MMO ideas that have nothing to do with high fantasy

You know, I've always laid it down as a maxim that if developers want to inject WoW into their MMOs so that they can be popular, then they should just get a job at Blizzard. Let's be honest, folks; if a WoW kiddy wants WoW in his MMO, he'll just play WoW. Which becomes all the more baffling when new MMOs come out and, lo and behold, they're high fantasy crap. I mean, seriously. Did Eve just happen to pass every high fantasy MMO developer's mind? So in honor of developers without imaginations, I'd like to offer a few settings that don't include Elves and dragons by picking from a few popular books, games, and movies that could be made into MMOs. All you need to do is think outside the box.

The Name: Battlestar Galatica

The Premise: So I know what you're thinking. How exactly do you go about doing an MMO that takes place on one ship? Well, I'll answer you. Instead of BSG taking place during the journey to Earth, it'll take place during the First Cylon War (Reimagined). Now we're talking, eh? I mean, considering the First Cylon War was a twelve-and-a-half year conflict that should give it plenty of longevity, don't you think? Plus you still get to experience the best part about BSG--the "old feel" to the Battlestars, the CIC, the old Vipers, etc. At the same time, die-hard oldie fans get to see their old toasters in frakkin' glory.

Tagline: War! The goddamn toasters have revolted and are attacking the colonies! Choose your nationality from the Twelve Colonies to start at your home planet and then choose from joining either the Colonial Fleet or the Colonial Marine Corps to start kickin' some frakkin' toaster ass!

How It Works: There are twelve planets in the game, each with a considerable amount of areas to explore from on the ground in order to fight back the invading cylons. Depending on what starter colony you choose as your birthright is where you end up starting, so replay is a major factor here. If you choose to be part of the Colonial Fleet you start at the bottom of the barrel, completing flight school and being the CAG's ***** before you do anything compelling. Jump into your Viper and undertake some hotshot flying to frag some toaster ass. Keep up the good work and you may just be commanding your own Battlestar in no time. Or, if you prefer, choose the life as a Colonial Marine, where you'll find much of your time liberating settlements and warding off the invading cylons.

Classes: They're dynamic. Specialization is key here. You start off as a Colonial Ensign if you choose the Colonial Fleet with access to the gun batteries on a Battlestar and ordering around NPC Marines in boarding parties. As you gain more experience you "rank" up; Lieutenants fly Vipers and Raptors to repel Cylon attackers and can also lead an escort of Marines for missions; Captains lead CAG, bigger squadrons, etc; Commander gets his own Battlestar, gets to order Viper squadrons around, handles damage control on the ship, etc; and finally an Admiral gets to have a fleet of his own Battlestars to wage war against the Cylons. The Marine class works much in the same way; you start off as a small fry and end up as a big fish.

The Big Picture: The planets work on capture points. Settlements, camps, bases, and shipyards all present different factors that lead to the overall outcome of how the war is being fought overall for the planet. Shipyards in Colonial control yield more options for the Colonial Fleet, such as more Battlestars to build when others are destroyed, more Vipers, etc. Others have to do with the output of NPC good guys on your side and so on and so forth. However, if the entire planet is captured by Cylon forces, then that colony's forces are moved in refuge to the next nearest colony. If all twelve planets fall then the servers reset. How's that for an incentive to keep fighting?

Space fighting is a different theater of war altogether. Invading Cylons first have to get past the Colonial Fleet if they want to try and make it to the planet's surface, so the Colonial Fleet, in effect, is a planet's first defense. Eventually, if Colonial Fleet players are ballsy enough, they can even attempt to try and take out Basestars that reinforce open space from a distance of the planet that they are attempting to invade.

This is all, of course, on top of the normal quests you would find in an MMO, so it isn't essentially all about a dynamic battlefield of control points; but that is the main focal point behind the game.