The Other Side of the Looking Glass - February 14, 2006

**TrevvorLocke**

I'm not really much of a forum poster, and I believe this is my first post on this account. I want to start by saying that despite what this account and post count might lead one to believe, I've played MxO off and on since somewhere around the last month of Beta. During the SOE takeover, I quit the game for a couple of reasons; 1) At this point, there was increasingly less to do in the game and stagnation had occurred. 2) I've no great love for SOE and how they handle/manage their games. Recently, I began reading the MxO forums again and saw the talk of the potential new Orgs. This intrigued me, because it caused me to wonder if the storyline was finally moving again. Then I read about LESIG fully forming (at last!) and the possibility of at least small scale LEs once again being a reality. Let's face it, LEs are, and always have been the life of this game. Moreover, the dynamic story, the ability to change has always been both of paramount importance and a listed design goal for MxO.

I was genuinely excited by the Org splits occuring and offering both new chances for LEs and for the afore mentioned change. While personally I had not planned on switching Orgs, at least intially, the idea that others would be able to, that new philosophies and playstyles would develop, these things intrigued me. I am a heavy RPer when it comes to MxO, so any chance to interact with other players in a new way was not only welcomed, but basically, required by me if SOE was to again receive my $15 a month. So, with these prospects in line, a few days ago I reactivated my second account (sadly, my Beta enabled account never made the transition to SOE billing) and jacked back in to the Matrix to see how things might be.

That very day, the news that the 1 year aniversary event would be happening and would be major was posted on DN1. Yes! I must have picked the exact right time to come back, and surely this major event would feature the split of the Orgs that so many had been hoping and planning for. And then Tuesday's TOSotLG was posted... and I felt a familiar rise of anger. SOE had done it again. Tricked me with smoke and mirrors into spending more money on their products. Truthfully, I blame myself as I have played just about every SOE MMO, only to be utterly disappointed in their management.

SOE? Didn't Rarebit say that the decision to scrap the additional Orgs occurred back when 'Lith ran the show, even back in Beta? Why yes, yes he did. While I believe him, there is absolutely one single thing I'm blaming SOE for in this fiasco. Communication. Somehow, I get the impression that 'Lith wouldn't have let the speculation regarding Orgs to go on for as long as it had before finally giving Walrus the okay to tell the player base what was really going on. And yet SOE pulled a very common tactic of theirs. They purposefully allow a playerbase to want and expect a feature, and simply remain silent about it so that the speculation will continue. This drives subscriptions as players salivate over things that could be, should be. I could point to other games they have done this in (EQ2, SWG, heck, even EQlive) as well as detail how exactly they have done the very same thing, but this post is getting long enough as it is, and you other long time SOE players know exactly what I'm talking about.

So in short, I'm disappointed beyond belief. Walrus, Rarebit, other devs, I do not blame any of you at all for the lack of communication on this issue. You have both proven through various threads (particularly the Ask a Dev... thread) that you communicate with your playerbase far better than the devs of most other MMOs. I do, however, blame SOE for not allowing you to say more to the playerbase about this desperately wanted feature until now. I do encourage you to keep up the good work on the CR2.0, but I want to offer a reminder. No Combat Revision has caused substantially increased subscriptions in any SOE MMO yet. And yet all of them, save EQlive, have received or are receiving a combat revision. SWG has received two so far. So my advice is this. Finish CR2.0, but don't hit the playerbase with another one. LEs and change are what drives this game. They're what make this game different. Without them, you're left with just another EQ clone, just another endless grind. And no one grinds forever.

Kivo

Well said.

**PBlade**

Bravo Trevvor, that was very impressive!

CLAUDIUS

Indeed a well thougt out, well written post Trev.

**Symmetric**

Best first post ever. SMILEY

Phrack

TrevvorLocke wrote:
I'm not really much of a forum poster, and I believe this is my first post on this account. I want to start by saying that despite what this account and post count might lead one to believe, I've played MxO off and on since somewhere around the last month of Beta. During the SOE takeover, I quit the game for a couple of reasons; 1) At this point, there was increasingly less to do in the game and stagnation had occurred. 2) I've no great love for SOE and how they handle/manage their games. Recently, I began reading the MxO forums again and saw the talk of the potential new Orgs. This intrigued me, because it caused me to wonder if the storyline was finally moving again. Then I read about LESIG fully forming (at last!) and the possibility of at least small scale LEs once again being a reality. Let's face it, LEs are, and always have been the life of this game. Moreover, the dynamic story, the ability to change has always been both of paramount importance and a listed design goal for MxO.

