How The Game Is Played

Department of Bad Ideas

I'm sure you folks are getting tired of my rolling MxO (Matrix Online) report so unless something really interesting or unusual comes up this will be my last report for awhile on that subject.

I am also using this is as a chance to introduce what I hope will be an irregular feature of my blog-- the Department of Bad Ideas. The Department of Bad Ideas is reserved for things that people just really should have thought more about before doing. Things you look at for a minute and go "That was a Baaaaad idea."

The inaugural entry to the Department of Bad Ideas goes to the Matrix Online again I am afraid. Last night MxO kicked off the start of their first on-l;ine "event." This is a big part of what they have promised with this product to differentiate it. On-going, heavily plotted game changes that pull us a long in planned story that continues the story of The Matrix.

To kick off the story, last night the Matrix started having severe problems. if you asked around enough you could eventually find an NPC or other clue that told you that someone is sabatoging the matrix.

Cute idea. But doing it now was a baaad idea.

The software system that runs this game, as you;ve heard me report, is hardly stable yet itself. Now they are introducing plot-driven failures into the system. The problem ofcourse is that us players can't tell the difference between a planned "matrix failure" and a matrix online system bug, the latter of which abound. The result is two-fold. For those of us who understand what they are trying to do, our efforts to understand the "story" and investigate the mystery are confounded to the point of ultimate frustration.

Even worse, for those new to the game, it just looks like an even WORSE even BUGGIER game then it is. They already have people leaving because of legitimate bugs, making the situation worse is not going to help their bottom line.

And so THE bottom line is this.... welcome, my MxO friends, to the department of bad ideas.

Post Script: I've been hard on the MxO guys, and there are a lot of reasons to be hard on them. I can't leave the subject though wthout commending their customer support team. Harried at the moment I am sure to the point of tearing their hair out, they continue to be friendly, considerate and helpful. They fixed both the problems I mentioned earlier with my account so I am back up and playing, even if the game is still very difficult to play in its current state.

Posted at 03:47PM Apr 06, 2005 by gameguy in General  |  Comments[2]