Settle down, kids, I'm not making an announcement here. A few months ago, the BBC had revealed that it was getting into the massive multi-player online game business, sparking speculation about a Doctor Who MMO, but alas, speculation is all it was. CBBC World seems to be the project they were alluding to, a virtual world aimed at children. But that doesn't mean we can't dream! As the countdown for the 11th Doctor begins, Doctor Who Week asks: What would a Doctor Who MMO be like?
It's not an easy question to answer, is it? The Whoniverse theoretically contains all places and times and a few parallel dimensions and more than one timeline. The show itself features a pacifist and gives equal time to a super-powerful Time Lord and his relatively mundane Companions. How does that translate into an MMO comparable to what's on the market today? Perhaps some lessons can be learned from the pen and paper Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space RPG, which is as different from, say, D&D, as our MMO would be from World of Warcraft. Perhaps. Certainly, the focus cannot be on fighting and loot, at least not exclusively.
Instead of WoW as a model, let's take City of Heroes as a starting model. It's a superhero game, which shares one thing with Doctor Who - the already powerful central hero. Pen and paper supers games, at least those that emulate comics, are not based on "leveling", not should a Doctor Who game be. City of Heroes, however, does level your character, adding powers as it goes along in a most un-comic book-like way. Still, one might imagine adding abilities as experience is accumulated even in a Doctor Who game. A Time Lord might add abilities like Taunt, Confuse and Extend TARDIS Shields, for example. City of Heroes might also provide a model for how time-space zones are configured. In CoH, city areas, divided by appropriate levels of difficulty are cut off from each other, requiring load screens while your character is in a tunnel or taking public transportation (as opposed to WoW's incessant walking).
And for all that, we should still respect WoW's continued success with its more martial trappings. The Whoniverse does have UNIT, Torchwood and the Time War, so here's my vision...
The Setting
The game would be set in the Time War for a variety of reasons. First, it explains why there would be so many Time Lords and other time-traveling species moving about. Setting it in the present era of Who, there would be little justification for all the player-run TARDISes in the game. Secondly, the setting creates impetus for all manner of missions where combat may be required, and combat remains one of the most gamable elements of these games. Finally, this would also help design abilities for the characters. The Doctor's sonic screwdriver is all well and good (and multi-functional), but Time Lords participating in a Time War, might very well have more tricks up their sleeves - high level stuff like Time Stop, Fast-Grow Dinosaur Eggs (the Rani had this), etc. And while the War rages, there would still be room for helping people caught in the crossfire or simply down on their luck. If you arrive on Peladon and the King asks you for help, even if it has nothing to do with the War, would you say no?
Who Are You?
Different character types is a major component in the success of many MMOs, usually used to promote interaction between players who cannot complete missions with their limited abilities alone. Now, the game would work with only Time Lords, separated into Chapters just like on the classic series, giving them access to different abilities depending on whether they are scientists, soldiers, aristocrats or rogues. But I'd widen it further. You could also choose to play UNIT personnel with a time projector, or Time Agents like Captain Jack aboard a timeship, or Torchwood operatives (looters!) with access to a rift in space-time. In each case, a slightly different mode of time travel is used, and different abilities/gadgets become available, but the the same principles of game play apply.
And it wouldn't be Doctor Who without Companions. I'm of two minds about this. MMOs cannot work well if all character types cannot play solo (at least in the opening levels). Trying to think of Companion abilities that aren't "buffs" is rather difficult, which leaves me with two options. 1) Consider the Time Agents, UNITeers and Torchwood guys "Companions" whenever they are paired up with Time Lords. Or my preferred method, 2) make them NPCs run by a Time Lord/main character. Think of them as mounts or pets in WoW, or Away Team members in Star Trek Online. You would gain a Companion every X levels, would be able to choose from a variety of archetypes (cute screamer, computer geek, history teacher, etc.), complete a mission to "meet" them (of course) and then be able to use them in a variety of ways. You could leave them on the TARDIS, or bring them along to buff your Time Lord, be directed to toggle machinery, etc. The game engine could even be directed to kidnap them from time to time, triggering a rescue mission.
