Originally posted by maxima29 I agree its not perfect or the greatest game ever. But its far from needing saving. And its also unfair to compare it to the Wow universe we know today. Wow has had ten years to build their game universe.
I was not trying to compare universes - of course in terms of gaming, warcraft universe is about gaming, focused on it and will be better "suited" so to say, as for example, warhammer universe for tabletops. I was emphasizing IPs. Intellectual Property.
Like, if you make a medicore Space-themed MMO game with, say, Independance War's IP, or with Star Trek IP, latter is clearly a failure while former may actually be ok, especially for people who want to encounter the characters again, and play something they're familliar with and stuff.
Same here with SWTOR - when you take Star Wars, an IP that has a HUGE fanbase, an immense popularity, basically known to every city-dwelling human on the planet, spans across countless movies, books and stuff, it kinda... raises the plank, if you get my meaning. Medicore game just won't do.
And you probably even have no clue what Independance War is whatsoever (you may even think it's somehow related ot America when it absolutely isn't, it's about a future, set in a star system that doesn't even include Earth). So if the game sucks or doesn't work, you have no bad feelings - like, its just another game that isn't your cup of tea, you probably wouldn't even bother with it - like, this site has like hundreds of active MMOs listed, most of them are bad, but noone cares because they don't "touch" them, they aren't relevant to them.
However, when it's an IP that you know about, even if you're not passionate about it, it hurts to see it misused. In this case, if it sucks, there are people who's feelings are hurt, who do care, and that's what's going on with SWTOR.
Like, as a huge Transformers fan of the past (fan of the Anime mostly, japanese arc of Headmasters-Masterforce-Victory, and newer Car Robots and MicronDensetsu-Superlink-Galaxy Force), even though I'm not really into films, it annoyed and hurt me to see how medicore they went in the movies (penis, masturbation piss and sex jokes, really, and story all about main human hero and his sexy GF, really, having sex in the closing scene, REALLY?). And then, how the game based on the movie sucked (movie based games almost always suck, but still). Same thing, I didn't play the "War for Cybertron" or something TF-themed game (I belive it's only on consoles, plus it's a typical multiplayer grind game that I don't like) but I really loved that they finally made a good TF game! And I don't really enjoy the artstyle of Animated or Prime, so I didn't watch them past several initial episodes, but fans tell me that's good, and again, I feel nice that the franchise goes on - even if I don't watch it anymore, if they'd do some awfully shitty stuff and try to pass it as "Transformers", I'd be upset, and, having spare time on my hands, probably would voice my opinion on the matter, despite the financial success or wether some select people actually enjoyed it (because seriously, "if somenone enjoys it then you have no right to bitch about it" argument is logically invalid - people enjoyed laughing at Big Rigs or Ride to Hell: Retribution but it doesn't stop those games from being AWFUL).
I guess you must have some IP you like that you can relate with on this example.
So yeah. Summing it up:
Using a popular IP is a double-edged sword. You cannot deny that by using IP you take a responsibility to deliver a product of a certian level of quality. The more popular and influential is the IP, the higher is the quality level expexted. The whole thing about IPs, the point of IPs is to make people emotionally attached to them so that they CARE about the heroes, the universe, the lore and stuff, and to make people therefore purchase new content (books, films, toys, w/e) based on this IP. That is the whole point, that's what you pay license fees or establish IPs in the first place - to get customers for your goods! By establishing IP, you make sure to make people care about the IP. So any argument like "people should not care if the game turned out medicore because some people still play it" or "people have no right to complain if you don't like it just forget about it and move along" or such is invalid. Because you made them care about the IP in the first place, this was your goal - now face the consequences.
Comments
I was not trying to compare universes - of course in terms of gaming, warcraft universe is about gaming, focused on it and will be better "suited" so to say, as for example, warhammer universe for tabletops. I was emphasizing IPs. Intellectual Property.
Like, if you make a medicore Space-themed MMO game with, say, Independance War's IP, or with Star Trek IP, latter is clearly a failure while former may actually be ok, especially for people who want to encounter the characters again, and play something they're familliar with and stuff.
Same here with SWTOR - when you take Star Wars, an IP that has a HUGE fanbase, an immense popularity, basically known to every city-dwelling human on the planet, spans across countless movies, books and stuff, it kinda... raises the plank, if you get my meaning. Medicore game just won't do.
And you probably even have no clue what Independance War is whatsoever (you may even think it's somehow related ot America when it absolutely isn't, it's about a future, set in a star system that doesn't even include Earth). So if the game sucks or doesn't work, you have no bad feelings - like, its just another game that isn't your cup of tea, you probably wouldn't even bother with it - like, this site has like hundreds of active MMOs listed, most of them are bad, but noone cares because they don't "touch" them, they aren't relevant to them.
However, when it's an IP that you know about, even if you're not passionate about it, it hurts to see it misused. In this case, if it sucks, there are people who's feelings are hurt, who do care, and that's what's going on with SWTOR.
Like, as a huge Transformers fan of the past (fan of the Anime mostly, japanese arc of Headmasters-Masterforce-Victory, and newer Car Robots and MicronDensetsu-Superlink-Galaxy Force), even though I'm not really into films, it annoyed and hurt me to see how medicore they went in the movies (penis, masturbation piss and sex jokes, really, and story all about main human hero and his sexy GF, really, having sex in the closing scene, REALLY?). And then, how the game based on the movie sucked (movie based games almost always suck, but still). Same thing, I didn't play the "War for Cybertron" or something TF-themed game (I belive it's only on consoles, plus it's a typical multiplayer grind game that I don't like) but I really loved that they finally made a good TF game! And I don't really enjoy the artstyle of Animated or Prime, so I didn't watch them past several initial episodes, but fans tell me that's good, and again, I feel nice that the franchise goes on - even if I don't watch it anymore, if they'd do some awfully shitty stuff and try to pass it as "Transformers", I'd be upset, and, having spare time on my hands, probably would voice my opinion on the matter, despite the financial success or wether some select people actually enjoyed it (because seriously, "if somenone enjoys it then you have no right to bitch about it" argument is logically invalid - people enjoyed laughing at Big Rigs or Ride to Hell: Retribution but it doesn't stop those games from being AWFUL).
I guess you must have some IP you like that you can relate with on this example.
So yeah. Summing it up:
Using a popular IP is a double-edged sword. You cannot deny that by using IP you take a responsibility to deliver a product of a certian level of quality. The more popular and influential is the IP, the higher is the quality level expexted. The whole thing about IPs, the point of IPs is to make people emotionally attached to them so that they CARE about the heroes, the universe, the lore and stuff, and to make people therefore purchase new content (books, films, toys, w/e) based on this IP. That is the whole point, that's what you pay license fees or establish IPs in the first place - to get customers for your goods! By establishing IP, you make sure to make people care about the IP. So any argument like "people should not care if the game turned out medicore because some people still play it" or "people have no right to complain if you don't like it just forget about it and move along" or such is invalid. Because you made them care about the IP in the first place, this was your goal - now face the consequences.