Waiting for a producer's letter...

While waiting for a letter from Walrus, I pretty accidentally found his letter from 2007. The following lines sounded pretty ironic from the today's perspective:

"...And since the guys on MxO are pros at keeping the game going, I don't feel the need to constantly oversee what they're doing. However, I'm way overdue for sending out an update from my perspective.

Most of what "keeping the game going" means is moving the storyline along. This has always been the most important post-launch element for The Matrix Online and continues to be the case..."

Like someone once said, some things never change, while others do. I wonder what we'll read in the upcoming message from our Producer (assuming that it really is upcoming).

I supose he's waiting for some sort of decent or basicly not bad news to tell his down trodden public.

Zeac wrote:

I supose he's waiting for some sort of decent or basicly not bad news to tell his down trodden public.

I hope it comes soon

"Well, as long as we leave the plug in, you're going to uh... Stay in that coma right there, Jimmy."

Based on his responses to the questions from myself and others during the Anniversary party on Friday, Walrus' upcoming letter is going to be short and (not so) sweet.  Not news that the game will be shutting down, but basically just confirmation that we're stuck in stasis right now without any real hope of things improving any time in the forseeable future.  No updates.  No new dev(s).  No new content and/or storyline.  No tools to assist players in creating their own.  But the game will stay running as it is.

Darkhawk wrote:

All I say, since ppl are so eager for this letter thing,

Be careful what you wish for.

Are you all really sure you want to read this letter? What if it means the servers shut down and MxO end we have all been dreading (but not exactly unsuspecting)?

Are you sure you want to read it then?
I'll hope for the bight side, and it'll mean better news than that - but .. it's MxO after all.

Wally will get to it when he gets to it. Maybe he doesn't want to put it out, because of the uproar that will ensue.

Oh well.

I'd rather hear bad news than no news.  I'd prefer to know if there is a shutdown date, if there is one, so I can plan accordingly.  Always better to know the bad news then to keep things hidden from us (which accomplishes nothing except creating lots of resentment).

Shinryu wrote:

Based on his responses to the questions from myself and others during the Anniversary party on Friday, Walrus' upcoming letter is going to be short and (not so) sweet.  Not news that the game will be shutting down, but basically just confirmation that we're stuck in stasis right now without any real hope of things improving any time in the forseeable future.  No updates.  No new dev(s).  No new content and/or storyline.  No tools to assist players in creating their own.  But the game will stay running as it is.

Thats a really sad way to go.  Even if we had a dev commit 10% of his time, thats 10% more than we have already.  I think its pretty miserable that there will be exactly zero content forevermore.

You know even doing a couple relatively simple things like a server merge and unlocking the Halloween & Winter masks would at least put us in a better place by way of entertaing ourselves and interacting with each other more in our current situation.  I guess even that's too much to ask for.

Zero content forevermore.  Think about it.  This is where we are at now. 

You know if I had the choice between death by entropy and attrition with the servers up, or a definate shutdown date I'd prefer a shutdown date....with like a month prior, turn the sky into the eyes in the sky, have nasty Machine messages on the billboards (like end of Beta), unlock Holiday Helpers, pumpkins, zombies, the Smith virus, just go all out in a full apocalytic bang! 

Its an extremely sad state of affairs.  Its almost worse than the servers shutting down then to leave the servers on up indefinately and empty.  Who knows, maybe they'll pull the plug eventually. 

Sorter wrote:

Darkhawk wrote:

All I say, since ppl are so eager for this letter thing,

Be careful what you wish for.

Are you all really sure you want to read this letter? What if it means the servers shut down and MxO end we have all been dreading (but not exactly unsuspecting)?

Are you sure you want to read it then?
I'll hope for the bight side, and it'll mean better news than that - but .. it's MxO after all.

Wally will get to it when he gets to it. Maybe he doesn't want to put it out, because of the uproar that will ensue.

Oh well.

I'd rather hear bad news than no news.  I'd prefer to know if there is a shutdown date, if there is one, so I can plan accordingly.  Always better to know the bad news then to keep things hidden from us (which accomplishes nothing except creating lots of resentment).

I hope SOE will see the Potencial of Mxo. With this License they can get more and more Money if they add Content. But now since Rarebit left ....

