There are really only two categories of MMO festivities: the ones made up for the game itself and the ones “inspired” by real-world holidays. Sure, some games try to slap a thin disguise onto the latter to pretend that they’re original, but whom are they kidding? We know what Snowmas and Foolish 24-Hour Period Set in the Fourth Month is trying to be.
Today I’ve cobbled together 10 such real-world holidays that are prevalent in MMORPGs, arranging them from generally the worst to generally the best. Your particular game experience may vary, of course.
Worst: Valentine’s Day
Now don’t get me wrong: I’m not some sort of love humbug or anything, although Love Humbug would be an amazing City of Heroes superhero and I’m going to copyright that right now. Love is great, Valentine’s Day is generally fine, but as a game event it is always tacky as anything. It’s way too much pinks-and-reds everywhere and a lot of strange ways that the devs try to capitalize on a love-themed holiday.
Oktoberfest
I’m putting this one as low as it is not because it’s a bad holiday but because so few games take advantage of it. I get it, October’s already got a lot going on, but Oktoberfest is a good time if you embrace it. Beer? Pretzels? Bavarian aesthetics? You can make this work, MMOs.
Talk Like a Pirate Day
I kind of liked Talk Like a Pirate Day when it was this semi-underground internet holiday that was funny for those in the know. But the second that games and media caught wind of it, they sucked the joy right out by overdoing it. It’s not a bad holiday, it’s simply predictable for MMOs: Some sort of pirate-themed quest that gives you a hat and an eyepatch as a reward. There. I’ve just programmed your next event.
Thanksgiving
Another holiday that suffers from bad timing, Thanksgiving gets crowded out by better holidays on either side. It’s also a difficult one for studios to figure out how to gamify, so most often this tends to be about killing turkeys and 20% off on a Black Friday bundle.
April Fools’ Day
This holiday goes squarely in the middle of this list because it’s most dependent on how creative the developers want to be. There’s a high entertainment ceiling on this holiday if it’s done well, giving players a more whimsical celebration that they can revisit yearly. Or it can be a lame joke on social media with nothing in the game itself.
Lunar New Year
Once pretty much only represented in World of Warcraft, Lunar New Year’s been upping its presence in a lot of MMOs. And that’s cool, because we need some good January holidays, and this one has unique theming that sets it apart from the Christmas season. It also gives a strong dash of Chinese influences in traditionally European fantasy realms, and that’s a nice flavor change as well.
Summer
Summer Festivals are kind of a catch-all for the season, but usually they like to focus on warm outdoor activities such as picnics, beach parties, and cookouts. And I am down for all of those things. While there’s a lack of specific real-world inspirations for these festivals, that gives the creators more leeway to take the spirit of the season and run in fun directions with it.
Spring/Easter
In recent years, I’ve really come to appreciate a good spring festival in MMOs. These tend to be an amalgam of real-world holidays that start popping up in March and April, most specifically St. Patrick’s Day and Easter. There’s a lot of welcome color and “wake up from the winter” attitude, and I’ve found that the devs come up with some really great thematic rewards for these events.
Christmas
The greatest strength of Christmas as a holiday role model for MMOs is that it offers a huge variety of decorations and themes. That gives games a lot — a LOT — of leeway to take the holiday and mold it into their world, from a more sparse natural winter event to a completely overblown sugary festival. On top of the great overlays, devs use this holiday to (what else?) hand out a ton of presents. And I’m all for getting free gifts!
Best: Halloween
As much as I do love Christmas, Halloween is where it’s at in MMOs. It’s the perfect holiday match for online roleplaying games, because we’re already wearing “costumes” and exploring worlds full of spooks and ghouls. Adding even more to that is a no-brainer, and I love to see what the devs come up with, from haunted houses to special world bosses to trick-or-treating across player housing neighborhoods.
Everyone likes a good list, and we are no different! Perfect Ten takes an MMO topic and divvies it up into 10 delicious, entertaining, and often informative segments for your snacking pleasure. Got a good idea for a list? Email us at justin@massivelyop.com or eliot@massivelyop.com with the subject line “Perfect Ten.”
