CUEmu - Thread Posts

Vampiric_Hoshi

Tue Jul 26, 2005 6:53 pm

2 years ago, a game was released to a market of Star Wars fans with the phrase "Live the greatestStar Wars storyever ... yours". It had a dream and concept that sparked a certain forgotten and lost place in Star Wars fan's minds. We all closed our eyes and invissioned that one thing we spent so many nights dreaming about finaly becoming real. A group of developers endevered to achieve the impossible and bring a universe so diverse and so thick into the palms of our hands. The vision was to let people create their own character in this universe. The vision was to let that player help muld the entire shape of the game itself by playing a part in its continual growth. The vision was to let Star Wars fans have "fun". The vision failed.

As soon as the game struck the market, the development team made one big fatalmistake. They put their entire energy and resources into attempting to balance the profressions they gave birth too. They began a 2-year "crusade" that alienated, destroyed andhurt the community. It created a situation where sides were drawn, the Development team versus the Community. This crusade, this war, reached so far that people expressing their idealisms and opinions were quelled and banned. It's an American trait to use the word "opression" but by definition of the word one might say the community was opressed. Time after time, publish after publish, things were altered and changed and removed and added that the Community, the people actually playing this game, didn't want changed or removed or added. After 2 years of balancing and refining this crusade resulted in entire chunks of the community litteraly getting told they had no further place in the game, told by the Development team that they are no longer welcome to play this game and live out their dream ... unless, ofcourse,their dream happened to match the restricted tunnel-view dream of Developers so obsessed with the idea of balance that they stopped caring about what they were trying to balance in the first place. A dream which ultimately only includes combat and lightsabres.

Finaly, it would seem, the development team realised this crusade was doing more harm for the game than good but instead of stepping back and trying to fix the damage they've coursed to the community they go full steam into a new crusade. A crusade to remove all bugs from the game. A crusade that will see yet more dreams from the community playing this game destroyed. A crusade that is only geared to drawnew crowdes into a dieing game instead of nurturing the ones it already has.

When your body gets a disease, it doesn't grow new limbs in the hope that it can franticaly replace all the cells being lost. If it were to do that, it would use all of its energy and ultimately become consumed by the disease and die. Star Wars Galaxies is diseased, the players are the cells and the Development team are doing nothing but thinking up more ways to add new limbs instead of finding a way to cure the ones already infected. Star Wars Galaxies is dieing.

Tiggs recently said: "We want to have more players for you to play with and I am sure you want that also" but what WE are trying to tell YOU is that unless you start listening, unless you start delivering the gamethe community have been asking for, there won't be players for the NEW players to play WITH. You won't have a community, you won't have devoted fans, you won't have a game.

Yes, this game is heavily bugged, it always has been. Yes, we want them removed. Yes, its a valiant gesture to attempt to do it. But is it the right thing to do? Will it solve the problems? Will it "cure" the game? Will it keep those currently playing? Will it keep future players in the game after their free month subscription is up? NO. What is the point in fixing a bug when there is no one around to see it.

Developers, this is not YOUR game, it is OURS. Your bosses arn't the flashy suited executives, it is US the COMMUNITY and we are asking you, telling you, begging you, to reconsider your course of actions. To stop going on endless destructive crusades. To stop trying to bring people in and start trying to cater and look after the ones you already have. To stop delivering empty promises and start handing us what you once vowed to give.

Bugs we can live with, hell they are annoying and sometimes cause a lot of frustration but I would rather be involved in a game with lots of bugs and still have "fun" than be in a game completly free of bugs but feel empty. Guess what? I feel empty and no matter how many bugs and errors you fix that feeling of emptyness will remain. It will remain until I, and the rest of the community, either quit the game or something fills that gap... the one thing we purchased this game in the first place to achieve... the one thing you promised us... the one thing being to"Live the greatestStar Wars storyever ... OURS"

The only way you are going to fix this game, to cure it, is to finaly sit down with each correspondant of each profression and ask them "What ONE thing can we do to make this game more fun for you". One thing, no matter how drastic or big or small. You need to put faith into your community that the one thing will be something you can deliver. If it isn't, thats our fault and not yours and we'll understand when you tell us it can't be so but I am willing to bet that each profression's correspondant will ask for something that CAN be added or fixed or changed and by doing it you will have helped to improve this game more so in one fell stroke than you have managed over the course of 2 entire years.

