Developing an MMO for kids is a tough endeavor. On one hand, there are commercial failures like Lego Universe and Cartoon Network’s Fusion Fall who were unable to bring in enough paying customers and either shut down or went completely free to play respectively. On the other hand, you have major successes like Wizard 101, Roblox, Clone Wars Adventures, and Free Realms that manage to bring in a great deal of cash each month, one or two of them on forced subscriptions.
Funcom announced in a press email today that the developer is moving full steam ahead with their next MMO, based on the minifigures of Lego. Where Lego Universe was a traditional MMO with building aspects, Funcom’s Lego MMO prides itself on accessibility, and bringing a “broad and enhanced experience.”
Almost nothing is known about Funcom’s Lego MMO. MMO Falloug will continue reporting any new information we find.
You often hear about MMOs being referred as “another world,” or “another life,” or even a “second life.” We’ve referred to games as virtual themeparks, virtual sandboxes, and any hybrid of the two. It isn’t often, however, that we hear a game referred to as a “virtual toy box,” and those three words sum up Roblox with incredible accuracy. Odds are you’ve heard of , perhaps even played it at one point, and if you are in the game’s demographic, you may be playing it right now. After all, Roblox is ranked #1 in the US for total engagement time.
Survive disasters with full physics
Roblox is a game where players can mould their own worlds and games and then allow others to play in their creations. At one moment you can be playing a game of paintball (above) and the next, Spongebob could be chasing you through Bikini Bottom, gaining experience to unlock new classes in a Call of Duty style massive battleground, or even raiding dungeons like Indiana Jones.
I had an opportunity to have a chat with the Roblox developers, and we discussed some of the finer points of Roblox.
How popular is ROBLOX? What kind of demographic does the game attract?
Roblox sees nearly 10 million unique visits per month. About 80% of our viewers fall into the 8-16 year old age bracket, and roughly 85% of our users are male. At this time, one of our fastest growing age segments is 14+ males.
The gentleman I spoke with from Roblox Corp. explained that Roblox is more in tune with games like Little Big Planet or Minecraft, where players are given the tools to build, rather than a few sets of pre-built options, and are allowed to let their imaginations go wild. I inquired as to how well ROBLOX would relate to Lego Universe, and his response was positive:
What would be astonishing to the Lego Universe player is that, in ROBLOX, the entire game is built by players. Whereas Lego Universe incorporates building as a side mechanic to the game, ROBLOX puts user-generated content front and center. Roblox users build their games themselves, then invite friends and promote their games on our website to keep players visiting.
Obstacle course.
I spent some time in ROBLOX and found an incredibly diverse and creative array of games created by the community. At the time of this writing, the most concurrently played game is a Call Of Duty/Battlefield style game where players fight on foot, in the sky, and in vehicles in an immense territory control battle.
So where does ROBLOX get its income? Free players view video advertisements before entering games. ROBLOX offers a subscription service in the form of the Builder’s Club, which starts at about $5.95 a month and offers more spaces to build in. In addition, builders receive a daily stipend of Robux, the game’s virtual currency that can otherwise be purchased ala carte by free players. Additionally, builders club members are able to add badges (achievements) to their areas, as well as sell merchandise for Robux to other players. Robux are used to buy virtual goods, namely clothing for your character and toys to spice up your area.
Players are able to utilize Lua scripts to customize their games, making for the diverse assortment of play areas I saw during my visit. There were definite themes, a good number of the top games were usually obstacle course and “build to survive” modes, as well as various shooters themed off of other games. There were also several role playing servers, including a rather humorous map allowing for the role play of a McDonald’s worker. Fancy living.
What really astounded me about Roblox was the community. There are a lot of very creative kids playing Roblox, and I can only describe the community as almost an unbelievable Garden of Eden where evil and vulgarity has never stepped foot. I made a lot of friends during my time spent in game, and cannot in good faith recall a single moment of players harassing each other, using vulgar language or putting each other down, and not a single accusation of cheating. On the contrary, I found myself on the receiving end of many friend requests.
Roblox is a great game for parents looking for games suitable for their kids, which I will discuss more on next week.
This is part 1 of a 3 part Roblox series, with part 2 to come next Friday, the 4th of May. Part two will be a Why Aren’t You Playing, where I take a more in-depth look at the game overall.
I have to admit: Second free to play announcement of the day, yet not as exciting as the first. MMORPG.com is reporting that Lego Universe is set to go free to play this fall, although reading the announcement, the transition sounds more like calling Warhammer Online’s endless trial a free to play system.
The LEGO Universe free-to-play experience will offer a limited selection of game content, including two adventure zones and one player property area for building their own virtual LEGO models. Paying members will have access to all areas in the full game, along with membership benefits such as competitions and community events. In addition to the 15+ robust adventure zones and instances as well as 5+ property worlds currently in-game, access to new expansions, like major Ninjago content coming later this year, will require players to register for full membership.
Hopefully this will entice players to join up and subscriber. More information on an actual date when it is released. This move is likely related to the Lego team being sold by NetDevil back to Lego.
Lego Universe will no longer be maintained by NetDevil, as the game and development team have been bought up by Lego Team.
Jumpgate Evolution's future in question.
I love Lego, so I am perpetually looking for a reason to talk about NetDevil’s Lego Universe. It isn’t often that an IP holder takes direct stake in an MMO based off of their property, so the news comes as a surprise that the Lego Team has bought up the development team for Lego Universe, the MMO that launched last year. Lego Universe, for those of you who don’t remember, is a kids MMO that features many of the features of a standard game, but with the added ability to customize the aesthetic look of your creations.
We can speculate for hours as to why Lego Team bought the developers, and whether or not they felt the game’s future was in uncertain hands with NetDevil, but Gazillion’s (owns NetDevil) President David Brevik had this to say:
“The transition of members of our team to the LEGO Group allows us to conclude the work-for-hire segment of NetDevil’s business and lets us expand our internally-published, free-to-play game businesses based on our own properties and licensed properties. Gazillion is wholly focused on developing, operating, and publishing the next generation of browser-delivered games We’re proud of the LEGO Universe game that our team built, and we are certain that it has a bright future.”
My ideas? I think this has to do with the ongoing lawsuit headed by Codemasters against NetDevil over the developer not releasing Jumpgate Evolution in a timely manner. Either NetDevil is having money issues and sold the game and team, or Lego Team is concerned about the long term viability of the company and bought up the game. On the positive side, this means that customers of Lego Universe will keep their beloved game, and with the development team staying on board, this means no sudden major changes in development focus.
NetDevil is a subsidiary of Gazillion Entertainment, and known for the defunct MMO Auto Assault. The company has several MMOs currently in development, including the aforementioned Jumpgate Evolution, Marvel Universe, and Marvel Super Hero Squad Online.
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