Star Wars Galaxies: Reflections on a Flawed Game

Star Wars: The Old Republic might be all the rage right now, but before it reared its head, Sony Online Entertainment had the most successful Star Wars-based MMO in the world. And while Galaxies might be gone, there’s still a lot to be learned from its successes and failures, as demonstrated by this reflective piece on Industry Gamers that features commentary from SOE president John Smedley:

(If we had to do it all over again, we would have waited another year before launching SWG to make sure the ground and space games launched together,) Smedley lamented to IndustryGamers.

After a few delays, the game finally did come out in 2003. However, despite releasing right in the middle of the Star Wars movie prequel trilogy, the games were instead set between Star Wars: A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back. There is nothing inherently wrong with that timeline (in fact, I prefer that setting over all others in the Star Wars universe). However, the game missed a chance to draw off the momentum of the movies that were current then by directly basing the game on the timeline and events of those films. I say directly, because two expansions released that were related to Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, giving certain elements an odd retconned feel.

Despite that strategic oddity, the game that people got was something a bit different than any MMO out there on the market. Players could choose any of six different professions and switch between them at will combat was about managing three different bars (Health, Action, and Mind). There was a bizarre branching path of experience you could acquire for a wide variety of sub-specializations (experience points for playing music couldn’t be used to become a better dancer). On top of that, there were 24 advanced professions that players could progress in if they met the prerequisites. Then there was the fact that there were numerous player created cities and no invisible walls on the rather spacious worlds that had been created while some balked at the lack of direct goals, the void was filled with thousands of eager players who wanted a Star Wars open world experience to play around in.

(I think the thing we did best in Star Wars Galaxies was create an amazing sandbox experience, the likes of which have never been seen before in MMO gaming,) reflected Smedley.