You've saddened me, you've hurt me and you've turned your back on me and all I have ever done is try to play a game with a dream that you once gave me.

Give us smuggling. Give us Entertainers that can entertain. Give us a reason to fly in space other than to fight. Give us mini games like holo chess and sabaac. Give us back our dream.

Abandon all hope

WillburWright

Tue Jul 26, 2005 7:01 pm

#2

Right on!

Hell. Yes.

gggggWillbur Wrightggggg A Smuggler without a cause-
gggggggggggggggggg No way to meaningfully smuggle.
gggggggggggggggggg No illegal goods to move....
gggggggggggggggggg No oppressive Empire to fight against?
gggggggggggggggggg 'Tis a sad sight to behold!
gggggggggggggggggg A Smuggler without a cause
ggggggSMUGGLERgggggg Is not a Smuggler at all!

WesBelden

Tue Jul 26, 2005 8:19 pm

#3

...

Might wanna send that in as an email if there's a way to do so anymore

=======================================================================
WesBelden the last Smuggler Correspondent.
Who's the more foolish? The fool, or the fool who follows him?

Rhu

Tue Jul 26, 2005 10:48 pm

#4

Vampiric_Hoshi wrote:

As soon as the game struck the market, the development team made one big fatalmistake. They put their entire energy and resources into attempting to balance the profressions they gave birth too. They began a 2-year "crusade" that alienated, destroyed andhurt the community. It created a situation where sides were drawn, the Development team versus the Community.

Unless someone can point me to evidence to the contrary, this sounds like a fault in leadership. Blaming the devs for bad leadership is like blaming yourself for having a stupid boss.

In any event, the SWG community was never a model of health and functionality. Right out the gate, there were people spewing venom loudly and vehemently. You couldn't look in a single forum without the word 'unacceptable' in the title. The community for SWG was destroyed, I'm guessing, by disgruntled players who were hoping for a better Everquest.

I think this started a vicious cycle--player/press venom causes a manager to twitch and make an ill-advised reaction. The bad action fixes one thing and breaks another, causing renewed, increased venom. And another fix. And even more anger! And even more reactionary fixes!

And so it went, amplifying itself over time.

Meanwhile, the smugglers just wanted to smuggle.

I'm not going to bandwagon and blame the devs. Whenever the actual game developers post, they sound informed. They sound like they understand how the game systems work. They sound like they are being allocated in nonsensical fashions, perhaps by monkeys or random number generators.

The sad thing is, as far as I can see it, the management is responding to the requests of the community. The most vocal, the most enthusiastic (about "winning the game," at least) the most willing to send literate requests alongside of illeterate death threats to lobby for change. They won the volume contest. Hooray for them.

Meanwhile, the smugglers just wanted to smuggle.

But the devs have to answer to their management. We can't tell them not to. We only are responsible for the delivery of their paychecks indirectly. And even then... If this game tanks, they get recycled into a different unit. They start development of Final Everquest Matrix XIV.

The management are the ones who should be accountable. The management are the ones who are directing the game at the request of the lowest common denominator of the community, and maybe their garden gnomes. (They have magic powers! GLODO THE GNOME CAN SEE THE FUTURE!)

So to the devs, the real devs, those who had a vision for the game that didn't have time to get implemented because they were a resource better shifted elsewhere: I'm sorry. I honestly feel very sad for you. I hope the guys above you wake up. But if they don't, I'm sure you will do great at your next job.

Vampiric_Hoshi

Wed Jul 27, 2005 5:04 am

#5

"... Might wanna send that in as an email if there's a way to do so anymore"

If I knew how, Wes, I would ... but I seriously doubt they pay any attention to the "[email protected]" or whatever it is address anymore

And Rhu, this can't be blamed on the overal chiefs anymore. The game being released too soon was their fault but this continual idiocy to crusade against one paticular problem is the fault of the development team itself. It's not like they are deliberately doing wrong and thats not what I was getting at.. they feel its the right choice and its in everyone's best interests but thats where the problem is. They decide whats right and what isn't without really consulting the people playing the game.

I know everyone always makes a thing about how the development team only ever does what a whiney Jedi asks but this isn't true either. If you check the Jedi forums they are screaming out for things just the same as we are, just the same as every other profression is, and getting ignored along with the rest of us. All these Jedi changes were again a case where a developer decides its a good change without first consulting the community.

