The communicative pact - How SWG went to hell (and will continue to)

These two comments have the same purpose of explaining my point of view on Star Wars Galaxies and the latest changes. The first part was written after the second in order to pin down better my reasons.

The rest is in the filth.

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It's not about the bad timing of the publish, the bugs, the rollbacks. While these are the most evident manifestation of the problems (and the first focus and concern of SOE right now, I have no doubts), I cannot care less about them. They are completely irrelevant from my point of view because I'm looking at something else. I'm criticizing a part that was never put under discussion by SOE, nor it is now. And, still, it's the real, but less evident, source of all this mess.

I'm not criticizing the execution here, I'm criticizing the approach. If the approach is wrong the execution can even be perfect but the result will be awful no matter what. No matter how much time they'll dedicate to fix all the problems. Because the mistake happened on a different, previous level. What I'm pointing out isn't about those problems that SOE already acknowledged, I'm pointing out problems that they completely negate. That aren't questioned. There's a direct difference of opinions here that I'm trying to underline. I'm not jumping in the bandwagon of the players criticizing the CU. I'm on a different position, a position that is nowhere popular or widely shared. A position that didn't change in the last year and largely anticipated the problems of the game because, no matter of the dedication and restless work of the dev team, the direction was wrong.

The origin of all the rants I wrote and I write now is still the same. It's the same crusade I carried on against Raph, against the independence of the "formal systems" from their context. This last CU isn't probably credited to Raph, but it carries over and exaggerates his original mistake: the negation of the existence of the cultural patterns existing before you start to shape a "symbolic shared system" (like the Star Wars universe) into a specific form (like a game, in this case). The problem of the "Star Wars proper feeling" doesn't depend on whether something was in the movies or not. It's not a limit of references but a limit of patterns and expectations. If Lucas plans a new episode and throws in stormtroopers healing each other and casting fireballs I'm going "WTF?!" even if that's actually "official". There are cultural, implicit rules everywhere, they exist even if they aren't manifest. These still represent patterns that must be respected because they are the true nature of the myth. They are its essence. Everyone knows if something fits or not depending on the coherence (self-consistence) with its own symbolic level.

There's a technical term that, for sure, I didn't invent: "the communicative pact". It describes exactly these same points:

Through their cinematographic possibilities, the audiovisual language they use, both fiction films as well as documentaries can create different kinds of reality effects (realism, authenticity, actuality, believe). Since we are talking about an ââ?¬Ë?effectââ?¬â?¢, we are stepping away from the structural analysis and bring the relation between the film and the spectator into play. This relationship is a complex one. [...]

Before reality comes into play, wether we watch a fiction film or a Documentary, there has to be a specific pact between the film and the spectator. This is a communicative pact, in which first the contact between the film and the spectator has to be established before there can be further developments. Then the spectator can start his ââ?¬Ë?inferential walksââ?¬â?¢: he compares that what is (re-)presented by the film with his own experience and knowledge of the world, or of a possible world. These walks lead the spectator to expectations of possible developments in the story (fictional or factual); he draws conclusions and has new expectations when the story comes with new elements.

The same "communicative pact" that was screwed up multiple times. Not because the game betrayed its promises (but that's what happened with the CU), but because the game HAD TO respect (there's NO choice) a pact that already existed between the players and the Star Wars universe. A preexistent pact that was never acknowledged and considered.

"Irrelevant" details, like the example on Grimwell's thread about the rancor summoned in a 5'x5' trunnel, *destroy* those very basic rules that noone cared to recognize and consider important. While they matter ZERO on the formal system, they are EVERYTHING in the relationship of communication between the players, the game and the "symbolc shared system". Something that Raph always ignored because the totality of the experience was attributed solely to the formal system. Nothing else.

The truth is not only that this communicative pact exists and cannot be negated, not only it is fundamental for the experience, but the formal systems themselves produce their own communicative pacts. Because they are more than just formal systems. The CU replaced one formal system with another and not only broke further the original communicative pact between the players and "Star Wars" (that was already violated), but it also broke the one that slowly formed up between the old formal system and the players.

