I think what it boils down to is this: It feels like the heart of what was a WORLD is gone. What is left is a rather soulless game -- at least, so far, that's how it feels to me. True, I have not been able to test much -- some Newbie Island quests as a Bounty Hunter and I spent a few terribly disturbing moments with a low-level, realy-played character I had on Corbantis (SOE copied that server's info to a test server).
SWG had bugs, sure. Balancing was a tough issue due to the incredible and wonderful diversity of the skill-based system, the natural resources with which goods could be crafted (no "caps" or at least they were fairly well hidden) and the intelligence, will and creativity of the players themselves. We felt that we could excel at crafting, at entertaining, at combat, at earning a living, at living itself. And we did.
And yes, the game was not easy as pie (just like the REAL WORLD) -- but that's why we loved it. You could be anything you wanted; any combination of combat, crafter, entertainer, creature handler, doctor, etc. that your 250 skill points could buy. You could surrender your skills and learn new ones at will. (And it was NOT only a sandbox; there were orignally some story arcs, and there was other quest-based content.)
Those of us with (in general) above average maturity (both age and mind), intelligence, creativity and resourcefulness excelled... and stayed here. Lived here. It seems we became an unusual demographic in the MMORPG playerbase and we are apparently not a large enough number to sustain this SWG WORLD from a business perspective.
This has been a fascinating study: set up the closest thing to a virtual world that there has ever been, and see what happens. Who excels? Who enjoys? And how do the companies who created the game handle the world they created?
It wasn't easy. The first CU was the beginning of the reining in of this world because it was just too complex to manage from a development perspective. As well, graphic nuances were removed (such as the "tiles" of the terrain becoming smaller and more noticeable, and the ocean no longer lapping at the shore).
And now, the world is being further constrained: it is now a "class-based" system -- you are stuck with one class (or you must delete your years-old avatar) and no "hybrids" -- which is patently NON lifelike, and they have removed "item decay" which means that crafters will not be able to make a living. This has been done to accomodate a much lower common denominator as well as to enable the developers to manage development more easily.
It is my belief that the pendulum has swung to the opposite side of the spectrum of possibilities. There had to have been a way to keep more of the WORLD of SWG alive.
I have hope that someday, somehow, another world like the one that SWG was will be created again. I have hope that those who do it will have learned from LA/SOE's experience with SWG and will have found a way to manage the possibilities that a virtual world presents.
Lilac Moon, who remembers when the waves used to lap at the shore on Corellia...
Slashdot Mirror
Waxing philosophical here:
I think what it boils down to is this: It feels like the heart of what was a WORLD is gone. What is left is a rather soulless game -- at least, so far, that's how it feels to me. True, I have not been able to test much -- some Newbie Island quests as a Bounty Hunter and I spent a few terribly disturbing moments with a low-level, realy-played character I had on Corbantis (SOE copied that server's info to a test server).
SWG had bugs, sure. Balancing was a tough issue due to the incredible and wonderful diversity of the skill-based system, the natural resources with which goods could be crafted (no "caps" or at least they were fairly well hidden) and the intelligence, will and creativity of the players themselves. We felt that we could excel at crafting, at entertaining, at combat, at earning a living, at living itself. And we did.
And yes, the game was not easy as pie (just like the REAL WORLD) -- but that's why we loved it. You could be anything you wanted; any combination of combat, crafter, entertainer, creature handler, doctor, etc. that your 250 skill points could buy. You could surrender your skills and learn new ones at will. (And it was NOT only a sandbox; there were orignally some story arcs, and there was other quest-based content.)
Those of us with (in general) above average maturity (both age and mind), intelligence, creativity and resourcefulness excelled... and stayed here. Lived here. It seems we became an unusual demographic in the MMORPG playerbase and we are apparently not a large enough number to sustain this SWG WORLD from a business perspective.
This has been a fascinating study: set up the closest thing to a virtual world that there has ever been, and see what happens. Who excels? Who enjoys? And how do the companies who created the game handle the world they created?
It wasn't easy. The first CU was the beginning of the reining in of this world because it was just too complex to manage from a development perspective. As well, graphic nuances were removed (such as the "tiles" of the terrain becoming smaller and more noticeable, and the ocean no longer lapping at the shore).
And now, the world is being further constrained: it is now a "class-based" system -- you are stuck with one class (or you must delete your years-old avatar) and no "hybrids" -- which is patently NON lifelike, and they have removed "item decay" which means that crafters will not be able to make a living. This has been done to accomodate a much lower common denominator as well as to enable the developers to manage development more easily.
It is my belief that the pendulum has swung to the opposite side of the spectrum of possibilities. There had to have been a way to keep more of the WORLD of SWG alive.
I have hope that someday, somehow, another world like the one that SWG was will be created again. I have hope that those who do it will have learned from LA/SOE's experience with SWG and will have found a way to manage the possibilities that a virtual world presents.
Lilac Moon, who remembers when the waves used to lap at the shore on Corellia...