When Matrix Online was first introduced, back in the day, I remember doing a couple things which I thought were *CENSORED* BEST THING EVAR in events. I wish to bring those times back up, as they brought me periods of great joy and happiness when I remember them, and I'm certain that it could help with the following things:
A. Live Event Lag Problems
B. Live Event Participation Problems (people complaining they didn't get to interact with the "event"
C. Live Event Scheduling Problems
D. Live Event Developer Presence Problems (Sadly, Rarebit and HCFrog can't be online 24/7)
E. Matrix Online standing out as a forerunner in MMORPG live events
What I am talking about is the use of multiple media formats in events and the creation of a stable alternate reality for the Matrix. Now, it's a big sentence to say, so I want to dumb it down for everyone. The use of e-mail, internet websites, faxes, phone calls.. etc... in events, and interweaving them with the event missions, cinematics, and normal Matrix functions in the game.
Some of these ideas are already in place. One of the best examples of this is the Mega City Sentinel which is used in every event. This is a great and really innovative way to foreshadow events without being point blank. It gives players something to do outside the game, and it gives players who may not be able to access Matrix Online a way to still be "in the know" with an event. Searching through the sentinel and decoding hidden texts, finding hidden links, and deciperhing really troublesome fonts keeps players active and happy.
Back in the day, there were two events which really stood out in my opinion. One was the Billboard Puzzle for the Assassin. For players that did not experience it, there were 6 different billboards, each advertising bug spray, placed throughout the city. Each billboard contained a color and a number hidden in a slogan, such as
"Yellow Poison is TWICE as effective than the competition!"
Ironically, in that same event, we got a sentinel that had terrorist alert color code chart. While it was pretty satirical and funny, the chart held a very very interesting puzzle for the alert. What needed to be done was take each billboard and remember the color and the number. So, for the above example, you needed to know Yellow and 2.
The Chart:
Huge
Definite
Imminent
Elevated
Possible
Likely
After finding all of the billboards, their colors, and their numbers, it was cake. Put the colors in the order of the numbers they were paired with. Our example said that yellow was number two. Apply the order to the terrorist chart and...
Definite
Elevated
Likely
Possible
Huge
Imminent
Don't see it? Look closer.
D
E
L
P
H
I
Delphi. The Oracle at Delphi - a Greek Myth. Going along with the insecticide theme was another poster found in clubs that said. "Hate bugs? So do we! Talk to us at [email protected]" Firing off an e-mail with the subject of Delphi landed you a e-mail conversation with everyone's favorite Oracle and, if you were the first, a personal meeting with the Oracle and Seraph.
After figuring this out... I was astonished that such a level of depth was introduced to the events. And, I had the personal satisfaction of being able to put the pieces together. This was, in my opinion, much more effective than grinding mobs that spawned on you, doing critical missions, and made the event much much more personal.
The game and the Sentinel were interwoven and locked as one full unit, and that's what I'm proposing for future events, but only on a grander scale. Why stop with just the Sentinel? The "Cryptos Watch" blog is also a great step in the right direction. But, some ideas, for example: (Note, these are just ideas I just came up with, not real storylines. Lol.)
- A website for the Kalt Corporation is found via information from the Sentinel. Hack into the website via a username and password found in a critical mission. Each organization finds a different username and password, and finds different information relating to a new threat from Kalt Corporation. The sentinel reports on some terrorist activity from Kalt, but no one knows what, until now. Cross-referencing information reveals that there is a traitor from Kalt, and he has a hideout in the barrens. Go to him and receive an item that triggers a new critical mission. At the end of the mission, you recieve a phone number. Calling it on your cell phone (real cell phone) exposes a voice chat log between The General and his men, and reveals a meeting location and a date and time. Showing up to the meeting location in stealth, players can evesdrop on what the General is talking about!
- Cinematic 12.1012192 is released, and it shows The General fighting off Merovingian and Machine operatives. During the meeting, the General makes a threat about possessing a weapon of mass destruction before disappearing mysteriously and evading capture. In the new critical missions, hacking certain computers that are non-essential to the mission gets you random numbers. Perhaps 10-.1 or 11-2. Putting the sequences into order (for example, the 10th and 11th things in the sequence will be .1 and 2, getting you .12) gives something that looks like an IP address. Connecting to the IP address via any FTP client or Windows Explorer reveals that the server has guest access, how about that! Hidden in files on the server are surveillance photos taken from a warehouse in Edgewater! It's the general and his weapon of mass destruction! He wasn't lying! Delivering these photos to Anome, Flood, Agent Gray, Kid, etc... triggers the next set of events and critical missions, and some handy credit to the organization and players that found them.
This way, people can have a "direct impact" on the events as they go down, feel more tied into the story, get very nicely rewarded via LET interactions and meetings with characters, and overal are now more central to the plot instead of subsidiary, as we currently feel.
This style would also take alot less game programming for mobs and stuff, make information into a coveted object, create LET meetings that wouldn't be lag fests, take the load off of Rarebit and HCFrog's shoulders to make appearances as characters to drive the story, and create a very wide and vast interactive world.
