SWG Needs Game Masters...Bad

[PhantomXSquared]

For those of you unfamiliar with the incredible use of Game Masters, here is what they are and what they do.

 

Game Masters were made popular back in the first 3 years of Ultima Online before Lord British died(maker of Ultima) and Origin basically went poop. Game Masters were put onto each server and were able to manipulate the game itself at any time for any reason. They are the ones that would make the Town Crier yell out, "Hear Ye Hear Ye! Trolls have massed outside of Trinsic and are preparing for an attack on the city! Warriors, gather your swords, prepare your attack and defend our precious Trinsic!". Then when you headed to Trinsic you would be met by a virtual flood of Troll spawns that came out of nowhere. This was a very well done system that allowed for spontaneous events to be created for everyone to fight in if they chose to.

 

The reason I think Star Wars Galaxies needs Game Masters already is because I see a serious lack of deep content. I find it sad that I have yet to encounter one single Imperial base with any sort of Stormtrooper patrols or AT-ST walker support. And this is a week into release! I also find it sad that I am almost Pistol Specialist with Expert Ranged Support and Expert Rifles and I still can get a Gnort Lair mission that pays me 1700 credits! I mean come on, they should atleast have a mission system that delivers missions depending on the skills of the player activating the terminal. It is cool that I can make 15,000 credits within an hour off of Gnort lairs, but it is also incredibly exploitable. Some people already have over 100,000 credits doing incredibly easy missions for them that pay higher prices then anything else does in the game.

 

Game Masters in SWG would be the perfect union, and here is some of the things they could do.

 

1.) Spawn anything they want. From Rancors on Tatooine(they could say it escaped from Jabbas Palace or something, or one was tamed and brought to Tatooine and then set loose by a sinister man named Blah Blah.

 

2.) Get the Galactic Civil War going. They could watch the battles happening between Bestine and Anchorhead on Tatooine and then decide that heck, so many people are fighting we might as well join in on the fun. So they spawn a massive battlefield right there and allow the players already fighting to build Turrets, minefields, and set up positions all around the land between the cities. The victor gets the plant a flag outside the losers city.

 

3.) Create spontaneous events that are public, and private. Say for example you are walking around Bestine when all of a sudden an NPC runs in from outside the town yelling, "Rebels have captured an Imperial base 1500m to the south and are preparing an attack on the town! Prepare for an attack!

 

Things like this would be incredibly easy for the Game Masters, and the CSR's I have spoken to late at night say the developers DO have the tools to create such people inside the game, but they just haven't done it yet. The systems the developers use allow them to change and manipulate virtually anything, including spawn, AI, NPC's, cities, etc.

[Zenmetsu]

That would kick ass. THink aobut everyone doing their own buisness in a Naboo town and a mass attack of gungans attack the city, everyone would be running around preparing for abttle. Mass disaster and it would jsut make the game more exciting.

[Exar_reborn]

I very much agree that sounds absolutely awsome!!! There is only one prob. Graphics, To have someones screen change that drastically such as a battlefield or a massive army would fry a card in 5 min. If they could get it to a smaller size it would be good. But I wouldn't expect anything like this for a LONG TIME!!! But if they finally do. That would be just............. (loss of words)

[Urge]

Originally posted by Zenmetsu

That would kick ass. THink aobut everyone doing their own buisness in a Naboo town and a mass attack of gungans attack the city, everyone would be running around preparing for abttle. Mass disaster and it would jsut make the game more exciting.

 

Everybody including artisans/entertainers/medics/etc who have no interest or skills in battle so they die, clone, die, clone, die, clone, etc. Sounds fun.

[Zenmetsu]

ya but it would still be cool, they could ahve a rush of need men who want women dancers>

[Rust Malice]

One of the main problems with Everquest was that everything was stale and there was very little GM interaction. I really hope this one will be different. I can't imagine it being too difficult. I know there must be thousands of people on each server who would volunteer to run a monster or aide in setting up a special event. I would love to see an AT AT attack or such on a rebel base. Or how about a special appearance by Boba Fett or Darth Vader....I know stuff like this can't happen all the time, but it should happen frequently. This is Star Wars and even at Mos Eisley, I imagine that weird things happen all the time. The best way for the developers to make this better than any other online game is to keep on top of the GM events. Everyone complains that EQ has so few GM events, there are servers there that haven't seen one in months....and it makes the game suck. I can't even play EQ anymore, it gets boring when everything is so predetermined. Monsters act a certain way. they spawn at a certain area. We all know how to kill them. There is no room for random elements or a thinking creature. With GM involvement, it makes the game exciting and challenging. I really hope Star Wars Galaxies has lots of GM involvement. With a few dozen new Online games coming out this year and next, they better stay on top of this to keep the game great.

[Jatari Bazrak]

yeah very good Rust Malic, I think there allready is that stuff. Animals act differently every time I see them and I haven't seen much PvP but it's out there at the battlegrounds where they have rebel bases and at-at's and all the imperials and rebels duking it out.

[Exar_reborn]

I hope a dev sees this post or someone tells them b/c it is a great idea to get some battles rolling.

[Attuned]

They supposedly already have a group of 'GM's' for the game. These guys will be running special events from time to time (the beta Jedi's has been the only example of this I know of). Right now, many of the resources are being diverted to bug squashing. After the game is a little more stable, I think we'll see more interaction from SOE employees. I forget the name the team has, but the Devs did mention them on the Developer boards before the game came out.

