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Ask John Smedley About Star Wars Galaxies
John Smedley: I was going to send you a Word doc, then remembered this was going to /. Including the text here.
Q: In your own words, would you like to lay out exactly what the scope of this overhaul will involve?
John Smedley:
There are two primary elements at the heart of this redesign: the
re-focusing of Star Wars Galaxies's profession system and the
introduction of what we're calling "Fast-Action Combat."
We are taking the 30+ professions and focusing them down to 9 "Iconic Professions." After the changes go live, when a player goes to start a new character in the game, they will see 9 boxes in the profession field. Those boxes will read Bounty Hunter, Commando, Entertainer, Jedi, Medic, Officer, Smuggler, Spy and Trader. Each descriptor will also have an image of an iconic Star Wars character, such as Han with Smuggler, Boba Fett with Bounty Hunter, Luke with Jedi, etc. These Iconic Professions will make it much easier for players to understand which type of character they're going to play and the type of activities and actions they should expect to find with their new profession.
Existing SWG players will be given a special item after the transition. This item will allow them to re-specialize ("re-spec") their character up to nine times. This will allow vets to try out each of the new Iconic Professions to determine which type they want to play.
The second major portion is the implementation of "Fast Action Combat." We're going to strip out the current SWG "select target, start macros, wait for combat to end" gameplay and replace it with a much more engrossing, entertaining control scheme. "Fast Action combat" controls will be similar to action games that our playerbase is intimately familiar with (Diablo certainly comes to mind, as well as our own Untold Legends game for the PSP). Now, every time a player clicks on their mouse button, they will fire their blaster, swing their lightsaber, shoot lightning bolts from their fingertips, etc. The pacing of combat has come way, way up, making the game faster and much more fun.
Fast Action really goes a long way towards making you feel like you're living the Star Wars experience, which is the primary goal behind all the enhancements we've been making to the game over the last few months. Instead of a passive, wait-and-see style of combat, you're now going to be much more involved with the action happening on-screen, which is even reflected in the music that you'll hear while fighting. Additionally, we've boosted the rate player's health regenerates, putting them back into the thick of things right away.
Q: Was there a single game element, piece of feedback, or event that prompted this re-envisioning? This is a very dramatic decision, and the reasons behind the changes seem almost as important as the changes themselves. What prompted you to give this plan the go-ahead?
John Smedley:
There are millions of Star Wars fans out there. SWG should be the game
those players have always hoped for, a game that finally allows them to
live inside the worlds and settings they know so well from the movies,
the books, the comics.
Our main goal with SWG for the last nine months has been to make the game more "Star Wars-y," for lack of a better term. Our two latest expansions, Rage of the Wookiees and the new Trials of Obi-Wan have delivered players the kind of directed, hand-crafted content that they would find in our other titles, as opposed to just having open-ended "sandbox" style of gameplay.
The redesign comes about after hearing desires from our own players on forums and in person at the SWG Fan Fests, multiple focus groups, and our own design team's desire to create something much more grand and sweeping with the game. We have big plans for SWG in the months and years ahead, and we needed this new platform to use as a foundation for creating the vast Galactic Civil War that our players want.
Q: The immediacy of real-time combat certainly seems more 'Star Warsy' than the current system. What is being done to specifically ensure that combat recaptures the energy of the battles we see in the movies? How is this overhaul going to affect the space experience, if at all?
John Smedley:
Simple: by engaging the player, instead of having them watch combat from
a distance. Fast Action is just what it sounds like. Players will find
themselves jumping in and really applying themselves, interacting with
the game like never before. Everything has been sped up in combat,
including attacking, reloading, using special abilities, items and
powers, even the speed with which health is regenerated. This allows
players to fight with large numbers of enemies without having to take
constant time outs to regen. This isn't like any other MMO out there.
The space elements of the game are going to remain as they are, since this action philosophy was already part of that experience. With this redesign, we're attempting to make the ground portion of the game as exciting and adrenaline-pumping as the space portion.
