Ten Ton Hammer - Taking MMO Gamers to the Next Level!

What's with the new urge to make everything that people find even remotely interesting or popular into an MMORPG?Will someone please explain to me the lure of new up-and-coming game worlds such as;Hello Kitty! Online!Or as much as I hate to spotlight it...even my belovedAfrica OnlineAnd before you go into the whole "Aimed at Kids" or "Cultural Expansion" diatribes, lemme huck a few facts at yer head.* The Average age of MMO players is 27+* Cultural fun and Learning games are only popular when you are in school, bored, and "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego" is only slightly more fun that paying attention in class.* Hello Kitty is more popular with adults and the Anime crowd than it IS children.* Violence is key in MMORPG's. Don't take that away from us, its all we HAVE.* As I'm typing this someone is going "Heeey, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego WAS fun damn it!I just don't get it. Sure, I understand the lure of an MMORPG, probably better than most - but in the race to be the "newest" and most "innovative" new game out there, some reeeaaalllly "OUT THERE" gaming ideas are popping up.Like Oz World for example. Oz World's WHOLE Hierarchy is based on FISHING! Yay! Fishing! You want to meet people? You want to grow as a character, become an icon? Leveling, character development, social standings - they all begin and end with online...fishing. That sounds like..um..fun. Wait! If I get FRIENDS in a GROUP, we can fish better and faster?! The only thing that is better than online virtual fishing is FASTER ONLINE VITURAL FISHING!!/boggleOkay. Maybe it's just me. Maybe I'm just being picky, or elitist, or I'm getting older and not understanding why you damn kids have to listen to your music so loud and wear your pants around your knees. I'll accept that if you tell me that my being OLD is the reason that believe thousands will be flocking to play;Second Life- A game in which there are no goals - save the ones you, the player create. Build houses, make friends, and look like ANYTHING and ANYONE you want. You want to be Boba Fett, who is married to Laura Croft who lives on an island populated by smurfs? ANYTHING is possible in this non-linear game. Just...do stuff. Okay, granted - at first all of that freedom and lack of structure sound enticing, but I'm sorry,games need SOME direction. Just creating an avatar and milling about may be fun for the first few minutes, but after the twentieth naked skin map runs by, or Mr. Burns from the Simpsons hits you up for resources, its going to get old really fast.Who is telling these people that these games are really good ideas? MMORPG'S are becoming like the Police Academy movies. The first two were great, but after that even Steve Guttenburg bailed.And when Steve Guttenburg bails - baby that is a *sign*. That's like Tony Danza turning down a role to play a hard working yet loveable guy named "Tony".Sure, the variety needs to be there, and don't get me wrong - I know that we need new games. The genre has barely been touched, and the current worlds we inhabit have a strangle-hold on the whole niche.Vanguard, Tabula Rasa, Exanimus,even the upcoming Star Trek Online - all seem to be good ideas, solid games.But just because something was popular for a few minutes - or was a good movie or book, doesn't mean its going to translate into a good game. Once the novelty of making your character "Legolasss" in the Hello Kitty world wears off, you're going to look around and realize just how watery everything is becoming......and then..like me - you're going to shake your head, regret the change and go BACK to play "Naughty America". (Hehe. I can't link it. Its just too naughty.)-Coyoteviagraxanax tablet