UberNoggin

Yes, you read the title right. Hello Kitty, that cute little kitten with the pink bow, may just kick the butts of all the green skinned warriors of Ogrimar. How? With some of the most innovative game mechanics I’ve ever seen.

Before I got into detail about the mechanics let me put my flag in the sand with a bold prediction. I think that within six months of release, Hello Kitty Online will have as many players as World of Warcraft. Don’t scoff! They won’t be the same players. I don’t think that hardcore gamers with level 70 mages are going to abandone WoW as the Lich King expansion is released to go play with anime kittens and puppies. But listen…across Asia and North America, every kid under 14 is going to be jumping on Hello Kitty with both feet. Let me tell you why.

When I first heard about Hello Kitty Online (HKO) I fully expected it to be as simplistic as the wonder of intellectualism that is Barbie GIrls. But ten minutes watching the tutorials on the Hello Kitty site changed my mind. Not only does HKO have real resource gathering, crafting, and battle…it has collaborative content creation! Yes, you can build a house and ask your friends to help you. That’s huge! No other MMO has crafting and building in which two players can simultaneously work on the same object. There are also guilds and mini-games.

The creators of HKO aren’t kidding around when they call this thing an MMORPG. This is way more than a side-scrolling promotional site for little kids. This is a full fledged virtual world.

HKO may not be your cup of tea but I think this is a sign that MMO games are moving out of the gamer-geek fringe and into mainstream which makes me very excited.

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