While I was never a gold farmer or anything like that, I LOVED running a shop in that game. It was a real revelation for me after having spent the previous 5+ years playing FPS capture the flag and deathmatch games (Doom, Quake, Unreal, Tribes, etc). Even when I was allowed into SWG beta, I had no idea what I was signing up for having never played an MMO before. I had no idea that my entire view of video gaming was going to be changed. I had no idea that I was beginning a virtual life.
If you had told me that I was going to love, no, become obsessed with being a trader in a video game, I would have simply laughed. All I did was shoot people, defend the flag, and I was really damned good at it. In SWG, I loved the whole trader process. I loved surveying and placing extraction equipment on the best resources I could find as much as I did making my rounds every few days to pick up the fruits of my labor so I could build things. I spent hours doing this, and there was also a built in element of exploration and danger from mobs. I loved chatting with friends while crafting in my "shop" which was usually a back room in one of my stores. I left helping people find things, and taking orders for things I didn't have in stock, and selling resources I couldn't use myself. I could go on and on.
Crafting and trade wasn't some simple thing you did with a bit of time. It was a whole gameplay system that you could get lost in for days or weeks. I often did. I would switch back and forth between my Master Weaponsmith and my combat toon, and somtimes I would just parky my combat toon for weeks and concentrate on crafting and social aspects of the game. I made a lot of credits, met and made friends with a lot of great people, and had a blast expanding my business or buying expensive things for my combat alt. I loved decorating my homes and shops, and I loved being in a player built city that changed and evolved as our empire grew.
I like this article, not because of the gold farming, but because it gives you a glimpse of the depth a good, or even mediocre sandbox game can give you. Even non-role players like me were always in a semi-state of role playing in that game, because it was the nature of it. That's what I want back more than anything. I want the sense of community, the emmersion, the feeling of actually living in a virtual world. What we have now in most themepark games can't hold a candle to this in my opinion.
This. That indepth, even risky, 'simulation' content (non-combatant activities/professions) that could be added to an MMO is the glue that can a bind community together long-term in an MMO, and I believe SWG's history attests to that. Sadly, easy internet access and the flood of 'casual' gamers with loose wallets seem to have made game developers focus on on the easy $$$$$ instead of quality gaming.
Why does this lack of time argument keep popping up. Many sandboxes are actually more casual friendly than games that rely on raiding as it's main content.
Winner point here.
And while people like Dawwgy or MissIntrepid did exist.. there were large groups that went out of their way to hunt down and get banned the gold farmers/sellers.
The skill box system is far more intuitive than the talent tree system as well, you just pick the profession/class you want and go up the boxes to the master profession you want. You can ignore and of that and just pick skills you like the look of, as long as you aren't in PVP then it'll work for you in PVE.
SWGs problem was no one could run the game at a stable frame rate when it came out because of the horrible engine it was on. I had so many friends try the game and quit because their FPS was like 5. When you combine the horrible shallow tutorial that didn't show you anything it was so hard to get in to. When the game launched you had to run everywhere, even when vehicles and mounts got released you had to do the same until you saved like 10-20K of credits. You also have to remember these were the days of terrain negotiation so it was so broken for new players.
All they had to do was fix this experience for new players and give them a good tutorial to get them into the game and show them all the kool things like player housing.
Why does this lack of time argument keep popping up. Many sandboxes are actually more casual friendly than games that rely on raiding as it's main content.
Winner point here.
And while people like Dawwgy or MissIntrepid did exist.. there were large groups that went out of their way to hunt down and get banned the gold farmers/sellers.
The skill box system is far more intuitive than the talent tree system as well, you just pick the profession/class you want and go up the boxes to the master profession you want. You can ignore and of that and just pick skills you like the look of, as long as you aren't in PVP then it'll work for you in PVE.
SWGs problem was no one could run the game at a stable frame rate when it came out because of the horrible engine it was on. I had so many friends try the game and quit because their FPS was like 5. When you combine the horrible shallow tutorial that didn't show you anything it was so hard to get in to. When the game launched you had to run everywhere, even when vehicles and mounts got released you had to do the same until you saved like 10-20K of credits. You also have to remember these were the days of terrain negotiation so it was so broken for new players.
All they had to do was fix this experience for new players and give them a good tutorial to get them into the game and show them all the kool things like player housing.
Oh god yes...that Engine Sucked Hardcore. But it was the Aurora Engine as I recall, one of the first major attempts to 3 D Model.
Not that TOR's Hero Engine is much better....reminds me of WOW with blasters FFS.
