SWGwYaMB

What is this?

Yivvits — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 03:27:00 GMT

Now and then I come across bits and pieces of information about the making of Star Wars Galaxies. I find this information fascinating and thought others might enjoy it as well.

This is soooo SOE

redheadedtim — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 16:44:00 GMT

Isn't it just perfect SOE that on the day Voice Chat is released, Voice Chat wouldn't work? Wow....

Also, on a completely unrelated note....listening to Ep 43, come on now Yivvits, don't even try to compare Taco Johns and Taco Bell. Taco Johns is layin down what I'm pickin up. A coworker and I will drive 30 minutes across town during noontime traffic for TJ's, and there's a Taco Bell across the street. Six pack and a pound FTW!!

First post

redheadedtim — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 03:04:00 GMT

Look for much inane-ness to come. Including version 1.0 of RHT's Trucker Rating system. (you can see version 0.7 in my media). Will keep you up to date on what I'm bored with lately.

A really confusing explanation

Zurthas Gunflick — Tue, 20 May 2008 06:28:00 GMT

This picture you see is an explanation of a crazy raid Idea I had that probably won't work, I just made this picture and the following explanation to attempt to make sense of it. If you don't know what RAID is this probably isn't your can of beans (not that I'm an expert or anything)

As you can see, each disk is partitioned into 2 equal parts, and each drive is a mirror of one another. On each disk, one of these halves is "used" and the other half is "backup". This setup allows the harddrives to work over seperate pieces of data in order to speed up read rate, while also retaining the full security of RAID 1. The crosshatched, or "backup" areas, are virtually invisiable to the computer, unless one of the disk fails, where the backup on the other disk becomes readable, therefore allowing the computer to continue to function, albeit slower. uhhh... I know that wasn't a very clear explanation, but it's late, and I"ll try to clear it up at some point.

Z's Problem solvers of the week (updated 7/08)

Zurthas Gunflick — Thu, 01 May 2008 11:35:00 GMT

Just something random I thought I'd do.

So, every week I will (try) to make a problem solver or life lessons:

1. Denial can be used in any and all situations.

2. If you're stuttering during and argument, you're probably wrong.

3. Today is the tomorrow you feared yesterday.

4. Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life. (I'm tellin you, TF2 is an obsessive disease)

5. Love is like a roll of tape, it makes two things one.

6. Don't inhale pillows.

7. Follow the dollar.

8. Humans are like slinkies, pretty useless, but really fun to watch fall down stairs.

9. If you do things right, nobody will know you've done anything at all.

What Zurthas Does For A Living

Zurthas Gunflick — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 07:17:00 GMT

Here's one of Zurthas' missions, made up as I went. Some things may seem outrageous, but it's starwars, and it's me. Enjoy! Oh yeah, it's 3 pages long, just a warning.

A Colonel was addressing a special operations unit about to embark on a mission most of them would not return from. They were in a submerged bunker, armored with multiple feet of reinforced concrete and steel. The Colonel stopped mid-sentence and looked up, a light whistling sound found its way through the armor. Suddenly, a large thump, quickly followed by a loud bang, as part of the roof collapsed onto the troops below. The remaining who were still conscious heard a second, much lighter thump on the roof. A dark figure dropped from the new hole in the ceiling, almost unnoticed. The dazed survivors looked amongst the rubble for the wounded soldiers underneath. Few if any heard the small gasp that came from the head of the room.

The colonel stirred, finally opening his eyes in a dark smoky room, with only one wall lit, just barely. He groaned slightly, realizing painfully that his left leg was broken. The light on the wall responded to the sound by jerking to the left onto the side wall, and then the source faced him, just a narrow strip of light, which then went out. His eyes were not spared the onslaught, as two bright lights, a bit higher then the small strip, and not spaced very far apart, turned on, cutting through the smoke, and bearing down on him.

A low voice mumbled, “well, for effect” and suddenly the two bright lights went out, replaced by a sparkling flare, which split in two, and now he could see his tormentor. The two flares dropped to the ground, revealing a tall, thin figure, encased in armor. The golden visor glinted in the light of the flares. The mysterious figure was holding a small black, highly durable booklet, which had been in the Colonel’s jacket pocket before the meeting. It was their battle plans for the next 5 years.

“He can’t get out of here!” the thought roared through his mind like a TIE fighter. He reached for his e-beacon on his belt. The man looked up from the glowing object on his wrist, realizing what he was doing, and full on dove across the room, landing a fist in the colonel’s face, but it was too late, the hand fell on the emergency button.

Zurthas heard a muffled alarm, got up from where he landed next to the colonel in an attempt to stop him, and jumped through a hole in the wall. He turns on the lights on the top of his helmet, and comes back out with a large cylindrical tank on his back, and holding a flame thrower.

He pulls the flamethrower up, holding it with one hand and resting it against his shoulder, and with resolve seldom seen outside the movie theater, states,” When in doubt, use fire.”

Arriving at the top of a long spiral staircase, with several burning carcasses somewhere behind him, he slowly forces the door open, enough to survey outside. Army personnel are lined up and patrolling, with others obviously searching for the colonel in charge, both groups are assisted by vehicles, heavy and light. Thankfully for Z, the emergency beacon didn’t have a homing chip. He places the flamethrower next to his right thigh, and activates the magnetic clips to hold it. Pulling from his belt several C4 charges, he places them on the door, and then he removes a cardboard tube from his back, mounting it on his shoulder, presses the safety, and fires a single high velocity rocket at the nearest tank through the door. He jumps backwards over the railing, landing a floor down, mid flight he presses the button to detonate the C4 on the door. He races back up the stairs, turns out the door, and begins throwing flames.

His advanced new flamethrower, with a range of over 200m, easily reaches most of the armed personnel in the area, as well as some of the vehicles. The lighter armored ones are out of action almost immediately, but some of the crews in the heavier vehicles aren’t getting cooked alive, and are still providing quite the nuisance. He reclips the flamethrower to his thigh, and grabs two thrown rockets from a clip. Leaning around a corner, he tosses one towards an APC spewing light turbolaser rounds in his direction. The rocket travels about 5m out of Z’s hand, before the rocket ignites and propels it towards the APC, where it impacts with enough force to punch through and kill the operator. With the other rocket, he turns, and seeing a tank slowly coming around a corner, he throws it, attempting to time it so it would hit the turret when it became exposed, but the pop out fins catch the wind and the nose falls, and it skips off the ground, destroying one of the tanks repulsor pods. Now disabled, the tank’s fire from its main cannon is blocked by the building. Seeing how most everybody who was in the courtyard had taken cover in buildings, he ran into what seemed like it would be an armory.

With plenty of small rooms filled with explosives and live rounds, mayhem ensued as soon as he lit the flamethrower. Though looking at the diagnostic screen on the weapon, Z realized he had spent more than most of his fuel in the courtyard, so he disconnected the fuel tank to the actual flame thrower, and dropped the auto-booby trapped fuel tank onto the ground. He attached the flamethrower to his back and pulled the shotgun from the shin attachment. Turning the next corner, he showered the room with BBs and lasers. After clearing what he thought was all the rooms, he returned to the main room to see if he could scavenge any useful weapons.

Scouring among the weapons, he heard a door open, and looked towards the sound. One of the Colonel’s personal guards and two other, much lower ranking guards stepped through the door. The main one, a trandoshan, was wearing what seemed like an awfully ceremonial outfit to be wearing during a one man invasion. Then he realized he was here to fight, one on one, mano a mano. The trandoshan was holding a power hammer, so Zurthas unclicked his belt and bandolier, and also disabled the magnetic weapon clips, so he was left with a machete and his father’s hunting dagger. He placed the dagger in a hideaway compartment in his right bracer. He felt no need to discard his armor, as the trandoshan was too wearing armor, though Zurthas felt confident it was not nearly as good, nor did it cover his face, hands, or feet. Looking down at himself, he activated a feature in his armor he had not used in a long time, the two liquid weapon dispensers in his right bracer lifted their back ends, and two long, brilliantly red feathers emerged. This was no longer about politics; this was a fight of honor.

