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Why?
azhrarn
Member Posts: 817
When I got tired of Ultima Online, I quit and never regretted it. I have fond memories of my garbage-eating dragon and the joys of death-by-chicken.
When I got sick of Asheron's Call, I quit and never looked back. I still occasionally ponder the sucktastic graphics.
When I got bored with Final Fantasy XI, I quit and never gave it a second thought. I still think the mitra were cute.
When I burned out on Anarchy Online, I quit and was content with the four years I spent there. I still think it was a groundbreaker for its time.
When I found WoW lacking, I left and it didn't hurt a bit. I still say the PvP didn't suck and that troll women have the best dance.
But when they changed SWG (twice) into something I didn't like, I left and have been angered and tormented by thoughts of it ever since. Why, when this game was once superior to every other game I have ever played, do I feel so much anger and angst over it even now, months after I left the game? Why am I unable to let it go and forget it?
I have a life. I have a husband who spoils me rotten, a beautiful home, a group of charming and faithful friends and many MANY diverting and sometimes even useful hobbies. I want for nothing. I am fortunate and priveledged. So why am I unable to just let it go?
What makes SWG so damned special that a woman like myself, who has everything, who has never regretted playing or leaving a game in her life cannot just get over it and move along?
Really. It's so stupid. It should be trivial. But it's not. And I just can't figure it out. I'm not alone in this irrational and inexplicable feeling of loss. I know this because I see it in others, here and elsewhere. How can something that was apparently "not good enough" leave such a large hole in so many people's lives when it was taken away? Can anyone explain this?
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Kote lo'shebs'ul narit
Comments
Well, If you're like me, it's because you wanted to love this game. You saw in it the endless possibilities. You saw that it wasn't the same ol' orcs and dragons crap! You knew this Universe, you grew knowing it and the possibility of being someone, regardless of who, in it excited you. You should've played this game for years to come.
I too have a wife, a baby, a home, a job that allows me to be on the internet most of the day. My life is not empty by any means. Yet what they did to SWG really hurt! They took a game from me to give it to another demographic. They changed it because they didn't think that what I liked was important. My dream game, my escape, my alternate ego was thrown away because some corporate suit thought that he'd make more money if they changed it to something else.
At least that's why I can't let go so easly... I know that eventually I will, but damn! it's heartbreaking!
SOE knows what you like... You don't!
And don't forget... I am forcing you to read this!
/hug op
ya, i feel that pain too.
Faxx
These are the reason's many like myself simply can't let go , Though we would be considered Fools and Fanbois. We love the game just as much . Much of what grew on you (as the rest of us still there) so much i would bet would be the communitys we created . It is really no different than the community you live in in RL . But it was a community inside a star wars universe . Which many of us older folk grew up dreaming about in our younger days . I think even if SWG started at release how it is now , and they turned it into what pre-cu was the same amount of outrage would of been seen .
Another huge difference was the fact , you left something in the world of SWG . We have homes , Citys , Malls so on and so on . Your imagination was the limit when it came to (though still holds true) What type of Community you wanted to build, be it a small village , an outpost , a military base , or even a bustling Metropolis not many games offer something like that , if any other.
As much as the two sides of this coin argue , one thing is for sure . Those in game miss those who have left . We miss those communitys as much as those who are no longer around. I have heard the opinion that those who are still there , are robbing everyone of a pre-cu SWG . I differ in my opinion , I feel those still around are the only ones who are allowing any hope of a return of the game we love .
If all those playing were to quit , SWG would go the way of the dodo . Corporations are to egotistical to admit to a mistake . To roll back means to admit to incompetence , I don't recall any major corp. ever doing such(unless you consider Coke, but i don't consider the two to compare) . Either way those still in game are still there fighting for a better direction and a mutual high ground all can enjoy . Crticizing them is crticizing your only hope for a game you may be able to enjoy . (this last paragraoh is not directed to the OP, But those who act in such a manner.)
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
Hun ... you answered your own question ...... "this game was once superior to every other game".
The potential this game HAD went beyond ANY game I have ever played. And I been playing games for over 20 years with the last 15 years being an avid gamer.
Because so many people (roughly 500k players) saw the potential and the people running the show (SONY, SOE, LA) had NO clue of what they had or where to go with it.
SWG was ORIGINALLY built by an extremely talented group of individuals who had a vision and was able to put it into code. These fools at SONY, SOE, and LA didn't care about what they had OR what it could have been. All they cared about was how can we make more money in the shortest amount of time. So they changed SWG into a FPS console game so they could bundle it with the SP3 and get more accounts. In doing so they destroyed the game.