I was genuinely excited by the Org splits occuring and offering both new chances for LEs and for the afore mentioned change. While personally I had not planned on switching Orgs, at least intially, the idea that others would be able to, that new philosophies and playstyles would develop, these things intrigued me. I am a heavy RPer when it comes to MxO, so any chance to interact with other players in a new way was not only welcomed, but basically, required by me if SOE was to again receive my $15 a month. So, with these prospects in line, a few days ago I reactivated my second account (sadly, my Beta enabled account never made the transition to SOE billing) and jacked back in to the Matrix to see how things might be.

That very day, the news that the 1 year aniversary event would be happening and would be major was posted on DN1. Yes! I must have picked the exact right time to come back, and surely this major event would feature the split of the Orgs that so many had been hoping and planning for. And then Tuesday's TOSotLG was posted... and I felt a familiar rise of anger. SOE had done it again. Tricked me with smoke and mirrors into spending more money on their products. Truthfully, I blame myself as I have played just about every SOE MMO, only to be utterly disappointed in their management.

SOE? Didn't Rarebit say that the decision to scrap the additional Orgs occurred back when 'Lith ran the show, even back in Beta? Why yes, yes he did. While I believe him, there is absolutely one single thing I'm blaming SOE for in this fiasco. Communication. Somehow, I get the impression that 'Lith wouldn't have let the speculation regarding Orgs to go on for as long as it had before finally giving Walrus the okay to tell the player base what was really going on. And yet SOE pulled a very common tactic of theirs. They purposefully allow a playerbase to want and expect a feature, and simply remain silent about it so that the speculation will continue. This drives subscriptions as players salivate over things that could be, should be. I could point to other games they have done this in (EQ2, SWG, heck, even EQlive) as well as detail how exactly they have done the very same thing, but this post is getting long enough as it is, and you other long time SOE players know exactly what I'm talking about.

So in short, I'm disappointed beyond belief. Walrus, Rarebit, other devs, I do not blame any of you at all for the lack of communication on this issue. You have both proven through various threads (particularly the Ask a Dev... thread) that you communicate with your playerbase far better than the devs of most other MMOs. I do, however, blame SOE for not allowing you to say more to the playerbase about this desperately wanted feature until now. I do encourage you to keep up the good work on the CR2.0, but I want to offer a reminder. No Combat Revision has caused substantially increased subscriptions in any SOE MMO yet. And yet all of them, save EQlive, have received or are receiving a combat revision. SWG has received two so far. So my advice is this. Finish CR2.0, but don't hit the playerbase with another one. LEs and change are what drives this game. They're what make this game different. Without them, you're left with just another EQ clone, just another endless grind. And no one grinds forever.

Very well said indeed. I agree with everything you've had to say, but I'm afraid it goes even deeper than this.

If the decision was made back in Beta to scrap the concept of new orgs, then why were people receiving and losing reputation points for these orgs as recent as last month?

The decisions to scrap these was made more recent than that, and I can't help but get the feeling that I've been lied to.

Maybe that's just me, though. But I seriously think we're being lied to, and that the decision was RECENTLY made not to create the orgs. Smells like another budget cut from SOE, if you ask me.

Either way, there's more to this than we're being told.

**Super_Jenius**

No comment on the org issue, although I'm glad to know the truth now.

Regarding the cinematics, whether they are Flash or AVI doesn't matter to me. My question is why are you converting the existing cinematics? They work fine with the current system don't they? You guys have enough to do.

**Aquatium.**

Looking at it from an outset, if this was made so long ago, wouldnt we really have been more aware of this by now...

good post TrevvorLocke, and i tihnk the biggest thing the org spilt was going to give was the new ideals to use in PVP / RP, it was more content added without doing too much...

