Well, ofcourse, everyone wants to make an MMORPG. But i have a few questions. But to make this thread make sense, i have to tell a story about my cousin. My cousin is only 13 years old, but he knows that when he is older, he wants to make an MMORPG. I mean he is SERIOUS! He already knows extremely well, C++, C#, and Python. He has created tons of items, maps, monsters, weapons and more for his game, being that he is an artist. But he knows that it will cost alot of money and alot of people. He knows that he is not rich, and ig he ends up making an MMORPG when he is older, he will have to take out funds and re pay them. I simply had to write his plans because i think that they will work. His plan is to first off make a sort of test game. He is going to borrow a bit of money, and higher a small crew to make a single-player game that is going to be based on his mmorpg. Once finished, he will ofcourse, put the game on market. If alot of people buy it, he will take that money and pay back the bank. Now if alot of people buy the first game, he will assume that people like it, and thus destroying the possiblity of borrowing even more money to make an mmorpg that no one buys. So anyway, he is going to borrow even more money, and now hire way more people. He is going to make his mmorpg with a monthly fee, and is going to sell it, and advertise it, cleary stating that is a better versoin of his single player game. Due to the price of games and montjly fees, he will be able to keep a steady pace at paying back the bank, and other fees. My questions for you are: ---So he is 13 and he has literally created tons of props for his game. Items, monsters, races, buildings, weapons, maps ,ect. So starting that young and keeping these props through out his life, do you think because of early age and all the props that he will know it is a good game, and not mess up by spending tons of money and then find it wasn't worth it? ---Do you think his plan is good, and better than just right away spending loads on an mmorpg first? ---Do you think starting this early will have an impact on his carreer?

1) he will not get money from anyone except family. No one is going to fund a 13 yr old for any reason no matter how awesome they are. What he does with family money is his own business.

His plan is a fine aspiration other than the idea of getting money to make his game. You don't mention time-scale of these plans but I'd say he wouldn't have anything commercial-worthy for at least 1-2 years (given the likely lack of funds thing)

Starting early will certainly have a positive impact on his career.

-me

Well, I'm 13 and I've started my "career". Of course, this doesn't mean I'm making anything that would require me to borrow money, let alone a large 3D RPG/MMORPG. What your cousin should do, is make that doesn't require so much work or money. Make "casual" games. Make adventure games. Make smaller, 2D RPG games. Anything that he can do without having to worry about borrowing money, paying off banks, or hiring people.

One final note. It occurs to me that by "starting his career" you may mean "dropping out of school". I really hope that's not the case. That is a _horrible_ idea.

-me

Also, MMORPGs are the popular thing right now. Who says that when your cousin is old enough to own a company or get bank loans that anyone will even care about them anymore? The industry changes fast. I think it would be best for him to not spend too much time or money on something that may not have success if it's to be released who knows how many years from now.

I suggest making sure this kid stays in school and gets through college.

While in highschool/college, make some side projects (Non-MMO RPGs perhaps?) and get to know the marketplace, the hurdles, and the quantity of time all those "little" things take - art is easy. Programming is easy. Those aren't what the HUNDREDS of failures out there lack. It's a cohesiveness that transcends the parts.

We all have dreams, but sometimes the best way to achieve those dreams is to approach them from an indirect angle. I've worked with several MMOs on several levels now, and I know for a fact making my own (which was my dream at age 13) is no longer something on my list... not till I retire anyway.

Find out about the LAST MMO I may work with for a long while (er, that may be months?) Saga :)

-Joe

Quote: Original post by mmoWoWmkr
His plan is ....

Not much of an actual plan at all. There are a host of problems of which the first is the real killer.
Banks and other investors don`t lend money to game development companies (at least not anything like enough to make a decent sized game) - unless the owner/founder has years of previous game industry experience making proven hit games.

Your brother has three possible options
1. Indie development - make games in his spare time. Sell these, make a few bucks, rinse and repeat for several years until he has enough money to make a decent game (and enough skill/experience).
2. Go through school/college, get a game industry job, work his way up in a game developer and after several years strike out on his own to form a company (by which time he should have the skill/experience/contats needed)
3. Rob a bank/your parents and make a game before the police catch up with him.

Oh! No no no! He's not going to start at age 13. I meant in the future. Thats when he gets money from the bank...Lol i wouldn't expect my 13 year old cousin to borrow money from a bank...

First, where are his parents/guardians? He cannot legally engage in commerce at that age, so they need to be involved. What do they think of the idea? Are they supportive, against it, or worst of all, indifferent?

>> do you think because of early age and all the props that he will know it is a good game, and not mess up by spending tons of money and then find it wasn't worth it?

That is a poor question.

How do you evaluate if something is 'worth it' to an individual? How would you evaluate if it was a mistake? Even if the game is a complete and utter failure, it still may have been worth the investment. Even if the game is a commercial success, it may have been a major mistake in his individual life.


>> Do you think his plan is good,

After reading it, I didn't see a real plan. I saw a dream.

>> and better than just right away spending loads on an mmorpg first?

Yes. Unless, of course, you happen to have roughly $50,000,000 USD that you were planning to invest on the mmorpg, in which case it would be a viable investment. Extremely risky and worse than many other potential uses of the money, but still viable.

>> Do you think starting this early will have an impact on his carreer?

Anything he does will have an impact on his career. If he spends his time on the computer he is hurting a potential career as a concert violinist. If he spends his time playing game he is hurting his potential career as a professional athlete.


As far as it having a positive impact, I don't think so. I'll even argue that at age 13 he does not in fact know what he wants to do for his career. Focusing too much on this path would be unhealthy. At that age it would be fine for him to dabble in it, but certainly not to view it as an exclusive life path. He may discover that he hates the career path but won't have many other options available because they were prematurely terminated.

I realised that you meant the future, that doesn`t change anything. He will need years of proven industry experience (a project lead job at a game developer and lots of successful projects) before an investor will look at him. As for the bank they don`t lend anything more than a few thousand (certainly not enough to make a game) because they know that industries like game dev are very high risk.