One of the lesser guards clapped his hands twice, and the trandoshan charged, Z figured it meant go, so he did the same, sidestepping at the last moment, as his opponent went roaring past. The fight went on for a good twenty minutes, Zurthas simply sidestepping more attacks then blocking or giving. The trandoshan suddenly paused and reached under the small cape he was wearing, and pulled out a modified, high power blaster pistol. Z froze, then dodged as the gun went off. Figuring if it was a free for all, he turned, going to one knee as he did, raised his right arm, and activated the pop out mini flame thrower. He grinned under his helmet, and napalm gushed out the tube, but it failed to ignite, his target simply coated in goo. He dove to the side as another shot from the blaster rang off, then jumped up and charged at the dosh, pulling his last flare from his hip. The trandoshan raised his gun for the last time, as Z jumped he lit the flare and jabbed it into his opponent’s face, causing initial pain, before he burst into flames. He about faced the two other guards, reached down while lifting up his right leg, on which his shotgun was situated (he had slyly placed it there when he dodged after his flamethrower malfunctioned) and keeping it attached to his ****, fired it twice. Both guards received all the force of one shot in their stomachs, they died almost instantaneously. He returned to his pile of weapons, and replaced each to its spot.

Peering around the door frame, he saw a conjugation of armored vehicles in front of the building, though they were facing in no particular direction. Stealthing himself, he ran back to the door through which he came from the spiral staircase, and jumped down the stairwell. Arriving where he had left the Colonel, who was still there, or at least his body was, he stepped over the carcass and into where he had stashed his weapons months prior to the attack. He took what things he thought he might need, along with a 2 foot long, 10 inch thick, round topped cylinder, and booby trapped what remained. He slung the SPABTC (Self Propelled Air Burst Tactical Nuke) over his shoulder and headed back up the stairs.

Arriving topside, he scaled a short building, for a vantage point to activate this suicide weapon with. He unstealthed, and leapt off the roof, landing in the middle of a crowd of people and vehicles, at first nobody wasn’t surprised enough to realize who he was, so they all stood in stupor, until he stabbed the SPABTC into the ground, and activated it, in which, they began to grab for their weapons. Zurthas sprinted for cover, behind a pillar on the mayoral building, pulling a book sized box and a waterbottle sized cylinder from his belt, he pressed a button on the cylinder and stabbed it into the box, causing a handle to protrude from each object. He had started his count at 15 when he had initiated the nuclear device, he was now at 3…2…1. The bottom inch of the nuke exploded, igniting the rocket motor in the upper half, which sped strait up to over 500 ft in less then two seconds. Upon hearing the initial explosion, Z had grabbed both handles on the shield booster mechanism, sending millions upon millions of volts of electricity through his suit, which it used to create a ton of more shield power… for about 5 seconds. The nuke exploded at 572 feet above Zurthas and the large group of enemy forces. The 9 kiloton warhead wiped out the entire city.

Zurthas’ boosted shields had held up, though the outside of his armor was glowing red when he stood up. His armor’s radiation filter had kicked in, and he headed out of the flattened, lifeless town, through a mile or two of charred and decimated forrest, and to a pre designated rendezvous point.

SWG Tricks & Treats - Introduction

Yivvits — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 18:40:00 GMT

Until I have enough time to start one of the dozens of little projects floating around in my head, I need a place to record any handy SWG commands I find. For now, that place will be my blog. [:-)]

If you know of or have found a handy in-game command and would like to share it, please send me a PM. I'll review it and repost here (at my descression).

Raph talks about Content vs. Systems in game design.

Yivvits — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 17:03:00 GMT

In order for this post to make sense, please read this entry in Raph Koster's blog. I've also reposted it at the bottom of this post.

In his latest blog post, Raph talks about the importance of not just giving game designers a set of scripts to work with and that they understand the systems behind the scripts. To me, he just explained what I feel is missing from SWG. In fact, it feels missing from every other MMO I've played during the past 3 years. Many times I do feel like I'm simply walking through a database and not a game world.

Let me be clear, I'm not saying the current SWG devs are doing a poor job! They are currently doing a great job especially when you factor in how small the team is right now. They are working with the tools available to them.

With that out of the way... Think about it... How many times have we heard about how complicated the code behind SWG is? On many occasions it has been implied that too many systems are tied to each other or the code doesn't make sense. Over the years I think we've seen a lot of this "mystery" code removed and replaced with systems which use easy-to-understand scripts. These are the "tools" we hear sometimes hear devs talk about. The truth is, those difficult-to-understand systems are what really brought the world to life.

I don't understand how a sculptor carves a statue out of a block of marble, but I can appreciate how life-like and beautiful a statue can be. If the artist used a computer controlled device to produce his statue it may be perfect, to the micron - but I promise, it wouldn't be as beautiful and it would merely be one copy out of 1000. I eagerly await the day somebody or some company chooses to take the high road while designing their product. The path is more difficult, but the reward is well worth it.

-Yivvits

[hr]

Repost from Raph's blog:

The latest game dev debate around the blogosphere is about designer scripting. Joe Ludwig says,On the gameplay side we use a rich data-drive system that lets designers define an arbitrary list of “requirements” with which they are able to test most any condition. When a trigger fires, object is used, or skill is activated, an arbitrary list of “results” is activated which is capable of modifying just about any state in the game. The designers also have a few ways of maintaining persistent state on the characters depending on the circumstances. This system is working pretty well for us and eliminates the need for any designer-written scripts.No, it doesn’t. Because it means that implementing designers are nothing more than content creators, and that is not what the core job of game design is.In fact, it’s the most commodified part of game design. The core of game design lies in systems. And systems require massaging and testing and iteration. Doing it on paper is hopeless. At the very least you need to seat designer and programmer together to work like Siamese twins — like a lyricist and the composer. But better yet is to acknowledge that systems, for better or worse, are defined in code. And therefore knowing how to code at least a little is like saying that a painter needs to know how to use a paintbrush, or a composer really should play at least one instrument even if not as master.As one commenter said over on Zen of Design, a purely data driven system feels like wandering through a database. Well, yes. That’s because that is what it is. You can stick conditionals in everywhere you like, and it boils down to the fact that the inputs and outputs are fixed, a Chinese menu.Two points I must make even though they are obvious:

Content creation is still a noble pursuit, and a difficult one. Yes, content is critical, it’s king, etc. It’s just not the core. No system, no content. And there’s a lot more people who can mak content than can make systems.
Bad scripting is bad. Sure. Train your budding designers. Ramp them gradually. Still have the data-driven system, becauseyou do still need content. And feel free to have the scripting designer prototype and iterate, and then port the final result over to a robust programmer-created system.

It’s also worth pointing out that a designer who only works inside of data-driven systems will not have a career path and training path to learn systems design unless they are given access to system modifications. So I strongly advise designers to find a way to learn to code.Again, it’s not about being as good as a professional programmer. It’s about understanding the tools of your chosen medium well enough to actually work with them.

In fact, you can go back through this post, and substitute “Excel,” “presenting,” “visual design,” and “writing.” The gist of the post would be exactly the same.

Ashary's Armor

Ashary — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 19:13:00 GMT

Armor defence:

-The defence is a metal named Naborcium found in Naboo. The metal is very rare and is stronger than steel. An energy shield protects the suit. It is the first layer. The skin layer is a Nabooian black skiny material almost strong as steel called Stochmnoba. Then the electronics is in he metal and some of it in the stochmnoba.