**Rarebit**

TrevvorLocke wrote:
"... Somehow, I get the impression that 'Lith wouldn't have let the speculation regarding Orgs to go on for as long as it had before finally giving Walrus the okay to tell the player base what was really going on. And yet SOE pulled a very common tactic of theirs. They purposefully allow a playerbase to want and expect a feature, and simply remain silent about it so that the speculation will continue. ..."

Conspiracy theories are fun, but the sad fact is that this was all a highly unfortunate oversight by your friendly neighborhood MXO dev team. We were not gagged by anyone higher up the ladder here at SOE.

Phrack: That rep gain noted in your window from "Niobe's Group" is a bug in something that I thought we'd taken care of way back pre-chapter 1.3. Any mission you take from Anome should only award Zion rep. I just tested this myself in Live, and they do add to your Zion rep as intended, but the UI is showing "Niobe's Group" when it should be showing "Zion." I've forwarded a description of this issue to QA.

**TrevvorLocke**

Upon further thought, I have come to a slightly different conclusion about my own feelings, as well as the feelings of others in a similar position to myself. I will make no claim that my opinions reflect the community at large, as I am only one person and my observations and experiences are limited, as such. But here is the underlying issue at hand, at least for me. Content (the word that is so dreaded by anyone involved in MMO creation/management) and game focus.

As I stated in my previous post, an intended design goal initially for the Matrix Online was to create a dynamic world where not everything stayed the same from one month to the next. Initially, via the Live Events Team, Monolith did an exceptional job of displaying the ever changing, ever growing world of the Matrix. Then the takeover hit, and LEs trickled, sputtered, and seemingly all but ended entirely. At this point, SOE appeared to be taking the game in an entirely different direction. Things like Pandora's Box and the CR 2.0 became top priority. While these things are fine, good, and quite possibly needed (depending on whom you ask), they represent a fundamental design paradigm that is not in union with the nature of dynamic gameplay. That is, both of these major game additions are static in nature, unchanging, and will always be with us. Yes, they justify Content, but perhaps not the Content that the majority of MxO players are hoping for. Let us examine for a moment why SOE might have decided to go this route, versus assembling a new LET for example, as well as actually implementing new Orgs.

The problem seems to arise from the fact that the Dev team for MxO was greatly diminished (I'm guessing as a result of a dimished budget) upon the game's transition to SOE control. So what we have here is a case in which priorities must be set. Static content is simply cheaper on an MMO to create. By its very nature, it does not need to be constantly updated. By "constantly updated", I don't mean the usual patching and balance issues that will always need to be addressed, but that once the base system is in place, a periodic overhaul is generally not needed (Not that SOE's MMO track record would have you believe this. Coming soon: MxO NGE!) Conversely, dynamic content must be updated regularly. So it boils down to what affects profit margin more. Static content requires less resources to produce and maintain, at least in theory, than does dynamic content. And while I fully believe that the actual Devs of MxO love their product and want to see it prosper in more ways than just economically, SOE is a subsidiary of a major international organization, and as such, the bottom line is all that really matters to them.

John Smedley, president of SOE, was recently quoted as having admitted that Star Wars Galaxies was scrapped and rebuilt in the 14 months before its launch, and when asked why SWG customers would buy an unfinished product, he reportedly laughed and declared that SWG would sell purely based upon its name. Furthermore, he contended that SWG's subscription revenue would pay to finish the game...over the course of two years. Originally, the intended method for ensuring this continuing subscription rate was the dangling carrot of Jedi. It now seems that MxO players may be victim to such practices as well. Our dangling carrot, however, is storyline, LEs, Org splits. Instead what do we receive? Combat Revisions that no one asked for. Balancing was requested, yes. But not so many months dedicated purely to changing the fundamental nature of combat in a game where combat was never the emphasis in the first place.

But wait, this is the Matrix, isn't hyper-stylized combat part of its appeal? Absolutely, however, this is merely the sizzle of the series. The proverbial steak is, and has always been, it's underlying themes, story, and metaphor. Without these things, the Matrix is a void of cool-looking, but ultimately empty, Wire-Fu and explosions.

