State of the Faction

[Tbone]

This faction has survived a lot. We're one of the longest running factions in MxO, and perhaps one of the most successful guilds in MMO history. Sure we're in a small MMO, but that enabled us to be more influential in the gaming community than perhaps any other game would allow.

Here's our dilemma. The game is dead. It's been dead. We're hardcore, so we're still around. I still love this game, despite it being a shadow of what it once was. Our faction is directly tied to the game. As the game fades, so do we.

In the past two weeks, we've had two members leave. That puts us down to about 12 people who still have an MxO account who are in the faction. Go ahead and check the list of our members. We still have people in the retired section. We have to do something, folks. Out of the 12 people, only an average of two might play on any given day, usually with their own agenda.

I know you guys are still around, though - still interested. The FA Vector Challenges have been very successful, and it proves we're not dead.. just lazy. I also understand that part of the issue is myself. I've always had the theory that an active leader makes for an active faction...when you take the leader away, the faction falls apart. That's my fault for my current circumstances, but I can't help my real life. It's the nature of my job. The good news is that my tour ends in May. My next job is in one place (near St. Louis) with a steady schedule, so I'm hoping to really pick up my activity in the summer.

What is all this about, though? We need some radical ideas to get some fresh blood moving in here. It's a reality we have to face. We could slowly fade away now and feel good about what we've accomplished, but I consider a majority of you my friends. Many of you I have met in person and have known longer than the people I hang out with now.

This is your faction too. I want to hear your ideas - no theory is too far fetched. Something needs to be done, and so we are going to try our best to do it. Here are some ideas that have already been thrown around:

-Multi-gaming
-Open recruitment
-Limited open recruitment
-Reunion bash with retired and ex-members

Please voice an opinion on this. We really need to commit to making something happen. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

I like all of the said above ideas T. As for open recruitment, I, in my personal opinion, would leave that luxury to friends, family, etc. So Limited would be my choice. As for Reunion bash, do you mean in-game or out? Either way, it sounds great!

I think Broin should see this one coming, the one I'm about to mention...... new FA VIDEO! Sorry, but I had to... couldn't resist!

I know a lot of us don't like MMOS with elves and shit, so IF that were to happen the only place I could see us going and keeping our name with it making sense would be that game SOE is coming out with, I know I'm crying to, would be that SPY game http://theagency.station.sony.com .

What about actually throwing an FA event where there's a storyline to it? OR adding new and exciting content to the site? I have plenty of ideas if you all are interested as far as that goes but I wont type it all out because my post would be way too damn long! So if you're remotely interested hit me on TS, PM or in game with a tell or email.

[Fuse]

I have had issues with this for a long time, obviously. FA, even the idea, separate from the individul friendships I've made has been a big part of my life. In the great scheme of life, mxo is a silly, stupid game release. Yet it leads to these great connections weve talked about and all have.

if the ship is going down do you jump to another? I think its a good consideration. As much as I loved my time in mxo (early mxo) I stayed for FA. With the things in my life I have going on, even FA is not enough to get me to come back to mxo. This bothers me. I'd be more than willing, even excited, to put on the FA tag again in another realm. I would love to take a leadership role and be active again, but not in a dead world. I still feel a part of FA, even if only a small part anymore-and I don't want to be separated completely from the faction.

I think moving to a new game is the only option. The game has been dead, mainly since it moved to SOE. Nothing we do about recruitment will help the game. Plus I am a true beleiver that open recruitment leads to weak, tainted untrusting groups. This is a huge reason I never joined collective when I had th chance or other open invite groups. When you're selective you get the best. FA should not sacrifice this.

OK, that's all the personal stuff, to be more faction minded...

What's best? can the current Core members (even core members who don't have an active count) be revived in another world? Can we gain the knowledge and experience in a new world to hold the same reputation? What might have the same opprotunities mxo had given us? We would need to revamp our whole persona..not easy with our fame.

we've lost a lot of great people and friends because of mxos decline. I'd hate to see it continue to happen.


I've been away from being active in mxo for almost 2 years-so surely my opinion can be taken with a grain of salt. I may not be in mxo, but I prefer to think I'm still an angel. :/

[Fuse]

That spy game my be a god possiblity When I think of a place to go that exists, I think potbs. not only does it have a great community already (including early mxos community  manager,Aether) but its also fairly new so there is still potential to gain reputation and become a power group. I played the beta and its fun-haven't bothered with retail, mainly because  I couldn't see myself not playing with FA.

[Anonymous]

That spy game my be a god possiblity When I think of a place to go that exists, I think potbs. not only does it have a great community already (including early mxos community  manager,Aether) but its also fairly new so there is still potential to gain reputation and become a power group. I played the beta and its fun-haven't bothered with retail, mainly because  I couldn't see myself not playing with FA.

