Re: Evil? I'm Omni, not evil...
Quote:
Originally posted by Dominata
How exactly will you be able to show our true inner selfs? I am Omni, am I therefore truly evil or is it merely guilt by association?
By now, that should be obvious. Think about it. Wouldn't it make sense (and be an easy cop-out) if the Shadowlands just show us that we're "all the same inside?" Deep stuff, huh? Wow! Pshh...
I'm really nervous of this this "light vs. dark" thing, this business of "good vs. evil." It sounds as though FC are trying to squeeze out the neutral alignment. I realize that it was never FunCom's intent to make "Neutral" a viable long-term choice, but it happened. Of course, maybe it's going to turn out like some cheesy plotline that "unites the people of Rubi-Ka as one" and has us all "battling the oppressive forces of evil." I agree that AO is NOT science-fiction. It's got plasma guns and blasters and high-tech swords and bows, but the science isn't there. I still love the game, don't get me wrong, i'm just sorry to see that the backdrop is getting more foo-foo than it already is. :p
But I digress...
What bothers me even more is that the players have at their disposal an amazing setting. No, it's not a storyline, not anymore. Elements of fiction include (but are not limited to) Setting, Theme, Plot, and Character. We've been given a totally killer setting and a loose (relatively unrestricted) theme. Nobody has trouble with the character part, obviously. However, I'm constantly baffled by the average player's complete inability and terminal unwillingness to make anything of these elements by adding their own plotlines to it. "Omni-Tek fights the Clans" is not plot. "An OT official gets a hot tip from a neutral tinkerer (engineer?) while his Yalm' is in the shop, and uses that information to strike a stifling blow against his department's closest rival among the Clans." That's mo'f**kin' plot.
FunCom gave us a storyline. For whatever reason (and I don't pretend to know what that reason was), it failed miserably. Now that FC has backed off, people are griping about how there's no storyline any longer, and now that the storyline is returning, some of those same people are complaining about the direction it's taking. Meanwhile, FC are ignoring the little bits of constructive criticism that are there, probably due to the massive amounts of BS they have to wade through to find anything remotely worthwhile coming out of any of your mouths.
If you're not willing to cook for yourself, you're gonna eat whatever mom makes for dinner. Quit with the gripes.
And, mom (FC), listen to your kids. *obligatory self-facing issue here* If they don't wanna be political, don't make 'em. Please. Please don't. ;)
Whoa...tough to follow a post like that...
A few quick points and ponderances from one of the less loquacious denizens...
Pink - Whoa...dude...take some ritalyn. Seriously tho, I agree with you on the lack of story. Personally, I just feel it leaves me free to make up my own stories. I mean, the last three letters in the classification of this game's genre are RPG. Granted, most people see players who actually RP full time in-game as "tools", "dorks", and "fanboys/girls". Hey, if that's your attittude, go play Quake. The inability to take and hold territory is a major issue with AO, yes. The suppression gas idea has to be one of the weakest efforts on record, yes. Will these issues ever be resolved to our satisfaction? Probably not. I try not to ***** about it too much because frankly I can't program that well. If I could I would be writing up code and sending it to FC with a letter saying "Implement this and your players will stop *****ing". If any of ya'll out there can create a better persistent world RPG, feel free to do so.
Omni = Evil. Clans=Good:
Who says? Your character is what you make of it. There are good and bad people in all walks of life, occupying jobs in every corporation or Mom and Pop store. I play Omni, and here is the explanation I came up with to rationalize why my character is still working for them:
Omni found the Notum on Rubi-Ka and Notum is a very rare and valuable substance which is desperately needed throughout the galaxy. Notum aids manufacturing and medical pursuits which are very important to the survival of the species. Seen from outside, Omni is in the right, because as a megacorp, they have the resources to mine and transport Notum from this tiny outpost planet all across the galaxy better than anyone else. If Omni doesn't meet production quotas and deadlines, maybe a little girl needing nanotreatment for her burns gets an infection and dies. Maybe a factory relying on nanos has to shut down and hundreds of workers lose their jobs. Maybe that factory produced machines that helped in agriculture in some way. Now the farmers can't harvest the food and all the people relying on that food starve to death.
