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Sith Sunday – SWTOR in the news

April 11, 2010 by

1. Bioware have announced a new planet that’ll be featuring in SWTOR: Voss.

Voss is an independent planet populated by Mystics who are major wielders of The Force, but know nothing of its existence. Sounds rather intriguing.

2. From the official SWTOR forums, there’s some interesting discussions on prestige classes, whether role-playing fansites serve any purpose, and a great introductions thread for Australian and New Zealand SWTOR players.

3. Whilst talking forums, we’ve set up our own. They’re very simple, which concerned us initially but the feedback has been great to date, and there’s already a good community building.

4. We’re also running a new poll on our front page, asking you whether a guild is going to be front and centre for you in your SWTOR experience. The results from the first poll were:

No big surprises there although one has to wonder about the people who voted that they hate either game.

Filed Under: News Tagged With:

A Third Element?

April 10, 2010 by

I don’t know about you, but when I first saw the title of ‘The Third Element’ I wondered if Bruce Willis was involved somehow. What can I say, I loved ‘The Fifth Element’. Korbin Dallas’ form of negotiation will always be my favorite scene in a movie. It was with a little bit of a pang I read that Bioware considered community to be the third element in a great game. Then I started nodding.

I got involved in MMOs back in 2003. Being a Star Wars fan, I had little choice in the matter. Star Wars Galaxies (SWG), was the way to go. I bought the game, rolled a Wookiee Teras Kasi Artist and started my journey into Star Wars. I played SWG for two years and I have to say that those two years were the most fun I have ever had in my time on a computer. Every day after school, I would log on and look for my friends to hunt Imperials, cause havoc or just sit in the cantina shooting the bull. It wasn’t the game that made my life so interesting – it was the communities. There were so many issues with the game: glitches, bugs, exploits, pathing, almost any problem a game can have was there. And it didn’t matter. To myself and a number of other people, the major draw to SWG was not the game itself, it was the people we played with.

SWG was my first incursion into online games. I had heard a lot of negative things about them, and frankly, I wasn’t sure I had the income to continue the subscription. I found the money after the first week. I was part of several guilds, my Wookiee being a bit of a wanderer. I am very much a solo player at heart, but there was something about the communities that drew me back.

Then came 2005, the year that will live in SWG infamy. I am not ashamed to say I cried when I logged in and my Wookiee TKM, master pistoleer was gone after the NGE. I had been on a trip, and logged out for a week. I came back and found nothing. Everything was gone, everything had changed. I had gone through so many iterations with him; he was almost a kind of family member. I went online, looking for my friends. Most were gone. A few were standing around the opening areas of the new game, and everyone was sad. SOE had decided we were not worth listening to or keeping, so we were gone. All of us. I think there were five of us that day, out of a guild of a hundred and six. We gave each other our farewells and I logged out and uninstalled the game. To this day I wonder what might have been. I tried the NGE with the free trial once in 2008 and had to shut my computer off. It just wasn’t the same, no sense of community.

I have looked for that sense of community in other MMOs. I tried World of Warcraft for a week before getting bored with the grindfest and the idiots on the server I was on. I played City of Heroes/City of Villains, and had a level 50 hero and villain, but the few groups I tried to stay with just disintegrated. No one was willing to invest the amount of time and effort in creating an online community for fear of what happened to SWG – having their long term work just vanish one day. Many veterans (survivors) of SWG were present and I caught up with a couple of old friends, but it just wasn’t the same. It wasn’t Star Wars, and it had no community.

The closest I have ever come since 2005 to that sense of community was in a game called Tabula Rasa. I heard about it while playing City of Heroes and was unsure. So I joined the open beta for it and was astounded. It had its problems, sure, but the people were a definite pull. I hadn’t felt such a strong sense of belonging to a community since SWG. Both the players and developers wanted it to work. Unfortunately, the publisher apparently did NOT want it to work, so after a year they canned it. Tabula Rasa had a strong story, incredible graphics and music, and one of the most dedicated player bases I had seen since SWG. I truly felt I was part of something big. And then they threw it away in the name of selling more micro transaction, free-to-play utterly boring MMOs that were only to be sold in Korea. Or it was back room politics, depending on who you talk to. But for a little while, just over  a year, I was part of a community again online, and it felt good.

