BioWare Invites Star Wars Guild Leaders to Physical Summit

[Marshall Honorof]

BioWare Invites Star Wars Guild Leaders to Physical Summit

Jedi and Sith guild leaders alike will meet under BioWare's auspices for some aggressive negotiations.

As much as videogames can be fun escapism or immersive storytelling, there's a very serious side to them that few people see. There are a lot of 1s and 0s that go into your favorite character taking a single step onscreen, and there are a lot of accountants crunching dollar signs to ensure that that trilogy you're playing doesn't end after the second game [http://www.freedomfans.com/ffvttr/]. Even in a game like Star Wars: The Old Republic, where space wizards duke it out with laser swords, there can be a peaceful meeting where Jedi and Sith both gather to discuss the game's features. BioWare recently announced the inaugural Star Wars: The Old Republic Guild Summit, which will gather prominent guild leaders from all reaches of its popular MMORPG in Austin, Texas for three days of discussions, QAs, and previews. The negotiations will be short, indeed.

BioWare has two main objectives for the summit: get firsthand feedback from some of its most dediated players, and entice said players (and their guilds) with hints of what's to come. "Guild leaders ... will participate in Q&A sessions with developers, roundtable feedback discussions, and will get a preview of some upcoming game features," writes Bioware. All kinds of guilds will be represented, whether they specialize in PVP, roleplaying, or raiding. "The goal of the summit is to facilitate an open discussion between guild leaders and the game design team.

If your guild isn't participating but you think it should, BioWare still has space available. Simply fill out an application [https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/SWTORGuildSummit] and await a response. The event will take place at the DoubleTree Hotel in Austin from March 4-6. Anyone 21 or over can apply, but BioWare reminds applicants that they will be required to provide their own travel, lodging, food, and understanding of the English language.

On the one hand, BioWare seems to be interested in what its fans have to say. On the other hand, this event is for a very small subset of those fans who have, by and large, different interests and needs from the majority of TOR players. Still, will gathering a handful of people and having a reasonable dialogue in a physical location prove more valuable than thousands of angry forum posts? Difficult to see. Always in motion is the future.

Source: Star Wars: The Old Republic Official Site [http://www.swtor.com/news/news-article/20120201]

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[deth2munkies]

It's a big video gaming thing, it's in Austin which is 30 minutes away, but it's a game I don't give a shit about...should I go?

Y/N

 

[Sucal]

The Proud members of 'Go Back To WoW n00b shall be there in all our 'pwned' glory. For our opinion is the only one that matters, and if Bioware doesn't give us all boss level hp and attacks, we shall /gquit /wslit

 

[Throwitawaynow]

It's a big video gaming thing, it's in Austin which is 30 minutes away, but it's a game I don't give a shit about...should I go?

Y/N

It is invite only, so I don't think you'll be invited.

 

[Xanthious]

Well I am a guild leader and do love Austin TX. Hell Austin may very well be my favorite place on God's green Earth. I can chat about TOR grab a movie at The Alamo Draft House, see some friends, and have an excuse to go to one of the best comic shops ever, Austin Books. Looks like I need to make plans to be in Austin here in a month or so.

 

[Irridium]

Oh hell yeah, me and [user]Woodsey[/user], the amazing guild leaders of the Star Wars group [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/groups/view/Star-Wars-The-Old-Republic-SW-TOR] are gonna tear that place u-

If your guild isn't participating but you think it should, BioWare still has space available. Simply fill out an application [https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/SWTORGuildSummit] and await a response. The event will take place at the DoubleTree Hotel in Austin from March 4-6. Anyone 21 or over can apply, but BioWare reminds applicants that they will be required to provide their own travel, lodging, food, and understanding of the English language.

DAMMIT.

Alright, alright. All we need is a few thousand dollars to get to Austin and we're good. So, who wants to give us a few thousand dollars?

 

[Therumancer]

It's an interesting idea, but I can't see much happening with it. The barriers to entry are substantial, and the actual guaranteed benefits are few. Truthfully the people who would travel there on their own dime to listen to what amounts to some teasers and advertising are going to probably be the kinds of players that are going to be detached from the masses of players, even when it comes to hardcore raiders.

As odd as it sounds, this might be meaningful if Bioware was picking up the tab and offering compensation for such meetings, but the reasons why we won't see that happen are pretty obvious.

I'll also be somewhat honest in saying that going through the legions of angry posts and such and taking them fairly seriously, will probably give a better indication of what the community thinks.

See, there is this peception that people ranting and raving in forums are sub-human losers with nothing worthwhile to say, who are just being contrary for the sake of being contrary... well unless of course they happen to be saying exactly what the company wants to hear at which point it's fanboy praise that reinforces their attitudes. Companies running MMOs need to realize that they need to consider a message written by ANYONE that is taking the time to write it, as opposed to sitting in the game actually playing it. Just by writing they are showing they care enough to bother, and something is getting their goat.

Likewise there is a point at which doing anything is better than just sitting back doing nothing, and that sometimes doing the right thing isn't going to be easy. For example I think WoW wouldn't have suffered it's recent, recorded bleed off, and a few other bumps in the road had it acted to address imbalances between The Horde and The Alliance (rolling Alliance having been called one of the biggest gips in gaming by Penny Arcade at one point) early on, as the problems were obvious prior to Burning Crusade, and just got worse as time went on to the point where they didn't even bother to disguise an issue that substantial come Cataclysm which was pretty much a giant slap in the face to the entire alliance faction, never mind the behavior at their own conventions.

