Appolgies aren't always enough

[Helious]

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh

sorry let me explain as best i can

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

Yesterday, Warcry's Daba Massy published an unterview with SOE's CEO John 'we all have you' Smedly in which he utters the immortal words :-

"With the NGE, I'm sorry about the mistake we made," he told us. "We screwed up and didn't listen to the fans when we should have, and it's not a mistake we're going to make again."

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

Gee thanks mate too bloody little too bloody late!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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

The NGE completely altered Star Wars Galaxies, a game that had launched in cooperation with LucasArts over two years before. Classes disappeared and the game fundamentally changed in almost every way. It came as no surprise to observers that this change was massively unpopular among the playerbase.

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

Thanks for the appology mate, you can count on my two subscriptions come back ... I THINK NOT! Sometimes an apology just isn't enough, i had two subs, had invested alot of time into the game and was loving it like we were married and then NGE, hardly a word about it from the devs, little if any testing and turned the game from heaven to hell .... but what am i thinking most of you know how i feel ..... just imagine the CEO of Hz's previous owners apologising? Would you forgive and forget? Lynching anyone?

[Nayuaka]

Er....what esle do you expect him to do?

I think the apology was great. It shows that they know they screwed up and that they don't want to do it again. What part about ADMITTING they were WRONG is not good enough for you?

Edit: Oh and if EI came back and apologized I would take it as a huge step in the maturation of that company. Mind it would need to be a real apology not just something slapped on the boards to appease and not mean anything, then I would accept it. I still wouldn't trust them as far as I could throw them but I wouldn't be saying that's not enough either.

[Helious]

Er....what esle do you expect him to do?

To be fair after 3 years this came totally out of the blue and the fact he now says that they didn't consult with the fans when at the time he very pubically and quite frequently said that NGE is what the players were demanding does go a tiny way towards healing the hurt that me and 100's of thousands of former players still feel

I think the apology was great.

Empty words 3 years too late, yeah great

It shows that they know they screwed up and that they don't want to do it again.

Well fine words from him indeed. But then they knew very very quickly they had screwed up when the population took a very steep downward turn (in fact the actual losses may never be know because it's simply to embarrasing but even SOE admit numbers still havn't risen above pre-NGE levels) in the weeks after NGE.
Won't they do it again? Well the very same man who states he is now listening to his games fans also in the same article ruled out any chance of a pre-NGE server even though it is the one thing that the fans 'that he now lkistens to' have been begging for consistently and very very loudly for the last 3 years.

What part about ADMITTING they were WRONG is not good enough for you?

The great thing about hindsight is that it allows you to be very clear about your perspective of events. It's not good enough because it dosn't achieve anything, frankly he dosn't even lose anything by doing making the apology. AN apology of no consequence and of no risk is no apology worth accepting.

[Fratricide]

NGE... is that when they totally screwed stuff up and removed all the block skills and made it so everyone and their sister could be a Jedi? Cuz.. that whole thing was totally Jacked...

[Helious]

NGE... is that when they totally screwed stuff up and removed all the block skills and made it so everyone and their sister could be a Jedi? Cuz.. that whole thing was totally Jacked...

Yes previously you had to max lvl a charcter first, then your new character had to do quest after quest to become an apprentice jedi ... after NGE to become a jedi one needed a spare pair of pyjama's and a glow stick ......

but yes NGE did way more than just that, it litterally turn the mmo inside out.

Very little stayed the same... the joke was the only reason the history stayed the same was because lucasarts was involved otherwise ....

[Fratricide]

Yea... I played SWG for like 6-7 months with 2 subs before that happened... after that change... I terminated my 6 month subs with them and haven't really looked back.. It was an interesting game to play before that happened... after... it was just a joke...

Well... that "upgrade" and the one with all the bionics... that one was kinda wacky too... there was Lore behind it.. but still.. if I Needed to be fully bionic like Vader.. I suppose there is that precedent.. but to willfully mangle yourself to add bionics to your person is a whole other story.

[Ophelea]

To be fair after 3 years this came totally out of the blue and the fact he now says that they didn't consult with the fans when at the time he very pubically and quite frequently said that NGE is what the players were demanding does go a tiny way towards healing the hurt that me and 100's of thousands of former players still feel

It was far from out of the blue:

*June 17, 2007 - Raph Koster (designer on SWG) who is sick of hearing about it and mentions that Smedley has apologized repeatedly Raph's site
*June 1, 2007 - SWG Vault Reconciliation Mentions a recent interview but doesn't cite it
*June 15, 2007 - 1Up talking about the apologies 1up
*Blog Comments from people who well, know... Broken Toys

I guess what I'm trying to say is not that you shouldn't feel angry, you should feel the way you feel.

