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Thread: SWG/JtL: Is the glass half empty? or half full?
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Baelin_Radiant
Mon Nov 15, 2004 5:08 am
#1
The classic psychological test for determining whether a person is an optimist or a pessimist is aglass of water that is either half "full" (optimism) or half "empty" (pessimism). Lately I've been thinking about the amount of content in SWG/JtL. How should I view it? Is the game half full (in which there is contentand much moreis coming), or that it is half empty (meaning there isn't enough and probably will never be enough)?
I've played SWG since it first went live and I have a voracious appetite when it comes to content. Before mounts and vehicles, I travelled throughout every planet on foot. Visited every interesting point, performed every NPC quest, fished on every planet, did this, did that, and so on. I've completed every quest. Dabbled in or mastered every profession. I've collected every type of weapon and placed them on display in a gallery. I have a museum of culture filled with everything artistic or racial related (e.g., paintings, Tusken clothing, etc.). I have a laboratory filled with scientific items (e.g., Alderaan flora, Krayt parts, etc.). I've collected virtually every single item that a player could and placed them on display. I've elevated to the rank of colonel and purchased every available faction perk. I've done it all.
If the game doesn't have "new" things to do, then what's left? Redo the old quests? Some you can, some you can't. Once you've done it, it doesn't change. Hunt for meat, hides, and bones? This gets old very fast. Do missions for credits? Even earning credits seems pointless if there is nothing to buy with them. I have practically everything. Help others level their professions or help with their crafting? Yes, helping others is good but even this can get monotonous very quickly. Socialize? Yes, you can keep company with others and interact, but you can do that in real life and it is more rewarding. What then?
My game play had started to diminish in the couple of months prior to JtL's release. I was logging every other day and for fewer hours. It wasn't that I didn't want to play, but there wasn't anything to do. I had my hopes set on JtL breathing new life into this game. I am a big fan of aerial and space combat games so this expansion was a dream come true. Now it is here. I really love being able to pilot a ship and dogfight. Being able to do it with others is a big plus. However.. ..I've reached the point of "been there, done that" much faster than I thought possible. Space (while being very nice) is completely single purposed. There is only one thing to do in space and that is it. Specifically, fight and blow up enemy ships. Yes, you get loot, but loot just fuels more fighting. Unlike the ground game which has other professional duties (e.g., healing, crafting, performing, fishing, harvesting, etc.), space just has fighting. Even PvP in space can get old very quickly. It doesn't matter if they change PvP to last longer thana "two shot kill." Whether it is 2 shots or 10, the excitement level doesn't change drastically. The space in JtL is turning into the real space above our planet. A vacuumfilled with matter that doesn't.. ..matter.
I think SOE was pressured to get JtL quickly. While there are some "less than critical" bugs in the expansion, I think SOE did a good job getting it out fast and getting it all to relatively work. However, I think their entire effort was on creating the basics of a good space game such as ships, components, AI, effects, and galactic props. They did add missions, but those are quickly consumed. After a player has performed the missions, gained their title, and travelled to every sector, what is left? It took me about 9 months to grow tired of SWG. It's been less than a month and I'm already growing weary of JtL. This bothers me because JtL is the only game that can truly feed my hunger for a good space game. This "short lived excitement" hasn't just affected me. Approximately 90% of my guild has either already left or is in the process of leaving. If this high percentage is hitting close to home with me, then I have to believe that it is happening to others as well. Whether I like it or not, I think my time here is limited.
In my opinion, there has only been one game in the MMORPG genre that had a recipe for keeping players around for a long time. My first entry into this arena was Asheron's Call 1. The level system for AC1 goes all the way up to level 126. Each level is exponential meaning that the player needs twice as many experience points to reach the next level. After playing AC1 day after day for over ayear, I was only level 80 (which wasn't even half way). The content in AC1 was spread out and divided based on a player's level. Some dungeons required you to be between level 45 and 55. Entire continents were off limits until you reached various thresholds. Armor, weapons, trophies, spells, and props were level restrictive. Even after playing a year, I still had incentive to continue. Even going out to just hunt meant working towards increasing my level "plus" the chance of scoring good loot (which the SWG ground game doesn't afford). AC1 only had one Achilles heal. It was incredibly dated as far as graphics. Playing AC1 knowing what other games looked like was crushing. Asheron's Call 2 came out and sported much nicer graphics, but the company that produced both failed to take the best from AC1 and apply the graphics from AC2. Instead, AC2 became a mirror of many of the other games on the market. Now.. ..all games are following a similar trend.
Virtually all games in the MMORPG genre now work around a "quick road to master" framework. Somewhere along the way, the industry adopted the belief that players don't want a long uphill climb to master. Maybe they listened to a few players that left their games that cited "it takes too long to level" and thought that everyone felt that way. Maybe they started to believe that offering a quick path gave players an incentive to continue playing because the end goal was "just around the corner." I think this quick path just makes these games disposable. Once a player (such as myself) eats through all of this "instant" content, they are left with nothing to strive for. They get bored, then they move on. Maybe that's the reality I need to accept. The entire MMORPG universe is built on the mantle of a "play for six months, then move on" philosophy. If that's true, then I'm over due for a change.
