Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
You meet the freindliest people being an SWG exile
SofaKing2000
Member Posts: 196
An old freind from my server (Shadowfire) sends me a Yahoo message to join her in "Second Life".
Im not one to play games without PVP, so I told her "I think I'll pass".
She would'nt relent, so I agreed to try it with the caveat that I could log off at anytime when my boredom level reached the same point as my cat watching "American Idol".
She agreed and made me a toon.
after long hours on her part, she made me a "stud-ly" toon. I gave her full reins, (whoever said "Second Life" was a free game was full of crap! cost me $80 bucks for her to make my toon),
Anyways to the point of the story..... she takes me to a popular bar and we dance, I ask her "so what do I do?" She say's "Nothing, just dance fool".
K, I dance........ after like 3 minutes Im bored, and I don't really give a shit about this game, so I yell out "Smed sucks!"
I wasn't expecting anyone to read that little shout because in SL the convo's are all in a tidy liittle window not above your head like SWG.
To my suprise some dude yells "Smed does suck!" I read it on my little "convo" window when I was getting up from my chair to pour myself another Scotch.
Next thing I know, the whole bar is shouting out what servers they're from and after 10 mins we're all sitting around telling Pre-CU stories.... Was alot of fun.
I don't think SWG will ever die.
Comments
_____________________
I am the flipside of the coin on which the troll and the fanboy are but one side.
SWG refugees are spread far and wide. I tried that game SL also and didnt last in it more then about 5 minutes. It was horrible. I guess for some people that is their cup of tea but I just couldnt get into it. Its really sad that there isnt a good replacement to a once great game. I have had fun with SOR and currently still play L2. Heck I even jumped back into Horizons which is the game I went to after the CU hit. In every single game I have gone into I have found basically the same thing you did and thats the disdain and blatant hatred for the people that screwed up SWG.
Its really interesting that SWG had such an impact on so many people. Non gamers look at us like we are crazy and cant imagine that anyone could get so wrapped up in a video game. Well I can speak for my household that had 9 active accounts, we were hooked with a passion. I have not yet found a game that can compare with all of the different abilities and activities that SWG once had. I suppose as a side note we also liked Star Wars and grew up with the movies and books unlike the crowd they altered the game for. Sure younger people might have seen it and liked the series but I remember going to the theater when it first came out.
When I first started playing SWG I started out as an entertainer and loved chating with all of the people in the cantina that was packed to the point of extreme lag. I was in those ever so lovely entertainer clothes when a guy came up that I will never forget that gave me money and had me follow him across the planet to a shop so that he could equip me with entertainer clothes. This was my first interaction with a jedi. The only one I ever saw for a very long time. They were definately rare at that time. He told me he played the character but had grown bored as being a jedi was a solitary thing and he had to constantly be on the look out. *sigh* These memories and many more that I shall never forget.
As to your comment about saying Smed Sucks in the bar, well I play Lineage II and named my wolf appropriately to show my hatred for what they had done. I got comments and started up conversations with several people because of the following picture:
Ravens Tribute
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
Being a SWG Refugee has its perks thats for sure. People look at you as if you just got back from a war. I used to get laughed at when I played SWG. Now I am seen as a hero of sorts.
Kai
Make an MMO with no PvP and they'll come screaming down in hordes. Add a new twist to quests, and everyone will moan about how WoW did it better. Try to do anything that isn't inherited from WoW, Quake or (whatever was the genre's best-seller", and you end up with a bunch of whiners saying how the other game is better.
"Consumer is always right"
Even if they are completely wrong, sales determine what they like. The SWG failed, only 300k subs, whaaaaa. It should be billions, so many SW fans.
The consider this:
S:
Is there an argument to be made for revisiting an idea that people
still enjoy? If people are still playing it and buying it and they want
to play it…is it so terrible, in that instance, that something is not
necessarily innovative?
CC:
No, there's nothing inherently wrong with recycling the same thing over
and over and over, but how do you know what you're missing if you're
not trying? Has anybody noticed that we don't appeal to the general
public? Has anybody thought that perhaps it might be a good thing? In
fact, the industry has talked about reaching out to a broader audience
for decades, but the industry is not willing to do anything about it.
As long as you keep recycling the same product you're going to have the
same markets.
Ingo Prophecy (by that aforementioned author) got shot down big time. "We had this 15 years ago", "It's just boring" "Other games have better storylines" "Not enough action". Although it was an attempt in a different direction, consumers didn't accept it.