And that is the main thing: humans are at heart, still herd animals. Just look on any highway on Earth sometime if you don’t believe that. Where are all the cars? Clustered together – it makes no sense from a safety standpoint, but instinctively humans seem to want to be close to one another. Humans need social interaction, be it face to face, over internet chat boards or in MMOs. We need to feel we are part of something. We need to belong. We need community.

According to Wikipedia: “In biological terms, a community is a group of interacting organisms (or different species) sharing an environment. In human communities, intent, belief, resources, preferences, needs, risks, and a number of other conditions may be present and common, affecting the identity of the participants and their degree of cohesiveness.”

In other words, we share with each other. Humans are social animals for the most part. Aberrant types exist in all species, and anti social behaviors are not uncommon, but for the most part, humans want to interact with each other. And online games provide that interaction. If you want just to blast things, online First Person Shooter (FPS) multiplayer is for you. It is far more challenging than facing artificial intelligence enemies for the most part. But for many of us, the main draw is the social aspect, the community aspect. So, we are drawn to MMOs.

Bioware has the reputation of being very good at what they do. They have created some of the greatest games I have played over the years. Mass Effect, Dragon Age: Origins, Neverwinter Nights, Baldur’s Gate, Knights of the Old Republic, the list goes on and on. They were all great games. But in all those games something was always lacking. Something was missing. Something powerful, something necessary, something that humans seem to need. A sense of belonging, a sense of community.

Bioware seems to understand that and be focusing on that aspect, and if so, I personally will be first in line to stand up and shout ‘TOR forever!”

Over to you, what do you want in a community online?

Filed Under: Community, Opinion Tagged With: , ,

Star Wars in Second Life

April 10, 2010 by

A lot of people may be unaware that the virtual world of Second Life has a community of Star Wars roleplayers. The video below shows one such community. The Dantooine Jedi Enclave is an impressive piece of work, particularly as it was created from scratch, like anything in Second Life.

Have a look for yourself:

We’d love to hear from Star Wars roleplayers in Second Life, and feel free to mention your work there in the comments.

Filed Under: Community Tagged With: ,

Fan Fiction and Star Wars: The Old Republic

April 7, 2010 by

What is fan fiction? Ask five different people and you will likely get five different answers.

According to Wikipedia, “fan fiction (alternately referred to as fanfiction, fanfic, FF, or fic) is a broadly-defined term for fan labor regarding stories about characters or settings written by fans of the original work, rather than by the original creator”. I personally write fan fictions for SWTOR, because I have loved Star Wars since I was a small child. I saw Episode IV A New Hope from the back seat of my Dad’s car in 1977.

But a writer does not have to be a total Star Wars geek like myself to write good stories. The main thing that is required is a good story. I cannot count the number of stories I have read and thrown away because the story did not engage me. Just because a story has a thousand pages, does not make it a masterpiece. As Yoda so wisely said, ‘Size matters not’. Without substance, it doesn’t matter if you write ten thousand pages, it is still not a good story.

Just like making a film, a good story is complex. It needs a good plot, solid characters, epic action, intriguing twists, good dialogue, not too much or too little humor, and a hint of mystery, horror, or whatever else the writer wants to add. Without at least a good grounding in all of these, the reader will not be hooked. And that is the bottom line; you want the reader to enjoy what they read. In the case of a published author, they write so that so the reader will buy the book. In the case of fan fiction, it is a little murkier. What do the authors of such fictions seek?

