Firework night in a galaxy far, far away.
THOUGHTS ON #12: SMALL TOUCHES IN MMOs
Throughout my years of playing Star Wars Galaxies, it was often the other bits that kept me logging back in. I enjoyed the combat, of course, and the PVP, the questing, and all the main aspects, but it was the surrounding ephemera that made Galaxies feel real - and that’s what hooked me in. Almost from the first, I was enamoured by the humblest of features, one of these being the fireworks. I was semi-aware of the depth of the game going in back in the early 2000s, but in fully exploring that virtual world, it surprised me to find such an object in the game, and I was continually impressed by the small details that were implemented, and what they meant for the community of players who existed within that virtual space.
Fireworks in Star Wars Galaxies came in various types, each with their own unique effect, and were craftable by novice artisans, with more complex iterations becoming available to create with more experience in the profession. There were also lootable pieces that could be assembled together to create five-use Type 1 fireworks, and, if you were skilled enough, you could also craft show packages, which allowed the player to program in their own displays, launching a variety of firework types to create unique shows of their own. More versions could be brought from event vendors too, but they came later in the game’s life.
The act of taking time out to virtually craft and sequence a display of fireworks seemed to me like a special kind of consideration, and one that could have easily been trimmed from the game for any number of reasons. Small touches such as this, like the involved decorating systems, the tailoring options, badge collecting, species languages, and every other small detail included in the game, at least for me, added untold value to the experience of play, making it immersive beyond the sum of its parts. While some or all of these are usually implemented to a certain extent in modern MMOs, rarely do they seem to exist with such care, depth, and attention to detail. There was something so magical about setting out into the wilderness with a few guildmates, making camp, and launching a few fireworks when night set in, - for no other reason than it was fun to do… Or stepping out onto your porch and setting off a few to share a celebration for the accomplishment of some kind of in-game or real-world achievement.
Halloween, Christmas, and Valentines day were all mirrored in Galaxies with their own Star Wars versions - these being the Galactic Moon Festival, Life Day, and the Ewok Festival of Love respectively, but Guy Fawkes Night/Bonfire Night/Fireworks Night… whatever you want to call it, well, that didn’t exist, but it could with the implementation of a variety of little craftable fireworks, a bit of imagination, and a sense of community. This could extend to any celebration you could think of, and I think it’s because of these details that the communities within SWG were (and still are on emulated servers) so strong. The game allowed for the imagination, such is the nature of a sandbox game. Almost anything was possible using the tools provided, as long as you could think of a way to bend them to your will and could fill in the gaps with your imagination. This was pushed to its extreme in Galaxies with the aforementioned decorating systems, and the Galactic Hotspots and Galactic Homeshow/Showcase contests that ran on the game’s forums, and they only fuelled the fires of creativity within player base.
At the time, and having nothing to do but school work, I decided to focus all my efforts on collecting every rare item in-game and making a museum to display it all - to this day I am very proud to say that I was a Galactic Homeshow winner and Hotspot listee… don’t get too jealous now - I probably failed several GCSEs because of Galaxies and its addictive subsystems, and reading the forums rather than doing my homework only added to my real world failures during education. Fuck it, I had a nice time… perhaps I’ll add this achievement to my CV next time I’m job hunting, as I probably learnt more about degrees and the movement of objects in 3D space using the /rotate furniture and latter implemented pitch/roll/yaw commands than I ever did during my state-enforced maths lessons.
All this is to say that I miss the humble firework in SWG, and I think little implementations into virtual worlds such as this are what make them memorable and far more interesting to exist in.
Did you ever play SWG? Did you ever celebrate any notable accomplishments in game with the use of fireworks? I hope you enjoy many recreational explosives this November, both in the virtual, and the real world. If you want a bit more SWG related nonsense, here are some related posts:
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Another post from you where it feels like I'm reading my own exact thoughts.
During my less social teenage years I let off many fireworks packages across the galaxy in my own little in-game holiday celebrations.
We sure were lucky to get to experience that unique moment of online gaming history where stuff like this was not only possible but gave you a real feeling of wonder.