Q: For all of the Star Wars Galaxies players who already have time invested into characters, what plans do you have to transfer their existing characters to the new system?
John Smedley:
When the redesign comes to the live game, there will be rewards for our
veteran players (they should be announced later in the week). As I
mentioned before, all vets will receive an item that allows them to
respect their character up to nine times, allowing them to dive into the
new Iconic Professions and try them all out. Current Jedis will receive
two enhanced items, a special robe and a lightsaber.
Additionally, anything non-combat related attached to the player's character will remain unaffected after the transition, including vehicles, property, collectibles, etc...
Be able to use the Force to remove your Parent Companies rootkit, or will the Darkside of the Force remain to strong to overcome?
If brevity is the soul of wit, then how does one explain Twitter?
Do you feel you have any obligation to reimburse the veteran players who payed the premium prices ($30) for each of these expansions when they were first announced (many times before they were even released)? Either monetarily or through in-game items?
I realize that this is a long shot, but with the rise of Mac sales and the upcoming change of Macs from PPC to X86, is there a chance if an OS X client? One of the reasons I believe that Blizzards WoW has done so well is because it allows both major desktop OS's to play together, rather than trying to partition on group on a separate server (or predenting they don't even exist, with all of those dollars itching to be spent).
And please - no wishy washy "Sony is committed to evaluating blah, blah, blah" - if there's no intention, just say so, please.
Thanks for your time.
52 Weeks, 52 Religions with John Hummel
swg is rotating at increased velocity around the water disposal oriface...
my question for smed-head:
why are existing players being shortchanged in the Next Great Experiment? no level based rewards unless you regrind your template. swg has always been one of the grind = content games. why is this hated model being pushed again.
and do you think it is acceptable that jedi are only viable if they discard the saber and use a ranged weapon? is master jedi rifleman your vision? because that's what will happen..
-.no
...and start over completely with Star Wars Galaxies 2?
include a Rootkit?
This is a really stupid question. Did you play JTL during the year and a half it's been out? You got more than your $30 worth through play.
Should JTL purchasers have been reimbursed when anyone who bought The Total Experience got both the base game, JTL and Rage of the Wookies for less than the original game cost at release? Of course not, they'd been playing with JTL for over a year.
Are you implementing all these changes because WoW is kicking your asses in terms of marketshare?
After reading TFA, it seems like you are basically implementing all of the rules that makes WoW a much better game, and slapping a Star Wars wrapper around it all.
Also, didnt your focus groups tell you that all of these features is what people wanted before now? Or has peoples perceptions of online gaming changed since your release?
It ... is ... a .... game ... folks.
Like OMG and ROFL and such, like no way they're changing the game!!!
You're all acting like he's invented a new diet cola or something of importance.
Tom
Someday, I'll have a real sig.
Do you ever feel bad about making your millions playing off the social ineptitude of people worldwide?
Surely on occasion you feel a twinge of guilt that you're nothing more than am electronic drug peddler, giving anyone who is willing to pony up the cash their month's worth of e-dope after you get them hooked with a free sample.
I guess what I'm really asking is how do you live with yourself knowing you're primarily responsible for continuing the habits of poor lonely nerds who cry themselves to sleep at night clutching a picture of Princess Leia and moaning like a wookie?
Can we have the name and contact information of the person who was responsible for the decision to withhold the release of information about the NGE until after the release of the Trials of Obi Wan expansion pack? I'm not saying I care what excuse that person will provide, but someone had to make that decision and I'd like to know who was accountable.
The only thing I hate more than hypocrites are people who hate hypocrites.
Mr. Smedley, I have been told that the game was going to be shut down in January, yet your inverview stated that SWG didn't lose subscriptions over the first CU, and that it was growing faster than other SOE titles.
