That Social Thing You Do

Ahnog

What it is.

A happy, well adjusted life is about other people. We come to love them, and we want to do things with them. This applies especially to MMOs. The Multiplayer thing is about the social thing. We form units, whether you call them guilds, or corporations (EVE), or fellowships (LOTR), and they are for and about the social thing.

Where it really counts.

Some MMOs require almost everything to be social. I’m thinking here of the original Everquest. Other MMOs allow you to level up on your own (WOW and SWTOR), but make the end game about the social thing, and this is where it really counts. The social thing kept me playing WOW for several years. I mastered the game in my first year of play, but I stayed for the succeeding years because I had built real relationships.

How it retains players.

We did things together. Eventually it because less and less about the game and more and more about our relationship with each other. We bought the expansions. There were new stories that eventually became old, but we kept playing together.  In the end this and only this will retain your player base, so make it good, and keep providing new content.

How SWTOR does the social thing.

SWTOR allows us to form guilds for playing together. We start out when we’re leveling by doing the heroics and instances together. Then, when we move to the end game, it’s more instances and operations. We do dailies together, we roleplay together and we pvp together. If, or is it when, BW has player gatherings we go and meet each other face to face over a few beers. Somewhere in there we become important to one another and the game becomes our social vehicle. It’s about people. We love people and we want the best for them. Life suddenly happens, and those much aligned video games become something more because we learn how to love.

It’s all there, go for it!

SWTOR has it all. Go forth and complete your stories, join a guild, get close to one another, and you’ll be playing the game for years to come.

Sadly, some don’t see it.

Some just don’t get it. They are looking merely for a game, and they want to see giant leaps in each new game they go to. The problem is that they rush through the game, reaching 50 in two or three days, run the end game content, and then complain that the game isn’t worth a damn. They just don’t see that the social thing is what it’s all about. Don’t make this mistake! Take a leisurely stroll through the Star Wars universe. Join a guild and do things together. Get voice communications and sign on and talk to one another. You’ll learn to love MMOs and people and that is worth a damn.

Scalpless

You can make friends and RP in any MMO, but it's more fun when that MMO is good. TOR's problem is that everything it does, other games do better. Story used to be its forte, but now we've got The Secret World, so...

gravesworn

I agree with the social aspect the op is trying to convey. However, i also agree with the subsiquent posts. There are plenty of other mmos that do what TOR does but better. When the virtual world is good. It makes those social experiences even better. True story.

tiefighter25

Honestly the cheerleader thing is kind of tired. Yes you can join a guild in SWTOR. Yes there are some OPs (raids) and FPs (instances). No they aren't adding more in a timely fashion. At this point, WoW was adding more content faster nearly a adecade ago. Stop blaming the fanbase for "Rushing" through content. Where WoW measured real time to level cap in months (on average), SWTOR measures real time to level cap in weeks (on average). Joining a guild to run (the same) solo dailies is not a selling point. Pushing that SWTOR has a guild system for endcontent is in itself a bit dubious since when SWTOR is opened to FTP, the FTP players will have very limited access to flashpoints and not be able to participate in Operations at all.

I have never heard of a game where ...

...its the players fault that their machines can't run the game.

...it's the player's fault that they "rushed" through the content the developers designed as super-casual.

...it's the player's fault they don't want to pay for a subscription.

...it's the player's fault that they play solo in a game that gives you companions and has little reason to group to advance.

...it's the player's fault that they are comparing SWTOR 7 months in to WoW of today (heck even WoW 7 months in)
, and not WoW of the day it opened in 2004.

The list could go on but I just realized that I'm beating a dead horse.

 

ktanner3

Originally posted by Ahnog

What it is.

A happy, well adjusted life is about other people. We come to love them, and we want to do things with them. This applies especially to MMOs. The Multiplayer thing is about the social thing. We form units, whether you call them guilds, or corporations (EVE), or fellowships (LOTR), and they are for and about the social thing.

Where it really counts.

Some MMOs require almost everything to be social. I’m thinking here of the original Everquest. Other MMOs allow you to level up on your own (WOW and SWTOR), but make the end game about the social thing, and this is where it really counts. The social thing kept me playing WOW for several years. I mastered the game in my first year of play, but I stayed for the succeeding years because I had built real relationships.

How it retains players.

We did things together. Eventually it because less and less about the game and more and more about our relationship with each other. We bought the expansions. There were new stories that eventually became old, but we kept playing together.  In the end this and only this will retain your player base, so make it good, and keep providing new content.

How SWTOR does the social thing.

SWTOR allows us to form guilds for playing together. We start out when we’re leveling by doing the heroics and instances together. Then, when we move to the end game, it’s more instances and operations. We do dailies together, we roleplay together and we pvp together. If, or is it when, BW has player gatherings we go and meet each other face to face over a few beers. Somewhere in there we become important to one another and the game becomes our social vehicle. It’s about people. We love people and we want the best for them. Life suddenly happens, and those much aligned video games become something more because we learn how to love.

It’s all there, go for it!

SWTOR has it all. Go forth and complete your stories, join a guild, get close to one another, and you’ll be playing the game for years to come.

Sadly, some don’t see it.

Some just don’t get it. They are looking merely for a game, and they want to see giant leaps in each new game they go to. The problem is that they rush through the game, reaching 50 in two or three days, run the end game content, and then complain that the game isn’t worth a damn. They just don’t see that the social thing is what it’s all about. Don’t make this mistake! Take a leisurely stroll through the Star Wars universe. Join a guild and do things together. Get voice communications and sign on and talk to one another. You’ll learn to love MMOs and people and that is worth a damn.

I agree with a lot of what you're saying, but there are some things you are overlooking. 

I was with a guild that did regular operations every week. We communicated all the time and we role played when we did it. The trouble is, we were still doing the same thing day in and day out.  There wasn't much avenues to expand that experience. I can't meet people by crafting good blasters because the best ones are given to you through game mechanics. I can't form new friendships and rivalries through PVP because the warzones are so small with only 8 vs 8.     THere really is no WAR feel with 8 vs. 8. I can't use cantinas or casinos to meet people because there's no need to go there. I can't sit down and have a drink because sitting isn't even possible, there are no dancers, and no chefs to make drinks. When people are talking about lack of social elemants, this is what they are talking about.  Many of them remember that MMOs use to provide those things and don't like that developers are slowly but surely eliminating these things which use to make MMOs stand out from other games.