But this horse is so old and dead and beaten...

You've moved on. Be happy where you are. There are a lot of people playing SWG now (A LOT). Let them be happy where they are?

[Helious]

But this horse is so old and dead and beaten...

Yes but i'm english, we do bitterness and aggression so very very well, it's not like my new world relatives who have mutated and gained the ability live and let live. Heck look at Victorian Britain we conquered 1/3 of the globe and what spurred us onto this feat? The two main driving forces for that rapid and vicious expansion was a) nagging wives b) persistant rain. The often quoted 'looking for something different eat' wasn't actually a reason, it was just a happy by-product of imperialism.

[Sigi]

Yes but i'm english, we do bitterness and aggression so very very well, it's not like my new world relatives who have mutated and gained the ability live and let live. Heck look at Victorian Britain we conquered 1/3 of the globe and what spurred us onto this feat? The two main driving forces for that rapid and vicious expansion was a) nagging wives b) persistant rain. The often quoted 'looking for something different eat' wasn't actually a reason, it was just a happy by-product of imperialism.

with live and let it be, nothing will ever change and nobody will learn.

For what it is worth, I think it is a lovely rant.

[Cobal]

Quite sure I saw him apologizing somewhere around april/may.

Note he started apologizing around the time SOE's plans for re-launching vanguard (wich include some changes to the game) were made known to the vanguard community.
My bet is that he is "silently" trying to make vanguard players belief he won't go NGE all over vanguard.

[Ophelea]

Yes but i'm english, we do bitterness and aggression so very very well, it's not like my new world relatives who have mutated and gained the ability live and let live. Heck look at Victorian Britain we conquered 1/3 of the globe and what spurred us onto this feat? The two main driving forces for that rapid and vicious expansion was a) nagging wives b) persistant rain. The often quoted 'looking for something different eat' wasn't actually a reason, it was just a happy by-product of imperialism.

Having recently spent time in the UK and in the company of a particularly cynical and pessimistic Brit, I understand this completely.

[LaughingOtter]

Having recently spent time in the UK and in the company of a particularly cynical and pessimistic Brit, I understand this completely.

He's not that bad after a few minutes exposure to a warm and cuddlesome puppy...

[Helious]

He's not that bad after a few minutes exposure to a warm and cuddlesome puppy...

PUPPIES!!!!!!!

awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!!!

you and you floppy eared tomfoolery!

[Starmind]

Bah, who cares if they apologize or not?

In my opinion, the whole idea of creating a Star Wars Game MMORPG was kinda nuts in the first place. I mean, why limit your whole game concept to something predesigned and "Mandate Controlled" like anything George Lucas puts out?

Create your own Sci-Tech world, follow similar guidelines.

1. No mega-royalties owed Lucas
2. No limited storyline (have you actually read any of the Star Wars books? Everyone's going to lose to the Ujongvong {don't know how you spell it} anyway!)
3. When you change things, no one can complain "It's not StarWars-Like!"

-1. No big name recognition
-2. No... hrm, not really any other negatives come to mind.

Besides, for every one that leaves SOE, that's one more possible HZ invite

[Menkure]

What would have made this apology have some merit to me was if they rolled back the servers and took the NGE patch off when all the sbeit hit the fan.

Instead, they went on for months saying that it was the greatest thing.. and that it was what everyone wanted.....

People left in droves.. and they still held on defiantly, claiming that it was truly for the betterment of the game and the community.

I'm all glad for the apology, but it was long overdue. As the old saying goes, "too little too late".

What would actually make it really worth something now, is for Smedley to promise never to pull another NGE on anything, and keep that promise!

If you want people to trust you again, you have to do something to earn that trust back. Actions speak louder than words, and while the apology is nice and all, they are in the end just words.

Just my 2c

-Menkure

[Cobal]

Your smilies overflow with cute mister cat.

[Pharcellus]

For a lot of old HZ players, they are still waiting for the apology for the original mess.

Of course, it won't be enough by itself, but it's kinda like a lock on a door; no amount of effort to open it is gonna work until someone inserts the key and turns it first.

Of course, it is also kinda meaningless to apologize for a mess when it is still in progress, but I suppose it couldn't hurt to try.....