Better than television

For those who didn't want to muck through my last diatribe, it basically boils down to describing a game with no origins that is free to everyone. So today I will describe a game that has very specific origins and is still free to everyone. This is an MMORPG because everybody loves those (especially investors). In this MMORPG you start off with a Colegate Toothbrush, Puma Loafers, an Express black-tee, and some Levis Jeans. Some of the more astute readers may already know where this is going. For the rest of you, every inch of this game is sponsered by a corporation. Companies pay a little advertising fee every month and in exchange they get a proportional amount of the game world dedicated to them. Some companies may choose to have nothing more than a few items with their brand names and maybe a restaurant named after them. Others will have creatures of great power and even entire zones dedicated to their enterprise. Can't you just see the little kids of the world fending off their mother's sofa with a can of Speghettios? Or powering up with a McDonald's cheeseburger before having imaginary conversations with the action figures at the local Wal-mart? The more a corporation invests, the more influence they have over the game world. This can be in the form of quests, monsters, zones, powerful items, or NPCs. The general population won't have to pay a cent to play the game because the technology will already be in place and the game can be distributed over the internet.

Now, I'm certain this has already been thought of before. I know there is a virtual mall out there where players can wander around and shop and do things in a sims fashion. And then there is Second Life in which CocaCola has their own party island. The place where this branches off from the virtual mall and Second Life is that this is fun and appealing to a different sort of crowd. Think World of Warcraft, only instead of fighting sea monsters with swords you fight Seagate Harddrives with tampons. Seriously, what marketter doesn't secretly want to be a game designer?