Do you actually know the Rules?

EA/BioWare has published their Rules of Conduct: — Very important and useful documents that most players skip over in their excitement to get into the game. I’ve already covered the EULA in a previous Article

Most of the rules are pretty common among MMOs, and if you are a veteran MMO player, you won’t blink twice at them. However, a few of the items are a little different than you may be used to, and are worth looking at a little closer, so that you don’t run afoul of any of the rules once Early Access (and Launch) hits and you find yourself actually playing the game.

One of these items that deserves a closer look is the Naming Policy. Now, we have known for a while that BioWare isn’t going to enforce Role-Playing Naming, even on RP Servers. To many RPers that was a disappointing decision, but those names can be subjective at times, so I can understand their stance. But, what rules ARE they going to enforce? Well, if you read the Rules of Conduct, and make your way down to Section D, you will find out. It reads as follows:

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I found this interesting tidbit in the current EULA for Star Wars: The Old Republic – (verified identical in both the one from last Beta and the one currently downloadable at www.swtor.com/download ). In this Article, I will be speculating on the meaning of a specific section of the EULA:

Section 2, Part C reads as follows:

C. Transfer.

 

You may make a one time permanent transfer of all your rights to install and use packaged Software on physical recording media to another individual or legal entity provided that: (a) you transfer or delete all copies of the Software ; and (b) you retain no copies of the Software. You may not transfer your Account and/or any associated subscriptions to a third party, and EA may require that any subsequent end user of the Software register the Software online as a condition of use, and will not be responsible should you not be able to transfer the right to access game play, receive updates, upgrades, dynamically served content, any achievements and/or items already purchased or otherwise acquired by you through micro-transactions whether or not paid for, or the right to use any online service(s) of EA. It is your responsibility to ascertain the ability of any person to whom you intend to transfer the Software to receive the Software and/or open and utilise an Account, including by consulting any applicable Terms of Service to determine the conditions that may be applicable for the use of an Account, if applicable.

Now what exactly does this mean? Let’s take it one tidbit at a time.

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Server types have been announced and explained. We have PvE, PvP, RP-PvE and RP-PvP, so all the classics we have come to expect from our MMOs are present. Still, the question remains, how will they be named? This is an important decision for the community. Not many would want to be on a server named “Snugglypuff” or “Jar-Jar,” especially among those in the PvP Community, I suspect.
In games I have played in the past, server types were given names. In LotRO, the server names correspond to locations within the books and games. EVE Online only has one server. World of Warcraft and Rift are a mixture of NPC names and locations. So, what sort of names should be used for SWTOR servers? And, should those names have different themes based on the server type?

My suggestion is to use ship types, vehicle types and locations for PvE Servers. Imagine playing on the “Kessel Run,” the “Void Star” or even the “Phantom.” How about famous character names for PvP Servers? “Revan,” “HK-47,” “Vader,” etc. And planet names for RP servers? “Alderaan,” “Belsavis,” “Dagobagh,” etc.
Any thoughts or suggestions? Is it a good idea to have a different theme for different server types? Or not? What about RP-PvP vs RP-PvE? Should they have different themes? Or should they all share a single theme?

Should Bioware even release such a list ahead of the game starting? As Stephen Reid said, “Early server list con: massive population imbalance on servers that people think don’t sound ‘cool’. That’s the biggest.” Not everyone will agree on what constitutes “Cool,” and you can’t make fifty, a hundred, or even more servers, all with “equally cool” names. Sure, you can weed out the “Jar-Jar” names… but there are only so many “Vader,” “Void Star” and “Kessel Run” names to be had.

*Daelda and Rosie contributed to this article.

You can follow Rosie on Twitter at @Dawnsrose. You can also contact her directly via email at swtor.rosie@gmail.com.

As I have shown in a previous article – Is “She” really a “She”? Female Gamers and Gender Bending in MMORPGs – 60 percent of MMO players have role-played. But, even among those who haven’t, I think most can say that they have happened upon that one gear set that really struck them as “perfect” for their character. Either it was perfectly menacing, evil, just, good, sweet, innocent or any one of a million different adjectives, but whatever it was that made it that way, it was perfect for their character.

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According to Best Buy’s Gamer Magazine, “A Flashpoint mission will be available at level 10, 16, and then every four levels up to level 48, with two Flashpoints awarded at level 50.”

Is that too many? Too few? Just right? Are they too close together? Too far apart? Remember, once players reach Level 50, they can go back to each Flashpoint and do a Level 50 version of that Flashpoint according to the most recent information from BioWare. Let us know what you think.

The PDF of the swtor Article from Best Buy’s Gamer Magazine is located here.

NOTE: I wrote this Article originally on October 20^th. The next morning, just before I was about to publish it, I saw the Article MJ published on our Site, “The Female Character, The Male Player” which – while not identical to mine, covered much of the same ground. So I decided to hold off publishing my Article, at least for a little while. Well, the topic has popped up again on the swtor Forums, and it has been a couple weeks since his Article, so here is mine. I hope you enjoy.

