MxO without SOE: What would it look like?
8 posts · 2008-02-06 09:45:00 to 2008-02-12 05:50:00
I think the question is asked in regards to say being run by another group of people, say monolith still owned it or another corperation that wasn't so easy to hate.
But the problem with what if's is that when your done playing the fantasy game, your exactly where you started and its worse now, cause if your completely content what if's are possible and not so often asked.
What if the question was relevant?
~Darminian
MxO's population under monolith was pretty large compared to anything since....if they had to sell it then clearly they had no way to sustain it's continued contraction.... I doubt the game is self sustaining even today financially so it could only ever fall into the hands of someone who wants the prestige carried by the franchise (and one of those rare alternatives to elfland) within a larger portfolio.
While I doubt I would have been any 'happier' with the story details under Monolith (they killed Morpheus to no point whatsoever) I think their commitment was more solid irt the ongoing story and, that would, at least, have kept the Matrix environment and the story as a coherent whole sadly today the two aspects appear to have detached never to return again 
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My understanding is that Pandora's box, CR2, the White Halls is all content dating well before SoE came aboard.
Not sure at what point SoE begin injecting their idea's into the game but from this point onwards content has been notable in that there is little connection with the story or environment tending to indicate a shift in philosophy. The game lives becasue of SoE's involvement but as ever there was a cost.
As elsewhere, MxO would be gone without Sony (or another willing to relieve Monolith of the burden they put themselves under)
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I used to hate on SOE all the time, but after all this I realised along time ago that MxO would be dead and buried if Monolith kept it, don't get me wrong I love Monolith but SOE is kinda like Neo. Most people in the movies love him but the big guys like Lock just wanting to rip his throat out cause of what he represented.
I would say the individual events held today surpass anything that we had under Monolith, but the overall philosophy behind the game has moved, either by accident or design, away from the story.
The one overiding and unique facet held by this MMO is the story, new players need to be led into the events (story events not live events I mean) that are going down, they need to be made to feel it matters, that it affects the world around them (not some area they can never visit) and that they can make a difference, that their presence has value, content and storylining has to emphasise this. It would imbue this game with something no other MMO can compete, it was the promise and potential of such a world, a living breathing matrix, that Monolith seemed to invest in. Since the Soe change we have a much more technologicaly sound platform but one that has detached content and gameplay from the story diluting and sterilising the overall impact that the game can give.