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GameSpy Grudge

Episode I (of III)
The give and take of any online world.
By Allen "Delsyn" Rausch with assistance by Dave "Fargo" Kosak | March 12, 2004

This is a story about Jedi.

Not from a galaxy far, far away, of course. We're talking about the digital Jedi within LucasArts and Sony Online Entertainment's Star Wars Galaxies, a group of players who more than any other embody both the promise and frustrations of a massively multiplayer online game (MMOG).

Development of any MMOG is a careful balancing act, like spinning a thousand plates on poles at once and not letting any of them fall. In a single-player title, game developers can tailor the game experience to one player. Not so online, where everybody is a paid subscriber and one player's fun can't take priority over another. In Grand Theft Auto players can steal cars; in an online game, players couldn't steal cars without the owners getting upset and canceling their subscriptions. It's (literally) a whole different world. Making an MMOG is tough.

Regarded as one of the most ambitious MMOGs ever launched and greeted with hype spawned from decades of movies, no other game has had a more difficult road than Galaxies. On top of a combat system that included player-vs.-player, the game featured more than 30 professions, 10 full planets to fill with content, an in-game civil war, buildable structures, and an economy completely run by the players. And beyond trying to manage and balance all of that, the game's creators announced that months after release, certain players would be able to earn Jedi powers. These rare individuals would be the kind of über-characters depicted in the movies, with immense power -- yet somehow they'd fit right into the game without destroying the fun for everyone else. Or themselves. A tall order.

At stake isn't just a handful of gamers, though: MMOGs mean money -- big money if you happen to hit it just right. Based on NPD figures as of February 2004, Galaxies has sold more than 300,000 boxed copies at retail for a total initial revenue of over $18 million dollars. That's not bad for a PC title. The most conservative estimates of Galaxies' stable player base estimates approximately 100,000 active players, each paying $14.95 a month over and above the initial cost of the software.

(Editor's Note: Subsequent to the publication of this article, GameSpy recieved the following official statement from John Smedley, President of Sony Online Entertainment:

"Star Wars Galaxies has much more than double the number of subscribers quoted on GameSpy. For the record, the title is doing very, very well and is the second largest MMO in the North American market.")

That sounds like a lot of money -- and it is. But it has to be balanced against the millions of dollars spent on development, publishing, and marketing as well as the ongoing costs of maintaining the game: server costs, bandwidth, the salaries of the customer service professionals, and most importantly, a "live content" team that's bigger than the development crew of most single-player games. Obviously, a well-run and popular MMOG can bring in a lot of money for a publisher. The risk, however, is just as great as the reward: it doesn't take too many subscriber defections to push the product toward insolvency. Any smart company realizes that every new subscriber is gold and every subscriber lost brings the title that much closer to going into the red.

The long and storied history of the Galaxies Jedi epitomizes the struggle of any massively multiplayer game to make a lasting connection with a fickle audience. It's a story of warring game philosophies, conflicting player and designer expectations, and a vocal (okay, a very vocal) player base.

But unlike single-player games, online games are continually evolving. The story is still being written. This is a tale about the give and take of a game that can give and take more than any other: an ongoing drama in a galaxy far, far away, and a look ahead to what's going to happen next.

But first, some background.

Next: Massively Multiplayer Philosophy »
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