It isn’t money, since for one thing, if authors start charging for fan fiction, they get into copyright infringement. If they don’t own the rights to the story, they have no right to sell it according to international law. Lucasfilm and LucasArts in particular have no sense of humor when people start doing things like that. Because the internet allows for anonymity, it makes it very difficult for people to say ‘This is my story’. Anyone else can come along and say ‘No, it is MY story’. Who is the actual author? Who knows. Is it bragging rights? I wrote more threads and posts online than you, so I am better? Again, who knows if that author cut and pasted from some other source. The internet is a wonderful resource and a horrible temptation. So much information is just sitting out there, virtually free (no pun). It has been said that most of the ideas have already been done. That almost all of the great masterpiece story ideas and plots have already been published by other people and to an extent that is true. But… If you take some of what someone else did, and modify it slightly, and add some of your own ideas, you can create something that seems fresh and new.

A case in point is Episode IV, A New Hope. There is nothing in the original Star Wars movie that had not been done before. The evil empire, the quirky companions who happen to have the key to defeat the evil empire, the captured princess, the evil villain in black, the hero from nowhere, the wise old man who becomes the hero’s mentor, a mystical energy force. All of these and more are known plot elements from stories that date back hundreds of years. George Lucas did not come up with the script for Star Wars by himself. He wove the elements together and added in a few touches that were distinctly his own. And in doing so, he created something amazing – a modern day myth. Love it or hate it, he created the world that we know as Star Wars, and it simply took off from there.

I have been writing SWTOR fan fiction since December of 2008. I’m afraid the story arc is a bit on the long side and not all of them are good. These threads recount a story of a trooper who is more than just a normal soldier, and his family who are anything but ordinary. I write because I have to. I have the bug. I can’t seem to not write. It is almost like an addiction, but instead of having to take things in, I have to put things out in writing.

I personally believe that the future of fiction will lie greatly in fan created works. For one thing, they are free. For another, a reader can read part of one and say ‘I don’t like this’ and go to something new. If you don’t like a book you bought in a bookstore, maybe you can get some credit at a used book store somewhere. BioWare in particular seems to have a good handle on story. It stands to reason, as they have created some of the greatest story-driven games I have ever played: Baldur’s Gate, Jade Empire, and Knights of the Old Republic to name three. I would be willing to bet that some of their writers are following the stories that are submitted as fan work on swtor.com. After all no-one, no matter how good or dedicated, can have great ideas 24/7.  If some of my work helps in the creation of an epic Star Wars title, I would be honored. For myself, they wouldn’t even need to give me credit. But then again, I am one of those strange Star Wars fanatics.

Over to you: what Star Wars fan fiction has inspired you?

(Editor: In regards to this post’s picture, yes, I know Splinter of the Mind’s Eye isn’t fan fiction. I love that book, so sue me)

Filed Under: Opinion Tagged With:

Sith Sunday – SWTOR in the news

April 4, 2010 by

1. SWTOR’s Principal Lead Systems Designer writes a piece on MMO design and (surprise) how happy he is with the playability factor of the game. He also has some interesting thoughts about the multiplayer conversations for solo content and the community aspects of crafting. And if you think it’s easy writing as a developer, check the post’s comments to see the level of analysis every discussion generates. That’s a good thing of course.

2. PC World looks at the rumours of SWTOR coming to the XBox – personally I’d like to see them support Macs natively before developing for consoles, but I’m certainly not holding my breath in that regard.

3. Darth Hater had one of the more amusing April Fools jokes for the week.

4. Mos Eisley Radio keep churning out their special brand of podcast, with Episode 16 hitting the streets.

5. We’re still looking for writers wanting to be (modestly) paid to write for us. We have a writer debut coming up this week but could still use a further person. All the details here.

Filed Under: News Tagged With:

The politics of Star Wars: The Old Republic

March 31, 2010 by

It’s fair to say that politics is pretty central to the whole Star Wars timeline, and SWTOR is most likely going to take that to a new level. Hell, the machinations within each faction is enough to create plenty of intrigue, let alone to open conflicts and the uncertainties the independent factions will create.

Aside from the very rich vein of political intrigue within SWTOR itself, you can expect reams of mashup machinimas utilising SWTOR dialogue and video to create pieces reflecting current events. It’s a well-worn path, but SWTOR is likely to breathe some new life into political commentary, and more importantly to most of us, political satire. How will people resist casting Barack Obama, Sarah Palin or pretty much any politician worldwide as SWTOR combatants?

