24 Hours In The Matrix

Both E! Online and Gamespy have looks at the most recently launched Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying game, The Matrix Online. From the Gamespy article: "Since the close of the beta, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment announced that it has employed a troupe of 20-odd people whose job it will be to enact narrative scenarios in The Matrix Online live. These people will assume the roles of popular characters, interact with players, and generally move the stories in ways that only live "actors" can."

Comments

How Cool?

[Dubpal]

While it's a nice idea, 20 actors over a massive environment containing thousands of players seems to be spreading it a little thin. For the average user, are these actors going to have any real impact on a player's experience? Seems to me if the game gets anywhere as popular as other MMORPGs, you're going to have little chance of interacting with an actor.

Great, but..

[cluke]

This is great and all, but the problem is that in games like this, everybody is determined to exist *outside* the game. People aren't playing against the game, they are playing against the rules - as if the designers have set them a challenge of how to defeat the system. This renders all role-play bogus. It is all the worse in MMORPGs like this (as opposed to single player RPGs), where peer pressure ensures that highest level = the winner.
I mean, let's not kid ourselves, for all this fancy talk, we know that this game is all about whomping mobs and collection phat loot, whilst "omfg wtf lolling" with strangers. A few role-playing actors aren't going to fix that.

Re:Tough choice

[nacturation]

E! Online and Gamespy... hard to say which company's game reviewing I respect most...
--
FreeiPods.com [freeipods.com] is legit (See Journal)

And this coming from a guy hawking an iPod pyramid scheme. Hm... ;-)