[deggesim]

Originally posted by Attuned

They supposedly already have a group of 'GM's' for the game. These guys will be running special events from time to time (the beta Jedi's has been the only example of this I know of). Right now, many of the resources are being diverted to bug squashing. After the game is a little more stable, I think we'll see more interaction from SOE employees. I forget the name the team has, but the Devs did mention them on the Developer boards before the game came out.

 

I think you hit the target

I think that the game will offer its best from september

[Luey Fubar]

Yes GM's keep morale in MMOG's high. I'm shocked that SWG hasn't got any, I hope they sort this out before the Euro release.

 

For those who think a GM's job is mereley to bann people and look for bugs. You are very wrong indeed.

 

In Legend of Mir the GM's had a monthly event where the town's battle arena got attacked by high-level monsters. I know personally that this brought many people back into the game, a few of them were my friends.

 

Also in Asheron's Call 2; back when I played, the GM's worked for the faction with the least ammount of recruits. This made the game more balanced.

 

GM's can also ruin a game too, if they're not fully capable of their job. Hopeless of Legend of Mir, as enthusiastic as he was, created a monster that spawned frequently and dropped a rare item. A war god oil. Prices of this item plumeted due to the massive stock everyone had. I personally was selling 10 per week. ^_^

 

Anyway, that little mishapp brought the ingame economy down a notch, it's been fixed now. Which is good.

[Darknightmare]

Only one big problem with this. They want this game to be under our control. They want us to find things to do. The monthly story might have digiteers who take up the roles of different characters and get people involved in stuff. But if you guys want ingame events wait a while or make your own It an't that hard to get a big party or a group hunt started. Just tell people about it ingame and on the fourms. You guys have to make the game evolve, the devs just help you:D

[Rust Malice]

I agree the game is best when its player controlled, but the following can only be added with developers/programmers/gamemasters help:

 

Stormtroopers

AT-AT Walkers

Scout Walkers

Troop Transports

Appearances by NPCs like Darth Vader, Luke, Leia, Han, Chewie, Boba Fett

 

 

and so on....

[Just Darth]

I agree that gamemasters would be a great idea. SOE wouldn't even have to pay people to be gamemasters, people would pay SOE for the opputunity. The only problem I see is with people abusing their power.

 

As for entertainers/medics/artisans, if a city were being attacked the gamemasters could establish safe zones, like the hospital and cantina. That way pc's could battle the mob's and step into the hospital for healing and people who didn't want to participate could step into the cantina.

 

Is there any way we could petition SOE devs about this?

[RobMacAF]

I just came from Shadowbane before playing SWG. Shadowbane was great because if you and/or your guild would actually roleplay then the GM's would get your guild involved in the actual plot. My guild was confronted by a huge beast (which was one of the main demons of shadowbane, Morlock) and we were told to join him or be crushed under his might. Us being the weeklings we were and not wanting to die and get our city destroyed we joined him on the epic battle of destroying those that said no to him. We also were tasked to get him a special item that he needed to destroy all the good guys.

 

Something like this happened on another server too and the city said they would join him. What he didn't know is that them and 5 other cities only joined to get close to him and crush him. They did everything Morlock told them too but when they finally got the eye, instead of giving it to them they used it against him to send him back to his plane of existance.

 

---------------

 

Things like this made the game alot better, they got players involved, and since they only did this with roleplaying guilds and cities it helped enforce the good roleplaying enviroment. Shadowbane wasn't the best game, actually it had the crappiest graphics and game launch I have ever seen, made SWG launch look good. But it was things like this that kept me playing. I looked forward to being involved in the story and changing the history of what happened

[Lord_Vessen]

This sounds like a good idea. We should make a post on the official boards and get everyone who likes this idea to post. Apart from the odd duel in The Mos Eisley Cantina its pretty stale. I mean PC Raids are kind of fun to participate in but they should set up proper raiding parties. (Off-Subject) I have heard of a guild in Dark Ages of Camelot who spent about 10-12 hours bombarding a castle and breaking through the walls and raiding the place. They were supposedly written into the plot of the game. That would be cool if some people did a great act/deed that they would be rewarded. I mean this is the GCW. There should be all these little NPCs duking it out in the towns etc. An appearance by a GM Jedi Character would be cool also. Imagine walking about Coronet to see a Jedi fighting off bounty hunters and other fighters

[Deft Aklin]

This is a great idea, but until that time, the guild leaders should be making plot for you to get involved in.

[rinorebel_4]

hey i got an idea, how about the gm actually taking care of problems players have instead of having some dude who doesnt care post he doesnt understand your ticket. Maybe the gm could actually contact you ingame to see if he can help you /gasp

[Gershin]

These ideas are all great, and I agree, I think GM's would make this game 10x more amazing then it's already proven itself to be. However, you guys need to let the Dev's get a break. They're working non-stop to correct all bugs/defects of the game. They can't spend their time worrying about incorporating every new idea you come up with. This is the fetal stage of the game. It has plenty of time to grow....right now is the time to get all the querks out. I'd much rather have the game the way it is now, but flawless when it comes to bugs etc. Then I would a game with all kinds of neat new additions etc, but they're all bugged to high heaven. These things will come with time....just give them that time to fix what they need to fix first.

[EsahC]

I say, fix the bugs, listen to the players, add this and that, then once everything is sitting good in everyones mind. Get some game masters and start a war.