Head:

-Contains several types of sensors like heat detector, night vision, radar vision et cetera.

-The HUD displays the shield's health, mission info, notes and can be overlayed by the diffrent types of visions.

-Main computer for the armor is stored in helmet

-Mind readers allow Ashary to control the suit systems by the brain.

-Hud can be custumized.

Arms:

-Left bracer contains a 5x5 cm, hologram displayer and cammera. It also has a precise dart launcher.

-Right bracer contains a mini grappling hook and a scanner (scaning objects, substances, atmosphere, et cetera.)

-Right Bicep has a heater that can go up to 500•c.

-Left Bicep contains a cold generator that can go up to -500•c.

-Each Bicep have gravity propulsors for underwater and space.

-Gloves have mini gravity generator that can make a gravity sphere of 10 cm of radius maximum, change gravity from 0.5 gravity to 5 gravity.

Chest:

-Contains the shield generator.

-Contains the power generator for the suit.

Legs:

-Has weapon holders.

-Has a tool holder.

Boots:

-Pop-out 5 cm blades all around the boots.

-Gravity generator.

Belt:

-Holds containers.

Bandolier:

-Holds grenades, darts ,explosive charges and EMP generators.

-Holds tools.

Backpack:

-Contains the gravity jet pack.

-Contains things.

-Contains the food making tools.

-Contains cookiees

Zurthas' Armor

Zurthas Gunflick — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 01:23:00 GMT

General Description:

-Primary Defence Consists of: Depleted Uranium Inserts cased in several layers of Titanium/Composite/Ceramic armor, with top layer being composite. A plasma and electromagnetic field are bound just under the top layer. 3rd most inside layer consists of aerogel, for thermal and kinetic protection.

-Unarmored areas are protected by synthetic spider silk bound Kevlar

Helmet:

-Contains several types of sensors, including but not limited to radar, FLIR, and night vision

-Visor displays vital signs, battlenet info, and can be overlayed with night vision or FLIR.

- Main computer for the armor is stored in helmet

-Neuro reader plates allow Zurthas to activate suit systems by thinking

Arms:

-Boosted Muscle Motors

-Left bracer contains a 5x2.5 in. screen for controlling suit systems and communications gear among other things

-Left bracer contains a miniature dart launcher

-Right bracer contains a flame thrower and an acid sprayer, with stores of each stored in backpack

-Each bracer has a pop-out blade, measuring 3 in. from where it passes the knuckles

-Right Bicep contains self auto injecting syrums and anti-venoms.
- Left Bicep contains pop-out lights.

-Gloves are Mandolorian Crushgaunts

Chest:

-Has a synthetic spider silk bound kevlar overlay for asthetics.

-contains backup batteries in case of generator failure. can run for 40 mins

Legs:

-Boosted muscle motors

-magnetic holster for a carbine at the shin

-Synthetic muscles don't require outside energy, and are used in event of generator failure.

Boots:

-Kick out knives are stored under the toes

-repulsors built into the sole assist the antigrav jets

Belt:

-Holds such weapons as: dual pistols, explosive charges, and a survival kit

-contains the backup generator for the suit, can run at max power for 10 minutes, with a 25min cooldown time

-Stabilizer clips for backpack

Bandolier:

-Holds such weapons as: grenades, darts (stun, poison, trinqualizer), and explosive charges.

-Clips for the backpack

-Magnetic clips for a rifle at the back

Backpack:

-Contains the main generator for the backpack

-3 hyper pressurized tanks contain oxygen, napalm, and acid

-2 pop-out antigrav jets can hold Zurthas in the air for up to 1 minute with a top speed of 55mph

Jacket:

-An optional excessory to the armor that fits over everything, magnets embedded in certain areas ahear it to the armor, where corresponding magnets lie.

-Consists of synthetic spider silk bound kevlar.

Bixiebopper

Yivvits — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 15:29:00 GMT

As I said in Episode 80.5, Fan Faire Love Affair, I presented Mr. Alan "Brenlo Bixiebopper" Crosby of SOE with his very own Yivvits and MrBubble undies - made by our good friend Ipee. Later that evening the shorts were used to mop up spilled drinks and save Aimee's camera. Yivvits and MrBubble saved the day! I hear the briefs are now hanging on Brenlo's office wall.

Now Fletch's Turn

Zurthas Gunflick — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 20:13:00 GMT

Fletchyr Gunflick (Flero Ku'rah) was born as the first child of his family, 4 years after he was born, his only sybling, Zurthas was born. The Gunflick Family lived peacefully in their community outside Anchorhead for many years, until the Empire caught on to a little smuggling business that Fletch and some friends had started to make some dough. at the age of 14 he was forcefully arrested by stormtroopers. There was no trial, he was sent to a jail in bestine, but when he blew a hole in one of the prison cells with a bomb he made in the prison machine shop, he was sent immediatly sent to the Imperial prison on Dathomir. Fletchyr rotted in quite hate for the Empire in the Dathomir prison for 7 years, dead to his family. Finally he got fed up with the jail and he and his cellmates managed to steal a rocket launcher from the Imperial barracks. Fletchyr and most of his cell block escaped, combined killing at least 25 stormtroopers. All of them went in seperate directions, some were hunted down, some weren't. Fletchyr managed to escape on a stolen Rhixyrk starship, which he would use as his own for the rest of his life. Aboard was a large sum of credits, solving another of his problems. He set course for Tatooine, to find his family.

But his family had long ago moved back to Bothawui, and upon finding a different family living in his home, one of his neighbors, very surprised to see him, told him his family moved. So, Fletch set out on the long journey to Bothawui, hoping his family resided on their clan lands, where they would be easy to find. When he arrived, his mother was sick and in the hospital, and he was not allowed to see her. However he could talk to his very surprised father, who told him that the imperials hadn't told them anything about where they put him. The conversation was very awkward as the last time they had seen each other, Fletchyr had been but a young teenager. Now past the drinking age on most planets, it was just weird. So Fletch asked his father was Zurthas was doing these days, the response was that he was in suclusion on Dantooine, which reminded his father that he had sent him the clan armor, which he had been elected to wear. Fletch was slightly mad, as he'd been expected to obtain the armor, but, that's what happens when you go to prison. So again, he set off on a journey, this time to Dantooine.

He ran into some trouble with pirates on his way, delaying his arrival, but he finally got there. Zurthas was surprised to hear the loud whine of military grade starship engines outside his house, he ran outside, ready to blow the hell out of anybody who was here to fight, he instantly dropped his gun when he saw Fletchyr climbing out of the cockpit. He then leaped off the porch and tackled Fletch. He invited him inside for a drink and they talked through the night, about what had happened to them both in the past 7 years. Zurthas showed Fletchyr the clan armor that had arrived but a week ago. Fletchyr remembered two things that he had captured when he was escaping the Imperial prison. He ran out to his ship and came back with a big heavy bag, he unloaded a full set of stormtrooper armor, and then handed Zurthas a pair of smallish, odd looking mandolorian Crushgaunts, which he had determined were crushgaunts on the next thing he pulled from the bag, a stormtrooper bracer, completely crushed, with bits of bone still inside from the wearer's forearm. Fletchyr had already modified the stormtrooper armor to accept his snout and ears, and h began to put it on. Seeing this, Zurthas began to put on his armor, and once he finished, he looked at his gloves, then at the crushgaunts. He slid the gloves off, then put on the mandolorian gloves, he clipped the end to his bracers, forming and airtight seal. They both left the house to go have some fun in their new armor. let's just say there wasn't much wildlife left in the area when they came back.

TOO BE CONTINUED............................................................................................................

Alliance Story Arc - "Nym's Getting Nervous" PvP Event Part 2

Canaryville — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 14:49:00 GMT

With the 77th able to get me on a transport to Lok, I made my way to Nym.

