Interview With Sundog of Radio Free Zion

RosethornKB writes "KillerBetties.com has an interview with Sundog of Radio Free Zion, an internet broadcast whose purpose is to entertain players of The Matrix Online and will broadcast live events when the game goes live. From the article: "Rosethorn: How will you manage multiple server coverage? Sundog: We are trying to develop enough of a following in beta to allow us to support a different stream for each server, with its own DJs and coverage. So far, the community has been wonderfully supportive of what we are trying to do and hopefully that will translate into the right numbers to allow us to expand that much when the game goes fully live this spring.""

Comments

Now, this is awesome

[zwei2stein]

Now, this is awesome, one can listen to live broadcats from work, stregthening addiction more than ever.

Now if only they did WoW too :)

-- no, im not german

Re:Now, this is awesome

[Klar]

Back in the day, I used to play Asheron's Call. There was an internet radio station at the time (CPRadio) that covered several events in the game. It was pretty cool, cause you got commentary of events, mixed with some good music.

And I don't think most RPG'rs need anything extra to strengthen their addiction.

Re:Now, this is awesome

[Rallion]

There are a couple WoW streams, but nothing close to the awesomeness that these guys are striving for!

Re:Now, this is awesome

[Vacindak]

Eve Online has had its own fan-supplied radio broadcasts for ages now. The most recent and successful of these stations being eve-radio. Actually, one of the main people behind eve-radio just started working for Blizzard. Go figure.

Clever idea

[chris09876]

The guy does have a point - communities are important in MM online games. I'm not sure music is the right way to bring everyone together (he identified the issue of people having different music tastes...). I know I'm quite picky about my music and I'd rather listen to things I enjoy. ...but having some kind of server-specific radio station talking about recent server events, or organizing current events would be quite cool.

Nice interview

[antivoid]

Not a bad interview...

I havent *actually *listened** to RFZ, but have heard it is relatively good...

I enjoyed the matrix movies, as well as the matrix music and so on that goes worth it.

I wander when the time will come that radio streams will overtake traditional FM radio in lister quantity... Can it happen?

Re:Nice interview

[PDXNerd]

It already has. I once worked for Measurecast (now owned by Arbitron, the folks who bring you metrics of how many listeners are tuned into a specific terrestrial station or online stream). Back in 2000, there were online streams that easily equaled popular terrestrial stations in metro areas.

Fast forward to 2005 where broadband penetration into homes has quadrupled and EVERYONE listens to streaming radio at work. Then again, I'll bet that during the commute, double those numbers listen to the radio. Which is longer, the work day or drive-time?

Overall I'd say that ALL terrestrial radio stations combine out-do internet stations. Take the most popular stream metrics and compare those to your local favorite radio station. I'd bet the intenet destroys it (unless you live in a large metro area with more than a couple million people.)

Check out http://www.emerging.com/research/measurecast_index .shtml and see the numbers for yourself for online streams.

Hum..

[ackthpt]

Sounds about as exciting as flipping through the AM radio dials as the ionosphere descends. Or maybe less so.

Novel idea, maybe it'll pay off in non obvious ways.

MxO-FCC

[musikit]

so if he starts talking about "freeing ones-self" will the Matrix Online FCC take away his digital broadcasting license? or will his co-workers turn into agents and kill him?

Re:MxO-FCC

[mmkkbb]

I think it would be very cool (although difficult) to have that happen, especially if it affected anyone listening to the station in-game.

Am I alone...

[HarveyBirdman]

...in finding stuff like this incredibly uninvolving and a waste of time?

Maybe I just woke up extra cynical today, which you wouldn't think possible.

City of Heroes did that already

[Walkiry]

Justice Radio has been doing pretty much the same in City of Heroes, specifically for the Justice server (funny that).

Re:City of Heroes did that already

[kacp]

"The Cape" http://www.cohchat.com/ on Virtue server did the same. It was shut down for a month or two, but is starting back up this weekend.