People are still waiting for the letter? It may yet appear, but it's not worth waiting for... it'll materialise when it materialises.

I guess the game is stuck like this now, and the letter will confirm this, but at $15 a month, well... that's a bit poor. I wouldn't mind an announcement that the price is going down.

Sorter wrote:

Darkhawk wrote:

All I say, since ppl are so eager for this letter thing,

Be careful what you wish for.

Are you all really sure you want to read this letter? What if it means the servers shut down and MxO end we have all been dreading (but not exactly unsuspecting)?

Are you sure you want to read it then?
I'll hope for the bight side, and it'll mean better news than that - but .. it's MxO after all.

Wally will get to it when he gets to it. Maybe he doesn't want to put it out, because of the uproar that will ensue.

Oh well.

I'd rather hear bad news than no news.  I'd prefer to know if there is a shutdown date, if there is one, so I can plan accordingly.  Always better to know the bad news then to keep things hidden from us (which accomplishes nothing except creating lots of resentment).

This

Procurator wrote:

People are still waiting for the letter? It may yet appear, but it's not worth waiting for... it'll materialise when it materialises.

I guess the game is stuck like this now, and the letter will confirm this, but at $15 a month, well... that's a bit poor. I wouldn't mind an announcement that the price is going down.

i agree i like this game if i can id probaly play as long as i can but im having a hard time seeing what 15$ goes for when were not paying for any devs  that work on this game and i doubt that 15 bucks is the cost for keeping the servers up.

SonnyBlack wrote:

Sorter wrote:

Darkhawk wrote:

All I say, since ppl are so eager for this letter thing,

Be careful what you wish for.

Are you all really sure you want to read this letter? What if it means the servers shut down and MxO end we have all been dreading (but not exactly unsuspecting)?

Are you sure you want to read it then?
I'll hope for the bight side, and it'll mean better news than that - but .. it's MxO after all.

Wally will get to it when he gets to it. Maybe he doesn't want to put it out, because of the uproar that will ensue.

Oh well.

I'd rather hear bad news than no news.  I'd prefer to know if there is a shutdown date, if there is one, so I can plan accordingly.  Always better to know the bad news then to keep things hidden from us (which accomplishes nothing except creating lots of resentment).

I hope SOE will see the Potencial of Mxo. With this License they can get more and more Money if they add Content. But now since Rarebit left ....

if they havent the last 3 years they had this game the wont now.

nubious81 wrote:

Procurator wrote:

People are still waiting for the letter? It may yet appear, but it's not worth waiting for... it'll materialise when it materialises.

I guess the game is stuck like this now, and the letter will confirm this, but at $15 a month, well... that's a bit poor. I wouldn't mind an announcement that the price is going down.

i agree i like this game if i can id probaly play as long as i can but im having a hard time seeing what 15$ goes for when were not paying for any devs  that work on this game and i doubt that 15 bucks is the cost for keeping the servers up.

QFT

Do not expect a Producer's Letter.Walrus was kind enough to answer some of our questions in the party..And believe me,you already know the answers!

TonyJaa wrote:

Do not expect a Producer's Letter.Walrus was kind enough to answer some of our questions in the party..And believe me,you already know the answers!

Not everyone was able to attend that party.  A simple official statement would be very appropriate.....right from the Horse's Walrus' mouth

TonyJaa wrote:

Do not expect a Producer's Letter.Walrus was kind enough to answer some of our questions in the party..And believe me,you already know the answers!

If they are not going to do anything with the game.  They should atleast unlock Smithlings Snowmen halloween boxes and zombie areas where once you leave the area you turn back to normal. Have various spawns of all the enemies MxO has ever faced pop up threw out the city just not tons of them. I would like to also see Level 100 Spawns of SimMorpheus and all the other main folks from MxO that will drop various items from Constructs and other favored items. So we are atleast some what entertained.  Otherwise its just The Matrix Onlineance Dance Simulation.

Walrus basically said he had no new information.  When he gets some firm details im sure he will share them.

Renesis13B wrote:

Walrus basically said he had no new information.  When he gets some firm details im sure he will share them.