Like Jabba, Nym is a very underutilized NPC in the game. There is nothing like bringing Jabba and Nym together in working on something that will mainly benefit them. So why not pick the side that's currently winning the battle...

This was another part that I just loved to do and for the first time I had a lot of folks from in-game and on the forums who said they are really getting into the way the story is playing out.

What you get here are some "rarely" seen inside views of my Nova, called "Zebra I". She is the defacto command ship of the 77th and is setup with a actual hospital room along side a prison cell with prisoner uniforms. If someone would like to come up and take a look some time, just let me know. One of these days you'll see her in a much greater roll....

Canary
---------------------------------------------------------------------

(Deep Thought....Wow It's been quite a long time since I've been in the Karthakk System.)

Captain Canaryville: Pilot Ossaok, have you even seen a view as nice as this? Tatooine has never looked so peaceful. I hope we can avoid any additional detection before we land on Lok. I'm just afraid the way the battle went within the Tatoo System, The Emperor is going to make sure some of his top pilots are ready.

Iomew Ossaok: Captain....you are correct...

(Pilot Ossaok in thought on how he's going to ask the next question)

Iomew Ossaok: Captain....What if this mission fails? What's to become of all that we've worked for and what about the families of the pilots who gave their lives up?

Captain Canaryville: Son....This is one of the most difficult assignments I've ever undertaken. There were moments when I was riding back from Jabba's Palace and during the bombing of Mos Pax that I started to doubt myself on this mission. (A very long pause)

I know that Admiral Alirc Ec-Etic and I are never happy when we lose a single pilot in battle. Unfortunately I can't do much to change that. These brave men and women realize what needs to be done even though they don't know the reason behind it. They put trust in us and that's all I can ask of you. Just trust that we will lead you to Victory!

Iomew Ossaok: (Smiling) Indeed sir, that is why I have put my life into your hands.

(Pilot Iomew Ossaok has successfully docked at landing bay four)

(Captain Canaryville has made his way to Nym's Palace and realizes he has forgotten how it looked)

(Being escorted by a few of Nym's Elite Guards, I enter his palace)

(I walk up to where Nym is seated and proceed to review the events of the Bombing of Mos Pax and the Battle at Jabba's Star. Nym sits there taking it all in without saying a word....)

Nym: (Sternly) Captain....Indeed....need I remind you that if it wasn't for my help, the chances of the Rebellion surviving are diminished!

Nym: (Sarcastically) Captain...when my scientists hand me the results, you will have the results.

(I'm thinking to myself this is the reason why I have avoided coming here with that sort of talk. I turn my back to keep my composure.)

Nym: The last thing I want is the Empire mingling in any more of my affairs.

Nym: (Pounding the table) You better tell that Admiral of yours that indeed if I'm going to help you, he needs to protect that station at all costs!

Nym: Indeed Captain I will.....For both of our sakes this better work.

(Captain Canaryville makes his way out of Nym's Palace)

Alliance Story Arc - "Jabba's Star" Part 3 (This is the last of the Mos Pax Series)

Canaryville — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 14:45:00 GMT

This was suppose to be the ground battle portion of the event...so instead of that, I intergrated it to me coming into town and the actual fight for the evening...

Since the Alliance had won the event for that night..it set the stage up for the next portion.

Canary

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

/////Personal Log Data Entry\\\\

I avoided detection as I rode into Mos Eisley and made my way to the Starport.

Just as Admiral Ackbar said it would be, the full support of the Alliance was everywhere. I launched my ship from Mos Eisley Starport to make my way over to Jabba's Star. There taking the front lines of this mission escort were Lt. Ehne leading "Green Flight", Fuser-derelek leading "Gold Flight", and our strategic strike team lead by Lt. Delos of "Red Flight.

Admiral Alirc reminds the pilot of "Black Flight" how important it is to make sure I'm safely escorted to Jabba's Star.

Almost immediately after I launched, the 6th Imperial Wing came swooping in on us.

Many of the pilots were not prepared for their onslaught as I saw some of these new recruits ships disintegrate in front of my eyes. Such a terrible way to perish.

The initial wave of Imperial Fighters were pushed back as we made our way to Jabba's Star so I could get transport to Lok.

I have never felt as nervous as I am now have carrying this Rancor DNA Strand.

There in the slight distance was Jabba's Star....odd that I've never noticed this place before. I can see why Jabba likes it. This rock blends in with its' surroundings.

Just as we were getting clearance to land at Jabba's Star, the 6th Imperial Fleet made another thrust and this time they brought some heavy hitting craft. Missiles flared....blasters everywhere...debris drifting in almost every direction. I'm worried that I will not be coming home.

Wow...the strategic counter maneuvers by Gold and Red Flight push the 6th back away from Jabba's Star long enough to allow me to land. I was whisked to one of Nym's personal transport ships and with the protection of my fellow Black Flight and Green Flight Pilots, the transport ship made its' way through the narrow passage we commonly call "Zero". Many brave pilots have given their lives in this dangerous area and my gut feeling was that the 6th would try to intercept us once more.

All of the sudden "Hell" was unleashed at us. All I could do was watch as the 6th mustered enough pilots to try and stop us. My feeling is that The Emperor is quite aware of what could happen if this Rancor DNA Strand is indeed what Jabba's says it is.

The pilot engages the Hyper Drive and for a moment, it seemed like time stood still. I blinked again and get confirmation from the pilot that we have safely reached Lok Space.

All I can think is Nym better know what he's doing. We lost some very brave pilots today.

\\\\\Personal Data Log Entry Ended////

Alliance Story Arc - "Mos Pax Briefing" Part 2 (This is the 2nd of Mos Pax Series)

Canaryville — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 14:29:00 GMT

I wanted to cover the briefing that we had to show the pilots who come out to these events and to give the viewers that indeed we do not just say you are here and you are there, but that we do indeed immerse ouselves into the event.

A little know tibit is that the inital story arc had a ground portion to start off the event. I had hoped to have a ground battle where I would be the "Capture The Flag" sort of idea that as I walked to Mos Eisley Starport...(I timed myself and it was 15min from Mos Pax Briefing hall to just inside the Starport doorway. Whoever had control of me as I walked into the starport was going to determine the outcome of the balance of the evening.

This portion didn't make it beyond the planning stage due to logistical reasons...though it could come back in some form at the end of the event. The reason I wanted to include this was to get the ground folks more involved with what we were doing in space. Other than the one event we held some time ago in the rescue of Yivvits at the Imperial Prison on Dathomir, we never intergrated a coordinated ground and space portion together....

Canary

P.S. I ended up posting some of these pics in the Events Forum and got a positive review from Pex. I knew then that for every part of the events, I'll spend my hard earned creds on Props. It's hands down one of the best items added to SWG in years!

P.S.S. I also found out, but never have asked, that there must be a limit on how many screen shots you can have in your SWG folder as a lot more were taken. I have since cleared out the screen shots after an event so I never run into that again.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

/////Personal Log Data Entry\\\\\

(The sounds of enemy aircraft have passed as I make my way back towards HQ)

(Deep thought) Admiral Alirc and the other senior officer's are just about here....I better get things prepared. Ah...another troop transport.....

(It is nice to have these these support troops here...the shuttle port seems to be in order)

As I continue to walk around HQ, I come upon a squad sent by General Rieekan......

Ah...more reinforcements...at least seeing this sort of support makes me feel more comfortable with the mission at hand.

Time is getting near...

(The sound of the Admiral's Shuttle is grabbing my attention)

\\\\\Personal Log Data Entry Ended/////

Captain Canaryville: (Salute) Admiral....welcome sir. How was your trip?

Admiral Alirc Ec-Etic: (Salute) Captain....well my trip was much easier than what you had happened here in Mos Pax. How are things?

