The Other Side of the Looking Glass - Friday, November 17, 2006

Why go from one extreme to the other, all i want is for both Bob to get his fair share of content and Sally to get hers. 

Now to call me selfish to ask for a bit more content in terms of PvP is pathetic.  I have been with the game for over a year to see very little improvement when comparing it to the amount of time they have had.    I see monthly updates to critical missions, i see monthly updates to the cinematics, i see live events happen every week....well i dont see live events due to time difference but nevertheless others do. 

So for over 7-8 months of waiting for content whether thats quests, PvP based content, Pandoras box etc i feel i have been patient enough to not be called "selfish" and to say that i have given this game a chance.

I also feel that certain members are being closed minded and will only argue when it affects them and not thinking about a very large proportion of the players for example look at all the commotion that happened when live events stopped, you guys were pissed to see that such a large story line based content was removed, now this is how we feel when we see each update occur.  If the situations were switched and PvP content was always developing and storyline moved very slowly you wouldnt be so happy heck some of you still complain that the SOE takeover put us a chapter behind or w/e. 

Now my opinion is my opinion but i gurantee that there is a considerable amount of players who beg for more content to be added and not just youre tiring old crits.  Some people want alternative things to do. 

If we had all these alternative things to do i bet more trial players would have stayed,

I used to be optimistic about the game, telling new players how this that and the other was going to happen, but ive finally realised this game is only going to develop in terms of storyline and anything else will happen over a long period of time. 

Also a little bit off topic but Chuii u said respect means *CENSORED* all over the internet which is a little wrong to say as for some players i have a great deal of respect for.   For example PBlade probably disagrees with everything i say, in this thread and many others but that doesnt change the fact that i have respect for him.  I feel respect has a great deal of importance within a community and can help into making the game enjoyable. 

Much love.

PBlade wrote:

Much love.

I only said that to prove a point you know in actual fact i hate you for taking me off the council lol, that place was like a 2nd home for me. 

*reply to Roukan's above post* 

Well then tell me, show me where this game can sacrifice to add to other aspects of the game otherwise tell me that this game will no longer develop in other aspects other than storyline.  Please i beg of you dont say that it is developing in that aspect as i dont feel i have to wait nearly a year for an update. 

Heres a question i would like to see Walrus reply to or make a quick section of in the looking glass:

Do you feel that the game works extremly hard in creating a perfecting the storyline and finding not enough time to create new content?

As zeroone points out the potential for luggables to enhance the game at all levels is very significant. What we need of our content is a reason for doing what we do, a reason to log in every day. In no way do I wish to see either crits or events reduced but I would hope that with a few tools like luggables the process of storytelling can expand to encompass what we do all the time with criticals and events there to explain and direct the story to the next level etc.

Equally pvp needs to be incorporated into that storytelling process, rather than be left as an inevitable consequence of boredom between events.... to that extent pvp content needs to be developed sympathetically to the story not independent of it (and conversely the story needs to be massaged to incorporate a good degree of ongoing pvp), the character, bias and identity of each org should be recongnised both in leading you through the story and in the style of pvp you want to engage in... more real reward for playing your role in synchronism with the story and more consequence when you swim against the tide etc. The resulting environment will then be enhanced, have deeper resonances and greater realism....this is what I want to see in the next generation of content and its as much about imagination as it is hard code.

I was going to finish off this week's article with a snarky message about the Ohio State vs. Michigan football game this weekend. As many in the community know, I was born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, and graduated from The Ohio State University. The game tomorrow is one of the biggest rivalries in American college football and tomorrow's game pits the number 1 and number 2 ranked teams in the nation against each other.

Then a buddy of mine sent me an email to tell me that former Michigan head coach Bo Schembechler died today. Briefly, former Ohio State coach Woody Hayes and Bo essentially made the rivalry what it is today. Whenever the teams played each other, it was as much about the coaches as it was the players.

My unexpected emotional reaction really got me thinking. Overall, football is just a game, the same as The Matrix Online or any other game. There are some who treat the game that way, some who simply don't care, and some who have a passion for the game. It's that group's passion that make a game become something more.

It's the people involved with the game, both directly and indirectly, who matter the most in the end. It's the community that grows around the game that creates legends and stories that stay with us. Sometimes we don't like the people on the "other side", but in the best circumstances we still find something we admire about them.

Will the result of tomorrow's football game or tonight's zerg on Vector change the world? No, not in any significant way. But in the best moments, stories will be created, emotions will explode, and everyone involved will take something away with them. That's what makes games worth playing and being a part of.

