I'm honored to have you reply to my post. Guess it didn't have the usual compliment of rant that so often sneaks into most of them.
Yes, I've spoken with a couple guildmates who managed to bend your ear at E3 and all indications are that you're wrestling with exactly how to get the backstory into the game so that it is most accessible to the majority of the players.
I know I was urged by him and her to send any and all suggestions as to how to help get the history of Rubi'ka to the playerbase to the developers. I just don't have the time or energy at the moment to do so.
A few highly disjointed comments, however, that may pique your creative spirit:
A history is what will seperate the 'World' of Rubi'ka from the 'Game' of Anarchy Online. The fact that Brittania (UO) is a 'World' is the number one factor contributing to its longevity.
When the levelers get burned out they'll move on. It's my opinion that EverQuest burned out a lot of people with respect to leveling and quite a few came to Anarchy Online to escape that 'lifestyle'. AO is not presenting to them what they expected. The leveling treadmill is in full force on Rubi'ka.
A library is sorely needed. Not all roleplayers are club hoppers. It is just as important to have a center of knowledge as a bar. All the effort that went into 'The Cup' in West Athen and 'The Dancing Atrox' in Omni Forest could easily have gone into a center of knowledge. I understand that game mechanics don't necessarily allow for 'books' in the sense that UO had them able to be taken off a shelf and read.
However, I think we all agree that a PDA device is noticeably lacking from the game. In addition to getting your daily news and offline /tells from other players, this PDA should be able to be 'combined' with 'knowledge chips' that are obtained from kiosks in a Library/Museum. Right-click on a Kiosk dedicated to the history of Old Earth and you you have a selection of Knowledge Chips applicable to the subject. You can buy one for maybe one credit. Combine this chip with your PDA device and you get a nice display similar to what you get when you request a mission description. Of course a few functionality embellishments to the text window might be in order, but text and an icon or two is still fine.
Atmosphere in this library is important. You guys do a great job with this and I trust this will continue.
As part of the atmosphere you need to keep in mind the image of the inquisitive child who wants to know about everything. The empty mind needing to be filled. If you have a statue in there, make it important to the storyline. If you Shift+Click the statue, provide an appropriately lengthy description. If there are paintings on the wall, Shift+clicking them should provide more backstory as well.
And finally, it goes without saying that there should be an NPC historian you can provide answers to particular questions. Some people like to read at a table in silence, some desire the personal spin that a real live person can put on history.
I know it's a given that you're enriching the outdoor NPC's with respect to their dialog. Perhaps SunTzu would spout something more than re-hashed quotes from the Art of War? This is where you will make most of your contact with the more casual player.
The more diligent of us will help to fill in the gaps left by your NPC's through the course of our normal interaction with the rest of the playerbase. I know for a fact my guild has had it's knowledge of Rubi'Ka increased simply because I'll correct them at times or simply take the conversation in a direction away from how much exp they need to why Omni-Tek hates the Leets.
The logon screen is highly underutilized as an opportunity to make an initial transition from our real lives to the game world. It has two parts: before it accepts your password and after. The after portion should always have a 'Fact of the Day' or 'Did you know?' prominently displayed. Come up with a hundred or so facts about Rubi'Ka and reserve a space for them in the second web page. This is the only place right now where you can add dynamic content that requires not a drop of coding changes to either the client or the database.
All the above is with respect to History or 'how things are'. A lot of us are having difficulty finding the Story inbetween all the little things that guilds are doing that are getting put on various AO webpages. Something needs to be done with respect to this. We see something about a mutant virus that escaped and we automatically discard it. We don't know if it's the Mercury Dragons doing another fine session of roleplaying or if FunCom is actually introducing a story element. I'll interject and let you know that personally this is ticking me off. As far as I know, the last Story element we got was the Dust Brigade started doing random attacks and they continue to this day. I may be completely wrong, but I can't find where the Story is in amongst all the Roleplaying. That may sound harsh to some, but it's the sentiment of a lot of players. The Story doesn't exist until it's handed down from you guys and/or officially endorsed.
We know you have a plot that stems from the novel and that it involves the history of man and it's soaked in Notum. All the little spats between Omni-Pol and some DJ at a bar are simply background noise behind the Story. We understand that the Dust Brigade are an important element of the Story. We know that the Unicorns are likewise and important element of the Story. Radiman, Ross, perhaps David Marlin (sp?) .... all of this we know to be Story. When does the ball drop and events start unfolding? You want to know why we complain about lack of Story when your event staff attacks with some Masqued Commandos? It's because we are smart enough to differentiate between 'Events' and 'Story'. Tell me what was the last new or changed Plot element.
When my friend asks me 'what's new on Rubi'Ka' I have to tell him that apparently the Dusters are still attacking every now and then. I've been telling him this since New Years, I think. That's why we say the Story has effectively stopped.
Anybody remember that encrypted message that leaked out to Stratics or one of the other big sites just pre- or post-release? That's one way to get your out-of-game content going. Damn. People were trying for weeks to figure out what it said. Don't think they ever did.
Tying into the PDA deal, don't you think that sending messages to people's registered emails would be cool? If I got an email saying 'Listen, Asterik. I don't want word of this to get around but .... there's a cave in the northwest corner of Tir County that .... talk to Soandso and ...' I'd be delighted.
Or simply incorporate the 'Did you know' or 'Fact of the Day' into an automated mailer. I get something from Merriam Webster everyday that's nothing more than the definition of some word and its usage. Why not come up with a hundred or so 'factoids' and have 'em go out daily?
ok, enough free association
Thanks for listening.
Edit: And as for 'alien life on Rubi'Ka', yes, I do wonder why people insist on trying to prove that 'we are not alone'. Imagine ramifications if we weren't. =)
) ... But without background knowledge i have to use my imagination.... And its just not enough 
