Overly Positive

So Werit over at Werit’s Blog dropped an entry about whether or not the Star Wars: The Old Republic blogging craze that’s been taking over some corners of the Net is a bad thing. He cites spoilers, the idea of extensive guides and questlines actually serving to hurt those who are looking for more of a surprise in terms of experiencing the content.

First off, the way things are going, Aion is the current darling of the MMO world, and when the MMO Love Affair inevitably wears off on it, it’ll be Star Wars: The Old Republic next on the chopping block, as it were. Personally, I think buzz is a good thing as long as it doesn’t turn into hype. That may sound strange coming from a blog like mine, which is perpetually dependent on being positive on the developments of the MMO jungle, but it’s true. Hype has a way of making things beyond just a positive experience to more of an experience that moves mountains, solves the world peace issue, and toasts your english muffins. It also has a way of setting expectations as high as Mt. Everest, especially when it comes to explanation of story elements and questing.

There are blogs that talk about TOR that will put up the comprehensive guides, the info, and the story for all to see prior to release. But there are plenty of others, like mine, that will simply opine on the things that are coming out of the TOR news front, which won’t necessarily reveal details. It’s safe to say that either way, the saying “there’s no such thing as bad press” will probably apply to Star Wars: The Old Republic, because of this distinct variety.

MMO’s, more often these days than before, depend on the blogosphere to create good feeling about the game. If the blogs are feeling bad about something, or worse yet, they’re quitting, then that has more of an impact than developers realize. If blogs are soldiering on despite problems, and there are a few that stand out, then that is good for a game as well. Bioware‘s new MMO will probably be no different in this respect.

As far as story-focused elements go, if it’s pre-release info that Werit is worried about, there are a couple of things to sweeten the pot back up. The first would be, obviously, that things change. The way something is explained, and the way that things are outlined can certainly change prior to release, based upon beta feedback and adjustments in the developer cycle. The story-based quest we keep hearing about regarding the ship captain may very well change, making any spoilers out of date.

Second is that in the grand scheme of things, despite Bioware’s focus, that mechanics and skills and nuts and bolts will probably make up the majority of “most written” footage or coverage. I think that many people are chomping at the bit to find out how something works rather than reveals, so this has caused a lot of cautious optimism on the part of many MMO veterans, including myself, who have been burned by previous titles overpromising and underdelivering. I’d say TOR, right now, is in a stage of working behind the scenes and dropping little hints here and there, so the blogs out there are hungry for any bit of info. But as the game gets closer to release, I think we’ll see less spoiler story and more “Jedi and Sith are going to ride elephants, OMG” type posting.

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