As an eternal child and owner of Hello Kitty wallets since year dot (that's the 30 years of the franchise's history, making the Kitty more of a Cat), I'm curious what Sanrio and Typhoon Games are planning on doing with the iconic figure in her new Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game, Hello Kitty Online World. Maybe she got the bug from her brief encounter in Doom?
News comes from /. (via GameGossip) that the new product, available at the end of the year in Asia only, will offer a similar style of play as other titles in the genre (EverQuest and others). Effectively it will feature co-operative gameplay and shopping for a monthly subscription fee.
Proof that these types of interactive entertainments are viable for the tweenie age group comes from the continuing success of Disney's Toontown, whose design, security system and business plan was the focus of much consideration at September's Austin Games Conference.
The danger is less that unscrupulous adults will use the online environments as "grooming" grounds (if they follow Toontown's successful lead, of course), but that these virtual worlds may evolve into little more than merchandising opportunities for companies with existing Intellectual Property and a saturation of the more traditional means of promotion.
Already the games industry relies too much upon externally generated IP, often resulting in mediocre products. Will a game like this belittle the exciting prospects possible in other virtual worlds?
