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Ralph Koster (former creative director) commentary
Nadia
Member UncommonPosts: 11,798
http://www.raphkoster.com/2011/06/24/swg-is-shutting-down/
I love this quote from him
In the end, SWG may have been more potential and promise than fulfilled expectation. But I’d rather work on something with great potential than on fulfilling a promise of mediocrity.
Comments
So he'd rather promise a great game and deliver crap than actually be realistic and deliver a game that's good?
Yeah sounds about right for him. Because now the only star wars game we're going to get is a WoW clone based on another era that isn't as interesting.
[Mod Edit]
Thats not what he is saying.
SWG had more potential than most mmos put out over the last decade, but sadly Raph was only given 3 years to create a game. It was that decision that killed almost any chance that SWG could reach its true potential.
Given another year of development time and you would have seen a SWG that released with spaceships, cities, "dungeons", a real galactic civil war system, a fleshed out combat system and many many other problems addressed prior to asking players for money.
Sadly SWG was forced to release when it was still a skeleton of a game hardly worthy of being in alpha testing condition.
As has already been posted, you are entitled to your opinion. Now, here is mine.
Koster had a great idea for an MMO based upon the Star Wars universe at the time just after the first SW movie. The concept was sandbox universe where the players had countless choices of what their character could be. This included a heavily player run enconomy with very diverse crafting/gathering. Unfortunately, the "suits" that were at SOE only allowed so much time to develop the game and Koster was forced to release early. The game still had all the things he desired but lacked polish and content. Even then the polish (bug quashing) was addressed. Unfortunately, the game still lacked content. Great sandbox but nothing do do with it but PvP and not everyone wants to ONLY do PvP for the sake of PvP....but I digress.
Now, as to the "era that isn't as interesting" idea. Well, to most Star Wars fans it is not the era but the UNIVERSE of Star Wars itself. This includes but is by far not limited to just the era of the movies. The universe of SW is so diverse and rich with potential content that ANY era can be interesting. Granted, it may not be your cup of tea but that is not to say that others do not find it very interesting.
I should point out that I am not defending SWG as it is today. I left the game two years ago and have never looked back. To me, it was dead from the day my account died.
Let's party like it is 1863!
My post to Raph:
I have played SWG the entire 8 years. I weathered the ups and downs. Made friends and crossed enemies. After hearing all the PVP drama of UO, swore off any MMO. Then I read in PCGamer, SOE had a MMO in developement …and it was STAR WARS. Ever since I was in grade school kid, seeing Star Wars for my first time in 1977, I wanted to live with those Rebels and have adventures flying my own starship. Here now at 43, I thank you Raph for helping me get to live a little of that dream. Thank you for making it special in giving me a World Simulator and my choice of species to be. I fought, I learned, I taught, I ran, I helped, I built, I danced (even sang) and I flew to the ever dramatic music of John Williams thanks to you and the team. It wasn’t perfect … or was it? So many memories…So little time.
Thank you, Raph
i agree i always wanted to play in the star wars universe. i didnt have to be a jedi, i just wanted to create my own character in the star wars universe. Thank you raph for the work and vision you had. i'm only sorry that swg was never able to live up to the potential it has.
"In the end, SWG may have been more potential and promise than fulfilled expectation. But I’d rather work on something with great potential than on fulfilling a promise of mediocrity. There’s a reason people are passionate about it all these years later. I’m proud to have worked on it."
"In the end, my project in the North Atlantic may have been more potential and promise than fulfilled expectation. But I'd rather work on something with great potential than on fulfilling a promise of mediocrity. There's a reason why the families of the departed are still passionate about it all these years later. I'm proud to have worked on it."
Signed,
Captain Edward Smith
RMS Titanic
The sooner dead wood like Koster, Smedly, and Roper are culled from the MMO forrest, the better.
"Gypsies, tramps, and thieves, we were called by the Admin of the site . . . "
Afaik Koster was the Engineer who made the Titanic Blueprints while Smedly and whoever was in direct lead of the CU and NGE team where the Owner, Captain and Officers who set course into the catastrophe or did not do anything against it.
But yeah, most of these old MMO Vets like Koster, much worse Garriott lack any late success.
"Torquemada... do not implore him for compassion. Torquemada... do not beg him for forgiveness. Torquemada... do not ask him for mercy. Let's face it, you can't Torquemada anything!"
MWO Music Video - What does the Mech say: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FF6HYNqCDLI
Johnny Cash - The Man Comes Around: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0x2iwK0BKM
I think you're on to something here.
Remember, the designer of the Titanic was a sympathetic character, at least in the 1997 movie version of the storry, the one that most people are probably the most familiar with.
He wasn't the guy jumping up and down insisting on setting a speed record for marketing purposes.