Honestly, if Walrus gets some new information for us and obtains something that will give MxO a decent future (byt this I mean a leading dev, of course), I'm ready to wait for a producer's letter with an announcement of it all for one more month. Hey, I could wait two months even!   

deimoslvov wrote:

Renesis13B wrote:

Walrus basically said he had no new information.  When he gets some firm details im sure he will share them.

Honestly, if Walrus gets some new information for us and obtains something that will give MxO a decent future (byt this I mean a leading dev, of course), I'm ready to wait for a producer's letter with an announcement of it all for one more month. Hey, I could wait two months even!   

What he said.

cloudwolf wrote:

deimoslvov wrote:

Renesis13B wrote:

Walrus basically said he had no new information.  When he gets some firm details im sure he will share them.

Honestly, if Walrus gets some new information for us and obtains something that will give MxO a decent future (byt this I mean a leading dev, of course), I'm ready to wait for a producer's letter with an announcement of it all for one more month. Hey, I could wait two months even!   

What he said.

Of course you could wait those two months and still not see a Producers letter. Waiting is all well and good.. when you know one is coming.

Walrus is probably busy looking for a job, I mean, it's not like there's any producing going on anymore. 

He's over at The Agency.

I think what grinds my gears the most is the fact these negative vibes on the forums can be sorted with one post or "letter", That's his one job to do "in the public eye" and it has not been done. Maybe Wally will surprise us and ACTUALLY source a dev no one really knows, but right now my magic 8 ball is telling me that the "Outlook is not so good".  We have taken plenty of kicks to the face from SOE at this point and  the community has always looked to the brighter side of things, I really don't think another one will hurt us any more at this point.

Greetings, redpills, programs and old dusty lesbian vampires!

2008 was an exciting year and many changes have occurred to the format of your favorite MMO.  We're truly sad that Rarebit departed but we wish him well.  Despite the fact that you all are dying to hear some news about the state of MxO, there just isn't any to report at this time.

So keep enjoying this wonderful game and I'll see you on the other side of the looking glass!

<3 Walrus

XD

Thats more than likely what its actually going to be lol

Riac. wrote:

I think what grinds my gears the most is the fact these negative vibes on the forums can be sorted with one post or "letter", That's his one job to do "in the public eye" and it has not been done. Maybe Wally will surprise us and ACTUALLY source a dev no one really knows, but right now my magic 8 ball is telling me that the "Outlook is not so good".  We have taken plenty of kicks to the face from SOE at this point and  the community has always looked to the brighter side of things, I really don't think another one will hurt us any more at this point.

Operative, you are 100% Right and 0% Wrong.  A simple courtesy note would be all it takes.  Just be up front with us and tell us what the story is.  Even if there is no story.  Knowing is better than not knowing.  We deserve that much, I think.

When I resubbed (after only a two-month hiatus-- thanks Rarebit), I told myself that I would just stick it out this time, until the end. Especially since the end seemed a lot closer now.

But the fact is, I don't have any reason to jack-in anymore. All my friends have gone and I'm not that good at pvp, so yeah. . .

I guess whether I stay or not is going to depend on Walrus. If I don't see any good news from him within a week regarding the future of this game, I'm cancelling again.

im at the same boat my sub ends the begining of may and unless we get a price cut or the game goes free i dont see why i should continue as walrus said all are people are on dc universe or the agency i dont see that this game is worth 15 bucks and i may leave come may i have to think about it...

ZippyTheSquirrel wrote:

He's over at The Agency.

Oh yeah.  I knew that.

Still waiting for that producer letter.  :p

Sorter wrote:

Operative, you are 100% Right and 0% Wrong.  A simple courtesy note would be all it takes.  Just be up front with us and tell us what the story is.  Even if there is no story.  Knowing is better than not knowing.  We deserve that much, I think.

As we all know......

... pweety pweese wally?

I'm not sure what people are expecting from Walrus that he hasn't already said. There is no longer a developer, there are no plans for further updates to the game, the story is now in the hands of the players, and essentially the game is still being offered by SOE for those that want to try it. I mean if there's nothing else to say, then there's really no point for this "magical" letter.