The whole "Droid Commander" thing is a pure example of this. The Droid Engineer forum was filled to the rim with the Droid Engineer community saying they don't want a Droid Commander profression and want to see it either spread throughout existing combat profressions or given to DE's ... so the developers then create the Droid Commander idea saying "its what the community said it wants" then when they actually took a look at the community screaming "we didn't F-ing say we wanted that!" they realised their mistake, dropped the idea and just dumped a bunch of completly useless modules into the game.. modules that again the Droid Engineer community haden't been asking for.

The simple fact is, the Development team has a correspondant program in place, community relations people in place, and a very strong community in place. Yet they don't use them.

Abandon all hope

SmugglerPie

Wed Jul 27, 2005 5:26 am

#6

/agree

You hit the nail right on the head. The game I bought is dead. I don't know what this game is anymore.

"C O L O N E L A N G U S" M A C G R E G O R

DEAD SMUGGLER - KILLED BY LACK OF CONTENT AND COMMUNICATION

I am Jack's ignored profession.

My account payment has been moved to a long term implementation.

Antonnio

Wed Jul 27, 2005 5:43 am

#7

It is amazing how detailed this game is when you really look at it. Here a few things I noticed:
Talon Karrde, Lando's buddy and Mara Jade's friend from the EU, sits in the back room of the Mos Eisley Cantina.
You deliver information to Mara Jade herself in an Imperial Themepark mission.
You work for Nym, several times... who has a pent up hostility to Han Solo, for good reason.
Grand Admiral Thrawn makes his debute. The Black Sun pirate syndicate fits perfectly with this time-line.

I can keep going, you need to keep your eyes open and you will see, but the point I am trying to raise is this. You could spend all the time in the world keeping the game accurate... including easter eggs for all the major Star Wars fans, but in the process of doing this... you didn't let us smuggle.

HELLO?!?!?!

How does this make sense? How could Talon Karrde be in the game... but I cannot smuggle? How could you be talking to Mara Jade, but I cannot Smuggle? Why is it that the most important aspect of a smuggler is smuggling, and I cannot smuggle like the smuggler I am?

Smuggler4LifeSmuggler4LifeSmug  |
gler4LifeSmuggler4LifeSmuggler  | Antonnio J. Rossi
4LifeSmuggler4LifeSmuggler4Lif  | Captain of the Lone Wolf
eSmuggler4LifeSmuggler4LifeSmu  | For Profit Only
ggler4LifeSmuggler4LifeSmuggle  | *   *   *
r4LifeSmuggler4LifeSmuggler4Li  |  
feSmuggler4LifeSmuggler4LifeSm  | My Holonet Page
uggler4LifeSmuggler4LifeSmuggl  |
er4LifeSmuggler4LifeSmuggler4L  | We're made to suffer. It's our lot in life.

Ricbr

Wed Jul 27, 2005 10:04 am

#8

Hell of a post and I hope the devs actually read it.

I have spent 3 years following the game waiting to live in the Starwars universe prior to its launch...I then spent another 2 years on top of that time trying to figure out what had actually happened and why it never seemed to work.

As of today..I have officially given up. I decided a few weeks back that I would cancel and I now have no plans on renewing it ever again. It is finally to late to lure me back to the dream I once had. I have moved on. Today is my accounts last day and after seeing your post I just had to add the support to it before I left.

Do I hope the game gets better? No...because I dont really care anymore.

Do I think the devs will finally listen to the fans? No...because I dont think that they care anymore.

Am I going to miss anything about SWG? YES. Just the fan base and the love that they once all brought to the game. It is you folks that have made me hang in there over the last 2+ years and I appreciate your hard work!

To all the devs at SWG....I hope that in the future you finally stand up to the suits at SOE and do whats right for the fans. It is us that makes the game move on afterall and it will be the suits that end it alot sooner then it should have been.

Take care all!

Ricbr out

Renelin

Wed Jul 27, 2005 3:22 pm

#9

Address this as "An open letter to SOE" and then email it to every fan site and computer gaming magazine you can find. Seeing something like this in print will have a much better chance of creating change than forwarding it to anyone at SOE. Good luck.

Vampiric_Hoshi

Wed Jul 27, 2005 6:23 pm

#10

*points to his signature*

Abandon all hope

Rylux

Wed Jul 27, 2005 7:21 pm

#11

Well said, very sad but all true.

Traesk Kre'lar

Phoenix Squadron

JohnnyBravoRPD