Never played a MMORPG?

[Trooper21]

I am a big Star Wars fan but have never played games like Everquest or any MMORPG's for that matter. SWG looks like it will be fun to just explore, get a profession, choose between the Rebels or Empire, and be part of a huge community in the great Star Wars Universe. Is there anything I should be prepared for if I get this game that I may find surprising or dislike?

[Jared Sinn]

The only suggestion I have for you is to learn as much as possible about both the game, and the language used within the game (ie, the abbreviations, items and place references, etc) before it ever hits the shelves. It's been my experience that MMORPGs tend to have a longer learning curve than thier single player cousins, simply beacuse there's so much more going on. The more you know about the game prior to relaese, the easier it's going to be to play right out of the box.

 

Also, a note on language- if youve never played a MMORPG, you may not be used to the way people communicate within the game. It's very similar to chat room communication, and if you've never tried that, it might be a good idea to pop into a chatroom or two and spend a while learning a bit.

 

(try the chat on the main SWG site)

 

https://login.station.sony.com/login/swg/swg_loginForm.jsp?returnURL=http://starwarsgalaxies.station.sony.com/chat.jsp

 

Hope that helps

 

JS

[Trooper21]

Do you have to role-play your species exactly or can you just be yourself in the game?

[Zendjir]

I never played a MMORPG either. Can someone mention some Do's and Dont's in a MMORPG. I don't wanna make stupid mistakes early on, because I'm a n00b.

 

And Trooper21, I think it's all up to you how you play your character; just don't offend anyone.

[Aeonan_Ren]

It all depends on how you want to play your character and if you like role playing. I'll tell you that about 90 % of the people in these games do not speak "in-character." They normally speak (type) as themselves. However, those few you do encounter who are role-players are normally avid and will NOT break character at all. Sometimes if a person wants to break character the will type OOC (which means Out Of Character) before the sentince they write.

 

If you really enjoy Role-playing I would suggest finding a Role-playing guild (PA in SWG) and join them. Many PA's will have degrees of how much they role-play so you should check them out before joining. The PA I belong for example is a role-playing PA but we don't require members to speak "in-character." What we do require however is that your character act like that character is supposed to act. Being a Rebel guild we would not want anyone hunting Rebel faction creatures or characters and we would not do anything that would be intreperated as "Evil."

 

Hope that helps and I agree that you should check out on how people in MMORPGs talk in chat, that way you won't sound like a noob.

[Jared Sinn]

I expect that role-play will be an option on most servers, and may even have a special chat-channel established on certain servers such as Starsider. I enjoy role-playing, but in an MMORPG, especially one youre just learning, you really must step out of character every now and then to ask technical questions, etc, or when you just can't role-play anymore that day (lol, it will happen).

 

As far as DO's and DONT's, I already talked a bit about what you should do to prepare. I'll list a few of my personal peeve's although I'm sure that others will add some valuable tips as well:

 

DONT:

 

Ask for money or items. Ever. No one likes a pan-handler in the real world, and it's especially true in MMORPG's. It's ok, if you know someone well, of course, to ask for help here and there- thats what friends are for. But don't expect a good reaction if you ask a complete stranger for free credits or items.

 

Use CAPS for more than a word or two in a sentence, and only then if you really want to emphasize a single word or phrase. No one likes to see DOES ANYONE HAVE SOME GOLD I COULD HAVE? It annoy's me just thinking about it.

 

Pester anyone for help. It's ok to ask questions about the game, about quests/jobs, etc, and very often, games will have special channels in which you can ask as many questions as you need to. There's no shame in being a newby, just make sure that the question you need answered are not questions that you could easily find the answer to on a SWG website.

 

Talk more than you really need to in a chat channel. I'm a little unclear on what type of chat-channel system SWG will have, but regardless, don't monoploize a channel by talking just to hear yourself talk (er, type..ehe).

 

DO

 

Be nice. It's one thing to role-play an evil character, but keep it to role-play and don't think you can just go around acting like an arse and get away with it. People will avoid you, guilds will hunt you, and you may even get removed from the game if you're not careful. The bottom line is, dont be a "Griefer." Self-explanatory.

 

Talk to people! The most exciting part of a MMORPG is meeting different and interesting people from all over the world. Playing with real people and not a computer AI adds a dimension to RPG's that you wont believe.

 

Help others when asked nicely. Now, this may sound contrary to Dont's #3, but, not everyone knows as much as you do now about MMORPG etiquette! Helping someone new to the game may be a great way to meet a new online friend, and you can pass on the Do's and Dont's you've learned here

 

Above all, have fun and remember, its Only a game. MMORPGs can be completely immersive, so don't get too detached from the real world (except on the weekend, then it's ok )

 

JS