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Star Wars Galaxies - Fact-Checking, Fan Style
Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to this interesting LA Times article regarding Star Wars Galaxies. As well as plenty of background information, the piece talks about how detail-orientated beta testers of the forthcoming Sony-published PC MMORPG are, and includes this choice quotation: "..a German fan was outraged that the cockpit dimensions of an X-wing star fighter varied from those in the movies. Blackman looked into it and found that the game's version was indeed off -- by 6 centimeters."
Then he's gonna be _really_ pissed when he finds out the Millennium Falcon's size is off in all published Star Wars stuff from that of the movie set by about 40%!
:)
Still, it IS the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy, so allowances should be made.
Kill Darth Vader You May Not
What would Yoda say? The upcoming 'Star Wars' online game limits players' actions to adhere to creator George Lucas' vision.
By Alex Pham, Times Staff Writer
Can the virtual flutter of a mynock's wings change the course of history in a galaxy far, far away?
Kurt Goetzinger knows the answer is no, but that won't stop him from trying anyway.
Like thousands of "Star Wars" fans, Goetzinger has spent the quarter-century since George Lucas' science fiction legend premiered trying to re-create a slice of that galaxy in everyday life -- such as the "well over $1,000" he says it took to make his own suit of Imperial storm trooper armor.
This summer, Goetzinger will get the chance to work, play and fight in a virtual galaxy created just for fans like him. "Star Wars Galaxies," the first multi-player online computer game set amid Lucas' mythical star systems, will let fans work the vapor farms of Tatooine, tend the cantinas of Mos Eisley and even skirmish with Imperial troops.
What it won't allow them to do, though, is vanquish Darth Vader, destroy the Death Star or marry Princess Leia Organa. Or anything else that might somehow knock off course the scrupulously controlled story of the Skywalker bloodline.
Multi-player online games have flourished in recent years because they allow players to create their own legends as they slay dragons and conquer evil. But in "Galaxies," the legends already have been written in indelible ink.
That doesn't deter Goetzinger, who relishes even a bit part in Lucas' grand drama.
"Some people believe their fate is always determined," said Goetzinger, a 35-year-old executive at a Nebraska nonprofit. "So why try? Why not just chill and play games? But we do try."
From the outset three years ago, the programmers and designers assigned to "Galaxies" knew that setting an online game against the backdrop of "Star Wars" would be both a blessing and a curse. And as one of the most recognizable stories in popular culture, "Star Wars" would attract players.
But that story is so guarded by Lucas that every creature and relationship in "Star Wars" -- from the butterfly-like mynocks to the romance between Han Solo and Princess Leia -- is canonized in the company's official 12,000-entry database to ensure consistency in the ever-expanding body of movies, novels, comic books and video games.
"Video games have to allow for multiple outcomes," said Howard Rothman, president of Lucas Licensing Ltd. "There's no way to make a game with a predetermined outcome because it would be boring. So how do you open it up to create a fun and rich experience and still hold true to the universe?"
With earlier Lucas games set in the "Star Wars" universe, designers simply wrote the story and players followed it. For instance, if the game called for players to attack an Imperial base, they either succeeded or failed. And they could play over and over until they won.
Multi-player online games are different. In games such as "EverQuest," which does not have to fit within the confines of an existing story, more than 400,000 players from around the world pay $10 a month to create virtual communities. If someone wants to be a warrior, the games include plenty of quests on which to embark. But if a player wants to be a merchant and just trade goods, he or she can do that too.
The attraction is the interaction between players and the ability to create history, even if it all unfolds on the silicon of a computer server. That's possible in a fantasy role-playing game such as "EverQuest," which started with a clean slate.
Lucas executives, though, feared the chaos unfettered "Star Wars" fans could unleash. What if players decided to create a Wookiee boy band that sings stupid tunes? What if players staged plays that depict Yoda as a drug dealer? What if they started a religious sect that preaches Han Solo is a coward?
Most game proposals are 25 pages long. Not so for "Galaxies
Everything I say is a lie...
The biggest problem with making the game world completely malleable by the players is best described in two parts:
1. Players who aren't online when a galaxy-shattering event occurs (like killing Darth Vader or Princess Leia being turned to the dark side or whatever) miss out. As in my first sentence, it seems like it would be no more fun or involving if those characters reverted (back to life or back to good in my examples) after a specified time, effectively resetting the game.
2. If the game changes too significantly (and doesn't reset) then it destroys what the developers have created. To use the example of Everquest, if Freeport were permitted to be destroyed by dark elvish players then everything the developers put in Freeport (including quests, NPCs, dock, etc.) is lost content that would need to be replaced. The developer would essentially have to build a new game multiple times just to keep up with "Players Gone Wild."
In an MMORPG like this, you either accept the internal logic or you don't. If you don't, it's probably just not the right game for you. For a bigger influence on events in the Star Wars universe, you might want to watch for Knights of The Republic - single-player RPG - coming later this year for Xbox (and I believe for PC as well, though that version will come a bit later).