Question: Why is there still no revised storyline ???

[~CHOPPER~]

Originally Posted by McCormick

:O

But the Story is why we are here. ^^

I agree!!
MA needs to MAKE time to continue on with the story line!!
even just a robot attack now and again for starters! (no not RX)

[Frigid]

Originally Posted by Ido

With such high expectations i think ur heading in for a big dissapointment... I hope MA will prove me wrong on this one

Ok, ok...forget the againg and cancer bit. They have pushed all past problems on to the Cryengine2 release to fix them. So...I will hope they make good on their promises...aaaaaand I'll stop talking now...trying to stay "positive" until the release. It's very hard...

Originally Posted by Nighthawk

Old wishlist thread about this by me with greatly positive poll results:
Robot Planet

Heck yeah! I voted yes and not sure what griefers voted "no". This is the next step...beyond asteroids and space stations...we take the fight to the bots, whether by ship or hacking into their transporters(that hacked into ours ). Perhaps Space Pirates will give us the tech we need to actually reach the bots...fine. If I can hunt robots through a ginat industrial complex on their home planet...awesome! I'll assume they have made upgrades aka..the "flesh job" Rx units, which, in a way, *is* extending the storyline...

[Janus]

Originally Posted by Marco|MindArk

. But right now, at this moment in time, we don't have a focus on the storyline expansion. I just want to be straight about it. Both I and Frank is very much into various story seeds. Some may come into frutation regardsless of us really having the time to do it ,-) -- some have to wait until we have the time needed.

First thanks for your posts! Nice to see some MA feedback here from time to time. Adding my voice to others however, I think you are seriously overestimating the amount of time and effort that it requires to simply throw us a few bones.

Many of us who signed up for the game years ago were attracted to the story and plot as much as the RCE component of PE. Both make Entropia unique. As a business I know it's important for MA to focus on income generating innovations to keep afloat. However, it does leave a sour taste in some mouths to see the story-line neglected to the degree to which it has been over the past few years. Especially if (as some suspect) it has been left to wither on the vine simply because it is not deemed financially prudent to work on an aspect of the game that doesn't directly contribute to the bottom line.

Because we RL Entropians are a diverse and sophisticated lot, we yearn to see the story-line developed/revisited so that that our mouse movements have more depth and meaning beyond the monotony of repeated clicking, clicking, clicking simply to generate graphical results to a series of coded "if-then" statements. Cool graphics and ambient soundscapes make that more exciting to be sure, but the story behind it all is what serves as the deeper connection (OK the lure of loot helps a bit too )

While I would devour anything you could throw at us, all most of us are looking for are a few paragraphs per week that keep the continuity of the Entropia saga moving forward in some fashion. I believe I read that the two of you were the creators of the original story, so surely creativity is not lacking!

I repeat my tedious refrain once more... Perhaps my train is riding through delusion-junction here, but I simply can't believe that a few crisp and exciting paragraphs couldn't be whipped off in the pub over drinks on a Thursday after work? Just an update on the life and times of the ever-alluring Jenny Carramone would suit me fine . Speaking of whom... when are you going to get around to erecting that statue in her honor off in the waters of Hades Central? She did save all our lives after all (probably more than once!). Its the least you could do to honor her years of dedicated service!

See, hardly a word about her in years, and yet we still remember! Entropia needs its folklore, history and traditions, just as any thriving culture does. They have been ignored and overlooked for far too long, and I hope you can soon free up some time to fill this void in the game.

[Dion Red Strike]

Originally Posted by Janus

See, hardly a word about her in years, and yet we still remember! Entropia needs its folklore, history and traditions, just as any thriving culture does. They have been ignored and overlooked for far too long, and I hope you can soon free up some time to fill this void in the game.

+rep

This is exactly the part of the universe that I think is lacking.... history... not so much folklore and traditions.. I think we have plenty

But, history, it's something that is living, what is a current event today is history tomorrow... because we lack serious events in todays universe, we will be lacking in history in tomorrows universe.

We have plenty of people to remember, plenty of people willing to communicate, and plenty of people willing to make their own stories. However, we are limited in the amount that we can do to 'live' the story line.

You are very much correct when you say that they need to throw a bone every once in a while. The Eomon event was a great bone. I could care less what was looted at the time, I know that I, as a fellow Calypsian, help slaughter the big things.

A simple 'Robots forces are attacking Hadesheim, reports indicate they will spend at least 7 days trying to take over the city' would be wonderful. I could care less if they drop nothing at all (even though many people will be here to complain about their loot). I just know that in 50 years, I'll be able to say 'Yeah grandson, I remember the time that time they tried to take over Hades on Calypso.. that's when Hades finally started getting populated... Did I ever tell you the story of the Eomon?'....

I'm rambling, as usual... point is, I think the imperial forces need to check on the recent reports from the Robot forces.. I think Entropiaradio has intercepted some reports..... would probably be a good place to start...

~Red

[MindStar9]

First ... let me catch my breath ... I nearly hyperventilated to see Marco and Frank commenting in this thread and so openly ... and Marco/Frank? ... please, please, PLEASE continue interacting with the community in threads like these because you HAVE to know how much good it does for us to hear from you! Oh, and Marco? ... if you DO keep this up, then I'll consider leaving the purple whip at home when I finally make it to one of those conventions!
*I said consider!*

Second ... I can definitely appreciate the busy'ness of the MA staff with all they have on their plate atm, and how inundating the tasks at hand might be, BUT ... that said, I also came up with an idea that I want to toss out there to see what the community might think about it.

