Being but a simple Englishman living on a small island, I was painfully unaware of the awesome TV offered by American Horror Story. Thanks to a Tweet from our very own Reina I was introduced to one of the most entertaining TV shows I’ve seen in a very long time. Thinking of the idea of an American Horror Story MMO doesn’t really work in the traditional sense, but the article series was created with the aim of approaching high-quality TV programs with an MMO eye, so here we are.
One of my favorite aspects of the show, and one I think would transfer well to an MMO setting, is the complete change in story between the two series’. The first series followed a family in a haunted house while the second followed the lives of patients inside an asylum. Both offered a completely different approach to story-telling, with different twists and characters. A true credit to the directors and actors is seeing the same actor playing multiple roles but pulling it off to perfection, something I can’t recall seeing in anything prior to American Horror Story.
So how exactly does it transfer into an MMO? Well in reality, it wouldn’t. There’s not really much room for character progression, grouping mechanics or any other staple features of a typical MMO, but there is potential for something a little fresh.
Nobody said MMO games have to be fresh 24/7. Personally I’d welcome a game that offered 10-12 hours of intense excitement, before waiting for an update the following month featuring a similar amount of content. The Walking Dead proved that episodic content can be successful in typical offline fashion, so what’s to say somebody couldn’t offer a similar approach but with some form of social connectivity?
Although it wouldn’t exactly be American Horror Story, do you think an episodic form could work for MMO gaming? Or do you expect fresh new content and activities every time you log in? Leave a comment below and let us know.