Moving Through Time and Space
The TARDIS (or other time travel console) makes a good general purpose save point and options widget, but it's also how you move from one Space-Time Zone to another. As your level rises, the number of Zones you can move to increases, and more can be added by the design team as "patches" creating new points in history or planets in the universe where adventures are possible. The TARDIS itself can also be used to key off Time Lord abilities, whether that means materializing on top of your team in the middle of a battle or creating the Bad Wolf (obviously, some of these abilities are one-shot deals). Most Zones would be designed to hold many missions, or a single mission with multiple steps, so that revisiting is of interest.
LevelingLeveling would work much as it always does in these things, with experience being accumulated as missions progress, new zones are discovered and enemies are defeated. I'd also throw in points for befriending NPCs. Increased stats, new abilities, equipment (or equipment abilities, and such things as Companions would be awarded according to "character type" for each level.
-UNIT Characters: These are the soldiers of the game, and would be awarded with increasingly sophisticated weaponry and tactics. They are consequently not hugely versatile as far as abilities (and time machine abilities) go.
-Torchwood Characters: The middle ground between UNIT and Time Lords, the TW guys have some fighting ability, but are often awarded with alien equipment, giving them versatility, but not a lot of power.
-Time Agents: Also a middle ground, but with more in the way of temporal effects than Torchwood (so closer to Time Lords) and less battle ability.
-Time Lords: Very week in combat (though they should have abilities that tend to circumvent fighting, like parlay), but with the potential for amazing temporal abilities and equipment from across space and time. And these guys would be able to regenerate!
Dying and Regenerating
All these games have some scheme that allows characters to be resurrected when they die. WoW sends your soul to the graveyard and you must run back to your dead body. City of Heroes rematerializes you in a superhuman hospital far from where you were injured. Either way, there's a time penalty, but death is never permanent. I think the same can be accomplished with the TARDIS or other time machine. Time War Rules: Combatants are taken from a split second before they were killed and 'ported to their TARDIS. The time penalty comes from waiting for the machine to heal you from the low health from just before that last wound. You can storm out of the time machine right away if you like, but at the risk of dying very soon.
For Time Lords, there's an extre wrinkle. The same way City of Heroes gives you an extra costume at level 20, your Time Lord could suffer regeneration at certain points in its life. Players could then redesign their character's avatar from the ground up (and "respec" no doubt, even reselect your Companions), or they could hold off for later. The choice would be "stick to the avatar I've been playing with for so long" or change it and actually gain some bonus ability (to encourage you to respect the show's conventions). Perhaps other character types could have similar markers, but aside from rank, I'm not sure what the equivalent would be.
Playable? I'm sure. Designable? Aye, there's the rub, no doubt.
Second opinions: Movement PointMMOment of Zen
Name: Thomas Kincade Brannigan
1209. Public Enemies, Private Lives
REVIEW: Inker Bob Almond is a MUCH better match for Tom Grindberg's pencils. A world of difference. The art now has a slick sophisticated look that was missing under Milgrom's sketchier inks, and Grindberg also has fun with double-page spreads, all enhancing the action in the issue. As for the story, it contrasts two pairs of fathers and sons, Tomalak and his son, at odds with each other, and the Siskos' more unconditional love. Nicieza also ties this into previous issues by making the Romulans the instigators of the recent Maquis trouble. I'm finally feeling like this series is on track, though rotating writers and artists mean it could jump the tracks at any time. Still, Public Enemies looks good and may have something to say about the principals.
I've delayed talking about the two last Doctor Who specials, I think in part because I found them lacking, If Planet of the Dead was replete with missed opportunities, then these specials break the bank. It's like they're ALMOST great, but then a funny robot rolls in and it drops to just ok.
As an exploratory drone, he's acceptable. The "Gadget Gadget!" cute-speak makes him borderline. How the Doctor apparently adds rocket boosters to him with his sonic screwdriver sends it way over the top to the point where the story is no longer believable. Comic relief that goes too far and destroys any tension the story had, or at least jars with the atmosphere of the story. If the point was to give something to the kiddies (and it often is), then we must accept that the kiddies were meant to watch it, and Waters is much too dark for children who might enjoy Gadget. Monsters, people not making it out alive, standard Doctor Who fare. But the suicide of a nominal companion? Really?