And I believe they will never make the NGE work as a viable game or get the account level back to what it once was.
Sago Mactow
Former SWG 2yr 7 month Vet
6/26/03 - 1/26/06
Jedi, Master Shipwright, Master Architect
DFR Councilman
Tarq Server
I feel the same way.
I met a young lady in the game (several I must admit) and even got married in game. Continued to know her thru' voice and cam and eventually met her in the flesh.
She came down to New York City where I'm from and I went to her hometown in Chicago. We spent a lot of time together especially on long weekends and vacations. Mostly indoors but thats another story. It was mostly a physical attraction both ways and it was fun, lasted way over a year.
All this while we played the game. Their were many very good rolelayers in Radiant where I was. We did things you can't do in any game out here and maybe thats the reason we feel this way over this game. This and many other factors involved.
All the games out now have roleplaying under their titles but none are like SWG when it comes to rp, none. There's no real rp in WoW or in any other game now.
I met many people in that game since it was the best roleplaying game ever.
It is truly ashame that the corporate pirates (SOE/LA) made changes to the game we once loved.
Like many former players, SWG was the closest thing that came to not only role-playing, but to how each of us could be our own unique character within that world. Whether we were Bounty Hunters, Rangers, TKS, Shipwrites, Jedi, Sith, Pilots ... the main thing, it took all of us to make it work. And it's what makes all of us mourn the death of this wonderful game.
SWG as it is now, is great for those who don't like the challenge and diversity of each individual species, profession, and trade. Everything is pretty much handed to a player and isn't earned. The very thing that we (former players) hate about any gaming platform and idea.
There will never be a replacement for how SWG was. However, I still have my memories of all the fun-times (lol ... even the bad ones).
Rest In Peace SWG .... The Game That Could Have Outlasted The Others But Was Killed By A "Death Blow" From Their Own Creators
OCD?
Ico
Oh, cruel fate, to be thusly boned. Ask not for whom the bone bones. It bones for thee.
I understand and agree completely. Tho, I have no answer to the question "Why?" but trust me.. I understand.
OP
The other games it was your decision to leave based on your boredom or whatever. You made the choice when to leave. In SWG most people were forced to leave. Eventhough the developers didnt hold a gun to anyone's head, the NGE was their way of saying "GET OUT NOW!".
Look at a store. People come and go from a store regularly. No hard feelings. No angry thoughts. Just enter and leave. They would have no complaints if you asked them. Now go ask someone who was banned from the store or left the store because of an irate salesman how the store is.
Kai
/comfort
I feel same as you
/cry
OP I hear ya and agree 100%, I did not wanna leave SWG at all but then NGE was not my SWG and my SWG as I knew it was gone(. I still had lots of stuff I had to do and the day the NGE came out all that stuff was meaningless and the death of my bio-engineer was realy crappy I liked making poisons and meds. I am not even happy that SWG is dieng I just want my old game back!!!!
{(RIP)} SWG
When I read posts like this, I get pissed off. At SOE. Why couldn't they just have had the nads to stand up to the whiners? Now they are putting up with firestorm alpha over the NGE. Why couldn't they have had this type of resolve when the game first came out? The game is still good IMO don't get me wrong, but the way it was at launch, despite the imbalances was just way kewler.
I firmly believe that if SWG was like DAoC in that they don't have an official forum, the game would be much better today. Too much player whining + unfocused development team=Watered down piece of crap game.
/rant off
Well ... I've always thought that if RL was going to end, end it on Thursday. For some reason, Thursday is my favorite day of the week.
I happen to agree with AA.
/duck and cover
Ico
Oh, cruel fate, to be thusly boned. Ask not for whom the bone bones. It bones for thee.
<dons his Amateur Psychologist jacket>
I feel very much like you do. Why do I keep coming back to the SWG boards here and at Sony? I left the game at CU only to come back because... something... drew me back. I don't have nearly the gaming background you do - SWG was my very first mmorpg but nothing, nothing at all has come close to feeding that jones I used to get during the login process. I couldn't wait to see who was online, or who I might meet that evening. Hell, I probably spent 75% of my total time in there yapping in cantinas and hunting resources. I was so bloody content in the original version of the game. I really think we have the reactions we do because we saw the absolute potential that game had, and the really well-done features that it already had (crafting, economy, 31 profs, VERY social game). Can you imagine how much SWG would rule if it had real content and customer-focused devs? It's such a complete utter shame what SOE and LA did to this. That's why we can't leave it behind. Well, at least that's my Master Doc/Master Combat Medic opinion at any rate.
zen
To the OP.