I have heard from multiple sources that the subscriber base was collapsing rapidly, which is why the game was to be shut down, and that NGE is a desperate last gasp attempt to save it.
Why, then, did you decide to do something very very radical, take away ALL our ability to customize our characters and abilities, delete whole professions, and worst of all, make the MOST sought after (took me many months) and iconic Star Wars character, Jedi, the weakest combat class in the new game (you say you play the game, go play a Jedi on TC), the ONLY one that has: No armor, no defenses, no rooting ability, that attacks at HALF the rate of ranged professions?
Why did you do this rather than do what the community has consistently asked and BEGGED you do do, FIX the bugs, and BALANCE what we have?
Corporatism != Free Market
it seems to me that if you are paying a monthly subscription to play a MMORPG you should have some say in the administration and changes to the game. after all you have a lot at stake in it, monetarily and time spent. why aren't more of these MMORPG companies allowing for more democracy? i for one would be pissed if an update broke my months of time and money spent developing my character etc. furthermore i think the introduction of a little democracy could very well make it more interesting.
;)
The democracy lies in that if you are dissatisfied with the product, and your expression of that dissatisfaction goes unheeded by the developers, you can stop sending them money.
I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate.
You pay a subscription to use a health club. You don't get any say in who they hire, their usiness practices, etc.
/. ... you probably dont.
o wait... this is
-everphilski-
Our community relations director, Tiggs, was fired yesterday. She has been the ONLY person who has gone above and beyond the call of duty to communicate with the community (staying up to 4AM and still showing up at work after little sleep).
Why did you fire her?
Corporatism != Free Market
About two years ago I played SWG for about three months. This is after having spent a couple years dabbling in DAOC, and wanting to try something that was a change from the fantasy genre. On first blush the game looked and played nicely, but in the end I sold my account and then returned to DAOC half a year later.
As a single player I was able to completely "max out" my character in two months, completely unassisted. At the end I was a Master Engineer, Master Droid Engineer, Master Architect, and just shy of Master Merchant. Granted, I wasn't going to be in combat any time soon... but I wanted a change from the combat grind I'd pursued in DAOC.
Part of the problem is that the trade skills are learned in lieu of combat skills. Most mmorpgs have tradeskills seperated, such that you don't give up the classical "leveling" and combat for being a crafter. I can't say this is bad, but it means that making a character like I did results in absolutely no gameplay after spending all of my development points. Sure, I can make guild halls, craft all kinds of gear, and spend time running to and fro gathering up raw materials from my mining installations and making trades... but that has very little in the way of ongoing excitement. In short, there were several ways to make a character that would have no endgame at all, and couldn't directly contribute to the "empire divided" overarching plot.
Granted, this was my choice. But part of that choice was made after experimenting with the mechanics of the combat system. There were so many things I didn't like about their implementation of combat that I was driven away from that choice. For example, I found that kiting a mob (forgive the parlance) was easier in this game than any other... but there was this odd "feature" about doing so: Killing your target made your character suddenly stop in his tracks and pause for a second before you could start moving again. This would typically result in the BAF'd mobs catching up with you and beating you to a pulp on the spot. I considered it very poor design or coding or logic or whatever... and simply abandoned combat-based characters.
I think that their complete overhaul of SWG is an indication acknowledging that they really didn't know what they were doing in the first couple years of creating and expanding their mmorpg. But, then again, I've got some pretty specific ideas about where I want the mmo genre to head, and I've yet to see anyone who's willing to abandon the old tabletop RPG conventions that have been translated over to CRPGs and move onto something more suited to large, highly-detailed, persistent worlds.
But that is material for a long, long discussion.
In interviews you have stated that everyone who tested the new NGE is very happy about it and your are recieving very positive feed back. Me and about 20 other friends I have have tested the changes on the test servers. NONE of us prefer it to the old system. 16 of us have canceled our accounts.