I'm not sure I like the "don't get comfortable, because your leaving in six months" thinking. When I play an onlinegame, I'd like to think that I'm trying to establish myself in a world that isn't going to wear out too quickly. I haven't had that feeling since AC1. Judging from all of the titles currently on the market, there isn't one of them that seems to expect players to stick around too long. That's sad.
Oh well.. ..who wants to play a game forever?
P.S. I do, but what do I know?
Message Edited by Baelin_Radiant on 11-16-2004 08:39 AM
dridernce
Mon Nov 15, 2004 5:12 am
#2
With respect, you have made what in philosophy would be called a 'category error'.
An optimist does indeed say; 'The glass is half-full'. A pessimist says: 'The glass is half-empty'.
A software designer, on the other hand, says: 'There's something wrong with the glass'.
A SOE developer says: 'There's something wrong with the drinker'.
pedrohsi3
Mon Nov 15, 2004 5:19 am
#3
This is so true, i agree 100%
I felt exactly the same aftera weekin beta and i left the game immediately. Nowadays I return to see what has happened but i don't think i'll ever return to SWG - although i still love SW universe 
Baelin_Radiant
Mon Nov 15, 2004 5:58 pm
#4
I'm a big SW fan too. All I want is to be able to keep busy. Doing the same thing over and over for months is not my idea of playing.
pedrohsi3 wrote:
This is so true, i agree 100%
I felt exactly the same aftera weekin beta and i left the game immediately. Nowadays I return to see what has happened but i don't think i'll ever return to SWG - although i still love SW universe
n3Ph
Mon Nov 15, 2004 6:08 pm
#5
dridernce wrote:
With respect, you have made what in philosophy would be called a 'category error'.
An optimist does indeed say; 'The glass is half-full'. A pessimist says: 'The glass is half-empty'.
A software designer, on the other hand, says: 'There's something wrong with the glass'.
A SOE developer says: 'There's something wrong with the drinker'.
i'd say it smore a case of 'use a smaller glass' & 'sew up the mouth of the drinker'
Message Edited by n3Ph on 11-16-2004 01:09 AM
Frederik
Mon Nov 15, 2004 6:28 pm
#6
The idea of leveling is nice to keep a person busy, thats for sure. However, playing those other games it didn't feel like I was living in a real virtual world- it just felt as if I was a donkey being led by a carrot to each and every level. And once all those levels are finished, then what would I do? I always feel hollow whenever I'm done grinding levels and find I had really only done it just to do..... Nothing. I want to live and be a part of a living, breathing virtual world, not just ride a rollercoaster of levels until I get bored.
It didn't feel like real content. Yeah, there were some very good content quests given at each level, but those only lasted a couple minutes compared to the amount of time put into achieving that level. I will agree that the content in those other games were just BETTER, outright. The quests in SWG just seem really thin, and its not because we're not changing the virtual world or anything. The stories just suck. NO good, NO evil, NO heroes, NO villains, NO morals, NO ethical questions, NO emotional pullings, NO point. A very empty SW story indeed.
Yeah, sure we can write our own stories in the Star Wars Universe in SWG. And yes, they aren't going to drastically change the Universe Lucas created. But why does my story have to suck so bad compared to Skywalker's? I'm not asking to save the galaxy, I just want a good story and a long one at that.
And if a developer ever says, "We can't do that." Time to find a new job, because that's not a technical problem. Its just giving a game heart, like an author does when he/she writes a book.
It didn't feel like real content. Yeah, there were some very good content quests given at each level, but those only lasted a couple minutes compared to the amount of time put into achieving that level. I will agree that the content in those other games were just BETTER, outright. The quests in SWG just seem really thin, and its not because we're not changing the virtual world or anything. The stories just suck. NO good, NO evil, NO heroes, NO villains, NO morals, NO ethical questions, NO emotional pullings, NO point. A very empty SW story indeed.
Yeah, sure we can write our own stories in the Star Wars Universe in SWG. And yes, they aren't going to drastically change the Universe Lucas created. But why does my story have to suck so bad compared to Skywalker's? I'm not asking to save the galaxy, I just want a good story and a long one at that.
And if a developer ever says, "We can't do that." Time to find a new job, because that's not a technical problem. Its just giving a game heart, like an author does when he/she writes a book.
XBlue
Mon Nov 15, 2004 6:38 pm
#7
Well since you have finished all dev provided content,why not move on to player provided content?
Many events have come to pass and still have yet to play out.I myself have found that events and RP type things done by players far surpass anything the devs could give us,besides the tools to creat them.
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