Re:City of Heroes did that already

[Agent Green]

And MMORadio, formerly Paragon Radio, is open to themes and ideas from more than just CoH, but SWG, WoW, EQ/EQ2, MxO, etc.

Definitely worth spending time listening to, and staffed 'round the clock.

been done.

[banre]

FWIW, there are already radio stations for other MMORPGs. The one that comes to mind is GridStream productions http://gridstream.org/ for Anarchy Online.

MAtrix Online : nuff said

[Gopal.V]

After I saw Ctrl+Alt+Del's review , I pretty much knew what would happen in this game. Now they have elevator music played to keep people around ?. (I hope it's not britney-pop ...)

Live audio with Shoutcast/Icecast is a great idea, but don't spoil my ping times with it (guess what *I* play).

Re:MAtrix Online : nuff said

[VertigoAce]

This isn't being done on the Matrix Online servers. Radio Free Zion is a fan-run server that is streaming music and other features. If your interconnection can't handle it, you wouldn't use it (and listen to the normal in-game music or run winamp in the background).

Re:MAtrix Online : nuff said

[untaken_name]

Diggity, check yourself before you wreck yourself.

For proper and full effect, the line must be rendered as, 'Chiggidy check yourself before you wriggidy-wriggidy-wreck yourself.' Please note the correction. Also, please note that fuckin' wit' tha Cube ain't good for ya health. Thank you.

Is this wise?

[Odonian]

How long before the Sentinels detect his signal and rip him into itty bits?

Re:Is this wise?

[Rhsqueak]

They won't bother. They're too busy laughing at us.

Over-saturated market with bad movie tie-in?

[cyocum]

I was reading this with the thought, "After the last two movies flopped or were generally panned, why are they doing this?" The other thought that I had was, "isn't the MMORPG market over-saturated as it is?"

It seems that this is going to be a huge flop because of these two facts. Are we entering the age of horrible movie tie-in MMORPGs? Remember the last Matrix related game? It was pretty much running through hallways with 200+ pages of dialog.

Re:Over-saturated market with bad movie tie-in?

[Rock72174]

This game plays a lot differently and much better than other MMORPG's - even in its current beta state. So while there may be a lot of these "types" of games out there, this one is more unique.

As far as the movie tie in, sure, it picks up right where the third movie left off but is completely different than the other game you mentioned (Enter the Matrix). Other movie themed games, like Star Wars Galaxies, just painted that movie's image onto a basic game. In SWG you can sort of partake in the galactic war but what you do has no bearing on the overall outcome because the time frame is set within the movies (the movies decided the outcome). With the Matrix Online the story is progressing forward and the players will have an impact on how the story turns out. No one has done that defore. It's going to be a huge success.

Re:Over-saturated market with bad movie tie-in?

[untaken_name]

With the Matrix Online the story is progressing forward and the players will have an impact on how the story turns out. No one has done that defore.

Do you really believe that, or are you some sort of marketroid? Ultima Online did that, Everquest did that, I hear Anarchy Online did too.

Re:Over-saturated market with bad movie tie-in?

[Rock72174]

Ultima Online, Everquest, and Anarchy Online had movie tie-ins? I must have missed those movies...

Re:Over-saturated market with bad movie tie-in?

[untaken_name]

Here are your words, dipshit.

With the Matrix Online the story is progressing forward and the players will have an impact on how the story turns out. No one has done that defore.

Where the fuck do those sentences mention movie tie-ins? You said 'no one has ever progressed a story forward and had players impact how the story turns out' and I proved you wrong. Now you're throwing in some bullshit straw man about movie tie-ins? Laughable. It isn't as though they're going to film another movie, but with the story written by characters in the MMORPG. What you claimed unique about the Matrix MMORPG is that players determine the direction of the story. Unfortunately, while that may be cool, it isn't unique as I pointed out. I don't think that the movie tie-in is unique, either, as you mentioned Star Wars Galaxies. So, I suppose that you *could* have stated it like this:
"The Matrix Online will be combining two things from other games: a movie tie-in, and a player-determined storyline." Of course, taking two things which are not unique and putting them together really isn't the same thing as innovating, now is it? Stating it the correct way wouldn't have been very compelling. Unfortunately, the truth isn't always compelling. That's why I asked if you were a marketroid...which you carefully avoided addressing.