This is why the communication process between the players, the game and SOE isn't working nor it's going to work in the near future.

In my defense I repeat the same point:
"You can tell all you want that my idea are crap but you CANNOT tell me that I just criticize for the sake of it without having my own point of view."

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Noel:
The best posts are the ones about 'hating the CU' and how they're 'going to WoW'. Since the two combat systems are actually frighteningly similar, that is.

Excuse me, but this makes sense.

If the CU consists in bringing to the Star Wars universe levels and magical spell effects I can understand if the players prefer to leave this wrecked game to join another where at least those systems fit with the ultimate goal.

We discussed and wrote down opinions and fancy plans for months, during the past year. Agreeing and sharing a few points of view and disagreeing on others. One of the basic principle was that whatever was going to happen it should have respected the original goal and soul of the game and maintain the multi-layer approach (completely detached levels of simulation aside the combat) that is unique to this game. This CU not only doesn't improves anything, but ruins directly all the value that was in the original plan (same for the changes to the GCW).

My basic point, when I explained it at that time, was that the development should have gone at the basis of the game. A *radical* approach to redefine some core parts of the game in order to make them work correctly. Now, that approach was aimed to respect and improve over the strengths of the game. It was radical but only to "run home". To go back at the original principle. The actual CU, instead, is a mess that finished to DISCARD those very basic principles. It's WAY more radical and fanciful than what we discussed here for months.

It's definitely NOT a problem of bugs or balance. It's a problem of the approach. They can work and tweak what they did for the next ten years, refine it to a perfect state but it will still be an inappropriate approach that won't bring anything good to the game. It will just keep ruining the original ideas, fucking even more the only few glimpses of interest that the game was able to provide.

They aren't advancing those ideas. They are NEGATING them. They are negating the work and the approach of the game to turn it into another pointless clone. Even more messed because originally planned to achieve completely different results.

Adding levels and sparkling effects is a desperate effort of the devs to bring back the game to a level that they can relate with. Because the truth is that the game is HEADLESS. It has no aim. Noone knows how it is supposed to work or what it tried to accomplish. So they are REMAKING it. It's a remake done with old assets to deliver something completely different. It's not the players that have to relearn the game. It's the DEVELOPERS who weren't able to figure out how it worked and now decide to simply ditch and redo it in a way that they can understand.

The CU failed on the very basic principle: remain faithful and improve the original approach.

Maybe someone remembers when Darniaq was presenting something like an hybrid between SWG and Planetside. That was too daring? NO. *This* CU is WAY more daring than that idea. Adding levels and magical spell effects is WAY more daring than those ideas we planned.

Now it's NOT important if the new combat mini-game is fun or balanced on its own. What matters is that it isn't appropriate. It's a completely wrong approach. Peoples aren't upset because of the bugs, they are upset because the devs introduced a system that was supposed to remain ALIEN to this particular world. As a VULCAN should remain alien to a fantasy setting.

The limit to the numbers of players in the party is another new layer of artificiality that isn't again appropriate for THIS game and the original approach that was set. The players aren't hating this because it's hard to relearn. They hate this because it's a DITCH of the original concept.

That original concept that made them choose for THIS game instead of another. If now the designers are completely clueless about the heading of the game and if they are backtracking on basically every front to remove every unique point that the game had, well, I'm not surprised if the players move from SWG to WoW.

It's not a different ruleset for the same game, it's a complete shift of purposes. It's EVIDENT how the game switched its "authorship". Like if instead of Lucas we had John Woo working on a SW episode (which may be a good idea, actually).

Now it's fun to see how we ditched our own ideas because they were too daring. My suggestion was to go at the root, refactor the control themselves, how you move the character, introducing the "arcs of fire", introducing the interaction with the environment, like a form of aiming, taking cover behind rocks, technics of barrage fire, different use of squads, borrowing elements from popular FPS (like the medic role) and so on.

The idea is: think to have a blaster in your hands, what are you going to do?

Of course: you are going to check the level of the creature, pay attention to sparkiling icons above its head and press odd combinations of keys to produce fancyful combo effects and cast magical spells.

Thanks, but no thanks.