CODEMAN wrote:

I'm not sure what people are expecting from Walrus that he hasn't already said. There is no longer a developer, there are no plans for further updates to the game, the story is now in the hands of the players, and essentially the game is still being offered by SOE for those that want to try it. I mean if there's nothing else to say, then there's really no point for this "magical" letter.

Is it...

instead of saying what we don't have maybe we can actually have at least one lil letter for our $15/£10 a month after all, im pretty sure it don't require C++ skills...

CODEMAN wrote:

I'm not sure what people are expecting from Walrus that he hasn't already said. There is no longer a developer, there are no plans for further updates to the game, the story is now in the hands of the players, and essentially the game is still being offered by SOE for those that want to try it. I mean if there's nothing else to say, then there's really no point for this "magical" letter.

Walrus wrote:

I understand the concerns you all have and am doing what I can to see that we address them. In the meantime, we are looking at ways to improve the game with what resources we have. With the upcoming anniversary, I owe Virrago an article, so you'll be hearing more from me soon.

This simple check-in by Walrus, which he had promised as you can see above, is requested by the MxO Community, so that we can just know where we stand....officially.  Anything else is Hearsay by every definition of the word.  Walrus said something to some guy ingame at a party?  Not good enough.  Sorry.

Sorter wrote:

This simple check-in by Walrus, which he had promised as you can see above, is requested by the MxO Community, so that we can just know where we stand....officially.  Anything else is Hearsay by every definition of the word.  Walrus said something to some guy ingame at a party?  Not good enough.  Sorry.

It was actually said to everyone who was at the official anniversary party in response to the questioning of both myself and other known and unknown members of the community.  Does this equal official?  I'd say it does, even if it doesn't replace a proper Producer's Letter which he had previously stated he would be writing.  Just because you weren't there to hear it doesn't mean it wasn't said.

Shinryu wrote:

Sorter wrote:

This simple check-in by Walrus, which he had promised as you can see above, is requested by the MxO Community, so that we can just know where we stand....officially.  Anything else is Hearsay by every definition of the word.  Walrus said something to some guy ingame at a party?  Not good enough.  Sorry.

It was actually said to everyone who was at the official anniversary party in response to the questioning of both myself and other known and unknown members of the community.  Does this equal official?  I'd say it does, even if it doesn't replace a proper Producer's Letter which he had previously stated he would be writing.  Just because you weren't there to hear it doesn't mean it wasn't said.

Oh I'm not saying it wasn't.  I'm just saying telling people at an event that not everyone was able to participate in (for whatever reason) is no substitute for a simple letter that can be drafted in two minutes and given to Virrago to put up on DN1.

Sorter wrote:

Shinryu wrote:

Sorter wrote:

This simple check-in by Walrus, which he had promised as you can see above, is requested by the MxO Community, so that we can just know where we stand....officially.  Anything else is Hearsay by every definition of the word.  Walrus said something to some guy ingame at a party?  Not good enough.  Sorry.

It was actually said to everyone who was at the official anniversary party in response to the questioning of both myself and other known and unknown members of the community.  Does this equal official?  I'd say it does, even if it doesn't replace a proper Producer's Letter which he had previously stated he would be writing.  Just because you weren't there to hear it doesn't mean it wasn't said.

Oh I'm not saying it wasn't.  I'm just saying telling people at an event that not everyone was able to participate in (for whatever reason) is no substitute for a simple letter that can be drafted in two minutes and given to Virrago to put up on DN1.

My assumption is that Walrus  hasn't published the letter yet is because they are actually seeing what can be done to help us out.

Well I mean it COULD be absolute laziness on their part...but maybe things will fall in line for once and MXO will get a small hand out from Sony. ^_^

Another thing we must consider is that they are employees of SOE.  Everything they tell us has to be screened through SOE's 'gate-keepers' (a term those in communications/broadcasting already know).  Maybe the suits upstairs that sign Walrus's paychecks don't want him to say much, if anything, about the state of affairs with MxO.

As much as they love us, the devs can only say what their bosses say is ok to say.

I think at this point it's not so much a matter of people wanting to know what's going on as it is a matter of not wanting to be shafted on yet another thing we were promised, no matter how trivial. 

Walrus' lack of communication is symbolic of how we've been treated for a long time. 

