General Discussion

MMORPG.com Star Wars Galaxies Correspondent Jef Reaheard writes this editorial piece reflecting on the days of a roleplayer's paradise in Star Wars Galaxies.

A funny thing happened while I was roleplaying my way to gangster infamy on Star Wars Galaxies' Starsider server from early 2004 to mid 2006. Amidst the story arcs, the guild drama (both in-character and out-of-character), and of course the hornet's nest stirred up by Sony's New Game Enhancements, I found myself drifting slowly but inexorably away from the reason I had jumped on the whole MMORPG bandwagon in the first place: to tell stories.

Looking back, I don't know that I was ever truly a 'roleplayer,' even though I defended the play style against all comers and engaged in some particularly nasty forum jousting with various antagonists. Though I was almost always 'in-character,' even while grinding mobs, I was basically playing myself in the Star Wars universe, something that I've dreamed of doing since early childhood, and boy was it a rude awakening when I realized that the lion's share of my fellow players didn't give a bantha poodoo about back stories, character development, or immersive authenticity. My quest for full immersion was doomed from the start, given the nature of these games and the people that play them, but that didn't stop me at the time, and, though I still play Star Wars Galaxies (and two other MMORPGs) on a daily basis, and though I've made attempts to rekindle the storytelling flame in each new game, it always ends the same way: leaving me wistfully remembering the roleplay on Starsider and wondering if, not when, that magic will resurface.

Read the article here.

 The art of roleplaying is indeed a lost art. There are many of us from the old d20 days, which I'm sorry you missed, who graduated to the MUDs, the text styled MMOs of the late 80s and through the 90s.

It was in MUDs that you could see the transition to what we see now. As more and more d20 fans joined MUDs, you were able to immerse yourself in true roleplaying. Unfortunately, each year we moved farther and farther from roleplaying as more PS2 babies began joining our beloved MUDs who had never experienced d20 love. Griefing and ganking began to appear as more of the younger set treated the games more like a video game instead of a living novel.

Now, we have graphical MMOs and we have people who play those that don't even remember MUDs. The evolution of the PS2 babies being the rule instead of the exception is here. Player killing is all the rage and many feel that if you aren't a PvPer, then get out of their way because they are the real roleplayers. How sad they are to not have known true roleplaying.

RP is dead! Long live RP!

You know its funny...

Im 28. My first mmo was ffxi on ps2. I had a great time playign that game but there was no roleplaying into it. I was fien with that to be honest, because that game was built on being social.

after 3 years of playing ffxi i graduated to a pc mmo. Star wars. i can remember finding out abotu it and slowly losing my mind to go play because it was starwars. i wanted to be a jedi, and a smuggler, own a yt1300. travel the stars! When i played SWG for teh first time, it was so easy to play in charcater. I had a great time. Ive moved on from swg now because ive done everything there is to do in that game. but i never forget how much fun i had playing it. My best RP moments would be everything from getting married in naboo, to being captured by the imperials on dathomir, only to have my guild come rescue me. We did special events and had devs spawn mobs to go with our storylines. This is one element that no matter if you like SWG or not, it cant be rivaled. SWG had teh best storyteller abilities ever and still does. It was proof that sandbox works, as long as you give the players the tools to do so.Sandbox is where RP lives!

Jef,

My best RP experiences were in SWG. I only stayed around for a year or so; and that was because of the RP. I too was on Starsider. Now, I am a more casual RPer in CoH. It still is great to see folks have creative fun in these games.  

Amen to that piece, Jef. I just had the same discussion with friends about City of Heroes last night, I can relate to pretty much everything you said.

I also loved the RP in SWG... as a member of the 488th LED, I remember very clearly playing with the Cartel and the Pixies, etc... also, The Guardians... those were some great times.

I've moved on, even going so far as joining The Guardians, our mortal enemies in game, for WoW play. Still, I can say there hasn't been a day I haven't looked back fondly on those days on Starsider, in Vagabond's Rest, etc.

I only dabbled with roleplay on SWG. And I am of the "PS2 Baby" generation, as another posted put it. I'm 19 (I was 15-17 when i was playing SWG), however I did tag along with some really great roleplay on SWG. I played as an Imperial on the server, Chilastra. I used to go along for a "Jedi hunt" with a roleplay guild. We used to just search around for participating Jedi and when we did find them, we questioned them to find if they were, indeed Jedi. They used to use Jedi mind tricks on us, and sometimes it would end with a lightsabre fight.

I also used to play as a tax collecting Storm trooper in Tatooine. Some would play along, some wouldn't, but it was always great fun.

People always seem to pull the age card, I won't have another rant about it... But it's a generalization and most of the time it's less to do with age and more to do with intellect or hobbies and interests.

In any case, SWG was the only game where I felt really compelled to roleplay. As someone else said, they gave the players the right tools to immerse themselves and really get absorbed into the world of Star Wars. I haven't played another modern game which has that same immersion since. I played UO briefly, and I could definitely imagine some great roleplay moments there too! Ryzom is perhaps the only modern(ish) MMO where you could roleplay quite nicely. It has some great story telling but still doesn't have as many roleplaying tools as SWG did (And still does really)

CoX seems to have the most thriving roleplay community, and I did try a bit of it. However, the CoX world just has nothing on Star Wars. It's hard to roleplay a superhero when everyone else is also a superhero. It's just not a great setting for roleplay. But nevertheless, the kind of people who play CoX are inclined to roleplay, so it's your best bet if you're also that way inclined.

I'll never claim to be a real RP'er, but I remember the immersion of SWG and I loved it. Like the Op I bascially played myself  and met and married my husband in-game. It worked so well we did it for real two years later.

I can remember being so involved in the game that I had to play at certain times because there were guild activities and hunting parties and all manner of things that I wanted to be part of. It was honestly a second part of my life that required just as much attention and upkeep as my real social life.

With the games I play now it doesn't really matter when I'm on because nobody's waiting for or expecting me. When I'm in a guild I'm just another member to bolster the roster. It's been quite a few games since I've made any friends worth remembering. My point being I've never been as 'into' a game as I was back when I started SWG (Intrepid server!) and by now I'm really starting to doubt I'll ever find a 'home' quite like the one I had there.

Leet kiddies ftl....................as usual