Captain Canaryville: The town is now secured and the injured have been transported back to Echo Base for further treatment.

Admiral Alirc Ec-Etic: Any additional casualties?

Captain Canaryville: Sir....I forwarded my report to your com.

Admiral Alirc Ec-Etic: Yes....Thank you....Well let's go inside HQ and greet the pilots.

Captain Canaryville: That sounds great sir....

(Slowly the Admiral walks up to Tatooine HQ....it's been some time since he's last been here. He reviews some of the troops stationed outside and walks through the doorway....the sounds of some of the bravest Alliance Pilots can be heard)

Captain Canaryville: (Announces to those gathered) Admiral on the deck!

(The pilots in attendance salute and greet the Admiral)

(The Admiral acknowledges the response and gestures for us to sit)

Admiral Alirc Ec-Etic: Gentlemen....It's great to see you again. (He notices a bit of tenseness within the room and tries to lighten things up a bit)...Ah Lt. Sikkyu....it seems you've gotten your own personal chair with your name on it. How can I get one? (The pilots laugh)

(The Admiral's head scans the room...)

Admiral Alirc Ec-Etic: Fuser-derelek....(The Wookie Pilot who has seen many battles in the past has come out of retirement to be here during one of our greatest needs) It's a pleasure to see you again. I hope things on Kashyyyk are well for you? (The caught-off-guard Wookie acknowledges the Admiral's words). I hope the Crew of "The Heart of Gold" are ready? (A big Wookie Roar bellows out of Commander Fuser-derelek)

(The Admiral smiles)

Admiral Alirc Ec-Etic: Ah...I see the crew of "Tempest" are here also. Gentlemen, on behalf of Admiral Ackbar, I thank you for coming. (The crew of "Tempest"..Suuko, Ratch, Anlisa, & Dakuut acknowledge the Admiral's words)

Admiral Alirc Ec-Etic: Okay...let's get down to business....

(You can see it in the eyes of some of the pilots...they are thinking why are we working with Jabba)

Admiral Alirc Ec-Etic: This mission involves us getting Captain Canaryville to Jabba's Star within the Tatooine Space Sector. He's carrying on him a High-grade Rancor DNA strand that needs to make it to Nym on Lok. I can't go into more details than that....(The quietness of the pilots passes as they look at each other wondering how this is going to happen).

Admiral Alirc Ec-Etic: Okay let me outline the flight assignments.....

                              In Black Flight protecting Captain Canaryville at all costs
                              Myself
                              Captain Vegi
                              Lt. Commander Xak

                              Lt. Krigulv
                              Ensign Kihoc
                              And our two newest Pilots Cellavalo and Naflow.

                              In Green Flight lead by Lt Ehne
                              Jir
                              Lt. Sikyu
                              Lt JrGr Ryukob
                              Lt JrGr Ridispon
                              Lt JrGr Aksala
                              And Pilot Fuzzlenuts

                              In Gold Flight lead by Fuser-derelek
                              "Heart of Gold" Gunners Muser-derelek & Druskie

"The Flying Torton" will be lead by Lt. Brawyn with gunners Lonl and Ensign Jigro

                              In Red Flight lead by Lt. Delos
                              Pilots Acebets, Trapper, and Ameru.
                              The "Tempest" will be piloted by Suuko with Com Operator Dakuut with gunnery team of Anlisa and Ratch.

(There is a long pause....everyone seems to be focused on the job at hand).

Admiral Alirc Ec-Etic: Gentlemen you have your assignments.  May the force be with us.

Alliance Story Arc - "The Bombing of Mos Pax" Part 1 (Follows Jabba's Mutation)

Canaryville — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 14:21:00 GMT

With the thought of trying to bridge the gap between our traditional story arcs, I decided to expand the story a bit more to keep it flowing.

In this part I've made my way back to my home in Mos Pax which will be the staging area for the 77th's efforts to get me on a transport....

I've heard all about Storyteller items, but never actually used them before in game. That week I was communicating with MrBubble through MSN and game about what you can and can't do with them. He was very informative as usual. I found a great Storyteller web site that hall all the items in picture form.

So in this part, the Emperor has found out that I was in contact with Jabba and wanted to make sure I didn't live too long...

Canary
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

/////Secure Data Stream Communication\\\\\

Captain Canaryville: Admiral Alirc.....Admiral Alirc....are you there sir?

Admiral Alirc Et-Ecit: Yes Captain....how are things in Mos Pax?

Captain Canaryville: Admiral....It was one of the most intense bombings I've ever seen. A few of the troop transports that General Rieekan sent over were downed by enemy aircraft. I sent a few squads out to check for survivors.

Admiral Alirc Et-Ecit: That's most unfortunate Captain....It's never easy to lose a single soldier that is under our command. Please prepare a full report and forward it over to my com data-pad. I'll personally get in touch with their families after this mission is over.

Captain Canaryville: Copy sir...(as I stare at the charred wreckage of one of the transports)

Admiral Alirc Et-Ecit: Captain, were you able to activate the shield generators?

Captain Canaryville: Yes sir, a few were damaged, but I was able to activate enough of them that they protected the town and Tatooine HQ. If you look at your com data-stream, you'll see the ones I was able to activate.

Admiral Alirc Et-Ecit: Thank you....let me check now.

Admiral Alirc Et-Ecit: Captain...you did the best you can. I see our fleet of YT's have landed and it's indeed nice to see the "Heart of Gold" and "Temptest" among them.

Admiral Alirc Et-Ecit: I shall be landing in Mos Pax shortly. We should prepare the briefing as soon as we can. Now that the 6th Imperial Wing knows we are here, we need to get you to Jabba's Star as soon as possible.

Capatain Canaryville: Indeed sir....Sir have I ever mentioned....(long pause)

Admiral Alirc Et-Ecit: Yes Captain...what is it?

Captain Canaryville: Nothing sir....I was just thinking about what lies ahead of us tonight.

(The roar of engines are screeching across the sky again.....)

Admiral Alirc Et-Ecit: What's that I hear?

Captain Canaryville: Sir that's one of B-Wings from Bravo Squadron Pursuing the enemy.....

Admiral Alirc Et-Ecit: Captain...you are doing the best you can. I'm sure Leia and Admiral Ackbar have full confidence in you.

Captain Canaryville: Sir...Thank you sir...I'll see you shortly.

\\\\\Secure Data Stream Communication Ended/////

Alliance Story Arc - 1st PvP Event

Canaryville — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 14:07:00 GMT

This was the first offical event of the story arc. This had me pumped to say the least. I had it in the back of my head on how I could get Jabba more involved in our Space Events. Since BM was the talk of the forums, (I'll still call it Creature Handler)...though MrBubble likes "Bowel Movement" as was evident on the Podcast, I decided to intergrate Rancor DNA Stands & Enzymes into the forefront of the story.

The other great part was how could I talk to Jabba and make it feel like I'm talking to Jabba. No better way then trying to speak Huttese. I checked out a few websites that specialized in Huttese and decided I could use some phrases to work with the interaction. All I can say is the final result knocked my flight helmet off!

Well here it is....

Canary
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Space PvP "Jabba's Mutation" Friday June 22nd @10pm EST
Following up from the last communication from Jabba, Captain Canaryville decides he needs to pay a visit to someone that can help. Admiral Alirc Ec-Ecit is currently patrolling Deep Space for Imperial Convoys.....

Admiral Ackbar: Captain Canaryville it was wise of you to come to me with this information. The Alliance Forces can use whatever assistance we can muster to help end the Emperor's desire to control each and every one of us.

Leia: Captain Canaryville...When the times comes, General Rieekan has sent word that he can spare troops.

Admiral Ackbar: Please be careful as you make your way to Jabba. There are reports that Bestine Intelligence has stepped up their efforts in trying to infiltrate his organization....

