play. That’s quite a lot of development at very rapid pace, or player-created content.
Whether or not they are using player-created content, they will need players that are capable of portraying interesting characters. I’m not saying this is impossible, but if you’ve ever played an MMO, ‘roleplayers’ are typically more interested in cybersex than achieving story objectives. They also tend not to be among the better players in the game, if only because they are ‘roleplaying’ rather than grinding levels, gear or just practice.
More typical than the perfect player for making this this work will be griefers, lolspeaking chatters, tourists who aren’t there to get into the game but want to check it out and maybe be on TV, drunks and assorted idiots asking how you mine for fish.
The game is going to get hacked, especially if it becomes popular.
The needs of the show will also demand things from the game engine that have not been done in an MMO so far: Permanent death (or some explanation for why so many people are simply knocked unconscious or how they return to life, which makes death insignificant from a story perspective. See also: comic book deaths) and environments that change. Environments that change will make it difficult to create significant quests.
The paradigm case from WoW would be Hogger. Once one party kills him, if he comes back that creates a discontinuity in the show. If he doesn’t come back, they need something for everyone else to do.
If the quest is reduced to ‘kill a gnoll in sector 5′ the quest becomes mundane, and again it becomes ridiculous for the show to display hundreds of would-be adventurers camping sector 5 slavering for a gnoll-kill.
With so many fundamental issues to overcome, it’s no surprise folks are skeptical that these two media can be mixed real-time.
June 2nd, 2008 at 5:19 pm
MAn what a pack of cynics - its something new, its bold and its original - instead of rippign it to shreds so quickly how about just taking a look an seeing how it goes? And if you think it sucks … well, isnt that the point? so that you can feed your input right back into the show and they’ll change it accordingly?
This really sounds awesome to me.
June 2nd, 2008 at 4:51 pm
If the game was designed so that one side was actually capable of winning it could be interesting.
June 2nd, 2008 at 3:13 pm
WooHoo! Mansquito the Game!
June 2nd, 2008 at 2:31 pm
I can see the massive product placement in the game already.
June 2nd, 2008 at 2:02 pm
I, for one, welcome our new Interactive Television Overlords.
June 2nd, 2008 at 1:26 pm
(Lawrence said:
Ken:
FAIL. BBC makes Doctor Who. SciFi buys the rights to air it. )
Yes, I know this. it was an inside joke.
but anyway, if they have good creative writers this could be really good. but most likely they will go half ass on it, and it will suck.
June 2nd, 2008 at 12:50 pm
PASS! It’s the beginning of interactive TV.
We moved from black and white to color
CRT to Plasma, LCD etc…
Regular to HD
Why not start making REAL reality TV.
The people who watch help create the show.
Go SciFi!
June 2nd, 2008 at 12:39 pm
Fahrenheit 451 anyone?
June 2nd, 2008 at 12:28 pm
.hack anyone?
June 2nd, 2008 at 12:20 pm
Whew!!!
Finally folks are moving fast on this idea!
This person has been posting/podcasting that it could be done as early as 2010, but never believed these companies would actually start talking so fast and moving on it! Getting ANYTHING out of them (especially in Star Trek Television & gaming )is like pulling teeth!
This idea really excited some executive producers a few years ago:
“Wow! What an idea! Let me write that down! Yet… We just do not do business that way! It does not work that way!” Was said by a once ‘very in the spotlight’ E.P.
“Change it.
Start talking about it at least and see what happens. The potential revenues are paradigm shattering. You do not want to miss out on something like that do you!? You do not want Lucas or the Battlestar folks scooping this, do you!?.
The great race was on (In my mind anyway)! Who would be the first to make it happen and who had the right IP to make it happen!?
S T A R T R E K
Star Trek. The now ‘historic’ property that changed the world…and has always been about ‘firsts’ (first inter-racial kiss on TV, etc).
For several years now the Star Trek gaming community (and even Perpetual Entertainment) has really appreciated (and mostly) supported the idea of a TV show-MMO tie in since 2005 (See: Startrek.com forums))
Perpetual Entertainment and CBS may have opened talks on such a thing as early as two years ago.
