Sony & LucasArts Muck Up The Force

dakotamangus writes "Players of the massively multiplayer online game Star Wars Galaxies are feeling a bit like the films' besieged rebel army these days. To them, LucasArts is the evil Empire, raining down terror in their alternate universe. Says Nancy MacIntyre, the game's senior director at LucasArts: 'There was lots of reading, much too much, in the game. There was a lot of wandering around learning about different abilities. We really needed to give people the experience of being Han Solo or Luke Skywalker rather than being Uncle Owen, the moisture farmer. We wanted more instant gratification: kill, get treasure, repeat. We needed to give people more of an opportunity to be a part of what they have seen in the movies rather than something they had created themselves.'" These latest mainstream press articles are just the latest examples of the profound backlash the NGE has wrought among the SWG player community.

Comments

I felt a great disturbance in the force.

[Anonymous Coward]

As though millions of nerds posted in terror, and then suddenly modded.

Wrong, Wrong, Wrong

[Anonymous Coward]

Whoa, these comments from the Director are pretty revealing. First of all, it's an RPG, or was supposed to be. By definition, a lot of that *should* be exploring and learning new abilities. Second, this is (was) the only SW game where you had the _option_ to be Uncle Owen if you wanted. Some of the best times in game were actually the domestic stuff, running a shop with my Wookiee wife.
And thirdly, "Kill, get treasure, repeat..." I don't think there's much that can be said about that comment except that this woman is stuck in the earliest days of MMORPG theory. In fact, this kind of grind is why most people LEAVE the games.

Man, if you ask me, putting this woman in charge was one seriously bad decision. Maybe she's hot.

Re:Wrong, Wrong, Wrong

[Anonymous Coward]

Her industry credits include such stellar titles as "*NSYNC Fantasy Phone Hotline" *shudder*

http://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/deve loperId,69075/

WTH was Jim Ward (pres of LucasArts and V.P. Marketing LucasFilm) thinking??

if you're unhappy...

[pizza_milkshake]

cancel your subscription. that'll get your point across.

Re:if you're unhappy...

[Ayaress]

From my own past experience with declining MMOGs, it won't really get the point accross. Developers very often dig into a vision of their game and not even the enjoyment of their users will dislodge them. I watched one game go from tens of thousands of players - not enough to make the developers rich, but enough to pay for itself and give the dev team some "night job" income - down to barely a hundred now because of the increasing amount of tedium and clicking being added to the game, and for stupid reasons or no reasons at all.

Me, and thousands of others quitting didn't put a dent in their resolve to make a game that can be used to test the effective lifespan of any mouse on the market, but it did do good: I am no longer annoyed by the game, I know longer have to deal with the developers ass-backwards approach to problem solving, and I have an extra $12 a month to spend on other things. I'm happy.

Bit off more than they could chew

[darkmayo]

When SWG started alot of people I knew who played it, (including myself) wanted to be just be that Uncle Owen character. I played an entertainer/musician myself with a bit of smuggler as well.A sexy Twi'lek in catina playing a song and dealing spice and slicing weapons in the backroom. I didnt want to be Han Solo, or a cutout of him. But thats where the game is heading now.

The options that SWG gave you were amazing, the customization the various types of classes and skills you could make the housing, crafting and everything all really detailed, not too mention the customization of the look of your avatar. best I have seen(rivals COH/COV imo) but implimentation was BUGGY AS HELL.

Database corruption, rampant duping, broken quests terrible imbalances and aof alot of empty space. Once people min/maxed the best templates PVP went to hell(not that it was that great to begin with)

I think SOE orginally wanted to create a living breathing Star Wars Universe that you played in but it turned out to be more than they could handle so to "fix" the game they are dumbing it down (tho I like the combat changes having it a bit more twitch is a good idea tho once again.. BUGGY atm) slicing off a bunch of classes and who knows what else to make it SWG lite and hope that they get more people to come and play.

I just think they should kill the game and go with SWG 2 .. perhaps do it right this time.