losing the plot: is this common?

[Tidesong]

It appears to be fairly common in the online activties to have loose plots while they are still finding their feet so to speak. It is only once everything else is in place before plots start coming in.

[Frigid]

Originally Posted by Tidesong

It appears to be fairly common in the online activties to have loose plots while they are still finding their feet so to speak. It is only once everything else is in place before plots start coming in.

Finding their feet? How long does that take? How much *more* time do they need? In my opinion, they have lost their feet so I just quit worrying about storylines...though I still use them as an example to thump MA when applicable

[MarcusLucius]

over the time MA found out that they dont need to finish those plots.
ppl are whining here in forum but on the other hand putting tons of money day for day into the universe.

and honestly, i rather have no storyline at all if it all ends up like the "emmy awarded" tv-show-hollabaluza thing.

[JohnCapital]

A thought occurs to me:

We, in general are used to "plots" being finished up in mere hours.

Movies, tv shows, books, etc. all get wrapped up by bed time.

In the worst case scenerios, we have the dreaded trilogy. I remember when Lord of the Rings, Star Wars and other movies did this and I remember comments by folks who were pissed about having to wait 2-3 years for the ending.

And don't get me started on the 10+ years waiting for Harry Potter to get to the end.

And in those cases, they knew and ending was coming.

Well here we are, playing a game that, by MA's own admittance, is designed to last many, many years. They had to design a game plot that allowed for many, many possibilities (did making CND affect the overall plot, for example?)

So we've got a game story that can't be finished up in 5 years. It may not be able to be finished up in 10.

Shucks, it may have been tossed out the window. Those pretty berets we got came with a story saying the bots are no longer a real threat. Sounds like either part of the story's been scrubbed, or a new phase has been entered. A phase which will only make sense 10 years from now.

I'm not sure if the story's been scrubbed or if it's just moving so slow, we're just frustrated. All I do know is, here I am on Calypso and I'll continue on, working with whatever we're given.

[Dion Red Strike]

...Time to get neg rep'd by the crowd ...

It's my thought that some plots could take years to 'end'. If they ever end.... Look at the robot invasions...

If you look at real life events, a lot of events takes years to happen... well, anything of major substance anyhow....

I haven't once expected MA to 'end' an event on a set timeline... things kinda work themselves out naturally

Enjoy!

~Red

[SpikeBlack]

Taking years to finish a subplot in a story line may well reflect real life but as this is a game a story line should start and finish within weeks.

MA may have decided Ending the robot invasion was a good idea but they missed a chance to have a final big onslaught by them and to have us defeating them as the end after a week or so then give us the beret as a reward for defending Calypso, instead we got the beret and a note to say it was all over.

Single day events although nice for some are a waste of time especially if they're announced on the same day, I'm thinking the RX unit events the first was to give away the new explosive weapons, the second as an alternative when the second landgrab got cancelled at short notice and the last one seemed to be either someone in the office got bored or they thought they had better do something to show they're interested in us as they hadn't done anything else for a couple of months.

The defining characteristic of the note events was that you could take part without spending a single pec where as almost all other events seem to involve the requirement to spend huge amounts on ammo.

[Venture]

Originally Posted by Solaris

Logs...
Adam+Eve note "quest?"
Bio Labs...
Stadium...
Pet arenas...
Jukebox...
Bars...
Voting Boxes...
Vehicles...
Thorifoid Temple...
Desert Tripod Tower...
Secret Island / hidden oil rig...
Hades City shops...
Hades City Hospital...
Hades City...?
Feffoid raids...
Umbra army...
Armoured Mobs...
Robot Factory...
Boorums...
Thorkells Thomb...
Caves...
Oxford Museum exibitions...


oh darnit - I almost felt sick there for a moment

*hides badbad thoughts and runs back ingame*

Hidden oil rig? Oh please sir, do go on

[Centech]

MA is very good at starting things and really bad at finishing them.

I haven't played many other games tbh, but I don't think it is common to have so many half hearted and half finished events as EU does. Most 'events' or 'quests' have at least a start and an an end, usually with a differing amount of stuff in the middle. MA events just have starts, and maybe a little middle if you are lucky.

MA is really good at coming out with something new and causing buzz, but then not much really happens after.

[EarlVonKippler]

Originally Posted by JohnCapital

Shucks, it may have been tossed out the window. Those pretty berets we got came with a story saying the bots are no longer a real threat. Sounds like either part of the story's been scrubbed, or a new phase has been entered. A phase which will only make sense 10 years from now.

I'm not sure if the story's been scrubbed or if it's just moving so slow, we're just frustrated. All I do know is, here I am on Calypso and I'll continue on, working with whatever we're given.

i am still happy to explore, do agree i believe the robot threat plot just fizzled out. unless it is like bush's "mission accomplished" stunt* and the war really isn't over. but who knows. i agree with the 'plot' being slow, but do you know what? a bet a random sampling of players, not ef people, when asked "what is the plot?" they wouldn't have a clue how to answer. i know i barely do. so if that isn't messed up i don't know what is. the 'plot' isnt' at all obvious.

in any case, i hope so much when this cryengine conversion is complete we will FINALLY see something other than more window dressing. the vechicles, the structures, the entire world os so incredible, but almost completely non-interactive. i mean we can walk through trees for fucks sake. ** some rocks are solid, some are not. wtf? the whole thing is haphazard.

currently they are all busy on remaking calypso with the sandbox, presumably, so we will have to wait it out to see the next step, i guess. but, a great engine can't make up for bad design, so i have my fingers crossed that "my breath will be taken away."


*google it if you are unfamilar and don't get the reference, but don't discuss it here, politics not allowed. just using it as an example.
** oh noes! someone might trap a beastie! better pathing and it isn't a problem

[Janus]

I'm a broken record on this topic I know, but I too still remain dumbfounded as to why MA has consistently (over several years now) been so unorganized and lacking in follow through with the plot and overall story-line in general.

Designing for a new game engine must be a complete bear of a project. Balancing the RCE must take careful attention to detail, and a fair amount of predictive analysis. Answering all the multitude of support cases likely also takes up a sizable chunk of MA employee's time and effort.

Coming up with a few interesting paragraphs a week regarding the story-line however, should be a snap (in comparison to the above tasks). I just fail to see it being a huge hardship, nor a significant drain on the staff's workload to wrap up some of these events. Its a shame because the neglect and abandonment of the game's plot really gives the impression that MA is lacking in organization and vision.

While I'm fully aware that MA needs to generate revenue to stay afloat, I also hope that the story-line wasn't ditched at the end of a MA board meeting, simply because the time and effort to develop it would fail to directly contribute to the company's bottom line.