I'd like to really see more of this, as I believe it has great potential. Sorry for the long post, thank you for your time.
A. Live Event Lag Problems
B. Live Event Participation Problems (people complaining they didn't get to interact with the "event"
C. Live Event Scheduling Problems
D. Live Event Developer Presence Problems (Sadly, Rarebit and HCFrog can't be online 24/7)
E. Matrix Online standing out as a forerunner in MMORPG live events
What I am talking about is the use of multiple media formats in events and the creation of a stable alternate reality for the Matrix. Now, it's a big sentence to say, so I want to dumb it down for everyone. The use of e-mail, internet websites, faxes, phone calls.. etc... in events, and interweaving them with the event missions, cinematics, and normal Matrix functions in the game.
Some of these ideas are already in place. One of the best examples of this is the Mega City Sentinel which is used in every event. This is a great and really innovative way to foreshadow events without being point blank. It gives players something to do outside the game, and it gives players who may not be able to access Matrix Online a way to still be "in the know" with an event. Searching through the sentinel and decoding hidden texts, finding hidden links, and deciperhing really troublesome fonts keeps players active and happy.
Back in the day, there were two events which really stood out in my opinion. One was the Billboard Puzzle for the Assassin. For players that did not experience it, there were 6 different billboards, each advertising bug spray, placed throughout the city. Each billboard contained a color and a number hidden in a slogan, such as
"Yellow Poison is TWICE as effective than the competition!"
Ironically, in that same event, we got a sentinel that had terrorist alert color code chart. While it was pretty satirical and funny, the chart held a very very interesting puzzle for the alert. What needed to be done was take each billboard and remember the color and the number. So, for the above example, you needed to know Yellow and 2.
The Chart:
Huge
Definite
Imminent
Elevated
Possible
Likely
After finding all of the billboards, their colors, and their numbers, it was cake. Put the colors in the order of the numbers they were paired with. Our example said that yellow was number two. Apply the order to the terrorist chart and...
Definite
Elevated
Likely
Possible
Huge
Imminent
Don't see it? Look closer.
D
E
L
P
H
I
Delphi. The Oracle at Delphi - a Greek Myth. Going along with the insecticide theme was another poster found in clubs that said. "Hate bugs? So do we! Talk to us at [email protected]" Firing off an e-mail with the subject of Delphi landed you a e-mail conversation with everyone's favorite Oracle and, if you were the first, a personal meeting with the Oracle and Seraph.
After figuring this out... I was astonished that such a level of depth was introduced to the events. And, I had the personal satisfaction of being able to put the pieces together. This was, in my opinion, much more effective than grinding mobs that spawned on you, doing critical missions, and made the event much much more personal.
The game and the Sentinel were interwoven and locked as one full unit, and that's what I'm proposing for future events, but only on a grander scale. Why stop with just the Sentinel? The "Cryptos Watch" blog is also a great step in the right direction. But, some ideas, for example: (Note, these are just ideas I just came up with, not real storylines. Lol.)
- A website for the Kalt Corporation is found via information from the Sentinel. Hack into the website via a username and password found in a critical mission. Each organization finds a different username and password, and finds different information relating to a new threat from Kalt Corporation. The sentinel reports on some terrorist activity from Kalt, but no one knows what, until now. Cross-referencing information reveals that there is a traitor from Kalt, and he has a hideout in the barrens. Go to him and receive an item that triggers a new critical mission. At the end of the mission, you recieve a phone number. Calling it on your cell phone (real cell phone) exposes a voice chat log between The General and his men, and reveals a meeting location and a date and time. Showing up to the meeting location in stealth, players can evesdrop on what the General is talking about!
- Cinematic 12.1012192 is released, and it shows The General fighting off Merovingian and Machine operatives. During the meeting, the General makes a threat about possessing a weapon of mass destruction before disappearing mysteriously and evading capture. In the new critical missions, hacking certain computers that are non-essential to the mission gets you random numbers. Perhaps 10-.1 or 11-2. Putting the sequences into order (for example, the 10th and 11th things in the sequence will be .1 and 2, getting you .12) gives something that looks like an IP address. Connecting to the IP address via any FTP client or Windows Explorer reveals that the server has guest access, how about that! Hidden in files on the server are surveillance photos taken from a warehouse in Edgewater! It's the general and his weapon of mass destruction! He wasn't lying! Delivering these photos to Anome, Flood, Agent Gray, Kid, etc... triggers the next set of events and critical missions, and some handy credit to the organization and players that found them.
This way, people can have a "direct impact" on the events as they go down, feel more tied into the story, get very nicely rewarded via LET interactions and meetings with characters, and overal are now more central to the plot instead of subsidiary, as we currently feel.
This style would also take alot less game programming for mobs and stuff, make information into a coveted object, create LET meetings that wouldn't be lag fests, take the load off of Rarebit and HCFrog's shoulders to make appearances as characters to drive the story, and create a very wide and vast interactive world.
I'd like to really see more of this, as I believe it has great potential. Sorry for the long post, thank you for your time.
