Dancer Archive

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DarkY0da wrote:

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Reachwind wrote:

The community is NOT enough. This is a video game first and a chat room second. I am no longer content to pay for the right to be a part of this community. For my entertainment dollar I need some game as well. The game I beta tested, loved and played for a year straight has been brutally ruined by bad design and implementation and no progress towards making much neededchanges is currently being openly planned or tested.

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Amen.

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Nope..community is never enough.

"Boredom. At some point, all players will become bored with the game, regardless of the strength of the community. If they can not be recaptured though new content or features, they generally churn out within two to four months of boredom setting in. In some cases, they may hang out for quite a while longer with their friends in the game, if the teaming and chat features are sufficiently strong."

Developing Online Games, An Insider's Guide Mulligan & Patrovsky

At this phase of the SWG lifecyle, I think the devs are depending on the community concept to keep players here and hanging on the hopes that JTL or the CB will bring life back to the staleness that all the professions seem to be experiencing (perhaps with the exceptions of Jedi and BH). But have you noticed how slow the entertainer professions' forums have been lately? I don't know about the rest of you..but I'm bored silly.

Furthermore, I suspect that, having labeled us as the "social professions", they've mistakenly assumed (as have many of the non-ent players) that a graphical chat room is really all we ever wanted or needed. And, in that our primary mechanics (healing/buffing) somewhat work, I think it very likely that they are of the opinion that we've gotnothing tocomplain about.

So, a friend with whom I play regularly and I were chatting in msnm the other day, while at our desks halfway across the country from each other. We went through our lists of MMOGs we've played before, browsed the web discussing other games and the ones that are expected to go live in the next year. We concluded that we're still having more fun in SWG than we would elsewhere at this time. For us it is that the entertainer professions, even as poorly implemented as they are, offer us a greater creative outlet than we will findelsewhere.I suspect it won't be long though.

Message Edited by Esharra on 10-07-2004 12:58 PM

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Drygo wrote:

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Esharra wrote:

...some snippage...

Furthermore, I suspect that, having labeled us as the "social professions", they've mistakenly assumed (as have many of the non-ent players) that a graphical chat room is really all we ever wanted or needed. And, in that our primary mechanics (healing/buffing) somewhat work, I think it very likely that they are of the opinion that we've gotnothing tocomplain about.

So, a friend with whom I play regularly and I were chatting in msnm the other day, while at our desks halfway across the country from each other. We went through our lists of MMOGs we've played before, browsed the web discussing other games and the ones that are expected to go live in the next year. We concluded that we're still having more fun in SWG than we would elsewhere at this time. For us it is that the entertainer professions, even as poorly implemented as they are, offer us a greater creative outlet than we will findelsewhere.I suspect it won't be long though.

Message Edited by Esharra on 10-07-2004 12:58 PM

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You are absolutely correct on both points that I quoted here. It kind of reminds of when I played Sims Online, which, to me, ended up being a graphical chatroom more than anything else. Yes, it's true I am attracted to the social games or playstyle. But, to assume that in the end the social player only wants to chat and create their own content, and not care about an economy or any other dynamic form of gameplay is completely and totally inaccurate. I think this is exactly why social games or social playstyles within other games take on the appearance of failure. They simply aren't made dynamic enough.

And /agree on the second part. To me, SWG is still the best game out there, and I think that's the real reason I don't want to quit. During my 3 week hiatus, I did a lot trial versions and downloading, and nothing even came close to comparing to this game. So, in that respect, I think SWG is lucky, and it's one of the biggest reasons SWG has been able to retain the social player thus far. If it ever gets any rivals, however, that realize that the social player wants more than just a graphical chatroom, I can see a lot of entertainers checking it out.

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