One topic that I have seen come up again and again on MMO Forums is the subject of females in MMOs and “gender bending” – or playing a gender that you aren’t in real life. A male playing a female or a female playing a male. The old joke goes that GIRL stands for Guy In Real Life – and maybe that was true not that long ago, but is it true today? And does it matter if it is? Let’s start by finding out just who it is that actually plays Video Games – and more specifically, MMOs.

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Star Wars: The Old Republic is slightly less than two months away. This is great news in many ways! But for many people, it can also be a source of frustration as more and more Old Republic related books are released. Let’s face it, TOR isn’t cheap and the current world economy isn’t exactly the best right now. I am sure that there are many people out there who may have had their financial reality make the choice of the version of TOR they are getting, rather than what they actually wanted. And forget buying the novels, graphic novels and other items.

If you haven’t played Knights of the Old Republic, or its sequel yet, both can be found for relatively cheap online in most cases – but there is an even cheaper method of getting your hands on all of this stuff that you may not have considered. Your local library. I know, for books, it is like saying, “Did you know that water is wet?” But stick with me a moment. With the internet, many people have stopped thinking about their local libraries, which is a shame. I already have Revan on hold at my library for when it comes out. Sure, if I can buy or win a copy, that will be a lot better – but until that happens, at least I know that I will be able to read the book not too long after it comes out.

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“There is no formal diagnosis of video game addiction in current medical or psychological literature. Inclusion of it as a psychological disorder has been proposed and rejected for the next version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM).”

I have seen several lengthy discussions about SW:TOR, parental controls, gaming addiction, and what responsibility, if any, BioWare has to protect us from ourselves. I would like to take this opportunity to present my opinion:

There is a difference between addiction and obsession. Addiction is when you have to do something due to a physical or mental craving and suffer from withdrawal symptoms when you are deprived of the subject of your addiction. Obsession, on the other hand, is a persistent, disturbing preoccupation with an often unreasonable idea or feeling; broadly : compelling motivation. And while you may have obsessive thoughts about the subject of your obsession for a long time, there are no actual withdrawal symptoms present – as there are with addiction.

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Today I have the honor of announcing that one of our Staff members here at the offices of Swtor-Life has decided to throw his hat into the ring and begin writing articles for the site.  I am very pleased by this as he has been a long time contributor to the SWTOR community from twitter, the official SWTOR forums and many other places.  Those of you who are regulars here probably know him from twitter where he goes by the handle @Daelda.

His first article will be posted today in which he talks about “MMO Addiction”  It should be a fun time complete with many thoughts and ideas that the MMO community needs to hear.

I look forward to his future articles and I know that he has particular fondness for crafting in MMO’s so I hope to see something from him on that train of thought as well.

Join me in welcoming him to the writing staff and give him your support!

Here is a little bit from him about himself to help you get to know him better,

I served in the US Military for 8 years. I have worked in several Civilian jobs, including Co-Owning a game store for several years – selling RPGs, card games, board games and the like. I have been a GM for 28+ years and enjoy Role-Playing – which is how I met my wife of over 7 years.

I have been owned by ferrets since 1992 and currently have 4 Ferrets. I am now permanently disabled, making it hard for me to socialize IRL, so my main socialization occurs via my online interactions – including playing MMOs – which, due to a VERY understanding wife (who also plays), I can play almost as much as I want (well…as long as I don’t neglect her, the ferrets, or my ‘house-hubby’ duties). This results in an average of 40+ hours a week playing most MMOs, with more time spent during Launch events of course.

I am a Completionist, an Alt-O-Holic to the extreme (I plan on playing 16 Characters in SW:TOR – one of each AC, with two of each Species (one male and one female)), a light Role-Player, an Explorer and a big Crafter. I plan to be a Dedicated Crafter in TOR, using the Crafting System to is full potential if possible.

I have never been much of a PvPer or a Raider, but I am planning to use TOR as my “Reboot” MMO, where I try to give everything a fresh chance to win me over – and after watching the videos and demos, I am actually very excited for both Operations and PvP.

I have played MMOs for many years – starting briefly with the MUD Harshlands, then moving on to EverQuest, EVE Online back when it first launched (where I learned to dislike PvP), Final Fantasy XI, World of Warcraft – where I spent many years as a Guild Officer, Lord of the Rings Online – where again, I served as a Guild Officer, with brief stints in City of Heroes, and Age of Conan.

I *almost always* join a Guild before I even purchase an MMO, because it’s more fun to play with friends to at least talk to, than be completely alone, but I tend to do a lot of Soloing in MMOs, in part because of just how many hours I spend playing them. After spending so many hours grouped up, sometimes I just feel the need for some ‘personal time’ – even if I still stay in communication with my Guild Members. I enjoy helping others, especially those new to MMOs and have been known to go out of my way to take pity on a clueless newbie, with some basic Crafted gear and instructions on how to play.

I am also a fan of Single-Player RPG and Strategy games.