I played PotBS Beta and I didn't like it mainly because it was WAY to laggy, everything you did was basically ship battles, the only part of the world that's "open" is the sea and when you're at sea you see your tiny ship and others sailing around. If they added open land exploration it might be better. But I lost interest in about a week. You can't join another guild members ship, only have your own which is bleh IMO. The graphic were a little glitchy when you run around and only see the boots and hat of the NPC you're talking to etc. Plus you can sail from one end of the world to the other in like 15 minutes or something along those lines.

I also think The Agency would be a nice transition because Broin, as we all know, is the real life 007 and could relate. And I wouldn't mind jumping out of an exploding chopper with one of you

[Fuse]

You must have played in early beta. To sail from one en dof the map to the other can take at least 45 minutes with one of the fastest ships, and I was able to get rid of the lag by making a small change to a config file. I beleive they fixed that issue as well. Not a potbs discussion, I know, but it's an option...

[Anonymous]

You must have played in early beta. To sail from one en dof the map to the other can take at least 45 minutes with one of the fastest ships, and I was able to get rid of the lag by making a small change to a config file. I beleive they fixed that issue as well. Not a potbs discussion, I know, but it's an option...

Thanks for your always awesome input Fuse! That's why we love you!

[Pirus]

All I ask is for a MMO that allows us to dress in all white Other than that I'll follow the group wherever we decide to go.

[Anonymous]

i am against open recruitment as it usually attracts immature and unserious members to the group. A new game would be an interesting new challenge, depending on which game people decide to play. Would be interesting to see if we could make a name for ourselves on another game.

[Anamodiel]

I'm glad that this has been publicly addressed.

I am totally against any form of open recruitment, just as most everyone else is. I don't think that I need to elaborate.

In my time that I haven't been jacked into MXO, I've been playing LOTRO. I think it's a fun game, and there's no real "boring" point in leveling up, yet. But, it's been released for almost a year now, and I think that we might not be able to make a large impact. I would say that The Agency is our best bet in terms of continuing on the legacy of MXO, but God knows when that is going to be released or how good it's going to be, for that matter.

I'm always going to be a part of FA. Maybe we can think of MXO as our beginning game. However, I don't think we should become a "multiple" gaming faction. That leads to divisions. FA is so successful because we concentrated on one game. All of our time and energy went into this game, and we came our for the better, in terms of reputation. You cannot divide and conquer. Wherever we go for our next game, 3/4 of us should want to, as well.

[Subb]

Stargate: Worlds


We are dwindling, I myself havent been in the game for a while. The only new idea I can come up with is this:


Ask Rarebit for The Furious Angels to take part in a major event? I think we've earned it :/

[NoCry]

hmm.

Ok after serious consideration my two pence worth as it were.

Tbone is right, in a dwindling game our faction lacks the punch it had. I do believe that the content argument might be a little tired; other servers do not seem to complain and personally I think the dev's (lesig) etc focusing on events where people turn up and participate in a grown up fashion is fair enough.

That being said one can not have one's head in the sand. The excitement has to a large degree gone, personally this is I believe due to dwindling numbers within faction as opposed to within the game (last night there were maybe 3 FA against 20 Dark Evo in 01). Also, the fact that we have recently lost 2 previously useful and active members has shaken us a little.

Perhaps the solution is to try to bring back some excitement for ourselves and our server rather than consider straight away a blanket change of game because content is lacking. One thing we drum into potentials is that we are a part of the mxo world and seek to control and be a real part of it, personally I think to up sticks and leave without seeking to create our own content is an error.

We all know that I am not that interested in RP however between us we, as individuals and as a group are very well known and, by and large, respected (if not liked!). Can we not consider what we can do in game before simply leaving?

I realise that I may be the only one banging the drum as it were it is simply that I can not conceive not jacking in and seeing the FA tag over my head in mxo. Sure, we could move to another game (we tried server) although before that I do think people should put some effort into helping this game (at least until the next server merger!) and our faction's reputation in MXO - it is a great reputation worthy of maintaining.

As to ideas, here I am lacking. A movie would be great and I certainly could put the time into it (albeit that I could help only at random times!). As to more members, the solution is simple, we need to be perhaps less paranoid in the interviews. I am well aware that there are people who would do us harm however I think we have let some good and dedicated players slip through our fingers when, frankly, we could have welcomed them with open arms (albeit limited their forum access rights). Examples of such players are, at the moment, not coming to mind! (there are only one or two who interviewed, got rejected, but are still zion (and not knobs!)).

Finally, and I know this is going to annoy the purists! what about discussing with SOTI how we can work together or else take a few of them under our wings as it were. We all know and respect the SOTI lot and they certainly no longer have the name they had.

Anyway, turning into a stream of consciousness now so I shall be quiet!

[Lithium]

I was doing some nostalgic "research" the other day when this very subject came up about 2 years ago. At the time the final verdict was that we would remain Matrix only and that it wasn't time to make any major changes. We lost a lot of members simply because they no longer wanted to play Matrix. And that was ok, I agreed with this at the time. But now time have changed. The game has made very little forward progress and people and community are dwindling/immature.

