My GameSetWatch column for this week is pretty straightforward: How They’re Going to Screw up the Firefly MMOG. I try not to mince too many words here because, well, they’re gonna.

They’ve got the license, and undoubtedly have the rights to use the likenesses of the protagonists in the game. So, why wouldn’t they use them? The most compelling reason I can think of is that they’d get in the way. If there’s one thing every Massive game gets right, it’s that the experience should be about the player’s story. If Malcolm Reynolds and the crew of the Firefly-class ship Serenity are included in the game (as I suspect they will be), the only purpose they would really serve would be to degrade the experience of the individual players.

Update 1: Dan Dormer was nice enough to give the article a very nice nod from the VGM Watch site. Thanks, Dan!

Update 2: Joystiq linked back to the post, and sparked a lot of great conversation on the subject. Good stuff.

Update 3: Warcry put up a link to the post … no comments, but he says ‘gorram’. So … funny. :)

Update 4: I’m pretty cynical about tar internets at this point, but being linked to from Whedonesque? That’s pretty cool. The site also linked to an interview with Corey Bridges, talking little bit about the project at a site dedicate to the game. Fireflymmo.com just got added to my Bloglines feed, thankyouverymuch.

Update 5: A meta-article about issues raised in my own piece is up on EQVault: What Makes a Great MMO Universe?