So by now you are probably all wondering what final point I'm going to make, and since I've posted entirely too much for the second time, I'll simply state it; The problem that many players are having with the announcement that we will have no new Orgs runs much deeper than the simple fact that we will have no new Orgs. The announcement is a signal, in perhaps a long line of signals, that there has been a paradigm shift in the direction of MxO production. And this is what is causing such disdain and feelings of futility. So to the Devs I make this plea. Fight the shift, and save your baby, so to speak. I realize there is only so much that you Devs can do, with and without managerial approval, so I thank you ahead of time for your efforts. Likewise, to the playerbase, I make a plea. Do not blame the Devs for these sorts of problems. What we are against here is the focus of an entire company, and a company that may very well view MxO as an afterthought. Rage against SOE if you will. Flood Smedley's public email box with petitions, letters, anything you might, but don't take your frustrations out on our Devs. They're doing all the can with what they're given. And if we want our game to be the game we want, then we too should do all we can with what we're given.

**TrevvorLocke**

Rarebit wrote:
."

Conspiracy theories are fun, but the sad fact is that this was all a highly unfortunate oversight by your friendly neighborhood MXO dev team. We were not gagged by anyone higher up the ladder here at SOE.

Well, I wrote my most recent post before seeing your response to mine, Rarebit, and I would like to say that while the implication I made may seem like a "conspiracy theory", I more call it a business practice that SOE has engaged in before. So, my guess as to what was going on here was based purely on my experiences with SOE. My experiences aren't exhaustive. I'm one player, one person. As such is the case, then please do dispell any myths I may have about proceedings, development, etc. I do find it hard to believe that no "gagging" occurred, however, as it's clear that both Walrus and yourself read the forums quite often. You just responded to me now, for that matter. The talks of new Orgs have existed on these forums for quite a long while. And yes, I've read the forums even during my own abscence from the game, as the Matrix storyline is one of particular interest to me. But forgive me if I do have trouble believing that it was simply an oversight on the Dev team's part. Then again, I'm just one person with all the flaws that come from having but one point of reference, my own.

QforQ-MxO

The predictament though Trevor is, when they introduce content that is only "You had to be there for it to be fun" then it's sort of a waste of time to some degree. Granted it's very valuable to the players that were there, but that content wont keep the game alive forever and foster new player subscriptions.

They are trying to do both dynamic and static content. Building the game from the bottom up while doing side appearances of the Live Events Characters, in conjunction with the many LESIG made characters floating around in the Matrix.

I recognize the catch-22 their in....and theres no real good answer to solve it SMILEY

Phrack

Exactly.

Why were we allowed to entertain the idea that we'd be getting this for so long, if it simply wasn't going to happen?

I bet if a number of players started making posts saying that SOE is going to buy every player in it's MxO player base brand new 2006 Nissan 350z convertables, you guys would be a lot quicker to jump up and say "Um, no."

**Rarebit**

All I can say for myself is that try as I might to have a player's perspective on things, I'm not a player, and I don't always succeed. I've been having to deal with the three orgs that I knew I'd have to deal with for so long that I haven't given any thought to the other orgs as player orgs for quite some time--not until I had to start writing the 4.2 missions with E Pluribus Neo several weeks ago, in fact. And while hope of joining one of those other orgs has been a clear undercurrent in forum posts for some players, at least since I started reading the forums heavily in mid-December, it wasn't until the past few weeks that I noticed entire threads dedicated to the topic in General Discussion. After those multiplied it was clear that we had underestimated exactly how much anticipation was simmering under the surface even after all this time, and that we'd better take the hit now and let everyone yell at us. I emailed Frog and Walrus about it, and Walrus replied that he'd been thinking the exact same thing, and had already written his message to the community about it, a week overdue to go out in his Looking Glass article.

Anyway, I'm not going to try to make excuses for it. We don't see everything like we should, and we do make mistakes. If we could go back in time and not make the mistakes, we sure would, but hindsight likes to torture you that way. This was a mistake on our part, and you guys are well within your rights to be disappointed in our communication on it. We screwed up.

By the way, if there are any other things from old announcements that you've been hotly anticipating all this time, please let me know now. We need to exorcise these lurking demons of the past and move forward with the game.

**Fugitiv3**

i just wanna say thanks for being so honest rarebit, it helps us understand things a lot. SMILEY