Storyline rant

**MetaLogic**

GamiSB wrote:

MetaLogic wrote:
Othinn1 wrote:
Megarittz wrote:
Hypatia and Silver should indeed have been left dead.

Wouldn't their deaths remove ten missions from the game? O_o

They would've left behind Sims to handle the missions *nod*.
Then it would be the same issue behind Morpheus and not keeping him dead. Honestly though at least 10 missions biteing the dust would show some sort of impact and that things are actully progressing. Who knows maybe they could have lead to new mission contacts being introduced.

Good point.

**ZippyTheSquirrel** · 04/06/2008 21:44:47

Megarittz wrote:

I have to agree with many things Zippy complained about...

I'm not complaining, I'm offering my views and criticisms/praise over certain details in the story, and I would really appreciate it if you didn't make me out to be some whiner, thank you.

Edit: I know it's just a technicality, but still, I'm not like the generic fickle forum player. Or, at the very least, I don't want to be viewed as such.

Edit2:

Othinn1 wrote:

Panderai wrote:

The Games Engine - Surely SOE can afford to borrow/buy a technician from Monolith that could help with the game engine. It's obviously within their money to do so..

This is always something I've wondered about. Could Rarebit at least talk to some old work associates over the phone, or via email or something?

It sounds like a legal issue between Monolith and Sony, really. There would also be too much hassle in gathering the appropriate developers and their notes, especially when Monolith has moved on and is working on other games.

**ZippyTheSquirrel** · 04/06/2008 21:44:32

*edit* Meh, merging post

**DeBarlo-ED**

Wow... sounds like I have a lot of work ahead of me to catch up to the current story.

**MatrixRefugee** · 04/07/2008 14:25:00

MetaLogic wrote:

Othinn1 wrote:
Megarittz wrote:
Hypatia and Silver should indeed have been left dead.

Wouldn't their deaths remove ten missions from the game? O_o

They would've left behind Sims to handle the missions *nod*.

Hmm, they're both programs who've survived several reloads of the Matrix. I suspect they probably had back-up copies of their source code to be loaded as a fail-safe in case something happened to their shell. I was at the event where Silver got Full Auto Redux-ed to a pile of bits, and I remember the Merovingian saying something like, "Adieu, Silver, may your next version prove more... humane."

**Megarittz**

ZippyTheSquirrel wrote:

Megarittz wrote:
I have to agree with many things Zippy complained about...

I'm not complaining, I'm offering my views and criticisms/praise over certain details in the story, and I would really appreciate it if you didn't make me out to be some whiner, thank you.

Edit: I know it's just a technicality, but still, I'm not like the generic fickle forum player. Or, at the very least, I don't want to be viewed as such.

Sorry Zippy, I didn't mean to sound as if I thought you were whining. I just tend to use the terms "complain" and "criticize" interchangably, even though they don't quite mean the same thing.

**ZippyTheSquirrel** · 07/26/2008 22:10:47

Since this is probably my last post, might as well make it a controversial one. :) [Edit from da future: OMG! Such a hypocrite! This isn't my last post at all. Goddamn "last post"ers, making me all emo and want to try one myself. Not gonna remove anything from this post, though. So take that!]

LESIG versus Algorithm: Black

LESIG (Take note: I've only ever had interactions with Recursion LESIG) - Live Event Special Interests Group. I think that's what it's supposed to mean. What it really means is MxO's Inner Circle. You'll find the elite of the elite within this group. It didn't start out that way. At first, everyone was excited to help the story progress (see: Joker) and players were engrossed in the creativity of the original SIG. Fut, I knew I was.

But somewhere along the way, the gradual increase of power given to LESIG began to corrupt their minds. They became elitist or disillusioned. The Special Characters became liaisons with more focus on their backstories than events. Sometimes it clicked with the players, like the TIMCAMM hunt or the Scanline feud between MadHattah and Viraconrida. Most of the time, though, it became Taecross.

I know I'm not going to change anything. Hell... this post might not even last long to the Mods because of its content... But maybe LESIG should be reformatted into its original setting - Helping Rarebit shape the story so the player-base can enjoy it to its fullest. Imagine something like the frequent discussions between Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson - Rarebit tossing general ideas at LESIG, watching their reactions and debates to get a more specific idea of what would please the players.

I'll confess, I don't know what actually goes on in LESIG other than which liaisons are good (Miss you Terentia, Timmy, Viraconrida) and which were bad (when O when will MadHattah leave?). These are all my thoughts from the outside.

Now comes the particularly controversial part. *eyes Mods and chooses his words carefully*

Algorithm: Black - Clearly one of the biggest player events in MxO I've ever seen. At its peak, huge server majorities were engrossed in its stories (so much so that I believe a Live Event Rarebit was having at the same time as the finale got less attention). Why? Let's get into that.

My memory of that event is a little fuzzy (and I don't have anyone on Xfire to bug me into a rant), so I conveniently can't remember what gave the event the success. The main points I remember...