Re:Over-saturated market with bad movie tie-in?

[Rock72174]

No, I'm not a "marketroid," I just don't get sucked into flame-baiting. Nice try, though.

I did mention movie tie-ins, however, you're conveniently ignoring the entire paragraph:
As far as the movie tie in, sure, it picks up right where the third movie left off but is completely different than the other game you mentioned (Enter the Matrix). Other movie themed games, like Star Wars Galaxies, just painted that movie's image onto a basic game. In SWG you can sort of partake in the galactic war but what you do has no bearing on the overall outcome because the time frame is set within the movies (the movies decided the outcome). With the Matrix Online the story is progressing forward and the players will have an impact on how the story turns out. No one has done that defore. It's going to be a huge success.

Yes, I did mention Star Wars Galaxies - in the sense that they have simply stuck the time frame in the middle of the movie cycle. Therefore, you really have no impact at all on the outcome of the story. With the Matrix Online you could consider the game the fourth movie - a ton of storyline has been written, the actors from the films have recorded voice-overs - but, ultimately, the players will determine how the story unfolds. No one has taken their mega-million dollar movie franchise and placed its continued story into the hands of the players - not Star Wars, not Middle-Earth Online - no one.

Re:Over-saturated market with bad movie tie-in?

[Evil_Timmy]

What the devs are going for (with the blessing/assistance of the Wachowskis, whatever that's worth post-Revolutions), is a continuation of the story. There's a truce between the Machines and Zion, and new redpills are being extracted at a steady rate. The Merovingian and other Exiles are still walking a line between the two, but with the other sides wounded, they're about equal in power inside the Matrix. The story continues with regular events, and the results of those events determine the next step in the story. It's far from freeform, but it's not based on PvE boss battles, more actor characters leading their faction.

The problem with the game at the moment is it hasn't differentiated itself from most other MMOs out there, outside of a few small areas (fully swappable skills are one of those). Money is called information (or i$) but doesn't function any differently; you get XP from mob hunting, dungeons (exile hangouts), and randomly-generated missions; there's a number of 'uber' items that most players of a certain level will be wearing. They've been very supportive of the community, though, so hopefully that'll continue through the launch and beyond, and they'll have enough development time before release to make it stand out.

They could use this for the next GTA

[British]

Imagine the next version of Grand Theft Audio having streaming audio for network-enabled PS2s. That way you woulnd't get sick of the same stations over and over while looking for spray tags, etc. Covering events in the game would be optional, but it does happen in San Andreas. You will hear scripted news reports after certain missions, giving it a nice touch.

Re:They could use this for the next GTA

[fimbulvetr]

I don't think there is enough ram in the current PS2. SA slows down enough when I got a lot of action going on, can't imagine what it'd be like if I was streaming audio.

Re:They could use this for the next GTA

[antivoid]

Dammit... Thats an excellent idea. I get so annoyed with the same old crap on the radio stations. This way, you will always have new stuff. Hell, For vice city, you could get a bunch of 80's radio stations (there are quite a few) although I will suspect that the radio DJ's and production crew will want a slice of profits... I could be a symbiotic relationship...

Re:They could use this for the next GTA

[JimmehAH]

I don't think there will be a new GTA for this generation of consoles. I think they'll wait.

Still, it's an excellent idea and it'd be cool if they implement it for the PC (and maybe even the xbox) version of the game due out in June.

