Michael Jackson starring in a video game is not ridiculous. Michael Jackson starring in an MMO is.
This past week we were treated to news of "Planet Michael," billed as the "The Ultimate Michael Jackson Online Game." As this is in fact the Only Michael Jackson Online Game, this is more like the Ultimate Expression of Michael Jackson's Narcissism, but whatever. Developer SEE Virtual Worlds knows it has an enormous sales job on its hand, telling USA Today "There is no doubt we will be open to people joking about it and criticizing it." That's the kind of comment you make when you're being paid ridiculous sums to do ridiculous things.
Anyway, why should the King of Pop be the only celeb with an MMO where a massive amount of multiplayers roleplay his life online? Surely there are other celebrities, dead or alive, who are just as deserving of a memorial this insane.
So pick a celebrity and represent an MMO based on his or her life somehow. Open-ended contest challenge time, guys, I'm sorry, but here are some suggestions.
• Place a recognizable MMO HUD over an iconic scene depicting the celeb.
• Design a logo for this celeb MMO.
• Take an established game logo and turn it into one for this hypothetical celeb MMO (the one above, which looks like it came out of a logo vending machine, should be easy enough to mimic with an ostentatious font and picture of the moon.)
Just make it funny. You know how it works around here.
Post your submissions in the comments. The 20 best will get rounded up and published at the end of next Saturday. Meantime, I and the rest of the starred commentariat will approve and promote as many as we can so folks can see them and pass judgment. Remember, if you're trying to get a comment account approved, turning in a worthy 'shop is an easy path to the privilege.