Jay Talbot’s Ramblings

More than a couple of years ago I helped beta test a new game that was coming out from Lucasarts(tm) and SOE called “Star Wars Galaxies.” Granted, the testing was late in the processes and basically the finished product, going gold about three weeks later.

When I first connected and got into the tutorial, I noticed that the interface was extremely awkward. Options were buried deep in submenus, and things were rather complicated. I figured there would people who would like it and hate it. I already had my hands full with DAoC and EQ that I really didn’t get too much into it. I did see potential though, and thought maybe sometime down the road, I would buy it and play it.

Fastforward to just a few months ago. SOE and LA announced that the SWG that it’s players loved so much would be revamped into a game for stupid people to play. Basically, an FPS with a little content thrown in for good measure. Ignoring it’s community, SOE/LA set in motion what would eventually lead to people leaving by the thousands. They were not given more than two weeks notice. To make things worse, this came not long after a bunch of people bought a new expansion that was supposed to make their characters, as they were and not in the new game, better at their professions with new gear and content. The uproar from the community fell on deaf ears, as any forum posts complaining or citicizing SOE/LA’s actions were locked or deleted.

The community had no voice.

Ok, people worked long and hard to develop a character. I have no doubts that they put in months of time into it, as I have in DAoC, EQ, and now WoW. This was gone now, and the new system is not near as robust and “bug free” as the original. I don’t blame people for getting pissed. I would be royally pissed if Blizzard decided to confuckulate WoW into something different, and I can sympathise and empathise with the distraught and alienated players. There was no loyalty shown to their customers. Saddening, really…

Here’s the punchline. SOE/LA has now stated that they did it with the feedback of a control group of 18-25 year old males. Hello??? Anyone home?? Of course 18-25 year olds love FPS’, and they made it so. What’s really sad is, the diverse community that supported SWG to begin with was not 18-25 year old males. It was 30-45 year old male and female original Star Wars fans. Why? Social parts of games generally attracts women, and the action side attracts men. SWG had both. The social interaction with people as you practice your chosen professions really attracted a lot of women to the game. And you tie Star Wars into it and “ZOMG, what an uba game!” Unfortunatly, now, it’s gone. This was a horrible “business decision” that they made, and now they’re paying a high price for it. I can probably predict that SWG will never have the following and quality of players they had pre-NGE. For that, I won’t ever play SWG.

I can’t blame SOE alone for this business choice. LA had an equal part played in the deception of the SWG community. Let’s hope that SOE doesn’t follow those guides when it comes to EQ and EQ2. It would send their MMO business to other games like WoW, Eve Online, D&D Online, and (dare I say?) DAoC.

Maybe more later…

Tags: Gaming //