Fingers have been crossed J.J. Abrams/Bad Robot have also been interested.
I’ll still hold out some hope it is for Star Trek as this idea (IMO) started with Star Trek.
With our luck as a community though…we will see a ‘Space 1999′, ‘Buck Rogers’ or ‘Lost in Space’ TV-Show/MMO before a Star Trek one.
June 2nd, 2008 at 12:16 pm
The last show they did well was the Invisible Man. I mean, I’m still trying to get over ‘Who Wants To Be a Superhero.’
I think an MMO could be turned into a decent show, but it wouldn’t have anything whatsoever to do with the actions of the players. A good MMO story is based on the fact that it’s written well. It’s what separates an interesting campaign delivered by an interesting GM from a hack-and-slash fest incapable of holding viewer interest.
It’ll be interesting to see if the MMO is developed with the show in mind. What sort of soft (non-stats) PC development is there? What sort of chat/socializing? What sort of story/adventure system?
June 2nd, 2008 at 11:53 am
I can’t wait to watch the engaging tale of Leeroy Jenkins.
At least I’ve got chicken.
June 2nd, 2008 at 11:45 am
Reminds me of “Portal” in some respects.
June 2nd, 2008 at 11:32 am
I think Mecha has it right in his first Paragraph. There is absolutely no way that either the SA forum goons or Anonymous will leave this one alone.
In a way, I feel kind of sorry for the people that thought this one up. If only because they won’t be able to get work in TV ever again after becoming known for the show that was Pwned by Anonymous. (Flying Space Dongs and Rude Character Names ahoy!)
June 2nd, 2008 at 11:23 am
Seems like TV directs the games and not vice versa.
Case in point: Pokemon, Yugi-Oh.
This is a bold step for SciFi and I wish them well, but it really sounds like they are gonna take Firefly, turn it into a game, and then use that input to generate script ideas. Who needs Hollywood writers anymore? Why not have people PAY YOU to write your scripts?
Conceptually, I think they may be on to something. The technique sounds similar to running a massive D&D campaign with the delvers running lots of sidebar missions.
June 2nd, 2008 at 11:12 am
They should hire me as a writer. I have a great idea for Earth 100 years into the future that would tie in perfectly with Gaming and Toys.
Mike Mathiesen Published SciFi Writer
555-555-5555
June 2nd, 2008 at 11:11 am
Even if this was Blizzard, the king of MMO games and the gold standard of developers, I wouldn’t believe it. No game has managed to do what they are talking about successfully… so if they do it would be a massive step forward in games. I can’t believe that they would be able to pull that off in just 2 years.
June 2nd, 2008 at 11:10 am
Ahh, having crossover from the internet onto TV. So perhaps we’ll hear such gems as:
“…And in the Battle for Antares, the SS PaedoBear teamed up with the Starship ShoopDaWhoop32 and landed a killing blow on the traitor flagship BorisTheSickle.”
But I think it’ll be interesting to at least see how they do it. Really low quality production + off hour showing? Showing major season spoilers at every commercial break? (which is why I use the internet rather than watch the (edited) Dr. Who that appears on the Sci-Fi channel)
I wish you luck, Sci-Fi. Although, one thing bothers me: “he show’s creators will also be able to get instant input on how viewers feel about the direction the plot is taking them and adjust accordingly”. Which, adjusting game or story based on what the playerbase feels constantly is, how to say, having too many (blind) chefs in the kitchen. And anti-thetical to the idea of having plot develop into something worthwhile. But, I suppose it does make it so that the writing for it can’t be too bad.
June 2nd, 2008 at 10:50 am
however Eureka is a fun show and not a BBC import. Hope it works for them, it sounds like fun interactive narrative to me.
June 2nd, 2008 at 10:27 am
Of course, Dr. Who having nothing to do with Sci Fi other then having licensed the right to air the show in the US may have something to do with that.
June 2nd, 2008 at 10:26 am
Ken:
FAIL. BBC makes Doctor Who. SciFi buys the rights to air it.
June 2nd, 2008 at 10:06 am
If they were merging it with a movie then yes, it would suck. Sci Fi movies are teh lame. But they do shows well. A shining example being Dr. Who, of course.