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Role Playing (Games) Input Devices

SOE Applies Mouse-Only SWG Patch 44

Posted by Zonk from the making-people-happy dept.
Sony Online Entertainment has patched in a mouse-only control scheme for Star Wars Galaxies, reports Chris Kohler's Game|Life Blog. We reported this weekend on the complaints of Nick Dupree, a disabled player who was unable to play after the NGE changes. From Chris' post: "Our new fast-action combat control scheme inadvertently presented a hardship for some without the use of both hands; for this reason we are introducing mouse-only play which allows all movements and abilities to be controlled through the mouse exclusively. This is live in the game right now and can be accessed through the options menu. "
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SOE Applies Mouse-Only SWG Patch More

SOE Applies Mouse-Only SWG Patch

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  • I'll hold out for more updates (Score:4, Funny)

    by aztektum ( 170569 ) on Tuesday December 20, 2005 @12:25PM (#14299670)
    When are they going to put in patches to make the game worth playing?

  • You know it sucks (Score:3, Funny)

    by aztektum ( 170569 ) on Tuesday December 20, 2005 @12:32PM (#14299730)
    This could cause people to actually return to the game. It's unfortunate, because in reality the mismanaged mess that is SWG needs to die.
  • I'm sure the way this would work would be through two things: a mouse with a buttload of buttons, or a redesigned interface (or both!)

    I know Logitech has some gaming mice with quite a few clickies to choose from -- for example,
    http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/products/details /US/EN,CRID=2150,CONTENTID=5006 [logitech.com]

    I've never actually played the game, so I don't know what the UI is like, but perhaps the designers might tweak the interface a bit to allow even functionality for a disabilities. ::shrugs:: It's
  • They created a remapped control scheme to just use the mouse in under 5 days...interesting. I wonder how buggy it is and whether it still even makes the game viable? As neither I nor anyone I know plays this game there is no way to tell. If anyone catches wind of a follow-up story I would love to read it.
    But this also gets to a larger concept, how great of a PR point would it be if a company presented the fact that it always goes out of its way to consider the disabled when creating their entertainment so

  • Attaboy's (Score:4, Insightful)

    by terpl ( 897171 ) on Tuesday December 20, 2005 @12:38PM (#14299772)
    Good for them, Whatever you may think about their products or SOE in general this is a positive response to a legitimate complaints of a small subset of the SWG universe. They could've ignored it, but they didn't and for that I think they deserve a congratulations.
    • They could've ignored it, but they didn't and for that I think they deserve a congratulations.

      No, they would faced a federal lawsuit if they had chosen to ignore it, Americans with Disabilities Act. However they still deserve congratulations on the quick fix.

      • Re:They faced an ADA lawsuit (Score:3, Informative)

        by Anonymous Coward
        As has been stated countless times now, the ADA has no bearing on video game accessibility. It pertains to access to public facilities like bathrooms or buildings. That would be what those handicapped spaces and ramps up to places are for.

        The ADA was not created to ensure disabled people can play a video game. There was no threat of any lawsuit, just some pissed off players who've dedicated years of playtime to the game, only to find themselves suddenly unable to play because the SWG Developers are asses
    • Good for them, Whatever you may think about their products or SOE in general this is a positive response to a legitimate complaints of a small subset of the SWG universe. They could've ignored it, but they didn't and for that I think they deserve a congratulations.
      - It has nothing to do with the insane amount of bad press they got lately?

      I am sure they did it out of the kindess of their hearts. It's a brilliant business move to listen to 0.000001% of your user base, waste resources on it, all this time when
      • /shrug You can spend a lot of time analyzing the motivations of companies, but I see little value in it. If they do the 'right thing' because of bad press or because of noble intentions matters little to me. The important point is that they changed. SOE and SWG is in the doghouse right now, that means that every single decision is cast through the worst possible light. They don't change something then they're not listening to the player base. They do change something and they're wasting critical time that
  • Put a optical sensor under your keyboard and slide your keyboard around...

    Now you're playing with "Mouse Only", only your mouse has 104 buttons.
  • In Korea, most MMO gamers play at PC bangs (cafes), and supposedly a lot of good games have been unsuccessful when they force the player to use more than just the mouse. This is because Koreans like to smoke while they are playing.
    • Whoa. Do these mice they use have hundreds of buttons? Because very few of my favoured games support 1-handed play.

