Would it be cool to create a Online Monopoly?

[vitinho444]

Hi there it's me again

I was watching the simpsons and they were playing monopoly. Since I was a little boy i loved that game since i could make huge amounts of money being smarter than others, maybe cheat a little , but it's a fun game for people who like business.

So i had an idea of making a browser based game based on Monopoly, the idea was:

User has an account starting with some money, every hour maybe it was like you crossed that main passage that gave you more money (don't know the name of it) and from time to time properties would appear for a small window of time (i love you javascript ) and you could buy them. Then there would be a market to people sell their properties to other members.

I just wanted to know what you guys think about the idea, if it's affordable or not (time consuming and stuff), and if it's possible to turn a board turn based game to a browser based game that a user doesn't need to be online to play.

[Jackolantern]

I think the Monopoly game has proven it works in pretty much any form, as it has appeared in many other forms (computer games, console games, mobile, handheld, etc.). Just be careful not to infringe on any IPs, as Parker Brothers is known to be extremely tight on unlicensed versions of Monopoly.

[Xaos]

It'd be cool to have it ever-running, basically a real estate RP

[vitinho444]

I think the Monopoly game has proven it works in pretty much any form, as it has appeared in many other forms (computer games, console games, mobile, handheld, etc.). Just be careful to to infringe on any IPs, as Parker Brothers is known to be extremely tight on unlicensed versions of Monopoly.

I don't know what IP stands for, but I assume it's about lawsuits ?

I wouldn't call it monopoly ofc, and i wouldn't assume that the idea was stolen from monopoly. I would still got a lawsuit if the game got "famous" ?

[Jackolantern]

Yes, "IP" stands for "intellectual property", and is a catch-all for copyright, trademark and patents.

As far as liability, I don't know the law that well with board games, but would assume (possibly dangerously) that it is similar to video games. In video game law, it has been proven time and time again that you cannot protect game mechanics. You can use the mechanics of Monopoly, but you cannot use any of the specifics (names, player piece shapes, etc.). Just to be extra safe you may want to add some extra things to it. For example, you probably don't want to just have players buying property, railroads and utilities.

[vitinho444]

Yes, "IP" stands for "intellectual property", and is a catch-all for copyright, trademark and patents.

As far as liability, I don't know the law that well with board games, but would assume (possibly dangerously) that it is similar to video games. In video game law, it has been proven time and time again that you cannot protect game mechanics. You can use the mechanics of Monopoly, but you cannot use any of the specifics (names, player piece shapes, etc.). Just to be extra safe you may want to add some extra things to it. For example, you probably don't want to just have players buying property, railroads and utilities.

Yeah, by saying monopoly type game it would not be exactly as the board game, that's just boring in online mode. It would be a normal RTS but with buildings and etc.

[Jackolantern]

That sounds quite cool

[hallsofvallhalla]

It'd be cool to have it ever-running, basically a real estate RP

That would be awesome. Or maybe a mid evil version with classes, or a modern one where you have jobs, like someone is the banker and can give loans, someone is the real estate person and makes % off sells, ect..

[Xaos]

It'd be cool to have it ever-running, basically a real estate RP

That would be awesome. Or maybe a mid evil version with classes, or a modern one where you have jobs, like someone is the banker and can give loans, someone is the real estate person and makes % off sells, ect..

Have something like where you had to create your own business, using different types (Retail, bank, etc.) and it would have different difficulties to do some things over others (IE it'd be harder to start a bank than a small food store). That's super interesting, and the users would have no choice but to interact !

[vitinho444]

It'd be cool to have it ever-running, basically a real estate RP

That would be awesome. Or maybe a mid evil version with classes, or a modern one where you have jobs, like someone is the banker and can give loans, someone is the real estate person and makes % off sells, ect..

Well I would add that "feature" like some sort of GUILDS in a RPG, you could join a GUILD / GROUP that would be bankers, media enterprises etc and then you would get % off sells like you said.

It'd be cool to have it ever-running, basically a real estate RP

That would be awesome. Or maybe a mid evil version with classes, or a modern one where you have jobs, like someone is the banker and can give loans, someone is the real estate person and makes % off sells, ect..

Have something like where you had to create your own business, using different types (Retail, bank, etc.) and it would have different difficulties to do some things over others (IE it'd be harder to start a bank than a small food store). That's super interesting, and the users would have no choice but to interact !

I was going to create a game like that, where you could open your own business and pay taxes, buy stock, etc, i called it Business World, but i failed for some reasons including:
-Lack of time - It's not a cliche, you can't imagine the huge research i had to do, for the little work i did. I started from creating some basic business standards, like a snack bar, or a coffee shop, and it took me a lot of time to research the taxes, the stock prices, the average amount of clients in any day of the week. It wouldn't be a problem if i had got a budget like those big companies ofc, but i didn't and still don't..

-Lack of skills - The idea came 2 years ago, i was not comfortable with HTML + PHP + CSS + MySQL as I am today. So joining this reason to the above = fail.

-Lack of interest from 3rd party - Before i started i poll some forums around, and asked about the interest people had on this type of game. Since it's not very used (the genre / type) most of people said no, and a few said they would try if it was famous.


This "monopoly" type game on the other hands seems like a original game, that could pick some of the ideas of the Business World, and make it a nice game.

Also I see halls, jacko and you Xaos seem to have some interest in this type of game, i wonder if it would be possible to maybe build this as a (I'm not gonna say community since, you know, this latest projects failed.., so I'm going to say:) team.

Please don't mind say no ofc, you guys have more to do than me.. I'm a full-free-time teenager

PS: I have read my "speech" again and I figured out one other thing: If you want to build by yourself no problem, use the idea like it was yours (It was helped by you ofc ).