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The Matrix Online: Fan Faire Player Panel
MMORPG.com Staff Writer Carolyn Koh recently attended the Sony Online Entertainment Fan Faire in Las Vegas, Nevada. Today, she files this report from a panel held so that players and developers could talk about The Matrix Online.
Panelists:
Producer, Dan "Walrus" Myer
Developer, Ben "Rarebit" Chamberlain
Moderator:
Joel "Raijinn" Sasaki - Community Relations Manager
Attendance at this panel was modest, a total of 12, rising to 15 as a few drifted in after the panel started. The team of developers, however, was not deterred, as this was to be an informal exchange with the players. Raijinn started off with introductions all around the room and the banter started as Walrus started counting "land mines" that Raijinn dropped along the way. They referred to each other with their handles rather than first name, prompting me to ask where the Carpenter was.
"Why do you guys still play?" Walrus asked. "You must be crazy or you must really like it, and we hope you really like it." Laughter filled the room as replies of "Crazy!" and "Love it!" echoed through it. Players of The Matrix Online are pretty much a dedicated lot and they shared their favorite "Matrix" moments with the team.
One said, "It's the downtown area. When you jump off a building and you watch as the buildings flash by... 'Ahhhh... the Matrix!'"
"I love the cinematics and the voice-overs. It's like being in the movie," was another response.
"It's the live events," said another. "That's what The Matrix Online is all about." Many others concurred. "Can't beat the live events!"
Ahh, the live events. Unfortunately, the live events became a bit of a problem with the developers feeling as if they had to make each succeeding event bigger and better than the last, so much so that they were staging events requiring an enormous amount of manpower. As a result, the live events had to be scaled back to a more manageable level.
;)
As the exchange between the players and the development team continued, I picked up the sense that the flow of ideas seemed to be well developed due to the live events and exchange on the player forums.
"We like to get comments and ideas from the fans, and this is a great opportunity for us to learn more from you guys," said Walrus amid teasing banter back and forth about subjects and jokes well known to participants on the player boards such as the "little guy" on the building which became something of a mascot. "Justin the intern attained a cult following during beta," said Walrus. "We still refer to him as Justin the intern although he's a full time employee now.
The FanFaire in-game gift is a green tee-shirt which will be sent to players in the August 24th game update. "It's not uber, so you guys can't taunt others who don't have it," said Raijinn. "It's got the usual mediocre security buffs."
"It's also non-tradeable," Walrus joined in to some laughter. "If you trade it, we ban you." He continued by telling the players about a new in-game event that would happen soon. "Do you remember Piece of Blue Sky? We've got some major footage from Warner Brothers that we'll be showing next week. All American Rejects will be playing in the same places that the previous concert was held." The event will last a half hour and we were told that the synchronization was such that all players entering the area will be seeing the same footage. A player wanted to know if they would be designing t-shirts for that event as well. "We'll get back to you on it," was the reply.
Walrus then solicited feedback on CR2 (Combat Revision 2). The general consensus was that it was, "Better, but still needs work," a conclusion that the Devs themselves agreed to. "I'm still trying to get wall-kicks to trigger with some consistency again," said Rarebit. Consistency? The players were of the opinion they didn't work at all. "I think there may be three spots in the entire game you can consistently get a wall-kick to trigger, if that," said Walrus, but admitting that he could be wrong as players demanded to know where they were so they could test them out.
Ongoing problems were shared with candor: the Aikido moves which got out of synch and still need to be worked on, balancing disciplines; Walrus asked at point how many players were still Master Knife Throwers. "We're trying to fix it so it's balanced, not nerfed." He also shared with the players that some disciplines were never added because gaps in the system were filled with tweaks to other disciplines in CR2. "Also remember, this game was never balanced for PVP in the first place."
The Dev Team is also working on filling gaps in the clothing system, the main problem there being that they were rapidly reaching the maximum number of clothing objects in the world. Plans to redo the clothing system are on the table, but still under evaluation for technical feasibility. Org abilities are not done and are not functional, they admitted. Until they are able to flesh out the system and properly support it, they will not be.
What about development and improvements then? Players were not adverse to sharing those either. Downtown lag problems were fixed, the music and voice-overs have improved, the graphics are still fantastic. One player that had been with the game since beta said, "I had the worst computer ever, and it was still amazing."
Walrus was pleased with that. "We're proud to be able to say that we've always had great graphics despite the low system requirements."
The new player walk through has been revamped and continues to Mars Industrial now. There are new NPCs and collect items to pick up. New players will be better prepared for the "real world" of the Matrix. Walrus encouraged players to bring friends in with new buddy keys that were recently sent out. Why no ongoing trial then? It was a technical issue. All new game trials were being developed to integrate with the new Station Launchpad2, so we shall see one very soon.
As the session closed, Walrus asked, "Which Matrix movie do you guys like the most?" As fans debated the merits of each movie, Raijinn closed with "Well, come back at two. We'll be showing the first movie and we'll have refreshments. See you all later."
This is The Matrix Online - rather a bit of the "red-headed step-child" in Sony's stable of MMOGs, but still plugging along with a dedicated fan base and live events still being regular feature. For those that enjoy the The Matrix movies, it's the live events and the "Matrix Moments" that bring them back again and again to the world of The Matrix Online.