Algorithm Operatives - acting like NPCs, making it all seem like it was a seperate Org.

Live movies - probably the biggest selling point. Talented actors tossed in with some hammy actors, and a man wearing a stocking on his head gave the players something even the cinematics couldn't provide - substance.

Flexibility - so many details about the event, including whether the Algorithm's lieutenants should die or whether he should die would change rapidly according to how the players acted during the event.

I'm not going to cover what happened after that event, but suffice to say there's a reason why Player Event Teams can't get too big. Too many conflicting ideas, leading to frustration and eventual implosion. LESIG doesn't have that problem - they have to answer to an MxO official

So who's better? LESIG 1.0, in leaving players their own avenue to explore the Matrix world without Live Events? Or Algorithm Black, for proving that this game has so much potential that it actually caused players to return *eyes Foxxdie* that wouldn't have otherwise?

Here's an idea: Merge the two group dynamics. I'm not saying put the people in A:B on LESIG, oh lord, no. I mean having LESIG adapt a more Algorithm: Black-like idea. Major flexibility in an on-going story that involves all the aspects that this game can provide. I'm looking forward to how LESIG can handle their Spawn Tools, although I'm a little skeptical. I can already imagine someone like MadHattah using them for personal use.

So, to sum up, LESIG has the potential to activate the potential of MxO. It's been proven, it's been done, so prove us that you're not useless elitists.

stewartdaniels1986

MetaLogic wrote:

stewartdaniels1986 wrote:
Bollocks as usual. Same bs problems being complained about, same bs solutions being offered.

Well, what solutions do you have?

The only logical solution is to write this version of MxO off, start from scratch, and do it right. And pfft, you think the complaints are bad now, imagine the whining that would occur if we all just admitted MxO was fubar, wiped everyone's slate clean and picked up from the end of Revolutions again.

Meh, eventually everyone will wake up and smell the coffee, but for now the few people who actually care about this insult to the franchise can't see the forest for the trees, and the rest are either station pass leeches and/or too jaded to swallow any more bs (I'm the latter).

**DeBarlo-ED** · 04/14/2008 12:42:43

Ok, now that I've taken some time to get back into the swing of things and have had some time to delve into the story I've missed (still catching up, but I've taken in a lot), I'll explain one of the reasons I came back: I have no expectations.

The first time I left (June 2005), was more from burnout. I'd been in MxO all the time since early October 2004, to the point that after Live launched our faction had a calling network set up for when events were going down in the Matrix. There was just that much going on -- the story was on fire and we really felt a part of it. But once it started to flame out because of what was going on with Monolith, I finally got a breather and just completely crashed from the game for a couple months.

I came back just before Halloween and hoped that with the SOE acquisition settled down, the story would start to pick up again. It really did seem to pick up again once Cryptos was introduced, and excitement was drawn back into our faction. However, the story again started to slow and the month of no content before the first anniversary event agitated me since it had been going well. I left after that Piece of Blue Sky event, upset that I had waited a month for a grindfest to get a Security hat and shirt.

I'm back now because I realize what this game is and it doesn't bother me anymore. The story telling is going to be slow and that we players are going to have to shape the Matrix and fill in the gaps along the way. I'm used to GM-ing games and a long time ago had hoped to sort of sit back and enjoy the MxO ride, participating and helping the Zion cause of course, but my own content simply being some character background. I don't think that really cuts it in the MxO world today. The Matrix is going to have to be what you make it -- which means work and content from the players.

This is not a slight to Rarebit. The MxO staff is small and I'm sure he works hard to get out what he does, but some things just don't jive with the Matrix universe as we've come to know it (i.e. Perpetually 1999? Perhaps late 20th century, but it can't always be 1999 when the call between Trinity and Cypher at the very beginning of the first movie takes place on 2-19-98 ). So, although I know the Wachowski's mapped out some sort of general guidelines for MxO, I'm really viewing it these days that we're just experiencing someone's Matrix fan fiction. If a post-Revolutions movie were to ever be made, it wouldn't surprise me if most everything in MxO was scrapped, perhaps even explained away as a simulation playing out in another construct.

With all of the above in mind, I can enjoy The Matrix Online for what it is. I can run around the MegaCity, visit some movie locales, interact with a few movie characters, and play along with what the Matrix might become, inserting some of my own ideas along the way. It's not what this game could have been and where it even was for a short time, but I'm no longer expecting that.

**Lies**

Well, I've been around the RP block a few times, and it's been awhile since I've done it. But the main reason I play MxO is for the RP. I don't like the fighting system (hey that guy just two shotted me lol'what?)

Around the time the Unlimit story started was around the time I gave up on the story, it was quite frankly letting me down.

When I first joined MxO, I came in right smack in the middle of the hunt for the asassain event, and it was quite frankly interesting. Of course, me being a low level, I couldn't stand up to the assassain. But hell, it was interesting. When you take a mysterious bad guy, who kills a beloved character, it builds some good heat against him.