Why oh why didn't i take the blueplill...look at me now.

TonyJaa wrote:

Do not expect a Producer's Letter.Walrus was kind enough to answer some of our questions in the party..And believe me,you already know the answers!

With all due respect to yourself TJ, I have a number of objections to your statement.

Someone once called me an "ungrateful *******" for critiscising Rarebit in /fc. My response was that I had nothing to be grateful for. Rarebit (and in the case of this discussion, SOE itself via Walrus) is not doing me a favour by bothering to give me content or organising an LE: he is not being charitable. It's a business for which I am paying full price for a service (more than full actually, because of the predjudice shown against non-American subscribers) and getting about 5% of what an MMO subscriber is entitled to expect.

Walrus (or anyone, I'm not picking on Walrus out of vindictiveness - anyone from SOE would be nice) should be doing a LOT more than answering selected questions at an in-game party that I very likely would not be able to attend beause I live on the other side of the world AND work anti-social shifts. Attention given to a select few from a select group that could turn up on one server in a particular two or three hour slot is NOT kindness, it's unprofessional and uncaring.

Jim78UK wrote:

(more than full actually, because of the predjudice shown against non-American subscribers)

To what do you refer?

Jim78UK wrote:

Walrus (or anyone, I'm not picking on Walrus out of vindictiveness - anyone from SOE would be nice) should be doing a LOT more than answering selected questions at an in-game party that I very likely would not be able to attend beause I live on the other side of the world AND work anti-social shifts. Attention given to a select few from a select group that could turn up on one server in a particular two or three hour slot is NOT kindness, it's unprofessional and uncaring.

While I sympathize and feel your pain with lack of content 100%, let me reiterate:

ArchDuke wrote:

Another thing we must consider is that they are employees of SOE.  Everything they tell us has to be screened through SOE's 'gate-keepers' (a term those in communications/broadcasting already know).  Maybe the suits upstairs that sign Walrus's paychecks don't want him to say much, if anything, about the state of affairs with MxO.

As much as they love us, the devs can only say what their bosses say is ok to say.

They can only tell us that much.  Anything more and their jobs could potentially ride on it.

Jim78UK wrote:

TonyJaa wrote:

Do not expect a Producer's Letter.Walrus was kind enough to answer some of our questions in the party..And believe me,you already know the answers!

With all due respect to yourself TJ, I have a number of objections to your statement.

Someone once called me an "ungrateful *******" for critiscising Rarebit in /fc. My response was that I had nothing to be grateful for. Rarebit (and in the case of this discussion, SOE itself via Walrus) is not doing me a favour by bothering to give me content or organising an LE: he is not being charitable. It's a business for which I am paying full price for a service (more than full actually, because of the predjudice shown against non-American subscribers) and getting about 5% of what an MMO subscriber is entitled to expect.

Walrus (or anyone, I'm not picking on Walrus out of vindictiveness - anyone from SOE would be nice) should be doing a LOT more than answering selected questions at an in-game party that I very likely would not be able to attend beause I live on the other side of the world AND work anti-social shifts. Attention given to a select few from a select group that could turn up on one server in a particular two or three hour slot is NOT kindness, it's unprofessional and uncaring.

This is not an attack against you but i want to clear this up.Like you,i live in a galaxy far far way(Greece).I happened to be on that party because Nubious told me on Vent!I had forgotten about it..

I never was a part of a "select group" and i had my fair fights with Rarebit.I agree with you,we are paying customers and we deserve more.Especially from our producer!My statement was based on the "vibe"(if you can say that) i got from Walrus answers.

But i really hope he proves me wrong...

Tick tock, tick tock...

Maybe Walrus will answer our questions on Fan Faire.

Walrus at Fan Faire:  "Alright folks, I know you have a lot of questions about the future of the Matrix Online and I'm here to help put a few of your worries to rest.  Now, I know--"

*interrupted by a Fan Faire aide whispering in his ear*

"Oops, gotta go folks.  We're meeting up with Ten Ton Hammer to talk about the Agency!  Make sure you look out for new information that we'll be releasing about the Agency soon!  See you on the other side of the looking glass, folks!"

*zoom!*