The Matrix Online Goes Offline July 31

Trucidos

Hm... MxO in theory one of the best idea's for an MMO ever in reality a poorly constructed mess that should have been put out of it's misery years ago.

Believe it or not I started playing the game in early October 04 as an early closed beta tester "Thanks Eris ! :D"

During this time I had the pleasure of seeing behind the looking glass and having a front row seat to one of the biggest commercial disasters in MMO history.

First things first was the pre release logistical approach of development. Due to the intention of using Live Events as a main content source it seemed from day one social engineering and community building took a huge priority over any real speedy development structure or hands on focus testing.

As the first 50 in pre release beta and 7th overall (May be 8th or lower it's hard to really get an exact number from 2005) I took full advantage of a hollow shell of a game engine and a horribly disorganized development team at release. During my experience in beta outside of Ashencourte and Sakura the two starting instances in the game I was the first to get in there through natural leveling "although exploited".

What I saw after was troubling very little if any additions to constructs recoloring of models and the constant social engineering left me feeling like although unique at it's core gameplay was always a secondary concern. Especially competitive gameplay. Literally for a period of a couple month's very little was added to the game development time was spent moreso on exploit fixes which many smart gamers from organized groups like Collective Viral and Furious Angels subsequently discovered with simply connecting the dots.

While many people said the development was rushed I have to strongly disagree. WB frankly did the right thing in cutting the cord and watching it sink or swim. Monolith dragged it's feet more concerned with sky boxes and social engineering to build a strong foundation for their roleplay community than doing what they essentially went to school for and were paid for in developing a video game.

Now that's unfortunately only the start. Although social engineering was done it was done with the best interests of building a foundation at heart.. After the staff cut backs to merely one developer things got absolutely laughable. Players being given the authority to distribute the games main content and subscription source and a developer with self admitted bi polar disorder.

As the first person to earn a side organization Cypherite tag I found it utterly pathetic how the dissolving of the organizations were handled.

When critical missions and two of the five organizations were literally removed from the game instead of an official announcement from SOE what the players were treated to was the only developer having a nervous break down on the forums telling us he couldn't handle the pressure. This was first done on a private player volunteer forum where the player content distributors were asked to give feedback for the changes which most strongly opposed. Instead of having daily live events critical missions and five organizations the game was scaled back to three organizations 3 events or so a month and no critical missions for anyone. This was simply a self admitted move to reduce the stress the sole developer was going through.

I found this to be pathetic.. The Matrix IP and Sony allowing one guy to have a nervous break down and completely rescale a movie liscenced MMO. While you may here how much the guy did for the community which in some respects is true it was marred by constant mood swings selective content distribution from not only the players he had volunteer to help him do his job but also himself.

For instance I was the first Cypherite faction leader in MxO after solving a riddle puzzle first on the Data Node One forums. When our organization did not have an event for four months while others were receiving bi monthly events I complained on the official forums. The developer subsequently asked for my account to be banned which was later overturned by Moonlite head of SOE customer service for obvious reasons. The guy was running a mom and pop MMO overworked with a chip on his shoulder and he dragged on behavior and customer service like this on for two years.

Although I can sympathize in this economy I have to say at the end of the day as a consumer this game was ran like a Korean Free to Play joke from day one when Rarebit the sole developer took over. Better yet check the video out of him at SOE Fanfaire last year doing his storyline overview in Las Vegas. This guy sounded like a disgruntled employee and instead of trying to put on a happy face and promote the product he was the main face for he immaturely mocked it and spent the majority of his time making smart ass comments about players he didn't like at Vegas Buffets with 16 year olds...

Ironicly after the scale backs he put in place to reduce work load and focus on hand drawn cinematics to distribute content he quit SOE to start a donation online Web Comic. Although a talented individual anyone can see through the obvious self serving this man did and he completely restructured an entire MMO to fit his hobbies.

This game was ran like a family restuarant or liberal community record store not an MMO and it's a direct result why it failed. Although many fans may suffer from a glorified stockholme syndrome which will have them tell you "He tried his best. He did what he could with what he had" history and the closure of this MMO will speak otherwise.

To bad it already had lost so many subscribers by the time it shut down that noone cares but diehard fans.