Enter SWG. (UO would work, but it's too technically antiquated and therefor not a contender anymore) A different aproach, with existing background lore. Combat is lacking compared to anything else. But to many players it doesn't matter, since they realize combat isn't everything. And while other aspects are hardly worth anything more (they are just rehashed space invaders, pacman and tetris paradigms of extremly simple gameplay elements), they are presented in a way, that creates an intangible meta-level.
"Sales wants us to expand into the 17-25 market, meet the 28% customer retention by end of Q"
You're a red-name. What do you do? You have 2 months to reach goals, or the projects gets scrapped, or you get reassigned. You look around, find a concept that works, and implement it.
When a plumber gets called in to fix a leaking dishwasher, he'll comment: "Yea, the X2 series have faulty valves". What's he to do? Call up manufacturer: "We're aware of this (the retrofit would cost $88 mil, subsidizing valve repairs costs $1.2 mil during lifetime of the series"? Doesn't work.
"The pvp in that game sucks, it's about potion spamming"
Maybe so, but why should pvp even matter? Every concept ever introduced into MMOs has been done before. But players don't care, they want their pvp. Ef the story, Ef the immersion, Ef the world. WTF is this double whammy skill progression. Why is there no dual wield, the Planet of PeaceLore has it. Why is there no stances, every game has stances your just stupid. How can you play that game where rangers get quick jump and can bunny hop.
Current consumers are what determines what gets made. Every single release proves it. And the only way to break out of this, is to ditch the current consumer base, and go for big one. Some of those will come back, and realize that things have change. Others won't.
But investors, who make things happen don't care about any of that. A - B > $17 mil. This is the extent of their interest into contractors. Oh, you're in gaming? Then make it > $15 mil. You have 1 year.
Inovation can't be forced, but what is an increasing problem, is that the risks involved are becoming too high. So you end up with cookie cutter products. Who's to say, that there won't be any market for Doom 9, World of Warcraft 3 and Counter Strike Sink in 10 years.
The true danger here really comes from the corporate inexperience. They know how to sell and market what is out there. This is what killed SWG in what it could have been. Many realized it only after it was gone. It wasn't the fault of the game, it was the fact it got sold as just another MMORPG, when in fact it wasn't, although it carried the same designation. And the ultimate problem is not in game design, but in fact that current breed of publishers simply doesn't know how to push out different games. And since those people make 80-95% of the company, it's easier to just replace the game. Much easier, than to replace entire corporate hierarchy, corporate mentality and their mode of operation for the past decade.
Whilst playing EVE with ventrilo people in our pvp ops started asking about past MMOs we'd played. I mentioned SWG and straight away people started laughing with comments such as "Yeh I played that pre-cu, it was ok then but now it sucks balls".
Others in the group who had never played asked why, and what it's like as they'd seen it advertised. Suddenly the stories started about how it started off buggy but was a decent MMO then just went down the pan after holos were handed out. People were cracking up laughing and recounting stories of bugs, exploits and the "lame PvP". Actually it was quite fun, no-one had a single good word to say about SOE and in the end a few guys who were going to try it said "Thanks for the warning, I was going to buy it but now I'll avoid it."
Every now and then when a player complains about an MMO or company on ventrilo someone says "You've never played SWG, right?", which always starts a few old vets cracking up with laughter. They say "What's so funny?" and after being told they usually say "Well yeah, the game wasbn't that bad I suppose!".
I suppose being an SWG vet gives me a "Seen the worst online train wreck" badge, which I wear with pride!
"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience"
CS Lewis
and yes, I play wow right now, and its funny to mention something about swg in general chat in any area , and that usually starts up a fun discussion
For the Horde!
You don't have vets from failed games.
And there's incredible number of SWG vets.
Those that quit SWG since it sucked never call themself vets. They hardly mention it, or list it among other 11 games they've played.
This reminds of the Pirates of the Carribean quote:
- Jack Sparrow, you're probably the worst pirate I ever heard of
- But you have heard of me
Opinions differ on what was good or bad about SWG, but there isn't a game out there, that has had so much impact on population. Wow does, but simply because of overwhealming numbers. Considering the alleged 300k subs max, isn't it funny that you get so much response from a random population. In many cases, screaming Molten Core is boring would not result in 20x more shouts back.
Just something to ponder about. If original SWG sucked so badly, why were so many loyal and active players involved in it for 1+ years. Between WoW, GW, EQ2, Eve and a few other titles, there was plenty of choice.