Re:They could use this for the next GTA

[untaken_name]

Well, since you can already make your own radio station on the Xbox and PC versions of the GTA:III and GTA:VC, why would you need some sort of internet-requiring streaming radio station? On the PC, you just put links to mp3 files (or the files themselves) into a specific folder, and there you go. You have a radio station called 'MP3' that plays the files you put in that folder. Problem solved. I suppose you might miss that DJ 'banter' and 'wit', and if Rockstar wanted to be nice they might include a few MP3s in that dir with that kind of thing on them. I just don't see why you would want lower-quality music which also requires an internet connection when you can just pick your own tracks. Just my opinion, though.

Bets are on...

[Sodade]

How long will it take this game to be as big a flop as the last two movies in the trilogy were...

FM

[HarveyBirdman]

I gave up on FM long ago. The self-important, annoying dumbass DJs just became too much. Oh, gee, the DJ just implied that at some time in his distant past he might have though about "toking a doob". Wow. What a fucking rebel! Ooo! He just made a joke implying Bush is a big dummy. Wow. What a fucking radical!

Just spin another corporate record, monkey-boy. And know that the ability of talking your blather over a song just until the vocals start is the most useless skill known to humanity.

Well, back to my MP3 harvesting.

Re:FM

[adam31]

Oh man, that's what I thought til I moved to Seattle, the realm of 90.3 kexp. It's what everyone wants their radio stations to be... you can listen for hours and hear no songs you recognize, but still be thoroughly entertained the entire time.

No commercials, DJs who know their job is to spin tunes and not blah, blah... Anyway, you can listen over the internet from their site

In other news

[Tibor the Hun]

Both beta testers said they were deeply hurt when they realized that they were not in fact playing an online demo of TRON 2.0.

This isn't anything new or revolutionary.

[Anonymous Coward]

MMOG's have had radio stations dating back to the heyday of Ultima Online.

Gridstream Productions of Anarchy Online (www.gridstream.org) is by far the biggest and most successful MMOG radio station out there. Daily live DJ parties, constant music, and special events on the weekends... you name it, GSP has done it. Pretty much everyone who's played AO for longer than 2-3 months has heard of GSP or is an active listener. GSP has crashed entire zones of the world with thier parties. They take care of the musical genre problem by having a variety of DJ's who all have slightly different musical tastes. If you don't like the music one night, tune in another to see if you like the music then.

I'm more intrigued that theres a matrix MMORPG

[Anonymous Coward]

I mean wasn't the point of the movie that we're already in one?

Good Stuff

[th3walrus]

I used to broadcast a radio station for one of the in-game clubs for Anarchy Online when it first came out. It really helped build the community and immerse people in the club atmosphere.

We used to have dance competitions (as you could macro together different animations to create complex dance routines) and theme nights. Hell, I spent more time in the club playing music than I did out in the world on the level treadmill. Also I would do things like play "Bad Boys" when a group would walk in wearing cop armor.

Hopefully it will work out well for those Matrix inhabitants. My advice is tie it into the game world as much as possible. Set up a place in game to function as the radio station and have events. Radio "call-in" contests giving away in-game items might be cool to do. Things like that...

Re:Good Stuff

[goldspider]

"Set up a place in game to function as the radio station and have events. Radio "call-in" contests giving away in-game items might be cool to do."

Maybe I'm not really getting the concept of this game, but that seems somewhat out-of-place in a post-apocalyptic struggle for the freedom of humanity.

But then, the three-hour rave scene in Reloaded hardly seemed appropriate either.

Re:Good Stuff

[th3walrus]

that seems somewhat out-of-place in a post-apocalyptic struggle for the freedom of humanity

I'd say it depends on whether or not you're inside or outside the matrix. Inside they'd have to maintain some sort of cover to keep from being found out and eliminated.

Re:Good Stuff

[Rock72174]

But then, the three-hour rave scene in Reloaded hardly seemed appropriate either.

Hyperbole aside, the rave scene symbolized that even though chaos and pending doom surrounded them they were still human and had desires. It was a celebration of their humanity.

As far as the radio aspect, the game world takes place in the Matrix and never goes out to the real world. Gaming communities love to party by streaming radio so they must do so within the Matrix. At the beginning of the first movie Trinity met up with Neo in a club so there's a premise.

