Business And Economy Archive

Here is my take:

The reason I, or any other entertainer is tipped, is because the tipper would rather see the tipped entertainerin the cantina than out doing other things.

I would argue that being an entertainer, dancer, or musician is perhaps one of the hardest forms of work in SWG.

I never, in all my months as a dancer, was tipped because I heal Battle Fatigue, heal mind wounds, or even buff.

And why not?

Because my competition has no real qualms about giving these things away for free. And not only that, but my competition doesn't sleep. They do not eat. They never leave the cantina, and they have no desire for credits. And in fact, they will entertain for 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for 10,000 patrons a day, or no patrons at all.

Faced with something like that, thequestion now becomes how can one even hope to make this an occupation, or earn any credits at all?

Because my macro-driven competition suffers from a fatal flaw:

They are boring.

Entertaining is perhaps the only occupation in the game where I have to convince the audience to tip me, when they can get everything I have for free. That takes skill, and hard work to do it well. In fact, skills that have very little to do with the skillboxes we acquire. Because the skills in question come not from the character, but from the player that plays the entertainer.

Entertaining, unlike the other professions in SWG, aresocial professions. That doesn't mean that a player has to be a "gabby" to do them. Think of social professions more in terms of "social science" professions. All it means is that the professions as a general rule operate by a much different set of assumptions than the others.

There have been other professions in the history of the MMO genre that are similar to these, and what they, and these professions have in common, is that the things that are emphasized are dialouge, creative use of the ingame tools, observational skills, and a careful attention to detail to the environment around the player. They are not professions for everyone, andtheytypicallytake an unusuallytalented player to make the most out of them.

In my opinion, thegreatest thing about the entertainment business in SWG, is that anybody who can be funny, amusing, insightful, or talented could make it in the business. The skill boxes did not really matter. They gave us extra tools we could use, such as new dances, new songs, new melodies, and new visual effects. They also allowed us to heal at a faster rate. However, a novice doing Basic 2, or Star Wars 1, if they were able to sustain the attention of the audience, could pulla lot of credits out of the cantinas.

But what these professions--and social professions in general--require for them to operate is a "static space" other players are congregated at, that are in a state of mind to be amused. There were several static spaces when this game launched. Shuttle landing pads, cantinas, medical centres, and camps, to name a few. And each one of them had a few features in common:

1) Players tended tonaturally congregatearound these areas.

2) They were generally empty of threats a player had to respond to.

3) The players generally had to spend some time there.

And I would argue, that if a space in SWG could be found that meets all these criteria, entertainers can earn tips there, whether the space actually could generate mechanics or not. In the time before shuttle time reductions, I could earn good credits by entertaining the travellers by the droid. In the medical centres, I could earn good credits by amusing the injured. And of course, in the cantinas, I could earn credits because there would be players there who were in the right frame of mind to appreciate an amusing presence.

Battle Fatigue provided a good platform for skilled performers who could make the static space more energetic and lively. I could explain the other uses for Battle Fatigue in terms of how it regulated the server environment, but that post is in the "General Game Discussion" board. Suffice it to say though, at least with entertainers, the skilled ones could make the time to heal it appear go by more quickly, without actually making it quicker in truth. Ihad a few sayings that I gaveto those new entertainers who wanted to know what they should be doing in the cantina:

The difference between a good performer and a bad one is that the good one makes ten minutes feel like ten seconds, and the bad one makes ten seconds feel like ten hours.

There is a difference between being /watched and being WATCHED.

The job of the entertainer is not to heal BF, but to make sure the patron's BF is at zero by the time he or she has the inclination to press ctrl-c.

With BF being removed, the question now becomes where will the static space be, and for what purpose? That is the big issue facing entertainers--and the possibility of social professions--today in the MMO industry.

Because the "fashionable trend" these days is tostripawayall the"static spaces" from the environment as possible. The current emphasis on action over realism and depth meant that any space that players were congregated at for a large time was considered a "dead space," or a "time sink."

However, the problem is if the space is too active, or players move through there too quickly.Instead of a welcome diversion from the mundane, we become "clutter." And I have yet to see anyone who is willing to tip to see more "clutter" in the areas like the starports today, when players are trying to interact with their fighter craft.

The problem is also if the things we do to draw an audience are delivered too quickly, like our current inspirations. Because if the things we do for players are applied too quickly, then one doesn't even need to be very skilled at all at capturing the audience's attention, now do they? That is the real dillemma we face. Inspirations are not very good platforms for performance, because they can be delivered so quickly by an AFK master, that players receive them before they even realize how boring they are.

And that is why I fear for these professions without Battle Fatigue. Not becauseI was ever tipped for healing Battle Fatigue. How could I when the patron could /watch the layabout next to me who just skill animates via unattended macro? I fear that I no longer have many spaces available to me to really showcase my talents. The fact of the matter is--for better or worse--the "static spaces" in the game are drying up.

Because the truth of the matter is, if I can find a group of players that are congregated around looking to be amused, I can make it in this profession, like I always have.

But if players are always on the move, and never need to slow down, they don't need a show. What they need is less unnecessary clutter. And I no longer am a skilled professional at the art of distraction and amusement. I become just more clutter.