Game Guides Archive

Introduction

So, you want to open a museum. What do you do next?

Well, it depends on the kind of museum you want to have. If you only want a place to display your loot and trophies you can just decorate a house, but if you want to make a "realistic" museum that tells a story just read on.

One of the most interesting aspects of SWG is the ability for players to be creative in the game. A museum is one way to express that creativity. A well-planned and well-excuted museum will gain the attention of your fellow players. But it will require a lot of work on your part.

I will be making other posts in this thread that give you tips on specific aspects of museum making. First, let me introduce myself. I am Moya' the Wookiee, the director and curator of the Wookiee Cultural Center. I currently run three Wookiee museums on Intrepid, helped create an Entertainer museum, assist with the curation of 6 other museums, and have been a consultant for aspiring museum directors on my server for some time. My character does not earn any credits at all for doing this. I do it because I think it is fun.

In real life, I have a graduate certificate in museum studies. And while I do not currently work in a museum, I have done two different internships in addition to my classroom training. I have a pretty good idea about how museums work in real life and have tried to bring as much of that as possible into my game museums.

My character lives in Symphonia, Naboo [Intrepid] -- a city that calls inself the Cultural Capital of the Galaxy. When our city was formed we started with the 7 museums of the Intrepid Museum Complex (which is now in 5 buildings). Now, we have at least 9 different, unique museums. Each has it's own theme.

Theme:

It is really important to pick a theme for your museum. Chose one area and do it well. Our town has 2 Wookiee museums, an art museum, an entertainer museum, a museum of wildlife, a museum of the factions, a museum of warfare, a museum of rarities and robotics, and a museum honoring great masters in different professions who have left the game.

Pick a theme. If there are other museums on your server, try to pick one that is unique.

Decide on a Story to Tell:

I knew I wanted a Wookiee museum. I am a roleplayer and have developed a lot of cultural material on Wookiees through board postings and stories. It all started with me playing the cantinas and explaining to people about Wookiee stereotypes (like the old "they will pull your arms off" thing). So, I wanted to teach people about what the lives of the Wookiee people.

Building and Location:

Once you have your theme, decide what kind of building and location would work best for you. Try to use a building that compliments the objects. And remember, a large house or guild hall holds more items but it also means you have to work harder to decorate and fill the structure.

I highly recommend placing your museum in a player city that is easy to reach. At the time our city started we did not have a shuttle so we located ourselves close enough to an NPC city that people did not mind making the drive to see our museums. There are some well-established cities that would probably love to have a museum. Find one and talk to the mayor about your idea.

Develop a Collection:

Look around and see what kind of items are available to tell your story. I started my museum a long time ago. I had one of each item of Wookiee clothing, some bowcasters, and 5 Wookiee food/drink items. That was all I had to use in the beginning. So, I had to improvise. Now, with the Life Day items and the opening of Kashyyyk my collection has increased dramatically to the point I have to be selective about what I choose to display. I actually have a storage facility now of items that are not exhibited.

Start gathering the items you need. And do some creative crafting to get things that don't exactly exist in game.

Creative Crafting:

A Wookiee museum should have a lot of trees in it, right? But not just any kind of trees ... they should be Wroshyr trees. So, I got an architect friend to make me a factory run of "Wroshyr trees". I have also had many other items custom made with Kashyyykian names. I have the other two types of planets renamed with species from Kashyyyk, mounted hides with different Kashyyykian animal names, and even some bioengineered animals named with Kashyyykian names. I also had a tailor make Han Solo's outfit for me for my Han and Chewbacca exhibit. It stands set up next to "Chewbacca's bandolier" and "Chewbacca's bowcaster". Get the idea? By renaming common objects you are effective creating an atmosphere for the museum and "labeling" items.

Adding Interpretation:

The best real life museums tell a story. They do this by adding signs and labels in with the objects. You can do this, too. But be warned, while this is the step that will really make your museum stand out it is also the spot that takes the most work. You really need to understand how crafting works, and you have to be able to write clear, concise labels. Some times you will have to try naming the same label over and over again until you get it to work. But once they are done, you will be amazed at how much difference it makes. I will write a whole post about labels later in this thread.

Decorating:

Once you have your objects and labels, then you get to do the fun part. Put it all together. Resist the temptation to open it to the public until you are finished, but do bring some friends in and ask their opinions on things. My most recent museum started out in a medium generic house on Tat. My friends came in and all said "this should be a medium Tat house". I listened to them and took the whole museum down and started over. I am so glad I did, because the medium Tat house looks so much better.

Open the Doors and Advertise:

Once it is ready for the public, have an opening. Invite your guild, the city residents, your friend's list, and post it on the board. The event will be crazy, but it will allow you to see first-hand how much people appreciate your hard work. And once you are open, continue to maintain and improve the museum. Add new exhibits. Redecorate occassionally. Have events. Give people a reason to keep coming back!

Well, this is my introduction. It is intended to start you thinking about your project. I will be doing detailed posts about these topics and others later in this thread. Please feel free to post questions and I will do my best to answer them.

Reputation, Donors, and Support

Your reputation as a player will reflect directly on your museum's success. If you are an honest player and you prove yourself, people will support your work. If you just seem to be out for a quick credit, don't bother asking people for help.

When I started my museums I had every intention of paying for everything myself. I was a poor musician, but that wasn't going to stop me. I started contacting different crafter friends to commision the items I needed. Just about every single one ended up just donating the items to help me out. Other friends donated credits to pay maintenance and cover other expenses. It really made it possible to do what I have done and I am very grateful for their confidence in me and their support.

