I'm going to say I agree with Isabelle.  I'm also going to say it has been said and argued more than a million times over on these very boards.  Last I'm going to say, corporations see what makes money and they produce it.  End.

So we are allowed to discuss it as a news article?

http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/338195

I find it ironic that posts about SOPA and PIPA are getting systemically wiped and locked throughout the internet while at the same time mainstream media calls experts to discredit wikipedia and the other sites that have blacked out today.

Whoever locks or deletes this post, think about your actions.  Are you following a forum rule or actually acting as a preview of what the internet is like when individuals and corporations are given the power to regulate the internet through legalized censorship.

This is not meant as a discussion either.  I'm not thumbing my nose, I'm making a statement of record.  Even with mmorpg.com's forum rules, I am disappointed that the moderators have not allowed the discussion of this day in the off-topic section briefly as long as it remained civil.  I feel it would have been relevant even if it were locked at the end of the day.

I was actually thinking the same thing earlier today.  I was looking at my bookmarks and realized I hadn't visited here in a while and started thinking about when I first came to mmorpg.com.  I started reading articles here when I was playing EQ (shortly after Velious) but didn't make an account since I was already posting pretty regular at The Ranger's Glade and Monkly Business.  When the guy running Ranger's Glade lost his data, I actually signed up here... with my EQ Ranger's name...

Originally posted by WellzyC

 

Now this genre has become too popular and is overflowing with the 15 year old fan boys who don’t know what to do with themselves if they are not HAND HELD through a stupid story line and hand fed boring quest content with a silver spoon.

 

I am going to disagree with this statement although I agree with your sentiment throughout your post.  Statistically you are wrong.  Nearly every study done, and now there are many when there used to be few, shows that mmorpg gamers are getting older.  In fact significantly older, to the order of the average mmorpg gamer being a 40 year old male.  However, I think the 15 y/o mentality comes from even these older gamers are having to limit their time online more and more due to commitments at home and work.

My point being:  we aren't actually faced with 15 year olds with curfews dominating the landscape as much as it is actually a 40 y/o that has to balance family, work, and gaming.  This is creating an environment where those players need to have concise direction in order to accomplish their "gaming goals."  In the old system, these goals would take days of gameplay to accomplish, but now they must be completed in real-life days which consists of a mere fraction of time in game.  Hence the eruption of WoW-type quest hub based levelling being the standard.  Call it casual, or whatever.  But these same people who used to be hardcore in 1998 - 2002 are now passing their adapted casual playstyle on to their children which are in their teens.

Long travel does not make sense any more in modern gameplay, than, say:  having the only combat actions of a player being auto-attack, taunt, slam, and kick.  However, having an expansive virtual space to explore without restriction is very important and something that needs to be better incorporated into modern games.  

I want to get a chance to play a new title and find it enjoyable beyond the first 100 hours.

There have been several changes to sales and use taxes in recent years.  Several changes involve specifically addressing what state's consider a loophole in tax code.  I am going to guess that you just paid tax due to NY having such a law.

Bear in mind that just because you recently bought a game and didn't pay tax dosn't mean that the company you bought the digital download from was correct in failing to charge a tax.  Technically any sale conducted in a state should be taxed, but most of the time it is ignored and not pursued by state comptrollers.  Now, with state revenues falling due to the recession, they are beginning to actually pursue these revenues.

Because SWG never was a *great* game in any of it's forms.  Parts were excellent, and when looked at over the lifetime of the game were wonderful, but SWG never pulled itself together to be great at any one time.  SWG is best looked at as a whole, with the bad parts glossed over through selective memory.

Houston is the worst.

Well, the worst major US city for internet.  There used to be about 4 choices:  DSL from SWB (ATT), DSL from a couple local companies, satellite, or cable from Time Warner.  Sadly, now the market is so lame, you can't get anything but 1 DSL or 1 cable company at one location.  Generally it's AT&T and Comcast, but there can be minor viariation.

In the end though, it doesn't matter.  Houston's cable / DSL infrastructure is so horrible that you could have the best shit at your house but you'd have crap 1/2 the time anyway.  I've pretty much given up.  I get the cheapest shit I can find and learn not to complain, it only brings heartache.

Interestingly, I have an HTC Incredible and it doesn't have CarrierIQ installed.  I got it from a 3rd party vendor though, and not from Verizon.  It does have a ton of other bloatware that I am just waiting to root off after my contract expires in 45 days.

edit:  for the record, carrirIQ has been found on just about every type of phone.

For some more info on CarrierIQ:  http://vulnfactory.org/blog/2011/12/05/carrieriq-the-real-story/

Please, not the music next time...

That's it?

I'm pretty sure there are some others out there that would have a much longer list.

Originally posted by Phry

I doubt it.. i am not in contact with many of the players i used to know in SWG, but what few i am in touch with, have shown little if any interest in SW;TOR, though i must admit, quite a few of them have moved on from all MMO's entirely. SW;TOR, despite its name, is not really a Starwars game, its Kotor online at best, and at worst.. well.. we'll see... 

I am going to venture to say curiosity will get the better of the SWG fanatics that I know.  I'm not saying they will stay in SWTOR beyond the free 30 days, but I'm guessing they will come at some time.  Kinda like the EQ crowd went over and hung out in WoW for a bit, some stayed and some left...  

You are correct though, I'm not seeing much interest among pre-CU SWG players in SWTOR at the moment.  

I will say that among the "old-school" pre-CU players I know (me included), we have little hope for a genuine game like pre-CU to ever reappear in a form that isn't just an emulator including all the lame bugs and rediculousness that resulted in SOE feeling they needed CURB.

Originally posted by gaugemew

The features in this game are hardly "old timey"

This isn't a knock on the game, just stating a fact, such as the sky is blue.

The sky isn't blue.  

I completely lack any confidence in SOE.  I loved Planetside, with a passion... The concept was utterly perfect, sadly it was badly implemented at the time.  With that said, IF, big IF, SOE can look at some of the lessons from original PS, DAOC, and some of the FPS genre greats, they could really make a great, great game.

Sadly, I expect SOE to blow it...

Nice vid. 

I hate to say it, but this age-old argument is crap.  We've been seeing it since the 1st generation.  If the game isn't great in the first levels, then it's just not great.  And that's the problem with themepark levelling systems.  At least in the more sandbox-like games like EVE, pre-CU SWG, SoR, etc, you can say "it gets better once move out of the newb area," or "it's more fun once you learn more skills."  But in a themepark, it's pretty much set in stone:  what you see at the beginning is about the best the developers have upon release.  Seriously, developers know they have to get players beyond that initial learning curve if they want them to advance to endgame.  In a themepark that means their best content is on the front end.  That all changes when the game matures, but at release it's all there in the early levels.

So I call BS on the:  "The game gets better at 10+"

For the record, that doesn't mean a game is bad... it just means it's not great.  Lastly, I have to talk in general terms because I personally cannot say that SWTOR is good or bad as I have done nothing but stare at their broken launcher for half a week...

Actually, isn't the pie thing from Weebl and Bob (2002)?

And Chuck Norris jokes will live forever...

Originally posted by Grahor

 

P.S. How can someone get away with having a handle "Forum Troll"?

 The name isn't specifically against anything in the terms of use.  I'm sure he will get told to change it should he live up to his name.