One thing is certain: we’ll be covering the best SWTOR machinima as it’s created, so stay tuned. In the meantime, do you see the ripe pickings for political satire in SWTOR? Got any predictions for who will get the most attention?

Filed Under: Opinion Tagged With:

Aussie SWTOR guilds?

February 13, 2010 by

As we mentioned last year, we’re really keen to start profiling any Aussie SWTOR guilds out there. If you’ve got one established, drop us a line and we’ll organise a time for a catch-up to profile you.

Filed Under: Community Tagged With:

BioWare announce launch window for SWTOR: April 2011 at earliest

January 13, 2010 by

There’s not a lot to be surprised about in the announcement from BioWare:

While we have not announced a specific date, we can confirm that we are targeting a spring 2011 release for Star Wars™: The Old Republic™. We’ve got a lot of exciting updates and reveals planned throughout 2010, including the first-ever hands-on testing for the game. It’s not too late to sign up to be a game tester, so go to www.swtor.com/tester and sign up today. We can’t wait to share more about the game with you as we progress through the year, so make sure you stay tuned to the official website for details.

For those of us not in the USA, ‘Spring’ starts there around the 21st April, so that’s the earliest we’re likely to see the full launch. There’s always the chance of BioWare surprising people and launching early (pre-Xmas 2010 anyone?), but it still provides the greatest clarity to date.

You can follow the discussion on the announcement on the official SWTOR forums and we’ll have more to say on the launch in coming days.

Over to you: is ‘Spring’ 2011 a reasonable timeframe – was it what you were expecting?

Filed Under: News

Captain Obvious: the Top 5 dead certain SWTOR predictions for 2010

December 21, 2009 by

It’s that time of the year when dozens of bloggers sift through the remains of 2009 predictions and start making their 2010 ones. Given we’re a newish site, there’s not a lot for us to gloat or cringe over for 2009, but we’re more than happy to make some 100% accurate predictions for the coming year:

1. If SWTOR is released, the hype will be bigger than George Lucas announcing Barack Obama as Lando Calrissian in the long-denied Star Wars Episode 7.

Ok, maybe not but you get what I mean. Aside from the gaming world, the wider media will pick up on the new MMO phenomenon. There will also be plenty of “Warning – your child / spouse / sibling will enter SWTOR and never come out” stories from those looking for the ‘MMOs are evil’ angle.

2. If SWTOR isn’t released during 2010, at least a dozen SWTOR forum regulars will experience spontaneous head explosions.

I’m a regular SWTOR forums reader and more infrequent poster. Like any large forum community it has plenty of people passionate about the topic of communal interest. There’s a small handful that are so passionate that I worry about their craniums if SWTOR doesn’t launch during 2010. I do of course mean a brain explosion in the metaphorical sense, though if someone actually has their head explode with frustration then this prediction becomes even more impressive.

3. BioWare will generate plenty of lore inconsistencies.

This isn’t a criticism at all, just a fact. A project of this scope that’s staking its life on immersive storytelling is going to create some real lore challenges. Not so much within SWTOR itself, but when compared to the enormous amount of information already out there from Star Wars movies, novels, comics, TV shows and graphic novels to name five. The SIth Lord ‘Power of Two’ concept is one tiny example debated nicely in this thread on the SWTOR forums. Multiply that by a few thousand and there’ll be plenty of lore debate for years to come.

4. The first two weeks after launch will be a frustrating mess.

This too isn’t a criticism as such. No matter how well BioWare plan, they won’t be able to cope with the load of the users they’ll attract. There’ll be widespread wait times, performance issues and related fun. I’ll also throw in here the server issue: if Oceanic servers aren’t there from the get-go, which I don’t think they will be, there’ll be some significant backlash from non-US and non-European players.

5. There will be no Sith Janitor or Jedi Podiatrist classes.

You heard it here first.

