First the Michael Jackson dance game, now a Michael Jackson MMO. Yes, you read that right: however shockingly bad an idea it may seem, it’s really happening.
But it won’t be a WoW inspired jaunt through Neverland, and it doesn’t sound like players will actually take control of Jackson, which would be, well, weird. Instead, Planet Michael‘s more of a Second Life/PlayStation Home inspired “virtual space” built around social interactions and the celebration of Jackson’s life and work.
Hm. Yeah, it still sounds like an awful idea.
Planet Michael will be based on a player subscription model, though how much that subscription will cost hasn’t been revealed. There will be plenty of money changing hands, although SEE Virtual Worlds, the game’s backers, claim that much of it will go to charity.
There are so many things wrong with this. We don’t need another MMO. We definitely don’t need a virtual space. Perhaps most importantly, we really, really don’t need to capitalize any more on the death of Michael Jackson.
The dude’s obviously at his most popular since, like, the 80s, so everybody and their moms are hopping up on the bandwagon. Who’s going to be playing this, though? Who’s the target audience? What will players even do?
Well, “throughout his extensive career, the King of Pop was well-known for his visionary contributions to music, dance, fashion, entertainment and philanthropy, and it was critical that we somehow incorporate all of those elements into the game,” according to SEE Virtual Worlds.
Um, OK. Hopefully more information is forthcoming. Then again, maybe this will just go away.
