JFreeman wrote: The community guys are going to come into my office and poke me in the eye if I participate in a philosophical design discussion on these forums.
You've still got use of the other one! And just think, if you have Alfac, you can get paid some serious money!
I, for one, would *LOVE* to hear your opinions on it, but understand why you cant. MMOs now are a fascination for me, and any amount of insight I can get I take.
I don't do a lot of posting, but I do have to say something about the remark that the game needs to be easier to get into. My two sons are the ones who started me into this game. One was 10 and the other was 12 when we started playing. They were both able to get into the game and did quite well before the NGE. How simple does it need to be to get into? One of the greatest things about the game was that it made all of us think about what we were doing, It was not another mindless FSP or anything that you could just go through the motions to play. On the other side of that I do want to say not all changes were bad and I honestly enjoy some of them but I do wish this was still a game where it really made my boys use their brains.
JFreeman wrote: The community guys are going to come into my office and poke me in the eye if I participate in a philosophical design discussion on these forums.
Oh, it's your job. I know you can't be honest about any philosophical design discussion, so it would really be a shame to pretend to here.
SOE Company Slogan: "If it's broke, don't fix it. If it ain't broke, break it."
it is really sad that the producers of this game cannot have a discussion about the game and what makes it work. then they might better understand the true players, not the statistically generated "average player" there are alot of very intelligant people in these forums and in this game who would love to hear about game design theory. i think this game is very different from other games and it has an audience that cannot be easily classified as one group or another. i believe this game is on life support and even if it gains subscribers and ends up with more than pre-cu will be a failure. not because it isnt a financial success, or a success in business terms, but it destreoyed a game that was more than a game to so many to build it.
JFreeman wrote: The community guys are going to come into my office and poke me in the eye if I participate in a philosophical design discussion on these forums.
The community is going to poke you in the eye if you don't.
JFreeman wrote: The community guys are going to come into my office and poke me in the eye if I participate in a philosophical design discussion on these forums.
The community is going to poke you in the eye if you don't.
We already know that we don't matter in that respect as far as what power we have. If I were him, I'd be more worried about the people around the office, too, even if I didn't like them. He can log out of a forum, he has to BE around them.
There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else. Sam Walton
JFreeman wrote: The community guys are going to come into my office and poke me in the eye if I participate in a philosophical design discussion on these forums.
That may be, but if you and other devs where more willing to post (as we are hungry for communication), you would find the ill will of the current players would subside greatly.
Mmm. Break the ice, so to speak.
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I support turning on maintenance and letting condition zero houses be packed up or destroyed. __________
JFreeman wrote: I don't speak about SWG on my blog. I may speak about game design in general, or high level design concept sorts of things that aren't appropriate for discussion here. But to speak about SWG specifically: well I'd do that on these forums.
Certainly when I was a younger man, I was willing to devote a great deal of time to mastering arcane rules just to be able to play a game. But those days are long gone. SWG needed to be a lot more accessible. It also needed to be a lot more maintainable.
SWG needs depth and complexity too, but it can't be the thing that greets new players at the door. That complexity needs to be built on a solid foundation; and the game itself needed to be easier to get into and more directed.
I will never understand this, although I enjoy the NGE I miss my old game. It was the complexity that made it fun to play and rewarding to accomplish something. Now most things seem like a boring task, I interact with others less than I did when I was hunting jedi, sure some of that interaction was not always positive but I felt my roll and it felt star warsy and iconic to be a Bounty Hunter back then. Now I feel like I have no purpose or place in game. I made a Trader alt, in hopes of feeling apart of the community again, with some more interaction with others.
Now I haven't logged on more than an hour in the past week, when I do get in I am lost on what to do. I dont know that I can hold on much more like this. I think that some of the fixes coming in Pub 27 are great, but it won't give me that feeling back, the rush of the hunt, the sense of purpose or belonging in the game. It doesn't make me want to pay 15 dollars a month anymore, when the feelings I get from the NGE is nothing more than what I can get from playing Call of Duty 2 or CounterStrike.
You guys were wrong, the complexity of SWG made it original, refreshing and fun, ya it took a bit to learn, but once you started it came easier with all the people around to help. It made you seek out people to help you, and friends were made.... now... its almost mindless....
I really am trying to stick with it, but its getting harder by the minute. I am 35 by the way, I like complex things.... its why I got married.
10daytroll wrote: i think this game is very different from other games and it has an audience that cannot be easily classified as one group or another.
JFreeman wrote: I don't speak about SWG on my blog. I may speak about game design in general, or high level design concept sorts of things that aren't appropriate for discussion here. But to speak about SWG specifically: well I'd do that on these forums.
Certainly when I was a younger man, I was willing to devote a great deal of time to mastering arcane rules just to be able to play a game. But those days are long gone. SWG needed to be a lot more accessible. It also needed to be a lot more maintainable.
SWG needs depth and complexity too, but it can't be the thing that greets new players at the door. That complexity needs to be built on a solid foundation; and the game itself needed to be easier to get into and more directed.
sad but true. for examples, see janes sims. they dont exist anymore because there are too few of us insane ppl who will devote days just learning how to operate the aircraft before we ever actualy play the game. i loved jane's sims. all the buttons worked and they were hard as hell with an equally steep learning curve.
however, i doubt i have the energy to devote to anything like that anymore. sad but true
sure do miss those kinds of game though. gpl was like that too. the study sim class of games is dead i believe.
Hehe, I still have a copy of US Navy Fighters from Janes, makes me want to fire it up again.
Although it isn't Janes, I also have a copy of Chuck Yeager's Air Combat, it was pretty impressive and very detailed for its time.
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MMORPG.com: You acknowledged in your last producer letter that one major flaw with the NGE’s introduction was broken content and that it was your goal to fix that. How did this happen in the first place?
JFreeman wrote: The community guys are going to come into my office and poke me in the eye if I participate in a philosophical design discussion on these forums.
TH is already on its way! With a knife ... a big one. RUN FORREST RUN!!!
--- Proud Member of the "small but vocal minority" --- All that was ever needed to fix the basics of pre-CU combat system:
1. Hard-cap armor at 60%. 2. Make mind healable. 3. Hard-cap Doc Buffs at additional 125% to your basic stats (like entertainer buffs). 4. Apply the 75% damage reduction in PvP to DoTs as well.
And just think, if you have Alfac, you can get paid some serious money!