Why are you ignoring what your current community wants? Is your community not worth listening to? Are you planning to replace us with a new community? Are you aware that people are getting bored of the NGE very fast due to lack of depth and while you may recieve many subsciptions at the beginning many will quicky leave?
Why havent you talked to your community personally via the forums?
Do you care at all?
NGE was dropped on us on 11/2, the day AFTER we were charged for the Trials of Obiwan expansion. Why did you deliberately withold this announcement until it was too late for veteran players to cancel their pre-orders so they could play on Test Center to see if they liked the changes?
Corporatism != Free Market
I will preface the question with a little background. I played SWG quite heavily for the first 2 years of availability. I finally cancelled my original account in September, having played consistently since launch, built a guild and succesful player city, unlocked Jedi status, mastered piloting, run a successful crafting business, participated in player and roleplay events, and even earned an accolade badge from and talked briefly with the Events coordinator. (Suffice it to say, I've seen almost everything in SWG from launch through CURB, and have done my best to improve the SWG community.)
The quality of the software released in SWG has been lackluster. This eventually led to the disinterest of most of my guildmates; once my play group fell apart, I slowly drifted away. But, some concrete examples:
- Architect "Master Armoire" schematics were broken for quite some time after launch. The graphic was incorrectly the "furniture 2" image. Then this was "fixed" according to the patch notes, after many months. Oh wait, it wasn't! Now, the "Furniture 3" armoire was also set to use incorrect art (the "factional/tech" armoire), and the Master Armoire was STILL broken. Several months later, this was finally fixed...
- Architects were unable to craft a vital component (I believe it was the "Harvesting Mechanism") for, again, several months after launch. This bug was not even acknowledged until well after launch.
- City Management Terminals were broken for many months (and still broken when I retired from the game). A player could view the terminal menu once per access -- so, if I logged in during my semi-precious free hour at night, and checked the city's treasury balance, I was unable to make a deposit until the next day. Assuming I remembered....
The list goes on. As a professional software developer myself, I understand the difficulty of making upgrades and bugfixes in a complex system. But, this level of bugginess was a constant -- and, in fact, bugs were frequently reintroduced after resolution (as in the case of Recycler crafting). The constant stream of bugs -- and, in particular, bugs that rendered significant game features completely nonworking -- is what led to most of my fellow players' exit from the game. What obstacles are there in the QA process at SOE that cause this to be such an ongoing issue? Is there an expectation that reducing the overall level of complexity (~30 -> 9 classes, etc) will improve this problem?
seven two six five
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Star Wars is one of the most popular licenses in the world, and yet, Blizzard comes out of nowhere with World of Warcraft and takes ownership of the MMO realm.
How do you feel about Galaxies failure to reach a mainstream audience, and has WOW influenced any of the recent changes made to the structure of Galaxies?
I played UO for 2.5 years (from the year it was released), Daoc for 1 month, AC2 for 3 days, SWG for 2 months (I say this because I like to point out relative MMORPG mediocrity :) ). I can remember that ping times in UO was a huge factor in PvP. Because everybody was 7X GMs, the guy with the best ping usually won (of course, in faction wars (ohh, these were nice!), it was something else).
How will you make sure that your new "Fast Action" change will not turn SWG PvP into a ping war?
perception is reality
In retrospect, do you think it was a mistake to hire Raph Koster as lead designer for SWG? He has a lot of great ideas about virtual world design, but SWG at launch was much more of an economic simulator with a Star Wars skin than it was a game.
(For reference, I was in SWG starting in early Beta 1 -- Shuttle 3, specifically -- and played for about six months after launch.)
"Destroy science and religion. Science would re-emerge exactly the same; but not religion." - Penn Jillette, paraphrased
Instead of putting bad money after good in developing the NGE why didn't SOE fix the bugs, and add content? I'm not talking loot drop schematic content, I'm talking changes in profession content? For example, there are a lot of furnishings in the game world that isn't available for the architect class to create? How hard would it be to add those items to the architect list?