Just a thought.
Also, maybe they'll relate whether you're good/bad in Shadowlands to what missions you choose to take at the terminals. Bad news for all of us that have been putting those sliders on Bad/Money all this time ;)
As for Funcom and their general lack response to consumer outrage, here is one cynical guy's take:
[cynicism]
People are level-treadmilling sheep. The vast majority don't care about play balance, storyline, etc as long as they can level up in a cool setting. Those of us who long for the promised storyline are but a dwindling minority. By the time we cancel, most of us have put 6 months to a year into AO and countless hours into our chars. At $12.95 US a month for a year, that's $155.40 you've handed over to FC. Consider AO has (just to make it easy) 10,000 subscribers that stayed for a year and then left because of lack of content.. That's $15,540,000 in a year. Funcom has just made their money back and then some, and more people have subscribed to take the place of those who left. The new subscribers probably won't start getting unhappy with the lack of content for a while, so FC is still safe. No need to address our concerns. Even if AO flounders in another couple of years, they'ss still have made a boatload of cheddar, and all they have to do is string us along for long enough to make the investment worthwhile.
[/cynicism]
I'm sure the folks at FC don't really think like that, but who knows what lurks in the hearts of evil corporations like them. ;)
Okay, maybe I am a bit loquacious.
Re: Evil? I'm Omni, not evil...
Quote:
Originally posted by Dominata
I have really only two things to add to what had been said here and I'll start with a little quote...
How exactly will you be able to show our true inner selfs? I am Omni, am I therefore truly evil or is it merely guilt by association?
No, there's a new device that comes in the box- you strap it to your head and it reads your mind.
Of *course* you're evil. That was fairly clear all along, I thought. If you want to play a good guy, grab the form and switch over to clan. It's as simple as that.
I'm sorry- but so many of these huge sweeping complaints just seem silly. People go out of their way to get pissed off. It's just a game, guys.
Re: Re: Evil? I'm Omni, not evil...
Quote:
Originally posted by Cat Atomic
Of *course* you're evil. That was fairly clear all along, I thought. If you want to play a good guy, grab the form and switch over to clan. It's as simple as that.
Clear, eh?
Let's check the facts:
-Omni-Tek were first on Rubi-Ka
-Omni-Tek scientists discover Notum.
-Omni-Tek applys to the ICC and becomes the legal leaseholder of Rubi-Ka
-Rubi-Ka was terraformed by Omni-Tek
-Omni-Tek established civilization on Rubi-Ka
-Omni-Tek supplys the universe with nanotechnology that
enchances the lives of trillions.
Omni-Teks claim over Rubi-Ka is legal. Omni-Tek = government.
then:
-Mine-workers, upset about at thier bad career choice,
decide to kill a bunch of police officers, rather than just quit.
(if you dont like Omni-Tek, nothing is stopping you from leaving)
-This starts a small rebellion.
-SOL Banking Corp sees this as an opportunity for financial gain,
and begins to supply Clan members with weapons in exchange
for stolen shipments of Notum.
-Clan members, too stupid to realize they are being used,
wage a war against Omni-Tek (the government) to 'free'
a planet that they have no legal claim to.
This is called terrorism. Clans = terrorists.
The Clans are trying to steal Rubi-Ka on behalf of SOL Banking.
(who just want to steal the precious Notum)
Bye, bye AO (ALLLLRRRIIIGGGGHHHTTT!!)
If you wanna change the name you still can and people will know what you are talking about. You can call it Anarchy Offline (still AO) because it seems like everything on your side is so fubar. You don't know what you want. Now the story line is gone (as others have already said) there is nothing to do but mission our brains out. If i wanna go around killing monster after monster i will go play a FPS and acutally be able to have some controll. ALSO this game was supposed to be a mmoRPG, but without the storyline the RPG factor tends to drop cause there is no point in taking a role in a story with out a plot. I would just like to say, if it isn't obvious at this point that i cancelled my account COMPLETELY because of these reasons. I am going back to RtCW till a better game comes out (SWG or Shadowbane). I would suggest you all do the same.