      On the other hand, this bodes well for the success of the Revolution. Never thought of that as an advertising feature - you can play while smoking! Somehow I doubt it will be in Nintendo's advertising campaigns.
      • They're playing mostly MMOs (and Starcraft but that's suicide if you play it without the hotkeys), all an MMO needs is the option to move by clicking the mouse somewhere (I think some MMOs still force you to use the cursor keys for that. Kinda pathetic, this isn't 1996 anymore!) and except for the typing you're set. Skills can be accessed from a panel with buttons. It's slower but feasible. If the MMO isn't that fast (e.g. Lineage 2, you can easily have a coffee break while waiting for your HP to recover) i
    • In Korea, most MMO gamers play at PC bangs (cafes)

      Yeah, but I hear that only old people go to them.

      And in Soviet Russia, PC bangs YOU!!!

      Thanks folks! Enjoy the veal! Slashdot audiences are the greatest audiences in the worrrrrrrrrrrld!

  • That confirms it (Score:3, Funny)

    by mabu ( 178417 ) on Tuesday December 20, 2005 @01:23PM (#14300361)
    I always suspected that SWG's player base consisted primarily of disabled or mentally-handicapped people. This undoubtedly confirms it. No sense pandering to those of us with full, unrestricted control of our facilities. We're undoubtedly the troublemakers who can post to the web forums complaining about how totally crappy the game has become.

    My guess is that all game functions are now exclusively under mouse control except "EXIT", which may bode well for future announcements of an "increase in SWGs player base."
  • Now if only someone would have the foresight to install a wheelchair lift or entrance ramp in the Jedi temple.
    • All the buildings more or less do except I think on naboo (palace). All the player houses have ramps.

      They had to if you think about it. SWG was launched before R2-D2 got those horrible jetpacks in the prequel movies.

      Forget about rights of the disabled, how about the rights of the spunky little robots!

  • I have a disability. (Score:4, Funny)

    by hal2814 ( 725639 ) on Tuesday December 20, 2005 @03:31PM (#14302344)
    I have a disability that prevents me from enjoying the new SWG system. If you could just change it back to the old system then people with the same disability as I have (dontlikecrapism) would be much better accomodated.
  • This is live in the game right now and can be accessed through the options menu ...which can be easily accessed using the Ctrl+O keyboard shortcut.

  • Well I been posting lengthy posts so far about SWG (Score:3, Insightful)

    by SmallFurryCreature ( 593017 ) on Tuesday December 20, 2005 @04:01PM (#14302737) Journal
    Well I been posting lengthy posts so far about SWG so why should this story be an exception eh?

    Well I tried the trial and was less then impressed with the "tutorial" level. I since spotted you can skip it wich is great since it at least allows you to go down to where the action is.

    I then found out that for some reason my account is active until the 3rd of jan, no Idon't see any payments to sony on my bankstatements, perhaps as part of a free trial for old players?

    I had of course to check it out. The game has changed. And yet it is the same. It is not nearly as dead as some claim BUT it is being deserted. Oh and don't count subscription figures to much. One guy in my guild seems to have 11 alts. 11 accounts being played by one person. Coupled with people who simply stopped playing but whose account is still running this means the game has far fewer players then subscription numbers would have you believe.

    So is it as bad as everyone claims.

    Well yes. The engine just isn't up to the changes. It never been designed like this. One of the problems? Well enemies can be inside each other, there is no proper collision detection but this makes it very hard to target in the new combat mode that critter wich you want. Usually you target 1 kill then do the next in a group. Now you find yourselve attacking two critters at random meaning it takes longer and you take more damage.

    No they took a bugged game and forced it into a new outfit that doesn't fit and stuffed it with new bugs. There is still a hint of what SWG could have become in more capable hands but the NGE just shows that SOE isn't capable.

    There really is something fundamentally wrong at SOE were each design decission just doesn't seem to be properly analyzed. It is weird but SOE with SWG seems to have had a nice idea at the beginning and then somehow managed to screw EVEYTHING up. Not big not majorily.

    Imagine it like this. Say that for each decision you had four choices. A perfect choice, a totally crap one, a middle of the road one. Well sony then always picks the fourth, the not crap and not middle of the road one. The one choice that is yuck.

    Sony would stock their soda dispensers with Pepsi. That says it all really. SWG is pepsi. Nobody drinks pepsi by choice, only because coca-cola isn't sold in some places.

  • One interesting thing I find in this patch is that there is a modicum of dexterity, of skill to be found.

    WoW is a decent MMO, but one thing it still has in it is that I may be good, and I may be the best I am at playing my character, but someone who has better stats earned through simply sitting on their ass and grinding can still beat me if they're high enough level. No amount of skill can overcome the fact that they have more time to spend on a game than I do.

    You can argue that more time spent would equ

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