Right now I'll also say that I see Bioware in similar straights, their PVP and faction balance IS a giant mess as many people predicted. Yathzee's comments about ignoring complaints here as being something MMORPG players just do as a matter of course, actually seem to reflect the reality of company attitudes, and that's not a good thing. Ignoring people telling you this on forums doesn't really help, and honestly when problems like this are known it also makes one wonder why they even make a point of these kind of information gathering exercises. They already have a MAJOR issue that is going to take a lot of tinkering and radical changes to the game.

 

[redisforever]

Alright, alright. All we need is a few thousand dollars to get to Austin and we're good. So, who wants to give us a few thousand dollars?

i've got some Monopoly money, if rhey take that, and considering they'd like a monopoly over the MMO market, they would take it. Get it? Well, I thought it was funny...



OT: good idea, but I don't think it'll help much. Just a few people out of a few hundred thousand players won't do much really. Considering that the biggest guilds probably aren't very personal, you know, one-on-one with it's basic members,the leaders probably don't have everyones interest at heart. Then again, I don't play the game, but I do play Cybernations, and that's how the alliances work there. Smaller alliances are far more personal, and close.

 

[jurnag12]

Kinda sounds like the Council of Stellar management in EVE.

 

[Darkfiretiger]

That's very interesting the game is sold retal in 22 countries and exported to many more, the developer's home is Montreal, although the game was developed in the Austin branch of the studios and yet the confrence is in america and there is no mention of them making allowances for digital participation.
Sounds like BS to me.

 

[Throwitawaynow]

That's very interesting the game is sold retal in 22 countries and exported to many more, the developer's home is Montreal, although the game was developed in the Austin branch of the studios and yet the confrence is in america and there is no mention of them making allowances for digital participation.
Sounds like BS to me.

Yeah, I wonder why that is.

"Guild leaders ... will participate in Q&A sessions with developers, roundtable feedback discussions, and will get a preview of some upcoming game features," writes Bioware. All kinds of guilds will be represented, whether they specialize in PVP, roleplaying, or raiding. "The goal of the summit is to facilitate an open discussion between guild leaders and the game design team.

Sounds like BS to me too.

What's even more BS is that the Eve Online fanfest (made by CCP Games in Iceland) is held in Iceland. Don't they know that the game is played worldwide?!

Or that blizzcon (convention for World of Warcraft made by Blizzard Entertainment in California, USA) is in California!

 

[Fappy]

Here's hoping they unanimously cry, "FIX PVP! IT IS FULL OF FUCK!"

 

[viranimus]

What I would LOVE to see out of this is a section in essence for role play purposes so bioware can give the community a say on if the truce should be broken or not. Yes, that would be quite intruiging indeed.

 

[VladG]

I smell a publicity stunt, not a legitimate discussion in the interest of improving the game.

 

[Spitfire]

Kinda sounds like the Council of Stellar management in EVE.

I'm surprised it took 10 posts for someone to point this out.

 

[lancar]

Considering that the WoW official forums has been a maelstrom of hate and complaints ever since it launched, I can see why Bioware don't interpret the same happening to their forums as their game failing.

The way I see it, this summit can only be positive for the SWTOR's health. People are usually a lot less hateful when their anonymity is taken away, so some face-to-face discussion with the fanbase should result in a good direction for the game.
Really, what kind of fanbase goes there to attend doesn't really matter as long as it isn't the trolls. Both the casual and hardcore aspects of the game needs addressing, so whichever one it ends up being is positive imho.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Counsellor CyberGuild: Your opinion?
We need more lying down and stroking emotes.
Counsellor PonyGuild: Your opinion?
We want Force Sensitive Ponies.
Counsellor RainbowGuild: Your opinion?
We want rainbow coloured tunics that flutter in the wind.
Counsellor PVPGuild: Your opinion?
KILL, GANK, LOOT!
Counsellor RoleplayGuild: Your opinion?
The Counsellor was called. Slowly, he raised his visage from the scowl he was engaged in to address the masses. "I have opinions!", he said "Opinions the like of which you have never heard!"
Counsellor GRRRLGuild: Your opinion?
We'd like...
Counsellor NoPrequelsGuild: Your opinion?
Kill Jar-Jar.
Counsellor RoleplayGuild: Finished yet?
"Opinions that span the entire cosmos. We will see the Empire struck down with the force of our Opinions."...
Counsellor TheTrueGuild: Your opinion?
Why is it that on mission "Bacta the Future", my character states that he is "heavy" when his movement allowance hasn't changed in any way?
Counsellor EuropeanGuild: Your opinion?
They've emailed us to ask if we can add a u to certain words

Now I know why Vader learnt Force Choke first.

 

[Volkov]

This is very cute.

It's also a blatant attempt at publicity. There is no chance in hell dedicated raiders comprise a sufficiently noticeable portion of the game's income to the publisher to actually care about them.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Anyone wanna bet that some of the Guild Leaders will be dressing up like Jedi or Sith as if they are heading to a Jedi/ Sith council meeting?