Captain Canaryville is in deep thought as his BARC is transversing the sands outside of Wayfar.......

I'm lead into Jabba's Throne room.....The sounds of music are coming from all around as Max Rebo's Band plays. A strange Twi'lek dancer named Oola is preforming in the middle of the floor. It's like a small party where only the host is concerned.

Jabba: Tugi! Tugi! Chanaryville

Captain Canaryville: Kava na ta galu Jabba

Jabba: Ree Goola Jee naga hopa.....

(Jabba goes onto to explain that he has a deal in the works with Nym and other renegade alliance sympathizers to develop Mutated Rancors that can be used in attacking the Imperial Base on Yavin IV, but further tests are needed. Jabba wants me to deliver this high-grade DNA strand from one of his Rancor Pets to Nym on Lok)

Jabba: Chess ko Chanaryville chuba koona tah D'emperiolo stuta uba

Jabba: Nym tinka Kwee-Kunee Inkabunga

Captain Canaryville: Okey-Okey Chess Ko Jabba

(Captain Canaryville leaves Jabba's Palace and is making his way back to his home in Mos Pax)

Alliance Story Arc's - Bridging the Gap.

Canaryville — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 16:46:00 GMT

This was the event post that bridged the gap between the last Imperial Event and the first Alliance Event..

Canary

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Space PVP: Friday May 25 @7pm Pacific

/////Incoming Secured Transmission\\\\
Unknown Source: Commander Canaryville are you there? I have a message for you.

Commader Canaryville: This is Commander Canaryville, please identify yourself!

Unknown Source: You don't need to know who I am, you just need to listen to what I have to say....

Commander Canaryville: Who the hell do you think you are talking to? How are you able to.....

Unknown Source: Sir...Shut Up and listen to what I have to say. I know your Bombing Run was an utter failure and I'm here to help. So either you listen to what I have to say....

Commander Canaryville: Yes, we had difficulity in our mission as it appeared the Imperial Fleet had advanced warning of where our bombers were heading to.

Unknown Source: Good....you choice to listen is excellent. We have gotten word from one of my smugglers....ah...I mean pilots that your ISD Catechism is in mechanical trouble. Is that correct?

Commander Canaryville: .....well.....yes it is.

Unknown Source: Just as I expected...I've tried to get in contact with Nym to help supply you with the parts to repair the hyperspace core, however he informs me that he needs one more day to get that part to you.

Commander Canaryville: What....Nym?....what the hell is he doing trying to help us now? What does he want in return?

Unknown Source: Unfortunately we have also gotten word that the Imperial Fleet is gathering their ships to capture the ISD Catechism. That ship must not fall into their hands.......(suddenly the transmission ends)
\\\\\Secure Transmission Ended/////

Pilot briefing @7pm Pacific whichi is 10pm Eastern
77th HQ
Star Haven, Talus

Alliance Story Arc's - A writer's perspective

Canaryville — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 15:57:00 GMT

From my understanding, a few folks have asked about the other story arc's I've published for our space PvP events. They get lost pretty quickly on the Valcyn Forums after the event is over. So I'll recap them here.

To be honest this was the first time I ever tried to create a series of events like this. As we were winding down the Imperial Side of the Story Arc, Alirc and I were talking and it came up if I wanted to give it a try. I said why not.

The basic thought behind what I wanted to do was to take the way the 77th and 6th have been previously presenting events and expand them with pictures and more of a story line. I felt that if I could immerse the individual a bit more into what was happening, they would want to become part of the events (I guess MrBubble would describe it as Alliance Brain Washing).

The overall generic outline was created over the course of 2 days and is saved on Google Docs so that it can be shared with those that I can bounce ideas off of. The overall story arc involves 6 events and the subsequent event story arc is dependent upon the previous story arc's results.

So taking the thoughts of the particular story arc, I go out and RP the parts and interact with the NPC's that are involved with the event. I'm actually creating the script from the thoughts of the event as I interact with the NPC. I'll normally take about 4 to 5 shots of each communication process. I'll then import them into PhotoShop and edit the size of the images and then decide which angle of the shot I'll use. So this is actually the longest process in the whole overall scheme of things. It typically takes me a few hours to edit all the pictures and upload them into Photobucket. So after I have the pictures I wanted to use, it's time to write out the formal script.

After I created the first event called "Jabba's Mutation"; I wanted to find a way to lead into the event. So with that thought in mind, I used the Space May 25th event as a way of leading the person into the story. I loved the way it was bridging the gap between the last Imperial Story Arc and the future Alliance Story Arc. I loved the way it worked without anybody remembering how it interacted. That's why I've enjoyed doing the other stories between the events. It's a way to keep the story flowing and it's a way to find out where we are heading to....

I've appreciated the responses that have been mentioned in the forums. It has been a pleasure to do this.

Canaryville

The Adventures of Korron Zeria Part 2: The Hilt

Korron Zeria — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 04:27:00 GMT

So a long time ago (in a galaxy far, far away, haha) I wrote a short story on here, and I was gonna do a series of short stories, about my SWG Character constructing a new lightsaber, in basically the same way you have to in-game.

Well I like never wrote part 2, until recently, and I haven't posted it on here yet...

So here it is

Comments please.

__________________________________________________________________________

((WARNING: This Chapter contains evil-ness))

Korron climbed out of the cockpit of his modified X-wing, taking a deep breath of Rori's cool, humid air, a stark contrast to the air on Tatooine. It was refreshing. He looked around the crude base the Rebellion had managed to construct, and the various Rebel soldiers who seemed oblivious to his landing, more concentrated on the battle at hand.

This, was Restuss. At one time a small, peaceful town, it was now a battlefield. The city itself had been mostly destroyed during a massive explosion during the battle. Imperials had of course blamed the Rebellion, but it had probably been an orbital bombardment from one of the Imperial Star Destroyers.

The battle itself had gone on for months now, and Korron had helped out many times, but he'd recently heard rumors...rumors that if true, would prove to be very useful to him, and his quest for a new, more powerful Lightsaber.

Apperently, the Emperor had a peticular interest in the city, and it was rumored he's sent one of his "Hands" to lead and assist his troops in securing it.

And an Emperor's Hand would be very powerful, as well as...valuable.

Korron's current lightsaber had been made out of scrap, literally, minus the crystals, which he'd been lucky enough to find in various places...He'd made his saber with the little knowledge he had at the time, and even now he wouldn't ordinarily be able to construct a great saber. An Emperor's Hand however...would.

He would kill the Hand and simply study it's saber, hopefully learning how to create a good one himself.

Not bothering to check in with the commanding officer, Korron headed towards the battle.

"This is going to be interesting." He thought. And indeed it would be.

Korron carefully snuck through the remains of buildings, careful to mask his presence with the force. In a clearing ahead he saw a large number of Stormtroopers, prepared to engage any Rebels they might find.

Too bad for them it was Korron.

In a flash, he was moving, and by the time they'd figured out what was going on, it was far too late. Lightsaber ignited, he lept high into the air and landed behind a surprised trooper. Swinging his blade back, Korron decapitated him, before blocking a flood of laser fire from the other troopers. Korron smirked, and jumped forward, slashing his blade across the chest of another, who fell back with a muffled scream, catching a brief glimpse of Korron electrocuting one of his squadmates to death with force lightning before losing consciousness for his last time.

Korron lost himself in battle, and in the force, letting it guide his every move. He barely noticed how few troopers were left, and before he knew it, they were all gone, replaced by an empty clearing, filled with white, armoured corpses, many in several pieces. And then he realized, he hadn't been able to mask his force presence during the fight...which meant that the Emperor's Hand had probably sensed-

"Welcome Jedi." A voice said somewhere behind Korron. He calmly turned to see a young women, dressed in a full, red and black bodysuit, and dark hair standing some 10 meters away. "You are not the first of your kind to come here..." She clenched a lightsaber in her hand, the saber that Korron needed, the one he'd come for.