Now, don't start asking for money right away. You need to establish yourself. Find one or two friends who can afford to sponsor you. If you are well-known and trusted, people will probably help you.

Since I have a RL background in museums I understand the ethics of museum work. I apply these principles to my in-game museums. This is very well-known on my server and I am sure that it has been a big reason why I enjoy so much support from the community. And I will not betray that trust by using the museums for my own profit.

I keep a record of every donation. All credits and donors are tracked in a spreadsheet. I can always check to see how many credits are mine and what belongs to the museum. There have been a number of people who have left their credits and stuff to my museums when they have left the game. I keep what can be used in exhibits or events, and liquidate the rest. All the funds go into the museum fund and are only used for museum activities.

Also, acknowledge your donors. Do it frequently and publically. I have two categories -- sponsors and donors. Sponsors are people who donate 500k or more. Donors are people who donate less than 500k, items, or services. I have a "sponsor and donor board" in my main museum. I have crafted tree-dwellers hoods that list names of my sponsors and donors. Do not make one per donor -- you will use up all your exhibit space. Instead, put as many names on one item as possible. Now, this has proven to be very hard to manage. So, an alternative method would be a list of donors on a web page and post the URL on an object in the museum. Be creative.

Don't just take. Give something back. Here are some of the things I have done:

• collected Life Day orbs and robes and redistributed them to Wookiees


• held story and poetry contests


• held screenshot and art contests


• held several player events (including museum openings and the Wookstock Festival)


• created the Wookiee Hall of Fame (honorees are nominated by the community and selected by a committee)


• sponsored Life Day caroling around our server


• worked with a Wookiee guild to make a factory run of bowcasters to give out free to Wookiees


• written countless posts and stories about Wookiees and Wookiee culture


• helped numerous Wookiees with all sorts of questions


• worked as a free consultant to help other museum curators


• created a temporary museum at one of the Groovefest events held on Intrepid


• created the Galactic Museum Directory listed Intrepid museums

All of these activities have helped establish my reputation with my community. Each time I announce a new project I do not have to ask for support. People just make donations and say "hey, I want to help with that". It really has been a great experience and has been worth all the time I put into it. And trust me, I have invested a lot of hours doing this stuff instead of doing other things in game.

Adding Interpretation to Your Exhibits

So, how do you make your museum more than a house full of stuff? Add labels!

In my opinion, this is what makes an in-game museum really stand out. Anyone, given enough time and/or credits, can build a good collection of items to display. But when you add text that explains the exhibits it makes all the difference.

This is also where your theme really becomes important. You should write the labels from your character's perspective. Write like a Wookiee, Dosh, or whatever you are.

First, let's talk mechanics.

Setting Yourself up to Write Labels:

Step 1: Set up to copy and paste. This will be essential for crafting labels. To do this go to cntr O and pick keymap. You will need to go into the chat options and map for copy and paste. Click on "copy" (or "paste") and click on "rebind". Pick something that you can remember. I picked something close the copy and paste command for Windows (ctrl+shift+c for copy and ctrl+shift+v for paste).

Step 2: Open up your in-game notepad (type /no). Write your labels in your notepad. Then, as you craft, copy the label text and paste it into the object name when you craft the labels.

Important Limitations You Need to Know:

1. Character/space Limitations: There is a limit on how long an object name can be. You are limited to 123 characters and/or spaces. If you exceed this, you will get an error message that says "You have named your object a reserved word. Please try another name." It is the same error message you will get if you try to name something with profanity.

2. Multiple lines of text: You will want to break your labels into multiple lines of text. This is where the in-game notepad is really valuable because you can't do this in the crafting window. HOWEVER, since the CU, only three lines of text will show up when you drop an item.

Making the Labels:

So, write your label. Be as conscise as possible. Three short sentences is about all you can fit (see my sample labels in my previous post). Use simple words, and don't get flowery.

When you think you have your text ready, craft the item you are using for a label (we will discuss possible items in a moment). When you get to the part of the crafting session where you name the item, go to the notepad and copy the text. Go ahead and copy a blank line below your last line -- it will look better on the finished object because there will be a space between the item name and the item description if someone "examines" it.

Paste the label text into the item name spot and finish crafting. It will look a bit odd because you will not see all three lines of text in the item name spot of the crafting window. If you get the "reserved text" message, go back to the notepad and edit it down. Copy the new version and try pasting it in the name spot. Rinse and repeat until you get a label that fits.

When the "label" is completed, click on it in your inventory and see what the item name says. Test it in your museum by dropping it and clicking on it.

Items to Use for Labels:

Before the CU, everyone used to use bone armor segments for signs and labels. Unfortunately, doing the CU they did a global rename and destroyed signs and museum labels across the galaxies. Now, only armorsmiths can make armor segments. You can make some decent ones at novice armorsmith that do not require a lot of resources, so you can try this. You could also see if you can "borrow" someone's armorsmith to make your labels. It is probably unreasonable to ask someone to make them all for you. This is a very time consuming and frustrating part of the operation.

There are other items that you can use as well. In several of my exhibits I use Tree-dwellers Hoods for labels. Look through the items you can make and experiment a bit.

Or, try using backpacks and pasting your text into the name field on those. Be creative and see where it gets you!

WARNING: Keep all your label text in your notepad until you are completely done with your labels. Then, copy all the text and go out of game to use Wordpad or Notepad. Copy the labels into a document and save it on your harddrive. I did not do this originally. When the CU hit, I had four museums that were completely wiped out. All my labels were renamed "Battle Armor Segment" overnight. Fortunately, one of my visitors had taken screen shots of all my labels and I was able to retrieve the text. DON'T LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOU! Back up your work out of game just in case.