Those that stay they played it because it was star wars are not the ones that left with NGE. Obraik and pirrg play it because it's star wars (or because plants get paid well). But others were not attracted to SW enough to warrant that much of their time.
How come someone, who cannot stand WoW, with all the polished content, can claim they found more entertainment in SWG with all the bugs and no content? I'm not bashing anyone, but too often the concepts of boring, broken, afk, no content and train wreck in context of pre-cu get tossed around just out of habit.
SWG offered much more fun, but it was offered in a non-obvious way. Too bad many people never realized that, because they simply went for eye candy, and in ended up feeling empty. Kinda like gulping down a bottle of good wine, then waking up next morning and saying that the hangover is the same as from cheap booze. It is, but those that dare, will enjoy only a glass of good wine over a large meal. It's quite a different experience.
Hardly matters anymore, the old wine is now six-pack of buy 5 get one free lime-juice, with 20% freee flavor, being given out in every z-mart as impulse buy item.
LMAO!!! Kai.
And I love your critters name Raven!!!
Man, all you guys have excellent posts...
Im sure other games have they're share of interesting and fun peeps, but I don't think any of them can compare to what we had in pre-NGE SWG.
When someone ask's me why I enjoyed such a buggy half/assed programed game I just tell em, I enjoyed the peeps... the community is what kept me playing.
Well, being a SW geek kinda added to my fun factor too..
I really don't think any game will ever capture the magic that we all shared, but at least we have our memories.. and it is gratifiying to know that you can pop into any online game and feel an instant bond with someone that wears the same "badge" of being as SWG Exile.
"There's no star system Slave I can't reach, and there's no planet I can't find. There's nowhere in the Galaxy for you to run. Might as well give up now."
Boba Fett
I've busted my balls for many years to have a decent career, and I make a decent living. Money is not an object when it comes to my free time enjoyment.
But I do agree $80 is alot of cash to be wasted... especially on a stoopid game like SL.
I've busted my balls for many years to have a decent career, and I make a decent living. Money is not an object when it comes to my free time enjoyment.
But I do agree $80 is alot of cash to be wasted... especially on a stoopid game like SL.
None of you tried Project Entropia?
You don't have vets from failed games.
And there's incredible number of SWG vets.
Those that quit SWG since it sucked never call themself vets. They hardly mention it, or list it among other 11 games they've played.
This reminds of the Pirates of the Carribean quote:
- Jack Sparrow, you're probably the worst pirate I ever heard of
- But you have heard of me
Opinions differ on what was good or bad about SWG, but there isn't a game out there, that has had so much impact on population. Wow does, but simply because of overwhealming numbers. Considering the alleged 300k subs max, isn't it funny that you get so much response from a random population. In many cases, screaming Molten Core is boring would not result in 20x more shouts back.
Just something to ponder about. If original SWG sucked so badly, why were so many loyal and active players involved in it for 1+ years. Between WoW, GW, EQ2, Eve and a few other titles, there was plenty of choice.
Those that stay they played it because it was star wars are not the ones that left with NGE. Obraik and pirrg play it because it's star wars (or because plants get paid well). But others were not attracted to SW enough to warrant that much of their time.
How come someone, who cannot stand WoW, with all the polished content, can claim they found more entertainment in SWG with all the bugs and no content? I'm not bashing anyone, but too often the concepts of boring, broken, afk, no content and train wreck in context of pre-cu get tossed around just out of habit.
SWG offered much more fun, but it was offered in a non-obvious way. Too bad many people never realized that, because they simply went for eye candy, and in ended up feeling empty. Kinda like gulping down a bottle of good wine, then waking up next morning and saying that the hangover is the same as from cheap booze. It is, but those that dare, will enjoy only a glass of good wine over a large meal. It's quite a different experience.
Hardly matters anymore, the old wine is now six-pack of buy 5 get one free lime-juice, with 20% freee flavor, being given out in every z-mart as impulse buy item.
Either I just tired or something or is this a great post. You are right on target about many things. Thank you sir I really enjoyed this. /deep bow
I think I'll e-mail this to smedley!
I don't claim to be right, I'm just posting.
Im not tired, and THIS is an excellent post.
should be stickied on this forum.....
I've busted my balls for many years to have a decent career, and I make a decent living. Money is not an object when it comes to my free time enjoyment.
But I do agree $80 is alot of cash to be wasted... especially on a stoopid game like SL.
Nono dont get me wrong I wasnt cricising you for wasting money. I was just baffled that you spent $80 on just making a character. At least if it was Project Entropia you would have gotten some items, maybe a cheap land/house.