Tennant is electric in the last 15 minutes of the episode. He sees Bowie Base One in flames (is that an oblique reference to the Master? David Bowie - Life on Mars - John Simm...) and recalls Gallifrey at the end of the Time War. It makes him flip out. There is no Donna to stop him. He rages against time itself and the laws that no one protects anymore. Isn't time his to lord over and manipulate? Not since the darkest days of his 7th incarnation has he been so brazen about playing with time (and yet, Doc7 was always the champion of time, not its abuser). Doc10 destroys a fixed point by saving Adelaide and two others, but she rejects him and kills herself to keep the timeline intact. At which point, he realizes he's gone too far, the Cloister Bell starts to sound and he knows his death approaches. It's a powerful sequence, all told, except...
-Moment I could have done without: Those awful, over-used web page flashes. After the first three or four, it just becomes this terrible joke, a parody of itself, which helps deflate the last moments as well. Maybe it's just the way they are all the same (angles and sounds), but it goes from clever to stupid reaaaal fast. And they're not even that interesting on freeze frame. (Ed Gold went to Adelaide University and then worked with a woman called Adelaide? Sparkling.)
1208. Risk, the Conclusion
REVIEW: Despite Weinstein's little obsessions, this is a better issue than Part I. It has some wit and humor (in particular, Dax quoting Curzon at the end), as well as some action and one surprising reversal. Or perhaps it only seems that way, given that the rest is so predictable. As you can see from the featured panel, the art is still iffy in places.
It's not an easy question to answer, is it? The Whoniverse theoretically contains all places and times and a few parallel dimensions and more than one timeline. The show itself features a pacifist and gives equal time to a super-powerful Time Lord and his relatively mundane Companions. How does that translate into an MMO comparable to what's on the market today? Perhaps some lessons can be learned from the pen and paper Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space RPG, which is as different from, say, D&D, as our MMO would be from World of Warcraft. Perhaps. Certainly, the focus cannot be on fighting and loot, at least not exclusively.
The game would be set in the Time War for a variety of reasons. First, it explains why there would be so many Time Lords and other time-traveling species moving about. Setting it in the present era of Who, there would be little justification for all the player-run TARDISes in the game. Secondly, the setting creates impetus for all manner of missions where combat may be required, and combat remains one of the most gamable elements of these games. Finally, this would also help design abilities for the characters. The Doctor's sonic screwdriver is all well and good (and multi-functional), but Time Lords participating in a Time War, might very well have more tricks up their sleeves - high level stuff like Time Stop, Fast-Grow Dinosaur Eggs (the Rani had this), etc. And while the War rages, there would still be room for helping people caught in the crossfire or simply down on their luck. If you arrive on Peladon and the King asks you for help, even if it has nothing to do with the War, would you say no?
Different character types is a major component in the success of many MMOs, usually used to promote interaction between players who cannot complete missions with their limited abilities alone. Now, the game would work with only Time Lords, separated into Chapters just like on the classic series, giving them access to different abilities depending on whether they are scientists, soldiers, aristocrats or rogues. But I'd widen it further. You could also choose to play UNIT personnel with a time projector, or Time Agents like Captain Jack aboard a timeship, or Torchwood operatives (looters!) with access to a rift in space-time. In each case, a slightly different mode of time travel is used, and different abilities/gadgets become available, but the the same principles of game play apply.
The TARDIS (or other time travel console) makes a good general purpose save point and options widget, but it's also how you move from one Space-Time Zone to another. As your level rises, the number of Zones you can move to increases, and more can be added by the design team as "patches" creating new points in history or planets in the universe where adventures are possible. The TARDIS itself can also be used to key off Time Lord abilities, whether that means materializing on top of your team in the middle of a battle or creating the Bad Wolf (obviously, some of these abilities are one-shot deals). Most Zones would be designed to hold many missions, or a single mission with multiple steps, so that revisiting is of interest.