I still want the Buckeyes to win tomorrow. But everyone in the stadium will be thinking about legendary moments of the past; memories of great times that two people now gone from our lives were part of. We all should have experiences like that in our lives. That, my friends, is worth more than who walks off the field with another win on their record."

/shakehand

That's why I play and why I will stay.

*reply to Roukan's above post* 

Well then tell me, show me where this game can sacrifice to add to other aspects of the game otherwise tell me that this game will no longer develop in other aspects other than storyline.  Please i beg of you dont say that it is developing in that aspect as i dont feel i have to wait nearly a year for an update. 

Heres a question i would like to see Walrus reply to or make a quick section of in the looking glass:

Do you feel that the game works extremly hard in creating a perfecting the storyline and finding not enough time to create new content?

Nowhere. I think it's progressing fine for the finite amount of devs we have.

Well i guess thats where we differ.  With Cr2.0 being that last PvP project which was released around February, March time i personally feel that it will be the same time next year that the next improvement will be made and that space in between is far too long.  So progressing fine i think not.  Dont get me wrong though i do understand that the dev staff are limited but its still a shame. 

I now believe that the devs should stop working on half baked projects and start working on content which has a bigger impact on the community.  I think that white hallways was more of a gimmick which took quite a long time to make for such little content and overall small projects like that should be stopped and things that are more necessary to be implemented e.g. alternative gameplay. 

So if crits cant be reduced (which i still think should happen) what about not bothering with these smaller projects.     

Rarebit already said that larger projects--whilst creating a longer lasting effect on the community and the game in general--aren't something they want to do very often, if at all.

During the creation of the new combat system, everything ground to a halt to make it as good as it could be; Live events ceased, we were trickled critical mission updates, and everything was forced into CR2.0.

You can see the position that they were in. They can either scrap the live events and throw big things at us every 4 months or so--which would, I can assure you, cause a mighty big uproar--or they can stick with the constant, small but effective updates. Now this latest patch isn't the greatest example of those small updates, I admit, as nothing was really done that was groundbreaking. I.E - Quests. But you get the point.

No the last update showed you exactly what this game is doing.  One cinematic, one set of missions per organization, small, pleasant changes e.g. afk, setbackground, floating neo lol etc.   Nice lot of bug fixes to remove of small glitches and an exploit. 

This just seems to be all that happens. 

Now comparing things to Cr2.0 is wrong as that was one big project and things like quests and luggable arent on that scale, the only thing on scale wid CR2.0 is melee weopons. 

Please do not be naive, 'mitez'. Fact of the matter is, however insignificant you feel the White Hallways or suchlike to be, it all trickles down to the stanglehold MxO sees itself in.



They added things like that because they were there from Beta. Why spend months on an albeit great feature - as PBlade has mentioned - when you can get out the stuff that should have been out ages ago. Creating new stuff when there's old stuff with need for a bit of servicing really is cutting off your nose to spite your own face.



Furthermore, do not be naive about critical missions and Live Events. People joined MxO for an "ever evolving story", not for Gank Wars. Not to reflect any disrepect unto PvP, but it does not come down to



"Ah, well, we'll throw this out to appease the carebears. Should keep them happy for a couple of minutes."

"Right, so we've done PvE. PvP's turn then."

"Alright, screw the Powerplant construct, the zombies, the mission overhaul, the EPN and Cyph org-missions, it's time for PvP!



LET'S GET BRAINSTORMING PEOPLE! I WANT TO BE DOING ANOTHER INANE PvE FEATURE BY UPDATE 49!"



People enjoy a story they can participate in, whether through Live Events or Critical Missions. Just look at the opinions on Anome's death. Do you think people are moaning because of the poor interplay between the characters, defiling the integrity of the script? Or rather, because they wanted to be a part of the story.

*nods*  MxO is truly blessed with such a worthy and wise team of Devs etc.  /afk might be a small addition, but it's also an excellent one

And true, the game likely won't have massive content patches on a regular basis.  But I'm happy with what comes along..If I wanted a massively vast world with new content every 6 weeks I'd go play something else (which makes you wonder why the people who continually moan about "nothing new"  don't just go and play a game more suited to their desires) but this game has a community (especially roleplay community) that is truly astonishing.  From the Da Vinci's of the RSI thread through to the...hmm...Dostoevsky's of the Next Rennaisance threads...these masterpieces are rare in other games and yet here we have an abundance.  

 As said, it's the players that make the game, not necessarily an abundance of content that we don't necessarily need.  Sure, I'd love some more "content" but I'm perfectly happy with the game as it is as well.