My wife played this game and as soon as they changed the cu, her entire guild quit the game. She quit a month later. I've never seen a company destroy a game quicker than SOE

I have one weird and specific memory of the first day I played this as a child: I make a Zabrak woman, walk out to the surface of Tatooine, run into another lowbie who offers help, and then he types something like, "It's really rare to see a girl online. You're so cool!" And I say, "I'm not a girl, I just made one because I thought it'd be cool." Bro then unparties and runs off saying, "Don't ever speak to me again." Surreal.

Imagine a modern game with modern graphics, physics and design with the level of depth of SWG

"And smuggled on the side"

Never played the game, was too busy smuggling on the side...

There's a permanent hole in my heart where this game used to be. There will just never be anything like it again. The OG skill tree system, Teras Kasi, the next level macro system, the group mission grinds. Rest in peace you beautiful bastard. You will be missed forever.

In short: marketing teams know nothing about game design and tend to ruin whatever they touch out of greed and fear for their (worthless) reputation.

Smuggling on the side was the sneak archer of Galaxies

SWG pre-everything was such an amazing experience. I still remember taking a shuttle to a strange planet, running aimlessly in one direction and constructing my first house. I built and sold rifles, the profit from passersby was enough to keep my simple way of life.

I used to love playing my Doctor (Imperial of course) and refusing to treat Rebel scum. I had so much fun just sitting in the med facility, chatting with other doctors, and various patients as they came in. It was like the worlds greatest Star Wars chat room, with a game attached to it. I miss it a lot.

So you're telling me I could be a Sith Lord Wookie, who is also a nerf herder?

I grinded my Jedi for almost a year. Jelothian. Then after all my hard work, they said EVERYONE could be one from day 1. At least they gave me an Elder Jedi robe for all my troubles lol. I think it gave me 10% more damage than your base Jedi. Well worth all that grinding lmao. Greatest MMO ever, killed in one day.

i have told my wife many a time, if they had gone with the original idea of the jedi notoriety and kept the unlocking of jedi a secret... and didnt sell out to the WoW craze, i would still be playing SWG to this day. It was THAT good. Like you said, the community and the social system made this game more than just a game. You could literally just login and hang out with your friends if that all you wanted to do.

I have this one, specific memory of my entertainer. I was...um...entertaining, I guess, in the cantina on tattotine, and this dude of the opposite faction walks in...so we were talking to him and such, not attacking. I forgot what exactly, but he says something to piss us off, so we're like "ok, gtfo before we kill you." He is all like "LOL yea, ok, this entire cantina couldn't kill me if they tried." So we're like "OK GET HIM!" He then proceeds to pull out a lightsaber. We all had never seen a Jedi before so we are all like "uh...holy shit...uh...GET HIM!" Then he proceeds to kick the entire cantina's ass...lol

The sense of wonder in this game was amazing. I set out to be a star pilot and spent a long time levelling up my fighter craft. Then I decided I wanted to build my own buildings and contribute to player made cities so I set out to be an architect.

omg was waiting for the ....who smuggled on the side.

"Time to make the game like WoW"

me, my bf and his cousin were sat around talking about star war last night, and the cousin got around to talking about this game. Sounded amazing, how Dynamic and real the world felt. and then he told us about how one were to become a jedi. how it took a year or so of grinding to even be given the chance to start the training. Hearing about this monster of a grind had me curious. The cousin said nobody really knew how to unlock it for sure, it sounded like one of those schoolyard mysteries you'd hear about rare pokemon as a kid. that mystery got me really curious so i had to come look it up and know more. you just wouldn't get something like that these days. As a wow player, I've been conditioned to expect rewards often, and it's a real problem. its nice to know games were like this once. anyway, the Cousin said he had been grinding this thing for a year, or was a couple weeks from getting jedi or something when they announced the change to the jedi system. he quit right there on the spot. it's a tragedy, it truly is.

"It's November 2003 and the first Jedi has finally been achieved. Everyone flips their shit and starts asking her questions"

"From my point of view, the marketing department is evil."