All these games have some scheme that allows characters to be resurrected when they die. WoW sends your soul to the graveyard and you must run back to your dead body. City of Heroes rematerializes you in a superhuman hospital far from where you were injured. Either way, there's a time penalty, but death is never permanent. I think the same can be accomplished with the TARDIS or other time machine. Time War Rules: Combatants are taken from a split second before they were killed and 'ported to their TARDIS. The time penalty comes from waiting for the machine to heal you from the low health from just before that last wound. You can storm out of the time machine right away if you like, but at the risk of dying very soon.
1207. Risk, Part One
REVIEW: Weinstein's back and he thinks he's writing a TNG story. Changing the word Alpha to Gamma would have been a simple fix here, by the way. In any case, it was still interesting when suddenly, my heart sank at the mention of a dissident movement. Fine, the writer has a favorite trope, I get that. BUT EVERY SINGLE TIME? It's irritating. The art's growing on me, especially the outer space stuff, but I can't recommend the writing.
My belated Road to the Oscars continues with my purchase of The Hurt Locker, and there's also the definitely non-Oscary Hard Gun by the Tony Jaa crew which is going into the Kung Fu pile. But the most important purchases are both by-products of my improv troupe's latest tour: 1) The first two seasons of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, which we watched a few episodes of one night on the basis that there's a lot of improv in there, and 2) The Breakfast Club, since we did a riff on it in one of our shows and have been pining to see it again since then. Sadly, I think I had the Anthony Michael Hall role.
DVDs: On Kung Fu Friday, we watched the King Hu classic, Come Drink With Me, a very early Shaw Brothers action epic (1966) that can veritably be called the precursor of the kung fu explosion, drunken heroes, ass-kicking heroines, and maybe even a lot of anime. King Hu impresses with his beautiful art design and willingness to experiment. Though effects are primitive, there's an energy and inventiveness there, and the use of percussive Japanese-style music adds a lot to the choreographies. It made Cheng Pei-Pei a star, but it's really Yueh Hua's "Drunken Cat" who charmed us as the hero who acts the fool. The DVD includes a commentary track with Pei-Pei and expert Bey Logan, and the various people interviewed for the features all speak English, which is a plus for those who are lukewarm about subtitles.
I also watched and flipped Doctor Who's Waters of Mars. With the 11th Doctor premiering next weekend, I'm calling another Doctor Who Week and will be talking about Waters (and hopefully The End of Time) during the week. Here, I'll only say that Waters, while better than the similarly bleak Voyage of the Damned, still has some important tonal and logic problems. Some high points, but I think they get flattened out not only by the episode's problems, but by the how it was followed up in the next two specials. The DVD includes the full 60-minute Doctor Who Confidential, a fair making of feature that shows you how everyone was fond of Gadget (except the fans, of course).
1206. Foundations, Book Three
REVIEW: Seems like Book Two was the origin of the anthropologists in the SCE, but it would be realistic that one recommendation would not have done it. Setting up Mahmud as the liaison officer who instituted these changes makes sense. And it's not a bad story either. It features another new character, but a likable riff on the early Saavik. There are two actions scenes in particular, the fight aboard the Lutralian ship but also the sequence where Talev gets thrown off the nacelle during repairs, that are fun and excitingly written. And there's some humor to the Lutralian interactions as well. It's impressive that these short books have managed to create interesting new characters so quickly, and I for one, am not that bothered that the present-day SCE took a back seat during the last three books (even Scotty is secondary to these stories). Mileage may vary, of course.
Not too inspiring a premise, the cover sells it as "What if Thor and the Avengers battled the Gods?", which sounds like a storyline, but not necessarily one from a parallel universe. I've got to ask at this point what the obsession is with Jane Foster becoming a goddess. This is the second story to feature those events, while we have yet to see an Iron Man story (for example - though he's good enough to die in other people's tales). Just sayin'.
Altered history: In this universe, Thor dares express himself. And I guess Odin got up on the wrong side of the Odinbed that morning.
He sends Thor and Jane back down to Earth in a rage and forgets to take away her immortality. Thor, in full "my daddy doesn't love me" mode, enlists the help of the Avengers to fight the Asgardian Gods because it's obvious some dark force has taken over Odin. A divine over-reaction. The Avengers agree, all except Quicksilver, and ride out to Asgard.