Ahh its nice to see the game I play not get a shitty reveiw........then again it was more like a news artical. I enjoyed reading it though
Yep, I enjoyed my stay in MxO. My only problem was SOE. I don't do anything Sony.
This is one game I've always kind of been interested in. Unfortunately, recently I tried playing EQII, which seems good but I couldn't quite get into it for some reason. If Matrix ever surges with people, enough to where I know I won't be left in the cold after joining up, I'll give it a good try.
Lol, talking about MxO is kinda necrophilia. Loving the dead.
Did I read that right? Only 12-15 actual players rocked up to this panel....
Who doesn't see MxO going the way of the Auto Assault MMO ....
The game is a disaster.
It went pretty much downhill after the beta.
As a Matrix fan, i am very disappointed.I can't believe that the Wachowski brothers still let this thing tarnish their creation.
First they started removing the content from the beta,then the iconic characters from the movie(either by changing their appearance or altogether).The only reason why i continued to play the game is because of the events and their continuation of the storyline but mainly because of the great guild that i was a part of (CoZ).It all started off good.From voice actors to cinematics to the epic story driven events.
Now, they have replaced the in game cinematics with pencil drivel slideshows and pretty much killed all of the main cast from the movies.The epic events are gone as well and now we're stuck with a half assed player operated events team.
The developers have not improved nor introduced any real new content to the game.
It took these morons years just to remove a (the) sound looping bug.They never should've let SONY get their hands on this at all.
They've managed to ruin SWG and now this too.
All in all,it's an insult to all Matrix fans.
I just simply don't understand why this game is still around.It makes no profit whatsoever nor does it contribute anything positive to the franchise.
I'm glad I didn't try retail....
And funny to see that this stuff is still around...o_O
Allow me to express my complete sympathy on the opinion you gave on this one. You completely summarized what I think as well (except for the guild part since mine was kind of crappy even).
It would really be so simple to try and revive this dying game. Give it back it's REAL MATRIX content, give it back what was taken (after balancing tests), offer a BIG SPECIAL EVENT FREE TRIAL thingy... but alas 'It's a Sony'... which means: 'it's ruined'
The 3rd movie tarnished their creation long before this game did. Still, I did try the game and found it extremely lacking. Can't believe it's still alive.
Pass me a shovel - this ones dead just not yet buried.
You realise the talk about killing off all the characters and not adding any content is pretty much all ignorance and internet provardo, the ONLY character who got killed off was Morpheus (yes a big one, but still only one) - if anything they've added MORE iconic characters with the returns of The Twins and The Trainman.
As for content, to think they've added nothing after 2 1/2 + years is plain stupidity.
Yes population is niche but with the positive reactions i see from buddy key trialers every day i think its fairly safe to say the game's definately still enjoyable and worth a shot, afterall, the only way to make population better is to just take the plunge and join up isn't it?
Anyway, keep on eye out for the perma trial come launchpad 2 or just pick the game up from D2D for $20
I quit playing MxO because I got tired of paying $15 a month to be treated like a red-headed stepchild by SOE. MxO was my entry to MMOs, and to be honest I still love the game despite having moved to LOTRO. Enough people play regularly to sustain it, they are into the lore enough to keep the game rooted, and the developers have as much if not more commitment to the game than the players. The Dev-run live events further the story, the interlock combat system is intricate and challenging, and the crafting system is unique. By way of 'dedication of the players,' a buddy of mine named Havocide (Syntax Server) flew from England (or Ireland, I never remember which island he's from) to attend Fan Faire... For MxO.
The problem lies not in the game or the drive/desire of the Developers, but rather in the lack of attention by SOE. They have MxO on a skeleton crew and use their inability to produce as much as - say - EQ/EQ2 as a reason to remove more funding from the operation, which further reduces staff, which further decreases productivity, which further reduces funding, etc... SOE is choking out what could be one of their best games and they either don't realize it or know only too well they are bleeding it dry.
Oh and check your stats: Morpheus is the only 'iconic' character killed in game (and he was code-bombing the system; it was only a matter of time before he hacked the wrong people off), but a simulacrum of him now exists. Minor characters have now transitioned to major players such as the Kid, the Twins, and the Trainman. And for those who never knew there have been new 'iconic' characters added to the lore, such as Cryptos and Veil (leaders of the 'Cypherite' movement), Agent Pace (a female agent) and Agent Grey, Shimada (the Kid's right-hand woman helping him lead E Pluribus Neo), and most importantly the Effectuator (a... You'd have to jack in. It takes too long to explain the Exile we lovingly call 'Effy.')
In the end this article was good, but it does not tell you how awesome the Matrix Online truly is. To paraphrase the words of Morpheus, "No one can be told what the Matrix [Online] is. You must see it for yourself."
sadly i belive the game has been closed in a grand finale causing every player to be crushed. I feel mabye the origional creator (or sony) could make a deal with sony and bring it back. If it's not i want to know! i have wanted to try it a while but i didnt have a pc until after it went bye bye. i would like to see how it is. i love the matrix movies, all of them, and i wish i could have played the game. i hope at least one of the developers reads this and gets the game back to life. it sounds fun.