Dancer Archive

I did today and I found this little nugget:

---

Here's the big deal about getting healed when you want to: SOE and LA deliberately designed this game so that you can't. They don't want you to be able to just drink some grog and go back out killing. They designed this game around one idea: roleplay. They don't want it to be a kill-loot-kill-loot grindfest. They don't want the cantinas to be empty and the towns deserted. They want it to feel like Star Wars. To that end, they have included stuff in the game to, whether you like it or not, force you to interact with other players. Yup, that's right. They made it so that other players are the only ones who can make you a house, build you weapons, heal your wounds, and get rid of your battle fatigue. Why? To force you to interact with others.

SOE and LA want this game to be a living, breathing, online universe -- not an online killing and looting field. They have deliberately, purposely designed the game so you can't just go through it never interacting with anyone else.

---

Notice the parts I underlined? (They were not underlined in the original post.)

Isn't it interesting how post-CU SWG is exactly the opposite of these statements (which were accurate a month after launch, when I made them in response to someone who wanted to just hunt continuously and never need a doc or dancer). The game now *is* a kill-loot-kill-loot grindfest, the cantinas and towns *are* empty and deserted, and the game has changed from a living, breathing online universe to an online killing and looting field.

And people wonder why I say I don't like it the way I used to.

Anyway... it's interesting sometimes, reading 2-year old posts...

C

I agree very much with your observations, Chess. Unfortunately, I think it is possible that the whole genre is evolving further from its virtual world roots and closer to being more of what the present day audience considers "game". In all the MMOs I've played for the past 3 years or so, it seems the attitude of other playerstoward us RPers has gone from tolerence, to ridicule, to disdain. I know I'm not the only one who seems to be going from one game to the next seeking that world I can live in again. But what percentage of the available customer base has ever heard of MUDs and MUSHs even? Very few, I suspect.

The more I think about it, the more I tend to believe that it's the incorporation of voice apps in gaming that is encouraging the change..if it is a mechanic at all and not simply player preference. With the withdrawal from the text based interaction,rp has died almost completely. I don't think I've even seen anyone else use /gu in one of the guilds I play with regularly.We're a dying breed. And unfortunately, I think that is a result of the majority of player preference and the devs are reacting to a trend rather than being the cause.

The two last bastions of my own virtual immersion are with tiny pockets of players on Chilastra and Kauri..even as we try to hold them together, they too are rapidly dying away.

I've got some (probably foolish) hopes for Star Trek Online. They specifically say they are keeping an eye on the current MMORPGs out there and mention SWG's repetitive grinding such as what NOT to do. But lots of companies SAY that and then create a grindy EQ-clone. So we will see.

I just was really struck by how everything those of us who were fans and supporters of the launch version of the game were saying "it's not" (and glad of it!), it now *is*.

C

By the way, speaking of roleplaying, it doesn't address your concern (teamspeak, etc) though maybe I should add a section on that, but I have a very long diatribe on MMORPGs and roleplaying game design theory at the Roleplay Cafe (Clicky). It's very long and very opinionated (admittedly and deliberately so), but it addresses a number of issues about why the current batch of MMORPGs is going further and further away from their "RPG" roots.

They're basically glorified console games at this point. I have nothing against console games, not at all -- but if I want to play a console game, I will play one. When I log into a roleplaying game it is for other reasons... neh?

Anyway... I wrote a huge amount about it there so I will not belabor the point any further.

C

omg star trek online?

gawd star trek is for geeks.

...

come on its funny!

Looking forward to reading it Chess. And yeah..console games. You know..back in the day when I was getting into MUSHs and MUDs on the local BBSs, my youngest brother (now 23) was getting into console games and he never had any interest in the text based games I played. The differences between his and my tastes in MMOs nowseems to reflect our differing histories.

my old posts make me look like a nub.

Well there is that... Sometimes your old posts make you feel... gah... OLD...

C

mine talk about DE...

Unfortunatley for us, "glorified console games" are where the most money to be made is, and thus the development dollars flow that way.

---

ZinaTheMaker wrote:
my old posts make me look like a nub.

---

Are you sure your reading an old post?

/lick
/burstrun
/hide

---

--Qilue-UCW-- wrote:

---

ZinaTheMaker wrote:
my old posts make me look like a nub.

---

Are you sure your reading an old post?

/lick
/burstrun
/hide

---

---

Chessack wrote:
I've got some (probably foolish) hopes for Star Trek Online. They specifically say they are keeping an eye on the current MMORPGs out there and mention SWG's repetitive grinding such as what NOT to do. But lots of companies SAY that and then create a grindy EQ-clone. So we will see.

I just was really struck by how everything those of us who were fans and supporters of the launch version of the game were saying "it's not" (and glad of it!), it now *is*.

C

---

Oh I'll probably see you there. I am truly a geek - and an annoying child actress...