Steve's Computer Service, Hobbs, NM
Hi John,
Let me start by writing that I'm a player from the early hour: my account has been activated 2 days after the servers were put in operation - this delay being the consequence of my Frenchness.
I lived through all the changes you put on SWG, being the Combat Upgrade, the many balancing changes of the skill trees, the Jump to Lightspeed space extention, etc, etc...
What I'm currently wondering is how you would caracterize the NGE, considering the following facts:
- pre-NGE, the character you had on a server was free to be whatever the player wanted. The player could pick a little bit of everything, or choose THE one destiny for his character. Post-NGE, the "class" of the character will be fixed for the life of the character
- pre-NGE, and I'd even say pre-Combat Upgrade, the combat system was in line the RPG expectations of the players: a good slice of strategy, another good slice of knowledge of your character's strong points and weaknesses, a bit of luck and nice equipment. Post-NGE, it will be more like a good aiming, and a very, very low ping
- pre-NGE, crafting was something... crafty. An item could (and in the beginning of the tree, often did) failed to be crafted, and each and every item could be customized in a few specific attributes: fast or powerfull weapons, strong or long-lasting armors, etc... Post-NGE, only 4 trades are still available, with the aim of simplifying the game, I'm sure.
So, the MMO part of the game is definitly apropriate, but I doubt about the RPG part. The post-NGE Starwars Galaxies looks not completely unlike a themed Planetside (for the combat), with some chunks of World of Warcraft (for the classes).
Now, my question is: do you think that your current customers will be following you in this adventure, as it really looks like a dumbing-down of the game, making it more like the mainstream online games, and removing from it the parts that were making it unique?
Thanks,
Arkan
The biggest problem with this game besides the constant "do overs" with the game play is it's failure to make Star Wars it's own without upsetting the masses or breaking Star Wars. Have you ever thought coinsidered wiping the universe and starting over after RoTJ? That side of it is more open to change and wouldn't limit you as much nor have people as upset when you fiddle with Star Wars.
Jason
I've played a lot of MMORPGs, and one thing that leapt out at me playing SWG is how slow and cumbersome resource gathering was. If you wanted to be a crafter, you had to commit to spending hours sitting around while your hapless character extracted minerals. I understand this got better in the late game, when you could afford expensive stuff, but in the early game it was a huge timesink of the sort that Sony is best known for, and that was one of many such time sinks I experienced in the ten day free trial that pretty much summed up my SWG experience.
I suppose my question is this: Do you have any plans to make a game that's sole purpose isn't to keep people paying your subscription fees for as long as possible? That particular facet of Sony ideology has turned me off to every Sony game I've ever played.
ad logicam Claiming a proposition is false because it was presented as the conclusion of a fallacious argument.
Why the fuck are you answering questions here on Slashdot instead of answering questions in your own goddamn forums? Are you defective? Do you give enough of a fuck to talk to your players instead of going on these idiotic public relations jaunts? The fact that you are here answering questions instead of your own forums answering questions just shows how little you give a damn beyond reaping the subscription rates and ripping your players off by announcing a major game change the day after release of an upgrade.
Steve's Computer Service, Hobbs, NM
Why did you guys announce this "upgrade" the day after ToOW release? I mean heh... sounds a bit strategical to me, an "upgrade" like this would take months if not years to create, this total revamp is bigger than the normal CU itself (which by the way was announced months before) and will change the genre and remove very many reasons to playing this game. You have said that every upgrade will be on the "In development forums", and step by step be shown to the players. Was this "upgrade" too small to ever be put there? You knew well that very many players wouldn't ever have bought the expansion if they knew the game was going down the trashcan 2-3 weeks later. If not illegal, this is fraud and you are cheating your players... I doubt I will get an answer to this, and if I won't, I will take it as my statements in this post are correct (I know you read all of them so no response will mean as much as a response really...). By the way... people probably have cancelled their accounts, and most responses you have been getting have probably been negative, do you really think that I should believe you when you say that most people are optimistic about this? What do you take people who play this game for? Don't you think they play it for a reason, that they are happy with the current system? Of course some people may want the NGE, however I don't believe the majority of the subscribers enjoy complete revamps which take time to get into and fix bugs etc... each 6 months. Just my thoughts, I really have lost all my trust to SOE/LA for first removing the original combat system pre-cu and then removing what's left of the fun from it from CU1 by adding CU2. I am sorry to say this but it's the way I feel... Thanks.