I feel the same way. I started playing SWG a month after launch. Loved the game no matter how they added things for the worse. At my peak I had 3 accounts and 4 characters (1 Jedi) and logged in everyday. I was a guild leader of more than 200 people before the CU hit. I even stayed and adapted to the CU even though I didn't really like it much.
But the NGE was too much. They ruined everything I had worked for for over 2 years with an evil smirk on their faces. The current game is a total joke of a MMORPG. How anyone still pays to play that game in it's current state is beyond me.
I am now playing WoW, CoV, and CoH these days. But none of these games have the love I had in SWG. I had a great group of people in my guild, I had a crafter that was good at what he did, I had a Jedi that was complete template and was fun to play. All that was ruined with the NGE.
After I had the nerve to post this very information on their forums and was perma-banned with 3 seperate forum names, I realized SOE is the RL version of the Empire. They don't care about their customers. They consider all gamers idiots who will go along with what they are told no matter how bad the idea. They just want your money and don't care what you say/think.
It sucks and it hurts because I miss the game I used to have. But it's gone....murdered by SOE/LA. I hope they continue to be the laughingstock of the gaming industry and go bankrupt for what they have done to all of us.
I was born in 65' and actually had the first video game ever made as a kid, Pong. I grew up in the video game generation spending hours at arcades playing games like Donkey Kong, Pacman, Asteroids, Gallaga and Spyhunter. As time went along and I got older I continued to play video games. In the last 15 years I've played games like Star Control, MBT, Close Combat, Starcraft, Dune, Diablo and Halo. Not sure if any of you has ever played Star Control but it was a pretty amazing game and has made many all time classic lists. I'd have to say it was one of the most expansive and immersive games I had ever played. That is until SWG.
I remember in 1977 when Star Wars came out and I was 12 when I saw it in the theater. It changed my life forever. It fired my imagination. I dreamt about being a Jedi and fighting the forces of evil to save the galaxy. It became my all time favorite movie series. I watch the movies at least once every year even today and still love them.
SWG was my first and only MMO. I got the demo cd in a Star Wars magazine that I got for Christmas in 2004. I had never played an MMORPG before but a previous co-worker of mine talked about AC all the time and how great it was. So I threw the disk in and was absolutley blown away. Star Control didn't even come close the the depth, complexity and intrigue that SWG had. I mean weapon decay, vehicle repair, BF, food and drink, housing, mutiple and expansive planets, space and ground combat, endless character customization, skill training, PA's and player cities. Holy crap it was awesome. I was in sheer Star Wars heaven. I realized that this would be the closest I would ever get to actually being a Jedi and realizing, in some small way, the dreams I had as a boy. Reaching full temp Jedi was one of my proudest moments.
Alas, the NGE came and destroyed much of that marvelous complexity. I ended up deciding that 2 overhauls in less than a year that left the game crippled and dumber was enough for me to hang up my saber. However I differ in opinion from some that have posted in this thread in that I think the only way to get the love back that SWG created in me is for the game to die a definitive death. The MMO market needs to see in all it's gore and grotesqueries what happens when an MMO tries to mess with their player base. I also believe that there is no way that when SWG does die it won't be born again under the flag of another development company and a new name. There is no way that the Star Wars brand name won't get another swing with the MMO bat.
The last months I have often been on the verge of hitting cancel but I have not yet done it.
Why?
Because this was my first mmorpg and I know in my heart that EVE or Wow or any other game no matter how polished or superior won't be able to repeat the sense of wonder I had when i stepped outside the Starport in Bestine that first day. SWG was a program that manufactured magic. It was a dream come true to all who had grown up with the original trilogy.
It is twisted and evil now, more a console game than a pc mmorpg. Still I endure and hope that against all odds the tide will turn and some of the magic will return.
I actually felt better when I read the OP. I realized I wasn't the only one. I always felt so stupid that there was an empty space inside of me that SWG used to fill. About a month after the game came out I started my two week vacation. I am sure I spent over half of it playing the game. I always felt bad like I should be doing something else but to be honest it was great!!! My buddy would phone me during the day to see what was happening in the game. I would rush home to play it.
I have said it once before but it bears repeating: we had no idea what we had until it was gone.
How many people would take the game back as it was on Day 1, bugs and all?
There are only 10 types of people in this world, those that understand binary and those that don't
FZR..."SWG was a program that manufactured magic." No one could have said that any better. Thank you.
