Is an MMORPG the perfect place to find your soulmate? Join Senior Staff Writer Chris "Pwyff" Tom as he checks out Lucent Heart, a "dating" MMO heavily based on the zodiac system.

Amid all of the news and hype surrounding the release of our most anticipated MMOs (DC Universe Online and Rift being the current industry hot topics), it's easy to forget that there are dozens upon dozens of smaller MMO development teams who are working just as hard (maybe even harder!) to make innovative games for this growing demographic.

While it's likely that these smaller creations won't be as pretty or as smooth as their bigger brothers, I've always felt that good core concepts don't require millions of dollars to create, and that even the smallest team can make a significant impact on the industry. In this way, when I was invited to check out Lucent Heart, a zodiac-based dating MMO (it's called Zodiac Online in Asia, but since there is a Zodiac Online in North America, they went with Lucent Heart), I went into it on the lookout for interesting concepts and ideas.

Did I find any? Read on!

Lucent Heart was developed in-house by a Taiwanese online game publishing company, Gamania Digital Entertainment, which is well-known for being the publishers of MapleStory, Counter-Strike, Lineage and Kart Rider in Taiwan. More recently, however, Gamania has been focusing on branching out their digital entertainment presence, and the creation of Lucent Heart is one of their first attempts at MMO development by their subsidiary R&D company, PLAYCOO Corporation. Normally I wouldn't delve so deeply into the history of a game's development process, but in this case it also helps to know where Lucent Heart is coming from.

For most North Americans, the combination of astrology and dating might not seem like a solid foundation to build an MMO upon, but since Lucent Heart was initially developed for Asian audiences, where "novelty facts" like blood types and astrology signs play a significant role in forming first impressions and compatibility among youths, the pairing is less of a novelty than it looks.

Interestingly enough, Lucent Heart is almost unapologetic about its somewhat arbitrary foundation. Most people will admit that the zodiac system can be vague and unpredictable, and these are two very bad words to hear in MMO gaming. To their credit, PLAYCOO does have an interesting approach to daily horoscopes, where players will get daily horoscope predictions in the form of a one to five "rating" system that can influence (I was told the influences were minor) key stats, like combat, crafting and money for the day.

In other systems, however, there are definite problems with the zodiac theme. For example, I was told that Taurus players have "natural abilities leaning towards a Priest," but it was frustrating for me because, as a Capricorn, I felt like I was being placed at a deliberate disadvantage (as a Priest) simply for being born a few months too early. The other option, of course, would be to deliberately set my birthday to a specific sign so that I could enjoy the advantages of that Zodiac sign, but that obviously undermines the whole concept of matching yourself up with "compatible" Zodiac signs.

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