Why should we trust any software that Sony wants us to install on our computers, after the recent well-known rootkit incident?
What are you going to do to get out from under this rock?
What a strange bird is the pelican, his beak can hold more than his belly can.
I don't mind game changes whatsoever. Even though I am a huge Star Wars fan - I will be cancelling after what I consider the '3rd Strike' from Sony Online Entertainment.
I will be cancelling because while I do not mind signifigant game altering changes - I do not appreciate being lied to. The 3rd Strike Lie (bait & switch on expansion purchasers) did not even affect my character.
As a matter of fact - by all accounts I'll be able to respect into a full template Jedi under the new system.
The prior two lies were a result of underhanded publish changes that were not even listed in the patch notes for Publish 22 & Publish 23. I recall the uproar that forced SOE to remove the changes after they went live.
I sold my Playstation 2, and I sold all my games. I will not be purchasing another Sony product. Sony's DRM technology is now being used to cloak game hacks and Trojan programs. Sony is reportedly in the works on removing the ability to play Playstation 3 games on more than one console - so that everyone has to buy their own copy.
Sony is about the dollah dollah bottomline. They believe they can reach this via underhanded tactics and deceptive business practices.
Not off my wallet.
Oh and my question:
Why don't you and your company go fuck yourselves?
"To work for libertarianism -- to oppose the growth of government and aid the liberation of the individual -- used to be
>Those boxes will read Bounty Hunter,
>Commando, Entertainer, Jedi, Medic,
>Officer, Smuggler, Spy and Trader.
What if my daughter wanted to be a diplomat? Something tells me that's not the same as Officer. You mentioned each class would show up as a familiar Icon, and I wouldn't call Princess Leia any of the things above. Only three out of the nine are even remotely "non-agressive" in nature. That doesn't speak well for a game that was once geared to be more of a world to explore than just a massive wargame.
"Love is like pi - natural, irrational, and very important." (Lisa Hoffman)
My question is: What are you doing to rekindle old player's interest in the game?
I loved and played SWG for about a year. Unfortunately, despite the dazzling variety in the game, I couldn't stay interested. (Even in spite of my strong desire to stay interested.)
The proverbial straw was the original Combat Upgrade. It finally killed the last bit of my joy in the game.
If you can bring back the original wonder and excitement, I would leave WoW in a heartbeat.
TomB
"You can't take the sky from me..."
What is your plan to reach out to all those players who left before the combat revamp, doctor buff changes, and now this new revamp? Do you hope to draw them back somehow? Will there be any incentives for old veterans to return?
$8.95/mo web hosting
Where you can get from level 1 to 60 in a month of play, instead of the usual no life games which require 12 hours (and 50 other people) every day for 3 years to get anywhere?
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
D00d, you got 14,000,000th ps0t!
-1, offtopic, but couldn't resist.
-- http://frobnosticate.com
If you had been paying any attention to your forums, you would have noticed that you have a lot of people with physical handicaps that the new system of targeting, attacking, and no auto lock and auto attack are making it very difficult to play the game. We have tried it, the remapping does not work. We need an auto lock and an auto attack in order to play this game around or disabilities. We have been able to play for over 2 years now, and can no longer do so. Will you please do something about this?