CH, Jedi, Commando, Smuggler, BH, Scout, Doctor, Chef, BE...yeah, lots of SWG time invested.
Once a denizen of Ahazi
I'm not going to bad mouth it or anyone involved in its creation or demise, because the time I spent with the game taught me a lot about myself, more than any media prior and since. It would have been fun to play it longer, sure, and I'm bitter that the game was changed for the worst, yes, but I realize that it was all unfortunately inevitable. It just couldn't work the way it was imagined, but it still managed to fulfill some of its potential.
Despite the failings, I think it's truly rare that a time sink can motivate and inspire entities outside its own body; that I can gain actual life-impacting experiences from the game, rather than just experience points, is an amazing accomplishment in my opinion. I don't know if it was this big of a deal to anyone else, but it was to me and I only played it for four months. Four months of pondering possibilities and fantasizing features inspired by the sheer scope of that digital world, which continued beyond my subscription and eventually led to my entry into my current occupation.
So I'll pay my respects to it on its death bed and to its designer, without whom my life would probably have been terribly different.
R.I.P. SWG, and thanks.
I miss the excitement that the game provided.
Let me clear that statement up a bit...
The game, as a sandbox, allowed for the other players on my server to create a setting that appealed to me. I miss the huge IMP and REB guilds going at one another. I miss base hunting.. base defense... large scale PvP (OPEN WORLD), and I miss knowing that 10+ RL friends played the game along with me.
That was all PRE-CU(RB) and definitely PRE-NGE.
*** Yes, dead-horse beaten... and lead to water, beaten again for being unable to drink... and yes, beaten again for the sake of continuing to beat the dead horse.
SWG was a game that I couldn't wait to log into. And when I was in the game, sandbox or not, I had an agenda and goals. I had things I wanted to do and was almost contantly busy doing them. And, unlike todays games, the game itself didn't hold your hand and lead you down some bread-crumb trail.
I had multiple accounts... I multi-boxed. I enjoyed the hell out of SWG. Loved it.
Maybe it was because it was what I consider an 'early' MMO? Maybe because we didn't really have some massive assortment of games to choose from? Maybe it's because it was Star Wars?
I believe that it was the community in that game that ultimately had me hooked.
And then... the mass exodus.
And the game was never the same after.
I put a tombstone on SWG a while back. And as hard as it was to do, some part of me always hoped for the sake of hoping, that someone at SOE would pull their collective head's outta their collective arse's and get that game back to good.
Sad to know the game will be gone forever and there will never be a chance for them to fix it or to return it back to the old glory days.
The way Smedley talks about the game, it makes one think that he'd like to start fresh from an original IP with the same concept. The interview he gave almost made him seem human, at least more human than other CEOs like Kotick.
I can't tell if it's just a facade, but he seemed to care more about the game in terms of what it could offer the people that play, rather than how well he could package and sell it.
Maybe there will be a spiritual successor to SWG green-lighted soon if not already. Just hopeful thinking.
I enjoyed my time in SWG up until the NGE. It was my chance to live in the Star Wars universe. I never understood the need to change to make it more heroic. The time period the game was set in already had its heroes. We were the guys on the back burner making the galaxy happen. Soldiers, Entertainers, and Traders all making the galaxy as it was. Our choices to fight for a side, remain neutral, or become a traitor to our cause. SWG captured more of what Star Wars is to me than all of this "heroic", and "iconic" crap. No the Jedi didn't fit into the time period, and I would bet that their inclusion in the game came from over developments heads. Probably some suit with SOE/LA that said "But you can't have Star Wars without Jedi." Thanks Raph for the good times.
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I would have to say... that Jedi were supposed to have been a much more 'rare' unlock. Order 66 didn't catch every single one of them. And the one's that got away would've been hunted. which really lends itself to the original 'bounty hunting' concept.. if you are a Jedi and you do 'anything' in open view of another player, then you would likely generate a 'bounty' on your head.
I liked that.
I was a Jedi preCU. Playing Jedi was a lot like playing most MMO's on a PvP server. I kept my 'radar' up and monitored for inbound 'red-dots' (or 'blue triangles' that changed to 'red triangles').
The issue is... like other games... that once 1 player has something amazing, most other players want it. And, if they can't get it (or even if they aren't wiling to put the work in to get it) they will gripe until it's 'given' to them. This lead us to the NGE and the welfare Jedi systeem... with gub'ment cheese lightsabers.
Anyway...
I know the game was far from perfect preCU/preNGE.. and it's far from perfect in the current state. I genuinely enjoyed what SWG brought to the table, though. No other game since has generated that type of community. And no matter how much 'change' they brought to the game or how many technical changes they made, they couldn't bring the community back.