"That doesn't surprise me." He said. Honestly it didn't, though most other jedi would have probably come for much more noble reasons than he did..."I'm surpised none of them managed to kill you."

"Foolish jedi!" she spat, "You're powers are no match for the dark side!"

He tried to keep himself from laughing.

"Obviously you didn't see me take out those troops." He nodded his head to the side, where most of the now dead Stormtroopers were. "You see, I'm no ordinary jedi...my powers are a match for the dark side..."

"Oh?" She said sarcastically, "And what makes you think that?"

"I'm a dark jedi...just like you."

Her confident smile faded, and her blood red saber ignited.

"What? You don't have anything else to say?"

She charged.

"...and we were having such a nice conversation, too."

Their blades met, and Korron could tell she was focusing all of her rage towards him. He had to concentrate.

He pushed her back and slipped into the force, letting it guide him as it had earlier, while also drawing on his anger...

They both blocked each other's attacks almost perfectly, but slowly, she began loosing ground, until she found herself backed up against the wall of the destroyed starport. Desperately, she swung her saber down towards his legs, but angled it too low, and with a small dodge back, he thrust his blade up, and through her right wrist. She let out a short scream and fell to her knees, as Korron deactivated his lightsaber.

"What's the matter jedi?" She asked, "Aren't you going to kill me?"

Korron smirked, she obviously didn't get it yet.

"Of course I am." He grabbed her neck pulled her up against the wall. She gasped for breath and tried to escape with her only remaining hand. "But there are many more ways to kill, than with a lightsaber." He loosened his grip a little, just enough, so she could breath, and remain conscious. He smirked, and shot a powerful surge of force lightning directly into her body from the hand that held her neck. She screamed as her nervous system was ripped apart, and kept screaming, until at last, her scream finally died out.

Releasing his grip, he watched as her body fell uselessly to the ground, then walked over and pulled the lightsaber from her cold, severed hand, placing it on his belt.

He had what he'd came for.

He was one step closer now.

Why SWG?

Bendak_Starkiller — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 06:03:00 GMT

Ok, yeah, I'll admit it...glitch wise, there are many MMOs out there that beat SWG. So, why do so many people play it? I have been pondering this question for a while now..and I've got my answers after doing a little research. It's all about the community, no other MMO has the community that SWG has.

So, I've done some personal research on the issue. I play about ...umm...4 different MMOs, including SWG. They are MUGlobal, EVE Online, WoW, and SWG. So, why do I always come back to SWG faster than the others...this was something I was just sitting here thinking about tonight and I think, after piecing together the puzzle, I can tell you ALL the reasons people will always return.

Ok, so, lately I have been playing EVE Online mostly, and thats all well and good...but it is missing something. Yes, they have forums, in game chat, all the MMO basics, but the community. Yeah, I'm in a huge active corp. but even then, it's just not that attracting to sit and play for hours on end when I have an occasional length of free time. I have not once visited there forums unless I had a tech issue, and when I browsed around them, I was disappointed, it seemed that no one was a regular poster on those forums. And the same thing goes for WoW. I play it with several (about 5) of my real life friends, and even when I am playing with the people I know and care about, thats not community, thats just friendship, that doesn't effect the game, and when they aren't on, well, it just lacks the attraction. So, that 2/4 that have failed to really be attractive community wise. And MU, well, thats a lesser known game to many MMO players, because it is made by a very small company called Webzen out of Korea, and that does have somewhat of a community, but NO FORUMS...so, if you don't make your friends in that community in game, then to h*ll with it, it just isn't happening. What's that now, 3/4?

Ok, now to the main point. SWG is that game that will just keep pulling you back no matter what, you just can't stay away. Some might say it's like good dope. Yeah, I'm a HUGE Star Wars fan, and yeah, I own almost all of the SW games ever created for PC, but thats not the real reason why. It's because of the community, with those other MMOs you can see people for a while, but they leave a lot of the time, and you will NEVER see them again, but in SWG, even if you don't see someone for a while, well, I would put money on you will see them again. That has been how I have been with SWG, especially lately, I, like Yivvits and Mr. Bubble, just don't seem to have the motivation to play lately, even if my #1 in game friend is the #1 PvP medic on our server. But, with this game, there is always something even if you aren't in game. The forums, Yivvits and Mr.Bubble, its the COMMUNITY. Thats what it all comes down to for me, it's the close knit community of SWG. On the forums, it seems everyone knows the regulars, and there are the trollers and anti-trollers, and they know each other, and even agree about things on occasion, it's like a microcosm of society. Thats why it's such an interesting game for me, and none of the newer MMOs have that established, connected community. It also helps that the Developers of the game join in on the forum fun on occasion.

It may be buggy, but, it sure have some great community even IF the graphics engine is horrible.

Bendak_Starkiller...out

*static*

The World of RP

Eihort — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 22:01:00 GMT

Part 2 of 3 in my series about how PvPers and RPers are similar and how both are important to the game and how they figure into game design.

First the definition. Roleplay: to assume the attitudes, actions, and discourse of (another), esp. in a make-believe situation in an effort to understand a differing point of view or social interaction.* Not precisely what gamers do, but close enough for this discussion. My own definition, in the terms of an MMORPG, is that you take on the role of a character in the game environment. To an extent, we all roleplay, even if you wouldn't classify yourself as one, by simply logging into the game. Yivvits takes on the role of a wookie trying to avoid the continuous attempts of Mr. Bubble the Sulustan to make him into a rack of ribs. It's only natural, especially with the constructed barrier of a computer screen to engage in roleplay of any kind or depth. In this article, I will be discussing what most call the "hard core" roleplayer.

The hard core RPer is someone that continually talks in character, unless otherwise noted. "In character" being in that they respond to stimuli in the way their characters would, and that their character is only aware of what exists in the Star Wars universe. Things like noobs, Dots, skills, templates, bugs, logging in and out, don't exist to the character. Instead we substitute "sleep" with logging in and out and other plausible real-world analogs to these activities. Of course sometimes a screaming baby demanding to be changed requires someone to go afk, we usually just pause things, wait for them to return, and then continue playing.

This is where things tend to go to hot places in a hand basket. A lot of it has to do with the extremely diverse psychological profile of people who roleplay. The fact that the activity involves "living" in a world of make believe to begin with does tend to attact a lot of the negative stereotypes associated with RPers. Generally, those that are crazy. It's been my experience that if you ever really get into roleplaying, you're going to meet one sooner or later. I don't really have the background to get into all the intricacies of why people get so caught up in these virtual worlds to the point of addiction, neccesitating web sites where groups of "game widows" gather for emotional support when their spouses spend more time in the virtual world than the real one.

I've played on Starsider since launch day, as it was passed around the nacent RP community that it was going to be the server that RPers would primarily congragate on. There really isn't much point in RPing if you're the only one around, and since SOE/LA decided not to specify a server, Starsider was chosen more or less by a majority of the RP playerbase on the pre-launch RP forums. This is one of the major difficulties facing someone who wants to RP: just finding people to RP with in the first place.This also leads to one of the biggest problems.

I'm not entirely sure just how much of the player population actually engaged in hard-core RP. I know the population on Starsider is particularly high, but as far as other servers go, I'm completely clueless. In any case, the problem is that game developers seem to completely ignore us, and SOE/LA was no exception. They didn't even bother to label the servers with suggestions as to the playstyle that should be on that server. Nearly every other game has it, even WOW, and even other SOE games like EQ2. I'll come back to this later.