What I like is the idea that people are able to incorporate their own creative ideas (like a radio station) into a virtual environment.

Re:Radio Free ?????

[Anonymous Coward]

Ive always thought it meant underground/pirate, not official

Re:Radio Free ?????

[mmkkbb]

NATO countries used to point antennas into the Eastern Bloc to broadcast non-state media. This was known as Radio Free Europe.

Re:Radio Free ?????

[njfuzzy]

The problem in understanding "Radio Free XXX" is a matter of scope. Or, as a mathematician might visualize it, the order of operations.

It's: Radio (Free XXX)
Not: (Radio Free) XXX

You would recognize Radio Boston as meaning radio serving Boston, and so forth. Radio Downtown Boston would be radio serving downtown Boston. Likewise, Radio Free Europe meant, "Radio serving a free Europe".

Of course, in most cases, the "Free" part was a goal, not a current state. So when you hear "Radio Free Zion" you can assume that it is a radio station that hopes (or tries) to free Zion, while serving the Zion market.

I think Radio Free Europe was the original. Later examples may also include pirate radio stations. Generally, I think Radio Free XXX is going for a pirate radio, revolutionary feel.

Re:Making jokes about George Bush

[MassacrE]

Um, just because he is president doesn't mean I have to like him, anymore than I am forced to like my boss or employer.

Luckily, I have a lot more choice when it comes to getting a job than getting elected, so I happen to enjoy and respect the people making at least some of the decisions touching my life.

Re:Making jokes about George Bush

[HarveyBirdman]

The guy completely missed my point. I was picking on DJs who think it's so radical to be anti-Bush, but the AC dipshit read it as a defense of Bush.

And people wonder why I call ideology a mental illness.

How to offend lots of people, online

[panurge]

I've said this before and will probably say it again ...how to offend both Jewish and Christian communities in one easy title.

For the record, I myself am one of those Godless liberals GWB dislikes so much, but I do recognise that people have a right to their history and have a right not to have the names of their sacred objects abused. And Zion is a name of deep resonance in our culture, whether it is part of the demand for a Jewish homeland or whether it is referred to in Milton or the Requiem Mass. Nowadays, we are just getting to be culturally sensitive enough not to use the word Mecca out of context, and I doubt if the makers of the Matrix would have been stupid enough to do that. Or that they would have called their holdout The Vatican. Or Canterbury Cathedral. Or...I hope you get my drift.

But then, the people who made the film obviously don't even know what Matrix actually means. Goodbye Western culture, it was nice having you.

Re:How to offend lots of people, online

[jlapier]

You know, I have to agree with you (and I'm all out of mod points) - I loved the concept behind the Matrix, and the first one is a great movie, but the religious undertones really turn me off. I mean, the heroes of the story realize that their entire world is computer generated and all humans are being harvested for energy to power their robot overlords, yet for some reason they still read the bible?

Keep your religion out of my science fiction....

Re:Making jokes about George Bush

[untaken_name]

YHBT.

Video captures?

[antdude]

Did anyone video capture this? It sounds funny. :) I know they exist for SW:G and WoW games.

Re:Making jokes about George Bush

[media_Assassin]

What in the parent post would make you reply with "You Hate BitTorrent"? He was talking about FM radio and Bush.

Extended Play Interview

[Doc Ruby]

How do they pay for the music they publish? Do they have any license, or are they just broadcasting to their audience, increasing MO sales, without any compensation? Did they even buy the copies they're streaming, or just download pirated MP3s? Do the copyright owners know or care? What does the RIAA have to say about it, that might possibly be right? Even when RFZ produces their own business model, will it include compensation for the music makers, so the business is sustainable?

Re:Extended Play Interview

[Doctor Memory]

Since it's a virtual world, they're only virtually playing the songs, so normal copyright doesn't apply. Until the RIAZ shows up, anyway...