The Wrap

There are a bunch of other really obvious predictions and then the more daring ones that those more educated than I will make. Over to you: what are the obvious SWTOR developments for the coming year? What are the longer stretches of logic you’d stake your reputation on?

Filed Under: Opinion

Death of a galaxy?

November 16, 2009 by

star_wars_galaxiesStar Wars Galaxies – have you heard of it?

I’d be surprised if you haven’t, considering you’re here on this site reading material related to the forthcoming MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Galaxies was the first attempt at an MMO based on the world of George Lucas’ Star Wars, originally developed by Sony Online Entertainment on the Windows platform and published by LucasArts, and only released in Australia in 2006 (after having been first released back in 2003 elsewhere). I’d like to bring attention to this older Star Wars themed MMO, primarily because I believe its future fate hangs in the balance with the forthcoming release of the new (and improved) offering from Bioware.

The question is, will the masses of people (if masses there are), switch their loyalty over to the newer game? Galaxies has a somewhat chequered past, and it’s well known that the development team made some changes that didn’t sit well with the community at large. Details can be easily uncovered with the aid of some simple Google searching, but what I’m trying to get at is the question of whether Bioware and LucasArts will take note and not repeat the same mistakes made in the past by LucasArts’ former partnership with Sony Online Entertainment.

Star Wars Galaxies opened up with the idealistic goal of engaging the community, providing a game that had some unique and innovative options. Somewhere along the way, they lost touch, and decisions were made to change the game in a dramatic fashion, which on the whole didn’t seem to please the community.

In fact, the changes were so dramatic that an open source movement grew up to try and “free” the server technology and provide a pre-CU (Combat Upgrade – the infamous first major update) emulated server SWGEmu. It looks like the community is well on the way to returning to what a large section of the population believe is the height of the Galaxies game.

This does leave a lot of room to ponder the future implications and responsibility that lies on the shoulders of Bioware and LucasArts to deliver a game that stands up to the hype and delivers on their promises – it wouldn’t be the first time a community that has felt betrayed has taken it upon themselves to rectify the situation.

It would be a shame to see history repeating itself, and I’d hate to see SWTOR go through rapid growth, only to have the population halved (as in the case where Galaxies shut down almost half of their active servers) due to mismanagement and choosing to ignore the players and community that are the bedrock of MMO games.

That said, having been a part of the SWTOR community so far, I’m sure that the Star Wars Universe could not be in a better pair of hands than those of Bioware and LucasArts.

As to what will happen with Star Wars Galaxies – currently they still have 13 active servers, and I’d be guessing that a lot of players that have invested a significant amount of time would be loathe to part ways. Galaxies is walking a fine line however, and I don’t think they have the luxury any longer of foisting new half baked experiments onto the community as alternatives will soon exist in the form of SWTOR and emulated servers using the SWGEmu application, which opens up a whole new galaxy to those players seeking some stability and respect for their gaming dollar.

Filed Under: Opinion Tagged With:

More information on Jedi class released

October 31, 2009 by

jedi-oct2009BioWare have released their Holonet entry for the Jedi class. Die-hards won’t find anything particularly earth shattering in the information but it certainly fleshed out what is likely to be the most popular class in SWTOR. The SWTOR forum thread on the announcement has been pretty subdued to date – it’s certainly been one of the most discussed classes so probably no surprise there.

We’ve still not nailed down the first playing class we’ll take on, and don’t feel any more certain after this information. That’s not necessarily a bad thing – it’s more a case of they all have a hell of a lot of appeal.

It’s also worth having a read of Gamespot’s Q&A with BioWare’s director of production Dallas Dickinson and senior game designer William Wallace.

Over to you: are there any surprises for you in the info update or is it pretty much as you expected?

Filed Under: News Tagged With:

Want an Australian SWTOR gaming server? Sign the petition

October 12, 2009 by

Anyone with some MMO gaming experience under their belt will know the frustration of ridiculous ping times if playing on US or European servers. There’s a petition running to make it clear the level of Australian interest in local servers. If you want to join the throng putting their hand up for lag-minimised play, then head over here.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: ,
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