SciFi Channel MMO Makes You the Star

This isn't related to any game that currently exists, but Slashdot links us to an interesting article from Console Patrol about a new idea from the SciFi Channel--a reality TV show about an MMO. CP quotes CEO of the Sci-Fi Channel Dave Howe as saying:

"A television show that is on once a week isn't enough. The fans today want the experience to go beyond that. For example, we can tell them that there will be an alien invasion at a certain place in the game, at a certain time, and to be there with all their friends and be ready. The outcome depends on them. And then that battle will be part of the universe in the show."

I hope they like writing scripts about lag!

Seriously, the biggest problem facing them is that it's very hard to get even good players to purposefully create something in a game. Most people want to sit back and be entertained, not make the entertainment. They kill bosses to get the loot, they don't make up stories (or care what stories already exist--lolore!) about the bosses they kill. What most likely will happen is the producers will take cut scenes of game battles and put something together that has nothing to do with what actually happened, which is what they do on most reality shows today.