Mobile MMO's?

If you're anything like me (and for your sake I hope that isn't the case) you can't help but wonder what is going on in whatever game it is that you play when you are removed from it by work or school or your stupid cousin's rehearsal dinner.

This is why I firmly believe that the next big thing in the MMO world will be the advent of quality mobile-compatible games. I currently have two "MMO's" installed on my iPhone and find myself checking on them (well, one of them, really - more on that later) constantly - even while I am playing WoW on my PC.

In the nascent phone MMO genre there is one major distinction between them and more traditional games - the ability to easily and effectively communicate with other players. You'd think that playing a game on a phone would foster that kind of interaction, but you'd be wrong. I suspect that as these games evolve this will change dramatically.

The other thing that separates the MMO from your regular PC game is that time is constant and the game doesn't just pause when you hit save and go mow the lawn. Whether you are in game or not the machinations of other players is affecting your overall efficacy.

So, what if you could log on while on the bus, or when sitting in your dentist's waiting room, or while enjoying a lavish dinner out with the girl you are about to propose to during dessert? Pretty awesome, right?

Well, to a certain extent it's already possible. As I said, I think that these mobile-oriented games are going to continue to improve in terms of their overall playability and socialization. I also think that desktop MMO's are going to start offering limited accessibility to their content via mobile devices.

But enough of my predictions - here's what I'm currently playing.

Mafia Live

This game is basically browser-based - in many ways it is analogous to a MUD . I'm not entirely clear on what the goal of this game is other than to amass ridiculous amounts of money. Money is earned in three different ways: building retail properties that earn X amount of dollars every 50 minutes (in real time), doing "jobs" for the "Godfather" by assaulting NPC's, and by fighting other players for XP and a percentage of the cash that they happen to be carrying around (for 10% of your deposit you can safely store your money in the mob bank safely away from the other aggressive players). Money is used to buy more income-earning property (I'm currently saving up to buy a pig farm) as well as improved weapons and defensive gear. Additionally, you can join a "family", which is basically the game's equivalent to a guild. Joining a family gives you strength in numbers which drastically improves your odds when you hunt other players. Sadly, though, you can't communicate with your family members in any way.

The game is oddly fun and very addictive even though it is incredibly primitive when compared to your basic desktop MMO.

Watchmen: Justice is Coming

This is the game that inspired me to write this article.

I purchased this game yesterday on release day because it was pretty well hyped and seemed interesting.

When I went to launch the game I was astounded by the outstanding graphical interface and the high quality artwork. I was able to locate my first objective (about 10 feet away from me) and gained some XP - then the game crashed on me. Since that time the log in server hasn't worked.

This, more than anything, led me to believe that mobile MMO developers are taking their jobs every bit as seriously as their traditional counterparts and are doing everything they can to emulate their practices.