Caine, for what it's worth, I'm glad you don't feel as stupid and crazy for feeling like this about the game. I still feel like an insane person because I just can't scrape it off my shoes. There are a lot of times when i honestly wish I had never played the game at all. Sometimes the old saw about "better to have loved and lost" is a total pile of bull.
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Kote lo'shebs'ul narit
Excellent post Azhrarn!
I too have pondered the question of Why?....
Little backgroud...Im a semi-normal 40 year old man that is quite successful and has the means to do whatever chooses my fancy as far as hobbies are concerned. I played keyboards in a couple of heavy metal road bands in the 80's and early 90's. I've been an Avid Harley rider for 15 years (mostly rode with the Outlaw's, but never joined). I've traveled all over the world and I've eaten cow brains and liked it.
The reason Im giving you all a small glimps of my life is because of some of the rhetoric that Azhrarn has been fighting for the last couple of months with peeps saying "get a life, SWG was only a game".
I can only speak for myself, but I've got a life... and SWG was not just a "game".
It was our world... and it was taken away. I believe that is why us vets can't let go.
It's kind of like someone giving you a puppy or a kitten. You spend a couple of years training them, feeding them....eventually you fall in love with them despite all they're flaws and when they're grown and your playing with them in your yard, someone shows up and takes them away without saying a word.
I also have a life and don't consider it just a game.
I teach physics at a nuclear plant. Own a Benz and a 1972 Plymouth Roadrunner. Love to vacation in Vegas and took a pilgrimige last year to see my beloved Kansas City Chiefs play at home for the first time. (not a small feat from Canada).
I have a life. But after work I like to come home and unwind. I don't need any more stress. To come home at the end of the day and lose myself in the world that I have dreamt about since childhood was likely extremely healthy for me.
There are only 10 types of people in this world, those that understand binary and those that don't
You know, I'm beginning to see a developing theme here.
Those of us who were hurt most by the NGE all had rich, busy and possibly fairly stressy lives. We are complicated people, most of us adults over 30 years of age, some of us having families and children, most of us seeming to have a need to think and be challenged in non-stressful environments as a form of stress relief and recreation.
Most of us seem to be what people would call "casual players" (which is to say, we don't have time to play all day and night all the time).
Now bear with me here, but aren't we what SOE and LA SAID they were trying to make the game more accessible to?
It's funny in a sad kinda way, that we, the casual players who don't have TIME to become successfully or competetively involved in games like WoW are the very people that have been driven out of Star Wars Galaxies. It's also very sad and odd that this very same group of people all seem to need sophistication, freedom and diversity in their games, but that these things are classified by the game companies as undesirable because they "limit accessibility". And saddest of all, we are all what the industry have dubbed "virtual sandbox" players, yet SOE and LA are not the only companies questioning the market for such games.
Now I ask you, how do these people in these companies get such odd ideas? Game companies are like any other business -- they are driven by profit and they require market share to prosper. It's something we must all learn and accept. And it's NOT neccessarily a bad thing. BUT doesn't it seem just a little bit odd to all of you that an entire demographic of customer-players are being squeezed out of the market? We may be a "niche market" but we are talking about thousands here. Thousands of previously tapped paying consumers with a tendency toward branding recognition and loyalty that until recently provided a reliable and relatively easily maintained cashflow and market share.
Now think about this. SOE and LA justify their actions by waving the bottom line at us. They speak in terms of market share and profitability. Yet out of this same philosophy, they continue to call us "acceptible losses" despite the fact that they have not made the expected or desired gains to offset our departure from their market share, and go even further by saying that our market doesn't exist anymore. Where in all of this is there any profitability? Where is the logic?
Good game, bad game or mediocre, it doesn't really matter, to them OR to us. This much is evident. It's the TYPE of game that matters to us most, or we wouldn't have BEEN in SWG for as long as we had been. SWG was the ONLY game of its type (pre-CU) anywhere in the market. It satisfied a very demanding niche of players that no one else could capture for long. How is it that the "lesson" they supposedly learned from our exodus was that "THERE IS NO MARKET FOR VIRTUAL SANDBOX GAMES"? Where the HELL did that come from?
And more importantly, at least to us, is where the hell are we supposed to go if the industry goes with the no more virtual sandbox games lesson? I think THIS is the question that answers in part my original questions. I think we have nowhere to go to satisfy the needs that SWG once did. We cannot move on because there is no place to move on to. SWG defined the service we needed to satisfy many real life recreational needs and created an expectation that there would always be a place for us to go. It created something, a need that was unique, and could only be satisfied by using that product.
We can't let go because we have been put into a vacuum.
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Kote lo'shebs'ul narit