First Jedi Player Unlocked In Star Wars Galaxies

mr_don't writes "TheForce.net reported today that the first appearance of a Jedi Initiate has occured in the PC MMORPG Star Wars Galaxies. The allakhazam.com Star Wars Galaxies Community Pages state: 'Monika T'Sarn of the PA Combine on the Intrepid Server unlocked her force sensitive slot today. Akinom T'Sarn (her FS character) is the first player confirmed Jedi Initiate in all of Star Wars Galaxies.' Here is a pic of the new Jedi." We recently ran a story on lack of player Jedi in SWG.

Don't forget: Lucas has final approval

[Farscry]

In the interview with one of the producers on IGN [ign.com], they stated that before making announcements, they had to get approval from Lucasarts.

Basically, SWG has to conform to Lucas's vision, and based on what we've seen in the movies, that means that the odds are more likely that once there are "enough" jedis, people will start unlocking Ewok slots instead of Force-sensitive slots.

And who's going to pay for an Ewok character auction on Ebay? ;)

Diablo?

[AvantLegion]

Dialbo is not a "borderline" MMORPG. It is not "massive". It also does not have a persistant world (or worlds). It only has persistant characters.

Not only that, but Diablo is only an RPG in a very loose and generous application of the genre label.

Diablo is "online click-click-click game with persistant characters." p.

Re:How will this affect the game as a whole?

[Anonymous Coward]

The second posibility is that it will, in the long run, piss people off.

I couldn't think of a worse game structure for a casual player. I suppose it must be nice for them to reward the truly hardcore, but what about the 95% of players who don't play for 6 hours every day and don't have the time and effort to put into reaching insane levels?

If I was playing SWG, I'd try to organise some sort of resistance - get a group together using regular characters to gang up against any Jedi characters and set a precident where people don't *want* to be Jedi or nobody will help them and they'll get repeatedly mobbed in PvP combat.

If there are Jedi, where's the Empire?

Re:How will this affect the game as a whole?

[Fruny]

f I was playing SWG, I'd try to organise some sort of resistance - get a group together using regular characters to gang up against any Jedi characters and set a precident where people don't *want* to be Jedi or nobody will help them and they'll get repeatedly mobbed in PvP combat.

Unless I misread it, I believe characters created in the "force-sensitive slot" suffer from permanent death, though the slot itself is reusable. You might even be able to attack them if they flaunt their Jedi-ness.

That should help keep the numbers down :)

Re:How will this affect the game as a whole?

[Kulic]

While most people would agree that Jedi are cooler than other character classes, Jedi are not everyone's cup of tea. Sure, you're going to get the hardcore players running around as Jedi and Dark Jedi, but will the average players want to play as these classes?

Keep in mind that apparently force sensitive characters can only learn Jedi skills (yes, I RTA). This means that they are fairly easy to identify (well, at least anytime they aren't hiding - but you won't see them changing people's hair), and this coupled with the bounties on them will make them hunted. Sure they're cool Jedi, but now them are characters who have groups out hunting them, and they suffer permanent death.

I don't think that the average gamer will feel too jaded when you start seeing Jedi being taken down all the time, while everyone wants their character to heal them, change their appearance etc. There is a place for everyone, and Jedi aren't going to be running all over the place. Besides, you can be sure that the Dark Jedi will also be thinning the numbers ;)

What is more likely to change the balance in-game will be the refinement of the process of unlocking the force-sensitive slot. I'm fairly sure that this still won't be something that you can do in 2 days, but will still be doable in the long term even if you only play a few hours a week (keep in mind that you are paying a subscription fee here).

I guess what I'm trying to say is that yes the Jedi are cool, but they have their own problems, and a lot of people are happy to just stick to their dancing etc and not have all of these additional problems (a lot of people play games to relax, you know). Seeing as it has taken months for the first force-sensitive slot to be unlocked (and there are still no Jedi), I am fairly confident that there will not be hundreds of Jedi running around any time soon.

Re:How will this affect the game as a whole?

[gl4ss]

take a look at the picture..

especially on the chat boxes

"i've killed 2 han solo"

"i've killed 10 so far"

so, make your assumptions on how anything you do affects the world from that...

Re:How will this affect the game as a whole?

[slevin]

That is a really interesting thought. This sort of behavior could reflect real human behavior throughout history. In all cultures, we have repeatedly persecuted those who are too different. If players decide that the rare Jedi is too special, then it is quite possible to imagine that the Jedi players will get abused for being what they are -- kind of like the X-men universe. I for one am very excited to see what happens. While the MMORPGs may not be perfect (or even close) to the real world, they still serve as a reasonable microcosm of human behavior. I think in the years to come sociologists are going to have a field day with this sort of stuff. Ultimately, these worlds could really serve as wonderful testing grounds for new economic/socio/political threories. Who needs a Marxist revolution in the real world when you've got Everquest?

Re:How will this affect the game as a whole?

[Goo.cc]

Actually, I'm surprised that in the Star Wars films that Jedi, in general, are not hated or at least disliked due to their elevated, god-like status. The Jedi in films one and two also display a certain amount of arrogance.

Re:Yup, it's made by Verant.

[fraudrogic]

I'm pretty sure that there is more than one possible jedi slot available. You just have to do an enumerable amount of work to get the slot. From what I understand, the person who got the first slot deleveled like 3 times, only to have to remaster one of the professions he let go.
Whoever has that much time to spend on the game has got to really step back and look at his/her life. It takes an enormous amount of time to do what this person accomplished. For what really? Nothing. A game shouldn't be an extension of your life. It should be a temporary release from reality.