Star Wars Galaxies

http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/posts/list.m?start=0&topic_id=656160&#7148844

He's leaving to become community manager for the SOE game Free Realms.

This is a very bad sign for the NGE.  Sure, storyteller can do some things, but now Vader, Leia, Luke, et all will forever remain in their places where you only interact with them once in the themeparks.

Another bad sign:  Someone is leaving and NOT being replaced.  That is not growth in the team, it's a reduction in force.

I expect other Dev departures soon.  I expect they will begin breaking up the NGE team as they reassign them to other projects.  This is all expected in a prelude to closure.

I am not surprised by this in the least.  Pex was probably the only Dev who actually played the game.

I'm surprised Pex hung on for as long as he did.  The devs seemed to have a thing about screwing over roleplayers, what with all the Uncle Owen hate.

Pex was a good guy.  I enjoyed interacting with him on several occasions at Ahazi RP events.

Pex leaving is like having the last decent person walking out.

For all its worth, he's the only one left on SOE's SWG team I had any respect for.

This seems to show FreeRealms is moving along rather well. Seems alot of folks liked him but I don't blame him for staying around when they continually give the palyers functions and abilities that he did. ...makes you kind of worthless at the shop. Does this spell the end of SWG, in my opinion, no. And no, I have no facts to back that up, its just a guess like everyone else.

another one bites the dust...

I doubt it signals the end. What it does signal is the path towards the end. Like an arcade not replacing broke machines and losing their prize ticket counter. It signals designed neglect  and obvious disconcern for what the players wanted and liked.

Even if none of what I said agrees with you - I doubt anyone can say that losing player events is a good thing.

Well... looks like the beginning of the sunset of swg ... cause when the guy in charge of roleplay leaves and they dont replace him it IS a signal of the end quite simply put, being as the the game is a MMORoleplayingGame...

Its a non brainer to have that aspect in the business model... kinda makes sense to invest and grow the game in that area surely? no?

Nobody in business is inexpendable, there are plenty of people who can replace the dev giving no reason for somebody to not replace that role in question.

What I find interesting is what he didnt  say in the post, - it was mainly directed toward gameplayers. There didnt appear to be any "hooah" in respect to the future of SWG and any mention of the future was just a pleasant overview - non committal. To be more clear, after reading it I felt something was missing.

With SOE disapearing back up its own pipe and drawn back into the "motherships" control. I just wonder what SWG is turning into... for the future and how that impacts gamers who are playing SOE's games.

If anything what the vets have been predicting is coming to fruition.. taking its time .. but this isnt just a small mmorpg company, its a massive corporation with reserves......  but as they say ...if you fail to learn the lessons of the past you are set to repeat them.

The NGE has no idea of  "Roleplay" and now they  just made it official.   

Assuming it was the strong (and from $OE unexpected )  Roleplaying playerbase  that keept him in position that long.

Pex is such a sweetie.  He has remained calm and decent and cheerful and always helpful through the very worst of times.

I wish him luck.