My fondest memory of my 'mxo career' was a player event (ironically enough it was heavy on the fighintg). Was back before the Neo believers had their own tags, PN, Ragnorak (spelling >.< SMILEY

and maybe a few others fought machine operatives on top of Jacobs ladder declaring we wanted nothing to do with zion and that the machines should know we weren't giving up on our goals without a fight.

Now introduce the EPN tag. Non-hostile to zionists. Well, I guess I can understand that, as players we didn't affect the story to the point EPN was considered enemy to zion (truce breaking =/).

I've never been a fan of the Cyph org, but jesus why kick them to the curb? You can say reinsertion is possible, and that the machines just lied, but without any proof, why the hell would you want to be a cypherite?. Not to meniton, if they were lied to, that would be a good reason for the Cypherites to turn their back on the machines (in my opinion at least).

Meh.

I miss the days where you could go to Camon, sit down, and have a 30 minute conversation about a player event, or LET event. Now there's just nothing to talk about it seems.

But yeah, I've been away for quite a few months, and I don't even know what's going on now with the main story. Wireframe guys going after the oracle, apparently killing her, I just don't know. I was here when they first showed up, and I thought the same thing as when Unlimits showed up. Give us an enemy that will stay around for a decent amount of time. Make his goals be something the players can foil and/or help. Make him have depth, give him a decent backstory. Don't introduce him and have it be a week later he gets killed or decides to disappear.

And on that note, when characters die, make sure to get the point across that they're dead and staying dead. IE Morpheus, last time I was around it was all "he's still alive" "no he's not!" blah blah etc etc. It's been what 2-3 year now? Bring him back or show me a picture of maggots eating his face in the real world. I killed my main character awhile back, I think it's rather obvious he's not coming back... not hard :o .

I don't know what's going on with everything now. But I wish it was more interesting/involving.

PS - I'm not pointing fingers at anyone in specific, it's been going on like this for awhile. I like Rarebit, met him in game once or twice, and he seemed like a nice guy. I'm sure he's trying on the story, and I'm sure Chadwick tried on the story. I've just set my expectations too high (well, I'm playing a game based on a trilogy that in my opinion was epic).

Maybe my short rant has been said before, maybe I'm completely stupid for saying it. But there's always that .0001% chance it made sense, and someone agrees to it.

**Ballak**

Here, how about everyone who's so interested with the storyline go out to college, get degrees in engine-building/graphical design, then build your own MMO game, buy the rights to the Matrix franchise, and then continue it in your own light.

3 Years of pew-pew lazers, and somehow you guys think if we all close our eyes and pretend enough, we'll actually get the old storyline back, or maybe ingame cinematics back, or hey even the old LET. Oh that's right, reality says we don't have that anymore. Why don't you guys just kick back and let the ride run its tracks.

SOE has a stranglehold on how MxO is managed. It doesn't matter how many people you get playing this game, there has so far, been a constant in MxO subscriptions. SOE has no reason to dish out more resources on MxO, when apparently it's been meeting its quota as is. The quota might not be astonishingly high, but it's not at the point yet where SOE is spending more money on the game than it's giving. Considering that, the quota is undoubtedly low.

Pessimistic, maybe.

Where money talks, people walk.

**ZippyTheSquirrel**

Ballak wrote:

somehow you guys think if we all close our eyes and pretend enough, we'll actually get the old storyline back, or maybe ingame cinematics back, or hey even the old LET. Where money talks, people walk.

Hm, I don't think that, per se. I'm just offering my rather wordy opinion on how the story has been treated so far, and my hopes that my and others' criticisms can affect future story developement into something everyone can enjoy.

I do live in the past a wee bit... :)

KanoR

ZippyTheSquirrel wrote:

Ballak wrote:
somehow you guys think if we all close our eyes and pretend enough, we'll actually get the old storyline back, or maybe ingame cinematics back, or hey even the old LET. Where money talks, people walk.
Hm, I don't think that, per se. I'm just offering my rather wordy opinion on how the story has been treated so far, and my hopes that my and others' criticisms can affect future story developement into something everyone can enjoy.
I do live in the past a wee bit...

Just to make a point: Female Gi's.

Some people may like the story, some people may hate it - but TBH it appears to not matter what we think.
So in summation:

[That is a joke, btw...]

-Collbard-

...I'm sorry...Can we let this thread die? If you want to rant lets start a new one. I read through this once, saw it again today and started reading only to realize that I already posted in it 3 times about a month ago.

**Griffo**

This will probably be the only thing I say in this topic so here it goes; Most of us want a change, the only way this would happen is if the devs and players listen to each other and work together on it, I think it was Zippy who said about having LESIG reformed, brilliant idea, that way Rare can have feedback from players on the storyline and act on that feedback before the story starts.
Anyway, that's probably all i'll say here for now 'cause i'm about to leave for my aunts so see ya later.