The Asgardians are kinda split about what to do, especially after Odin names Loki as his general, giving him a sword and freeing his old allies Executioner and Enchantress from captivity.
While Loki makes Balder kiss it, Thor brings the Avengers to the sympathetic Vizier who boosts their abilities to godly strength.
Yeah, aside from giving Captain America a sword, it doesn't make a big difference. Battle is joined, with the Warriors Three and many other warriors throwing in with Thor, with neither side having the advantage. That's Iron Man's cue to turn against his friends. It's Civil War all over before.
He flies out to Odin and convinces him to call a truce. Odin gives him an olive branch to deliver, which means Loki will try to stop him from getting back to the Avengers. This being What If?, he succeeds.
The Avengers get revenge though, when the Wasp shoots her sting into Loki's ear. Oh my Gods, she's killed him.
Thor vows to now kill Odin, and the Avengers reach the palace where the All-Father is over-compensating for something...
Before he can pull the Odinsword out of its Odinsheath and bring an Odinend to the world, cooler heads prevail in the shape and form of Jane Foster. "Hey Thor, are you still fighting over me? Cuz I'm over here. Hellooooo!" Thor realizes he's forgotten himself, and Odin admits to being jealous that he boy's all grown up and moving on with his life, and they are reconciled. Sort of. For Thor, there's no going back, and he and Jane build their own stronghold for Thor's own followers. Let there be two Asgards!
1205. The Shadow Group
REVIEW: An intriguing way to bring back the Circle and good use of DS9's supporting cast at this point in the series. That's why it's too bad it only lasted one issue while lesser storylines were allowed to go to two issues. The Shadow Group could have been a much more important and long-lasting threat. There's some fairly good action, even if the art somewhat undercuts it (for example, the clever, but badly designed sequence in which Odo "replaces" a part of the door holding him captive). Still, Nicieza's issues hold more potential than Weinstein's.
1204. The Cancer Within, Part II
REVIEW: Oh my God, talky! No, really, this reads like a Silver Age comic, with exposition aplenty, overly dramatic exclamations, and a footnote every other page. Rather old-fashioned. It also seems to start a few pages later than the previous issue ended, as if a couple things were lost in the shuffle. Maybe it keys off information given in issue 3, but certainly doesn't pick up from its cliffhanger. A reasonable issue otherwise, with some of the life saving occurring behind the scenes and Nechayev pushing Sisko around like he was still a Commander. Notable for the crew punching sick people and calling it "not a fair fight". I was frankly more interested in this Shadow Group thing, and that's just one page.
Poor d12... Probably the least loved dice, outpaced even by little d4 because people keep confusing it with a d20 and throwing it away in a fit of rage. What CAN you do with a 12-sided die that couldn't be done better by 2d6, huh? That's what us d-sixers wanna know! (Ooh, this just got political.)
1203. The Cancer Within, Part I
REVIEW: As opposed to the Cancer Without... Truth be told, this is a better issue than the previous two. We have a new chapter in the life of Kate Pukaski, a sequence that manages to make engineering look exciting, and a solid Maquis threat. The art is still on the rough side, and the coloring too dark, but Grindberg and Milgrom still manage some attractive close-ups of female characters. I'm not saying it's exceptional work, but it kept me interested.
Name: The Cat in the Hat
1202. Judgment Day, the Conclusion!
REVIEW: I just realizes that the mysterious space smoke featured in issue #1 was none other than the Wormhole itself. Rough art, but a rougher story. Flitting between quadrants and using alien characters that all look alike doesn't help, nor does Weinstein's cliched use of a dissident faction (I could have called it!). Plus, it glosses over how the station can return to the Alpha Quadrant while the Defiant can't cross over, and how a whole pylon is reattached. Worse still is the concept of the godwind which isn't addressed in any meaningful way, just left as a future danger. I don't know if it was ever followed up on, I'm ready to hazard a guess that it wasn't. Nor do I especially care if it was. Not to mention Bajor's prophecy of apocalypse, also forgotten. A most depressing reading experience, this series.
