SWG had some potential from the character development aspect. I fully agree that the divergence from the leveling of characters and no archetypes was a great system. One great way to develop a game is to try your best to immitate real life, and in real life, we are not tanks, dps’ers, and healers…we know how to do things…like use guns, write code, engage in dialogue, or spell (or in my case, not spell). SWG did this, it didn’t contrive an arbitrary system of archetypes that made for a balanced rule-set and put us in the middle of it, it gave us a rationalized skill set we could develop ourselves around which was balanced.

It had it’s flaws, of course, as the blogger pointed out. It allowed for builds that could become “kits” which provided maximum efficiency for combat builds, healing builds, etc. But that is the nature of a game and it is at that point where a game will reach it’s fulcrum point and the elegance of it’s design becomes evident. It is also at that point where careful patches need to be implemented so that fair play is ensured, and SWG strived to do that.

But for the concept of sandbox tools, I completely disagree that SWG ever provided us anything meaningful. I continuously lobbied whoever would listen to me for useful tools, and that usually meant I lobbied to my blank computer screen.

What does “sandbox” even mean? Perhaps it is meant to mean something slightly different to each of us, but for me it means an environment where we as players are allowed a certain amount of control over the game to provide our own content. SWG had nothing of the sort, and only during it’s death throes after the Combat Upgrade and New Game Enhancements did the developers try to give players tools.

If I, as a player, want to create a role-playing event, the real heart of a sandbox system, for my guild, I need the tools to do it. I need to be able to spawn NPC mobs, I need to be able to create the backdrops, settings, and props that facilitate my story and adventure. SWG was wonderfully designed from launch to do this! The system allowed x,y,z placement of assets, dialogue assignments, and more.

Yes, I realize that it required careful management so as to not allow for exploitation by inconsiderate or downright wicked players looking to ruin other people’s enjoyment. But those things would have been managable. Think about the ability of setting up a quest for your friends to gather resources and deliver them to an NPC you spawn in Coronet, and that NPC actually must be traded the resources. Or being able to spawn a group of Bynare Pirates on Talus that your friends must fight (and sandbox protection protocols prevent others from attacking them). Or being able to craft junk items and dropping them in spawned bunkers that must be found and recovered. Or setting up a conversation arc with an NPC you hide in the wilderness on Lok.

This is a sandbox toolset. This is player control. And it transcends the “kill 10 chunkers” or “deliver this holodisk to the contact in Nashel” missions that are so rudimentary in the game. It allows players to make content the developers never could; it allows players to make adventures they become personally vested in.

And all of that can happen in ANY MMO over and above the typical content that is put in to attract and keep the typical “grind to the level cap and raid” crowd.

I later played EverQuest with it’s more fixed Wizard, Warrior, Druid… Class system. You were a Wizard when you started, and a Wizard when you canceled your account. Unless you make an Alternate character, you were stuck. This was ok.

Star Wars Galaxies rescued me from Everquest, I and soon quite happily canceled my EQ account. Originaly SOE had banked on the fact that there were millions of Rabid Star Wars fans out there dying to live in the universe and take on adventures of their own. So they skimped on questing, and instead focused on making the game look really pretty. Their classes point based system worked out nice at first. I could be a master in 3 very different professions if I so desired. But could only really excell in one fixed one if I chose to go the elite profession path. THis added huge depth to the game.

The failing point with SWG was in fact it’s huge open worlds with nothing to do (and horrible city street designs). They had thought the fans and players would create their own content and run the show as they saw fit. But on launch people logged into the game, got confused and said “wow it looks pretty, what do I do now?”. SOE reacted by added player cities, vehicles and quests. To this day SWG still has the BEST crafting system in any MMORPG.

WoW came along with pretty graphics, cute characters and tons of quests. From the very start of the game you had your hand held from quest to quest. It was designed in such a way that you were almost never lost and confused, all the way to level 60. In fact the quests distracted you so much and in such a way, you could actually play them over and over with a multitude of Alt characters.

SWG’s initial allure was the blatant complexty in its skill and crafting systems. Later in their quests. WoW’s major allure was you have your hand held start to finish with more quests than you can dream of. Even with 5 alts and you could take a different route and only overlay a few quests to get to 60.

In my honest opinion, a sandbox game is a pipe dream. People are in general sheep in need of guidance. We’re trained to be followers from an early age. It is this very reason why WoW has 11 million subscribers and the games that allow you to do what you want and invent your own play style (SWG) has 150k players….

My ideal MMORPG would have a Skill system as opposed to a class system so I could take advantage of different skills and make my Master Jack of all trades if I want, or dedicate my skills to one or two profession types. But instead of having 33 professions like SWG had, maybe narrow it down some. In other words instead of having 5 or more tyypes of combat professions create a combat profession with skill trees for the diferent combat styles i.e. tank, long range, etc… Instead of 5 different crafting professions create one crafter with different skill trees for weapons, armor etc…

Content was a big issue too. Don’t release a game that was only half done. More time should be spent on creating quests with a storyline, and interaction with NPC’s. Harder quests give greater rewards. SWG had the capability of creating quests that spanned planets, and could encompass space flight, as well as dungeons. Make each quest like a mini star wars movie.

A huge problem that SWG had also was the Jedi System. Once people uncovered that unlocking different professions would eventually get you to Jedi that was a huge downfall for the game. People no longer were participating in PVP, or raids, now they were busyin grinding away at skills to become a master entertainer because it might unlock the uber Jedi profession.

For a sandbox game to work you need to allow diversity in game play, but you also have to limit the choices and balance things so that you don’t have one combination annihilating others in battle (i.e. Jedi). But you also have to have content so that people have other things to do besides PVP, and grinding.