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The Matrix Going Massively Multiplayer
Chembro writes "Looks as though Ubi Soft is making a Matrix MMORPG. Everything is still pretty sketchy now that Revolutions has "ended" the series, but so far it seems pretty interesting. I wonder when the game will be placed (i.e. before Revolutions or after) but this could be the way the Wachowski brothers keep the universe going and how it will end. Pretty cool if you ask me."
Bet you wont see this until 1stQ 2005 at the earliest.
no MMPORPG ever gets finished on time.
An infinite number of monkeys will eventually come up with the complete works of
What is this "respawn" thing you speak of? Multiplayer online games would be a lot better without players respawning in the same round they die in. Take Counter-Strike. *Excellent* model. You get shot, you're dead until the end of the round. With other games, you get shot, you die, you wait 20 seconds, you respawn, you run back you kill someone in a suicidal move, you die and they die, you wait 20 seconds, you respawn, you run back, etc. Lame. It cheapens the value of your character's life by giving you no real incentive to not get shot.
I mostly agree with you, and I think that Battlefield1942 almost achieved perfection. The only problem with that was being able to respawn at any captured point. You should have one main respawn base that you respawn at on re-inforcement waves. My only bitch is that most multi-player servers have the respawns set at 20s (understandable, to keep the game play quick) and that discourages proper teamplay.
You get a lot more teamwork if death is penalized.
Dacels Jewelers can't be trusted.
Do you even read the links you submit?
The TMO website states quite clearly when the RPG takes place (right after Revolutions) and that it will be based on plotlines guided by the Wachowskis.
There are two sides in the game--those who want people to remain in the Matrix (sort of a Cipher mindset), and those who feel everyone should be free because the Matrix is not real (like a Morpheus mindset).
There will be bullet-time and even possibly agents. It'll be everything Enter The Matrix wasn't. Nightclubs, actual traffic, and so forth will all exist in the game. It will be one big urban city, because according to the Wachowskis, the Matrix is one massive urban landscape.
All of that info, I got just from reading the official website the submitter linked to. Clearly, the submitter didn't even bother, instead asking when it takes place and saying how cool it seems if you ask him. Uh, yeah.
"Sufferin' succotash."
Everquest, AC, and AO all use original backgroups set in familiar genres (Fantasy for EQ and AC, SF for AO). Players have some general expectations based on the genre, but no specific characters/story requirements. (Although any fantasy game that has a Ranger class seems to run into some problems for every way that their Rangers differ from Aragorn).
DAoC used Arthurian, Celtic, and Norse mythology for its background, loosely. This was a brilliant move on Mythics part--it gave them background that people would know something of, but because there are few specific characters and stories that most people are overly familiar with in those settings, it doesn't overly focus people's expectation.
Now consider SWG. Although it is doing well, it has had a problem with disappointment for not living up to what many people want from a Star Wars game. The Star Wars universe is too strongly focused on a few characters and stories, and people playing a Star Wars game often want to be those characters. Far more people want to play Han Solo than play the guy Han Solo buys his guns or beer or hairstyling from.
The Matrix, I think, might suffer from this. (As will the upcoming LotR MMORPG, BTW). The focus of the movies is too strongly on a small set of characters, and people will want to play those characters, or at least play with them, doing the the things that were done in the movie.
Also, both The Matrix and the good SW movies were basically about world (galaxy, universe) changing events. If the games don't have that, many people will find them disappointing, compared to their expectation, which will basically be playing the movies.
In light of the above, here are some movies/TV shows I thing would make good MMORPG conversaion.
First, I'm surprised there has not been a Star Trek MMORPG. Sure, in some ways ST suffers from the same problems that SW and LotR have...but because there were several series, focusing on different crews (original, next gen, DS9, Voyager, Enterprise), I think the focus has been diluted enough that it would work. Set it in TNG time, and I think people could accept being on ships other than Enterprise, or space stations other than DS9.
Second movie that comes to mind is either Antz or A Bug's Life. Those would work because there was only one movie for each, and though they focused on basically one character/story each, I don't think one movie is enough to form the strong association between the character and the world.
"It also would bring more power to the statement by the Merovingian that choice is an illusion between people with power and people without it. It would have been extremely dark and definitive but still would have left people scratching their heads."
That would have ruined the movie. The real hero of this movie wasnt Neo, it was the Oracle. She created both Neo and Agent Smith in order to put the Matrix in jeopardy and give both the Machines and the Humans a common problem to solve. Since the humans had the key ingredient (Neo) to fix it, they had a bargaining piece to demand peace with the machines. It was an interesting solution because it meant the Matrix could stay online, and those outside of it could live a peaceful existence, they wouldn't feel the need to try to destroy it.
I personally found this fascinating. I thought it was interesting that it was a machine/program who wanted piece and risked her own existence for it. It meant the machines weren't totally evil. By ending the movie by causing things to be like they planned, it'd destroy what made this ending exciting. And for what, proving the point that shit happens? It's easy to write movies that end on a bad note. It's hard to write movies where problems are solved in engaging ways.
"Derp de derp."
I agree with NanoGator, but I have to add that "Merv" was a power-monging machine who's underlying purpose - it seems - was to dispell hope. People with power also make sure they keep their power and will do or say anything to sustain that goal. I, for one, took everything he said with a grain of salt. I mean, most people don't trust rich, powerful people in the real world (our time) - why should they be trusted in the Matrix - especially when it is a world created to sustain the self-aware machines. They practically destroyed humanity to sustain themselves.