I had the idea of an "FA Bash" we can send out some mass emails to old members have them come game with us for a day but if we expect them to stay we need to offer more than MxO. That is why I think that possibly multigame could be the way to go.

I remember before Matrix beta came out we use to have some real fun nights playing, Americas Army, unreal tournament, couterstrike, and any other game that came along. And well, it was fun. It was a big group of friends just playing a game for the night.

Perhaps this idea is more practical for me. I sometimes feel that I need to dedicate longer periods of time to an MMO that I sometimes don't have. Where as with other games I can maybe jump in and jump out quickly when I need to.

Of course the other solution is to rally behind another single game. I was really looking forward to darkfall, and still am, but it could still be a while.

So right now I'm going to support the multigame idea and support becoming a group of friends in gaming.

[Manic Velocity]

-Multi-gaming YES
-Open recruitment NO
-Limited open recruitment Perhaps, family members or friends with whom we have direct contact. Not just bringing in friends from other games.
-Reunion bash with retired and ex-members Retired members, yes.  But the people that were booted were booted for a reason.  No sense in bringing them back just for a party.

It's an especially tough realization for me to come to, but I'm sick of fighting it.  The game is a withered husk of what it was three years ago.  Live events all follow the same cookie-cutter format and any new content we get is burned out in the first month.  Everything that each of us feels is worth doing in the game, we've all done.  There doesn't seem to be anything left.

I've always said that MxO will be my first and last MMO, but if that were true then that would mean I would eventually have to leave FA if MxO ever truly kicks the bucket.  As Tbone said, I consider you guys my friends.  It's funny to think that I've known you all for years and have never met most of you.  I have more contact with you guys these days than the friends I actually grew up with.  

I think if this friendship is to survive, we have to branch out and away from MxO.  I've toyed with the idea of trying other MMO's, but honestly, I don't want to do it if it means I have to build up new relationships with people seperate from FA.  There are enough games out there that it's practically guaranteed that our various tastes and preferences will overlap.

If we had the opportunity for a wider range of games to play together, that would breathe tons of new life into the faction.  I think MxO has become less fun to play because it has become a sort of responsibility that we have to keep.  We feel some kind of obligation to it, and that makes it less fun.  If we branch out into other games and realize that it doesn't have to be just about MxO, that will relieve some of the pressure, so to speak.

I was hesitant before, but now I'm convinced that becoming a multi-game faction will probably be best for us.

EDIT: I probably shouldn't put too much stock into anything SOE says about their games, but The Agency is looking decent.  I'll definitely be checking it out.

[Heironymus]

Ok. I know I haven't been in game in... geez.. 5 months... but between finishing my degree and getting a new place of my own it has made that impossible. On that note, I have been with this faction for 3 years? something like that and I never quite hit 50 on any of my characters I like to think of myself as an older member... While I was never the best at PVP or the best at RP I always participated and always tried to help out when I could. That being said, as many of you have already said, I think MxO is dying. I hate to admit it because it was my first MMO also. I keep trying to find an excuse to shell out the 15 a month with all that is happing in the Real but with very little new happening in game and it is slowly degrading it is becoming harder to rationalize. (On that note, once I finish moving I will be back in game, so three weeks here I come, if nothing else as to catch back up for a little while.. and I should be settled in the REAL)..
Open recruitment I think is a no go..
Limited could work if we hadn't already tried that with most of our friends and family already.
Reunion bash would be fun but how many people would go for it?

I think this faction has done sooo well because of our focus on MxO. I think if we are to leave MxO it should be to One other game. We should at the most part agree on the game to leave to (because if we don't we will lose more members). I think almost all of our current members are still here because of the faction... not the game....
As for multi-gaming, I think limited multi-gaming is a good idea. FPS and other non-mmo games would work well for that purpose because your wouldn't invest ALL your time in those games, you would always come back to the MMO. Its like when we did Poker nights and such. it was great fun and we all enjoyed it. It was nice to play each other outside of MxO and didn't have the same feel as MxO but still the same camaraderie for the faction...
So yes I think Multi-gaming will work but on limited basis. Because as soon as we start recruiting in several different games we are gonna have to completely divide the boards because your gonna have people that play one game and don't play any of the others, and some will play several of them but perhaps not one in particular. I guess it would be like having ships per game.. one ship is The Agency and another ship would be Darkfall.. that way they stayed concentrated with the people they are playing, we can keep track of who plays what and when something big is going down we can let the whole faction know on the general thread.
IF that happens it is going to put a HUGE responsibility on the captains of those ships however because if say, Tbone, Broin, and any other member OLD member isn't playing that game or isn't interested it will become the CAPTAINS job to solely represent the interests of this faction, and his ships members, in that game.

Ok.. I think I put my two cents in... (again, sorry I haven't been around for awhile but I do intend on coming back in so I am not retired.)

edit:// I was looking into it and Stargate Worlds is supposed to be released  in the 4th quarter of this year.. and beta should open up mid summer.