Honestly, the content of the original post is not as much about Star Wars as it is about me getting irked that this industry is so risk-averse in formulating new game mechanics even when the source material they build upon would seem to demand something different. Even if I had played the Star Wars MMO, I would’ve had no interest in playing a smuggler or a bounty hunter. (Crossing fingers that ewoks or jawas are an option.)

I also know that pull-quotes on blogs aren’t always representative of the whole story, though (a potential benefit to working inside the sausage factory) and upon reading the developer’s blogs, it does sound like there’s a little more leeway than that quote suggests:

Each hunt has its own flavor and each hunt brings with it a unique set of challenges and choices. Do you follow the job’s description to the letter and kill the wayward daughter of a powerful officer or do you bring her in alive and force the man to do his own dirty work? Will you take a bribe to fake a kill you didn’t make—will you switch sides when it’s clear the person you’re hunting has more honor and justification for his actions than the one who sent you? Does your honor come from getting the job done or being a good person? Is your loyalty to your crew, your conscience or your credits?

That’s more interesting to me. It’s still not making me think “hey, I need to try this game,” but I’ll be keeping an eye on the development. BioWare certainly seems to have a pretty good track record, and if the finished product is any good, then maybe it will be the first MMO I’ll really be interested in playing.

Then again, it probably won’t run on any hardware that I own, so maybe not.

Anyhow, I was a very unlikely player of this game, but I’d be more interested if everything wasn’t done by some sort of checkbox (Rebel v. Empire, etc.)

Mostly I just pine for the more open-ended vision exemplified by Evan and Dan’s old Bespin MUSH (with working carbonite chamber!).