When did PC games become for lazy and low achievers? This was not always the case.
INB4 someone whines about having no time to play because of his 3 kids, wife and dead end job.
Noone complained about this years ago now it is just a excuse for developers to make dumbed downs for players who just want it easy for them, also on that note years ago we didn't hear about economics, markets, mass appeal, and sub numbers in every thread or topic in MMO threads, it was just the joy of playing or ideas or criticisms over patches, now it seems everyone is a armchair lawyer, investor, economist on these and other boards.
While I was never a gold farmer or anything like that, I LOVED running a shop in that game. It was a real revelation for me after having spent the previous 5+ years playing FPS capture the flag and deathmatch games (Doom, Quake, Unreal, Tribes, etc). Even when I was allowed into SWG beta, I had no idea what I was signing up for having never played an MMO before. I had no idea that my entire view of video gaming was going to be changed. I had no idea that I was beginning a virtual life.
If you had told me that I was going to love, no, become obsessed with being a trader in a video game, I would have simply laughed. All I did was shoot people, defend the flag, and I was really damned good at it. In SWG, I loved the whole trader process. I loved surveying and placing extraction equipment on the best resources I could find as much as I did making my rounds every few days to pick up the fruits of my labor so I could build things. I spent hours doing this, and there was also a built in element of exploration and danger from mobs. I loved chatting with friends while crafting in my "shop" which was usually a back room in one of my stores. I left helping people find things, and taking orders for things I didn't have in stock, and selling resources I couldn't use myself. I could go on and on.
Crafting and trade wasn't some simple thing you did with a bit of time. It was a whole gameplay system that you could get lost in for days or weeks. I often did. I would switch back and forth between my Master Weaponsmith and my combat toon, and somtimes I would just parky my combat toon for weeks and concentrate on crafting and social aspects of the game. I made a lot of credits, met and made friends with a lot of great people, and had a blast expanding my business or buying expensive things for my combat alt. I loved decorating my homes and shops, and I loved being in a player built city that changed and evolved as our empire grew.
I like this article, not because of the gold farming, but because it gives you a glimpse of the depth a good, or even mediocre sandbox game can give you. Even non-role players like me were always in a semi-state of role playing in that game, because it was the nature of it. That's what I want back more than anything. I want the sense of community, the emmersion, the feeling of actually living in a virtual world. What we have now in most themepark games can't hold a candle to this in my opinion.
This. That indepth, even risky, 'simulation' content (non-combatant activities/professions) that could be added to an MMO is the glue that can a bind community together long-term in an MMO, and I believe SWG's history attests to that. Sadly, easy internet access and the flood of 'casual' gamers with loose wallets seem to have made game developers focus on on the easy $$$$$ instead of quality gaming.
Hasn't been working out too well for them lately, and if it does its only in short term.
Comments
This. That indepth, even risky, 'simulation' content (non-combatant activities/professions) that could be added to an MMO is the glue that can a bind community together long-term in an MMO, and I believe SWG's history attests to that. Sadly, easy internet access and the flood of 'casual' gamers with loose wallets seem to have made game developers focus on on the easy $$$$$ instead of quality gaming.
The skill box system is far more intuitive than the talent tree system as well, you just pick the profession/class you want and go up the boxes to the master profession you want. You can ignore and of that and just pick skills you like the look of, as long as you aren't in PVP then it'll work for you in PVE.
SWGs problem was no one could run the game at a stable frame rate when it came out because of the horrible engine it was on. I had so many friends try the game and quit because their FPS was like 5. When you combine the horrible shallow tutorial that didn't show you anything it was so hard to get in to. When the game launched you had to run everywhere, even when vehicles and mounts got released you had to do the same until you saved like 10-20K of credits. You also have to remember these were the days of terrain negotiation so it was so broken for new players.
All they had to do was fix this experience for new players and give them a good tutorial to get them into the game and show them all the kool things like player housing.
Oh god yes...that Engine Sucked Hardcore. But it was the Aurora Engine as I recall, one of the first major attempts to 3 D Model.
Not that TOR's Hero Engine is much better....reminds me of WOW with blasters FFS.
MMO History: 2528 days in SW:G
Noone complained about this years ago now it is just a excuse for developers to make dumbed downs for players who just want it easy for them, also on that note years ago we didn't hear about economics, markets, mass appeal, and sub numbers in every thread or topic in MMO threads, it was just the joy of playing or ideas or criticisms over patches, now it seems everyone is a armchair lawyer, investor, economist on these and other boards.
Hasn't been working out too well for them lately, and if it does its only in short term.