DC Universe Online Q&A

Gamasutra had the chance to sit down with DC Universe Online senior producer Wes Yanagi for a quick Q&A about the team’s goals for the superhero MMORPG.

You can’t be those characters, though. How do you manage expectations for players who just say, “I want to be Batman”?

WY: Really, the goal and the vision of the game is for players to build their own legacy, and I think in some ways that’s a more powerful experience for them because the iconics — Batman, Superman, Lex, and the Joker — those are all touchstones you can measure your progress and your character against.

The story in this world is vast. That’s why we wanted to bring in professionals to help us out with that. Jim Lee is the executive creative director for the project. He and his guys at WildStorm pretty much concepted every piece of art in the game, so that we have that authentic DC comic book look and feel. Then Geoff Johns and Marv Wolfman [came] up with the storylines for this, and established why there are thousands of new players entering the world.

The player fantasy, to eventually build their character so that they might get invited into the [Justice League of America] or the Legion of Doom, is something that is also very powerful.