As if finding other RPers wasn't hard enough (We didn't have ROLEPLAY tags until very recently), an RPers play-evironment is incredibly fragile compared to a PVPer. RPers love to talk about immersion. That feeling that they are actually in the world. Some jack-hole spamming about selling credits for real money tends to destroy that. Other jack-holes who intentionally run around, setting off AOE commando weapons, take off their clothes, and generally be a pain just to ruin RPers fun can destroy the collective fun of a great number of people. Going back to people who are actually trying to "live" in this virtual world, such behavior is potentially emotionally devastating.

This of course leads to people getting snippy with those around them, eventually someone throwing the "This is an RP server" statement around, which is met with the "Doesn't say it is" repsonse. Then before you know it, RPers are labled as a bunch of jerks, which leads to more of the disruptive behavior just to get on their nerves. So eventually RPers move out of the NPC cities and create their own, where they have more control over the environment.

Sadly this is where the troubles of the RPer merely begin. The next hurdle to overcome is quite possibly the single biggest issue facing RPers in any game. Emote vs Duel.This argument stems from the basic component of any great story: conflict. Eventually someone is going to try and shoot someone else or do some other nefarious deed that usually ends with someone ending up dead or seriously injured. Such is the iconic lifestyle that we see in the movies. (Yes, I used the word Iconic. Pick your jaw up off the floor.) On one hand you have the RPer that has actually played the game, and managed to gain quite a fair number of combat levels, if not max level, and is particularly adept at PVP combat within the mechanics of the game. On the other, a player who foregoes the entirety of the the game mechanics and instead prefers to /emote their combat. Naturally when the two types of RPers come into conflict, things get nasty on a personal level rather fast.

The nuances of the /emote style fighting could be a post unto themselves, so I won't go into great detail, but generally, /emotes are used in combat and other situations to portray something the game mechanics don't simulate, or do so poorly. Let's face it. When Han blasted Greedo, we know that his gun isn't a one shot weapon of any kind and that it wasn't a lvl 90 vs lvl 1 fight. The game mechanics aren't a realistic simulation of any kind. They shouldn't be. This is a game about a fictional universe and making it as real as possible doesn't necissarily make it any more fun. There are also things the game doesn't simulate at all. Such as security cameras, automated defense systems and shields in a jail cell, and a myraid of other things seen in the movie that do not have in-game representation. This is where the /emote fighter derives their right to use such a style in the game. Quite often these players have come from more freeform environments such as MUDs or MUSHs and try to adapt the NGE to their playstyle.

The other side of the coin is the type of player that feels if one wants to play a character that is extremely good at combat related activities, you should attain level 90 and make an effort to become adept at PVP combat with the mechanics of the game. I've often found their mindset to be more of the "I'll use what SOE/LA gave me", as opposed to the "I'll mold what SOE/LA gave me to what I want" style of RPing. Remember this motif of "Fitting my play around the game" vs "Fitting the game around my play". It'll come in handy in later posts. Naturally you can only imagine the kind of pain that occurs when two dedicated players from each playstyle run into eachother. It's something the community deals with on a constant basis.

Now I'm sure you're wondering what the holy high heck this has to do with the other post in this series. I'm getting to that right now.

RPers are masters of creating their own content. It is RPers very nature to do so. If you took the time to remove nearly all of the PVE content from the game, a small die-hard population of RPers would remain because a lot of that is superfluous to the RP experience. Just imagine the time, effort, and money spend on creating massive amounts of PvE content that a lot of the RP community hasn't even touched or even knows exists. Imagine if all that was instead spent on creating more content such as ships and other substantial additions to the world.

Many developers call this the "sandbox" design. SimCity and a host of it's derivitive games would fall in this catagory, as would other sci-fi games like Universal Combat and X3. The developers make everything, and then let loose the player in it. However this does have a drawback. Extremely complex systems must be designed and implemented for a true sandbox design to exist. Tne initial content quantity has to be substantially large to support the playstyle. Also, there still needs to be some guided content to give players and idea what is possible. Even some really innovative games suffer greatly from the "Here you are, now go play" design structure.

Back to the dark side of RP, it is very likely to cause players to leave the game because of other players. I've seen it happen. A lot. Because of the reasons mentioned above, you're already dealing with a population with high instances of social difficulties, and event he smallest conflicts can escalate out of control. Let's face the facts, the stereotypes of RPers are often more right than wrong. A lot of them really are crazy. On top of *that* you have the fact that often the community can't agree on which mechanics to use for conflict resolution. Some want to /emote fights, others want to /duel them. Some people have extremely outlandish character concepts. (Vader killed my parents but I managed to evade the Dark Lord and escape... don't think I'm kidding about this one)

To their credit however, RPers also bring people into the game, and in a lot of cases keep them here. The NGE hit RPers particularly hard, especially with the locked classes (don't get me started), but finally the numbers are slowly starting to rise again. Long way to go to reach pre-nge numbers unfortunately. Combine this with the extreme amount of content creation going on, and a sort of "critical mass" of RPers develops where the RP community can not only keep itself going despite what happens with other developer content, but add to it, you'd have to wonder why RPers don't get more attention.

Smed has been quoted as wanting to move away from the sandbox design to something more linear (like, omg, WOW). Although lately the game seems to moving more back towards the sandbox with things like gardening and creature handling coming back from the dead. The best I can come up with as to the cause of this "design schitzophrenea" is SOE and LA throwing ideas back and forth and seeing what sticks.

Tune in next time for the compare and contrast!

If you have any questions about RP, feel free to leave a comment.

Starve them of the oxygen of publicity...

Almagill — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 09:54:00 GMT

OK what the sam-hill is it with everyone and the goldfarmers all of a sudden?

Getting hit with farmer spam?

/report and /addignore

If it's getting that bad you could even macro it. Then just target teh bleeders, zap them like the cockroach spawn they are and move along.

I made the mistake of going onto the oForums and brought up 'recent' posts. More than half were people going "!zomgords what to do! there are gold farmers in teh game!"

Good grief people. grow a pair! Instead of running to the boards with "We need a dev to do something NOWWWW!!!!! I can't afk grind my intrerrtarner* for all the spam" do something about it yourself. Just like any other irritating spamming griefspewing BMs.

Big news, they've always been there. Bigger news, they must see the game as worth farming gold in or they'd not be wasting time there.

Not even going to get into the whole "is it against the EULA / but some people farming credits aren't selling them" thing. Just treat them like any other annoyance and block them.

*(seriously. How in fork do you write something you see written in front of you daily THAT badly? Sheesh, I could throw an gurnade at peepl who du that)

Forums – Scraping the Bottom of the Barrel

Yivvits — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 15:02:00 GMT

Perhaps it's just me, but I feel the official SWG forums are at a low point. I'm not talking about the technical issues they've been having, nor am I saying the mods are slacking (because they aren't, the posts in question aren't necessarily against the rules). Blame the NGE, blame the CU, blame PvPers… I really don't care. The forums have become a pit of petty bickering about who is more l337 or which guild is hax0rzing in Restuss.

I'm the first to point out that these issues have always existed, but lately it has gotten worse. Before I go on, let me be clear – this is not a blanket statement. I'm not pointing out any specific people and FWIW there are still fun and valid discussions in the forums (just not as many).

Whenever I pop into the Valcyn discussion forum I see the same handful of people posting nothing but garbage and trash talk.

"Johnny'Rebel'Basher sucks!" *insert a stupid ytmnd image here*
"Bobby sploits all teh timez!11!1!!!" *insert pointless gif animation here*
"j00 stupid imperialz just can't handle losing!" *insert less-than-humorous jpg from imagedump here*

Sometimes posts like these ARE funny and ARE good for building camaraderie or dealing with issues the community has. Yet there is a point where these discussions grow tiresome.

Then again, I'm just a carebear, so what do I know anyway…