I know some people who played, up until this week, SW:G. All are fairly hardcore MMORPG'ers who really liked the depth and breadth of character customization and crafting available in SW:G. With that gone, they've all cancelled their accounts, in the (probably vain) hopes that SOE will keep the old ruleset servers around and let n00bs play on the new ruleset.
How many cancellations have happened since the announcement?
Alternatively, how many would it take to change SOE's mind?
In an interview dated 7/29/2003, Julio Torres was quoted as saying: "When Sony and Lucas set out, we said, 'How can we do this and not make another EQ?' We didn't want it to be all about Luke, or combat, or lock our players into a class. So we created a system that would allow players to switch professions during the game, and there would be a lot of gameplay around making that change. If you want to go from architect to scout we've created a system to make that happen."
Now with the new system, you are locking players into their classes, making it all about combat, and making oversimplified "iconic" classes like Luke (Jedi). The person who announced these new changes to the online community was none other than Julio Torres.
In your FAQ on the new changes you announce that crafters are not being phased out. Quoting: "...Galaxies has one of the deepest and most engaging crafting systems of any game that offers one. We are still supporting crafting, but as a profession unto itself included in the nine iconic professions (Trader). What is really fantastic about crafting now is that we are allowing for skill branching within the crafting profession so that crafters can specialize in certain skills and thus help maintain the diverse Galaxies economy."
Let us ignore the obvious fact that specialization is possible under the current ruleset thanks to the ability to mix and match professions, and move on to note that in the very same FAQ the following was revealed: "Item decay has been completely removed from the game." The only inference I can draw from that simple statement, is that as soon as there are enough items created on the server, no new ones will be necessary since nothing decays. Leaving traders with nothing to do but buy and sell used goods. Leaving this essentially just another combat game.
My question to you, Mr. Smedley, is what justification do you have for recreating the game completely contrary to its initial formula, if that formula is what gave the game the degree of success it has achieved up to this point? Most of us players are agreed that the combat system is in serious need of an overhaul (especially after the botched disaster of the first combat upgrade), but that doesn't explain the reasoning behind dumbing down the game to the point at which it no longer appeals to the type of player that it was originally intended for. Please enlighten us.
With the complete revamp of the game will there be a returning player incentive program? Something so that those of us who left earlier can come back with a minimum of pain and check out the rework and see if it's something that is compatible with our particular playstyles?
:) )
Thanks,
Min (ex master doctor
On the whole, I find that I prefer Slashdot posts to twitter ones because I don't get limited to 140 chars before
For the incurably curious:
Slashdot comment #1,000,000 - 15th June 2000
Slashdot comment #2,000,000 - 1st March 1999. It's unknown why the date of this comment is earlier than the previous one. My guess is the comments weren't numbered sequentially this early on in Slashdot's history and were renumbered at some later date.
Slashdot comment #3,000,000 - 13th February 2002
Slashdot comment #4,000,000 - 2nd August 2002
Slashdot comment #5,000,000 - 2nd January 2003
Slashdot comment #6,000,000 - 20th May 2003
Slashdot comment #7,000,000 - 19th September 2003
Slashdot comment #8,000,000 - 16th January 2004
Slashdot comment #9,000,000 - 28th April 2004
Slashdot comment #10,000,000 - 18th August 2004
Slashdot comment #11,000,000 - 5th December 2004. My hat is off to evilmrhenry (542138) for finding this for me.
Slashdot comment #12,000,000 - 21st March 2005
Slashdot comment #13,000,000 - 7th July 2005
Slashdot comment #14,000,000 - 10th November 2005
A graph of these values can be found here.As you can see, the rate of posting has been almost perfectly constant for several years now, but comment #14,000,000 was due to occur on 23rd October 2005 and is over two weeks late. Regardless, at the current rate, comment #15,000,000 should occur on or about 1st March 2006. See you all then!
(PS: cuuuurses)
qntm.org
Mr Smedley, you have made ONE post on the SWG forum. Why won't you make a greater presence there and answer your customer's questions there?
Corporatism != Free Market