How about ... MA has a storyline writing contest for those magnificent fiction writers we have in our community who keep us glued to the action. Many are more than familiar with our PE/EU history, like Epic who did a fabulous job with his timeline that he presented at the Entropia Gateway blog. Here are the links in case you missed it ...

Entropia Universe Time Line Phase 1

Entropia Universe Time Line Phase 2: Calypso Discovered

Entropia Universe Time Line Phase 3: War Escalates, Battle Over Calypso

Entropia Universe Time Line Phase 4: The Present

Entropia Universe Time Line: Epilogue

Granted ... other events have happened since last November when this was written by Epic, but he seems to have his finger on the pulse, much like many in this community with regard to the original storyline, and what has transpired since. I think it would be a waste on MA's part if they didn't utilize the enormous resources they have available in our virtual community who have proven themselves over and over again with regard to not only their amazing writing and fiction storytelling talents, but also miss the coming together of this fabulous community to support this effort.

It would certainly (IMO) ... not only promote a tremendous renewed interest in following our evolution through the implementation of CE2 and beyond, but also give those newly introduced to EU a greater base of substance from which to make their decisions as to whether to join us in this virtual universe, or not. I have to agree, that a "Reader's Digest Condensed" version of our history is not giving a potential newcomer all the pages inside the book cover that makes it more drawing. Just my opinion too of course.

Now, for this contest ... we have some pretty savvy hardcore gamers and PE historians in our virtual universe, so perhaps make this contest over a period of a couple of months or more in order to give participants an opportunity to craft their amazing stories that have the potential to fit into our previous and evolving timeline. Maybe 711 could even create a special subforum here at EF where these storylines can be posted (outside of the fiction writers area) for the community to see and comment on with regards to a storyline they might really like that fits in, but perhaps with a suggestion for a tweak here and there.

At the end of the time period, the subforum would be closed for any further posting, but allow us to read the entries and comments of course. This could go one of two ways ... the community can vote for their "Top 5" entries, and then MA would take them to sort out and choose the most suitable to fit into our ongoing storyline ... or ... MA can just take all entries and sort it out without there being a "Top 5" (but I like the "Top 5" idea better because it gets the community more involved, and I'm all for upping that ANY day).

As far as a potential prize is concerned ... the winning entry would get a spectacular prize from MA (we know they can do this) ... and then perhaps even entertain the idea of this individual continuing the storyline in some fashion (compensated of course) ... or ... this process will give MA enough time to accomplish the tasks at hand while keeping the community active and off their asses about storylines until they're ready to get back into the saddle again.

Just a little something I came up with, but ... while I know this might be really fun for the community, and maybe temporarily relieve some pressure off of MA, an MMORPG storyline is rather sacred to a developer (I think), so MA may not even consider something like this. It could also bring up questions that may relate to something being done outside of the MA domain, so perhaps lots of other things to consider as well.

Something that might work ... or not!








***

[Sirhc]

First off thanks to Marco and Frank for posting here.

While I agree with most that the storyline is a really important part of EU. I kind of understand the logistics and priorities MA might be dealing with. I was part of a huge software and hardware conversion and I know how some things you have best intentions of taking care of somehow continually get put on the back burner.

Maybe I am reading into this a little from what Marco stated but it looks like continual story lines will be more of an integral part of EU and the community. Since we are the story of EU I think the stories and history from now on should be about the participants. When I think about it this way it looks a bit more involved than just chucking down some paragraphs about NPCs we never see or never interact with. Its nice to see the professor logs about the orbs but what would make it really shine is randomly have something happen to a participant avatar and weave that story around that experience.

Interactive story lines are the best. The robot secret transmitter event had me grinding bots for what seemed like forever and it was worth it.

I can live with the PE/EU history if it needs some revision over time that is fine but I don't need it right now to continue on participating. What would be really cool is finding the impact location of the meteor from that event or finding the wreckage of the Villre Star or Bubba Backhammer's BP used to make and adj excavator. Those type of things would add layers of depth to EU.

So if that is the direction EU is heading with story lines being much more about the community and events surrounding us, then the developers need to be a big part of it much more than writing a few lines here and there.

As it stands now, even as impatient as I am, I don't mind giving MA a some room to get their huge conversion finished but once that is in place it would be nice for them to wrap up some loose ends. It would be a shame to be at this same place a year from now.

[JaKst3r]

Basically what Mindstar9 & Sirhc said

[MindStar9]

That's what I love about this community ... critical thinking that presents a different perspective for us to entertain. Thanks Sirhc for your views, because they now have me thinking a little differently as well, even though I still think getting the community involved from a writing aspect would be worth the effort too. There's any number of things we could do with regard to all of this, and while giving MA breathing room is certainly a respectable thing to do, I can also appreciate how members of the community feel with regard to the time-frame that has passed already without a continuing storyline. Patience in a virtual environment such as ours isn't always that easy! However, let's see what unfolds as we try to exercise a little more patience during this transitional time, and what MA might continue to throw our way with regard to events and other things that just might play into our future ... but I do like the idea of players being woven into the fabric of our evolution.

[burnsey]

We deserve more interaction from MA (Long Post)

MA is notorious for their lack of communication, see my post from 2 years ago...

I wasn't as jaded back then...

Now I feel like Marvin, the paranoid android.

"The first ten million years were the worst, and the second ten million years, they were the worst too. The third ten million I didn't enjoy at all. After that I went into a bit of a decline."

I'm coming up on my 6 ten million years tomorrow, will it ever get better?