Re:Extended Play Interview

[Doc Ruby]

Maybe if the songs were playing only within the virtual space, from a stored virtual copy (whatever that is) through a virtual stream server (however that's different from a "real" software stream server), to a virtual player (ibid server), to a virtual player, who only reported that they were "hearing" the song to the human, not streaming the song itself to the human. The real song's copyright covers (or prohibits) the copying of that song to the virtual world, as that stored virtual copy, and the copying of the song from the virtual world to the real human. Or treat it as one transaction, with the virtual copies merely the transient instances akin to the "copy" of the song momentarily "stored" in the air between FM radio transmitter and receiver, or in the wires of the receiver and speakers. But the copy operation from the real copy to the human is controlled by copyrights, unless expressly released.

Re:Radio Free ?????

[mmkkbb]

Yes, and the use of the 'k' in "Radio Free Amerika" uses that feel to market itself to rebellious teenagers.

Re:Radio Free ?????

[Elwood P Dowd]

Generally, I think Radio Free XXX is going for a pirate radio, revolutionary feel.

More pirate than revolutionary. I know some guys that formed a jug band called "Jug Free America", and they are definitely more like pirates.

Re:Making jokes about George Bush

[untaken_name]

What, now *I'm* getting trolled? *eyeroll*
*yawn*
So, if I wanted to put a "hit" out on a nasty blank CD-R, are you the person I need to talk to?

Your use of "troll" is lacking.

[HarveyBirdman]

I think you need to look up the word "troll" in the context of the Internet. Nothing you have lebelled a troll has been a troll. One was misplaced sarcasm and the other was a mere quip.

Re:Your use of "troll" is lacking.

[untaken_name]

You were baited by an obvious post crafted to get your goat. That's being trolled. I was not baited by a similar post, but the intention was there. Trolling refers to a fishing term...putting lines out and hoping for a bite. link

Misplaced sarcasm and quips are often used by "trolls". Subtlety is no bar to entry.

Sundog of Radio Free Zion references

[NDSalerno]

I see the Matrix icon for this article but I can't help but think that the whole name has more Rush references than Matrix references. All these words come from various songs.

• Zion - Digital Man, from Signals
• Radio - Spirit of Radio, from Permanent Waves
• Free - Free Will, from Permanent Waves
• Sundog - Chain Lightning, from Presto

Nicholas

The best line in the interview ..

[jubei]

"We try and cover as wide a spectrum as our Matrix Online community covers - mostly, we play a mix of rock and techno."

While this isn't too surprising due to the nature of the game, it sounds like a slight against the players.

Insane...

[Eminence]

Lets just think... thousands of players immersed in a virtual world and DJs keeping a virtual radio station 24/7 for them, talking about virtual events in that world - this surely is a new frontier of insanity.

Re:Radio Free ?????

[Bourbonium]

You make me feel very old. Yes other posters have explained that during the Cold War (from around 1948 through 1991) Radio Free Europe was a NATO effort to broadcast uncensored news and entertainment programming to communist countries in Eastern Europe who were under the control of the Soviet Union. Since the fall of the USSR, the term Radio Free XXXAnything has been used to describe any form of uncensored broadcasting.

One of the earliest pirate radio stations in the 1990s on the west coast was called Free Radio Berkeley. The FCC shut it down, and has tried to jail and fine the operators, but they are fighting in court and have now re-established the station. But these days, they call it Berkeley Liberation Radio.

The Sims Online and even Quake

[Fricka]

The Sims Online had several radio stations. They were for the most part very organized and did "live" brodcasts within the game, they had trivia contest, interviews, etc. I created some t-shirts for one of the stations --it was a legit real world station with its own call letters. One night a week the station was also played at a real life bar. I can't help but wonder what the folks at the bar thought of the DJ shouting out to the people in Calvin's Creek or of invites to use the dance cages at Angel's House, etc. A co-worker of mine also tells me that Quake had Shoutcast. In short, this is not a new idea, nor will it be enough to "save" a game if the game itself isn't compelling to players (we all know how well The Sims Online has fared).

nT

[anonymous3050]

nT