"There's no star system Slave I can't reach, and there's no planet I can't find. There's nowhere in the Galaxy for you to run. Might as well give up now."
Boba Fett
I've busted my balls for many years to have a decent career, and I make a decent living. Money is not an object when it comes to my free time enjoyment.
But I do agree $80 is alot of cash to be wasted... especially on a stoopid game like SL.
Nono dont get me wrong I wasnt cricising you for wasting money. I was just baffled that you spent $80 on just making a character. At least if it was Project Entropia you would have gotten some items, maybe a cheap land/house.
I really hate getting off topic, but then again, who cares? I'll check that game out, it's not a SIM game is it? I needs my PVP.
I actually got a $80 bar tab payed for me because I was a SWG refugee.
lol me too
and Rekrul's posts are always insighful and maybe a little bit hard to follow
For the Horde!
lol me too
and Rekrul's posts are always insighful and maybe a little bit hard to follow
Yea he's damn good... reminds me of Morat...I miss that guy...
I came across him on other MMO sites while I was pitching my same old rehtoric bitch about SOE and he shows up and breathed new liife into the topic.
Since SWG, I have played City of Heroes, City of Villans, WoW, and now EVE. If I mentioned SWG in any server (Except EVE, only one server) you will see former SWG players respond. Its strange to me how many ex-SWG players there actually are out there spread throughout the various MMO's. They seem to be everywhere
I've never told anyone that I play with in EVE that Im an X-SWG player... I never really thought about it before but I think it's because I like to be anonomous when I play that game.
I wanted to hook up with Agricola and a couple of other peeps here in MMORPG.com in EVE, but for some reason I still want to play that game incognito.
It's weird... can't explain it....strange game...
Cool
Its a pretty simple story, nothin too flashy so here it goes. . .
Me and my gf went out for a night on the town. Stopped in at the local watering hole to check out a band. I was wearing a t shirt from dragn con 98 which is strange for me. When I go out I usually like to pimp it up a lil more, you know the button up silks and shiz like that.
A guy noticed my shirt and made a coment about it. We started talking about past cons and the classic pen and paper games which led us to the subject of online gaming. I started to talk about SWG, well basically rant like all us refugees do and right away he chimed up and new exactley where I was coming from.
We shared pre cu stories for almost 2 hours over many Vodkas while our women discussed not so important stuff
We basically had the same story about being there at launch, starting guilds running cities and everything else under the SWG sun. It was a great time but words cant describe it. Sounds like 2 drunk guys crying over a lost game but you just had to be there.
At the end of the night he took my tab and said its the least I can do for a fellow SWG Refugee
We passed on our emails and vowed if pre cu ever came back we would start a guild and all that good stuff.
Like I said very simple story but its prolly one I will remember for ever.....
Which reminds me, I really should email him and c what hes into, "hey, this is the SWG refugee that you got drunk that one night. Looks like pre cu isnt coming back so ummm.....wanna have a couple more vodkas
Cool
Its a pretty simple story, nothin too flashy so here it goes. . .
Me and my gf went out for a night on the town. Stopped in at the local watering hole to check out a band. I was wearing a t shirt from dragn con 98 which is strange for me. When I go out I usually like to pimp it up a lil more, you know the button up silks and shiz like that.
A guy noticed my shirt and made a coment about it. We started talking about past cons and the classic pen and paper games which led us to the subject of online gaming. I started to talk about SWG, well basically rant like all us refugees do and right away he chimed up and new exactley where I was coming from.
We shared pre cu stories for almost 2 hours over many Vodkas while our women discussed not so important stuff
We basically had the same story about being there at launch, starting guilds running cities and everything else under the SWG sun. It was a great time but words cant describe it. Sounds like 2 drunk guys crying over a lost game but you just had to be there.
At the end of the night he took my tab and said its the least I can do for a fellow SWG Refugee
We passed on our emails and vowed if pre cu ever came back we would start a guild and all that good stuff.
Like I said very simple story but its prolly one I will remember for ever.....
Which reminds me, I really should email him and c what hes into, "hey, this is the SWG refugee that you got drunk that one night. Looks like pre cu isnt coming back so ummm.....wanna have a couple more vodkas
Great story Bro!
I'd have vodka's with U any time!
I don't frequent the pubs as much as I used to, but I think I should go to one and yell "Smed sucks!"... just to see if there is any SWG Exiles here in Detroit.