INTRODUCTION: Getting Started in SWTOR
As the name suggests, "Star Wars the Old Republic", is based off of the Star Wars movies. It is a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game, MMORPG. Players create characters that they develop while playing in a virtual world. This virtual world could be inhabited by hundreds to thousands of other characters. Each character played by people from all around the world. At the beginning of the game, players create an avatar to represent them in the virtual world. The first step is to choose your allegiance; The Galactic Republic, generally considered the good side, or The Sith Empire, generally considered the evil side. Although the Galactic Republic (Republic) is considered the light side, and the Sith Empire (Empire) is considered the dark side, it doesn't matter that much what side you choose, because as an individual there will be choices where you will have to choose a light or dark side decision. The different sides present a different outlook into the world of SWTOR. Each decision is given a value that will help determine how good or evil your avatar is. Though each allegiance side has story lines based on good or evil, it is possible for an evil character to be developed in the Republic. Your character's race and light or dark side will have an influence on your character's story.
Once you have chosen your allegiance you will select your characters class. I have developed a character on the Empire side. The character classes in the Empire are similar to the Republic, but with minor differences. The classes to choose from on the Empire side are Sith Warrior, Sith Inquisitor, Bounty Hunter, and Imperial Agent. I chose this character's class to be a Sith Warrior. Then I proceeded to choose the character's race and gender. These choices have an effect on the characters story, and the role that he plays in this virtual world of Star Wars. The races the Empire offers for a Sith Warrior are, Human, Sith, Cyborg, and Zabrak.
I selected to be human. Then I begin to create the appearance of my avatar. This is where I began creating my individuality or uniqueness within this virtual world. After character creation, I entered the world and followed my character's story line. Not every story line is exactly the same, as each player can make their own decisions, and this affects how the virtual world will perceive the character and how the story might change.
SWTOR CULTURE
Political Structure in SWTOR's Sith Empire
Based on definitions provided by the CIA, a Dictatorship is "a form of government in which a ruler or small clique wield absolute power…" and a Totalitarian government is "a government that seeks to subordinate the individual to the state by controlling not only all political and economic matters, but also the attitudes, values, and beliefs of its population" ("Central intelligence agency:,"). The Sith Empire is a totalitarian dictatorship. The Empire is ruled by The Dark Lord of the Sith, Naga Sadow, known as The Emperor. With the help of dark rituals, he has ruled for 1,300 years. After the Sith Empire pushed back The Republic and forced them to sign The Treaty of Coruscant, the Emperor deferred control of The Empire to the Dark Council to pursue his own mysterious goals. This introduced a brutal power struggle within The Empire. Outside the 12 member Dark Council are various Dark Lords and Darth that plot and scheme against each other, while at the same time recruiting and training new acolytes to increase The Empire's power (BioWare and LucasArts, 2012).
The military of The Empire handles all other matters of state. Everywhere you go in The Empire, you see the presence of the military. Guards are posted at all entrances, and armed droids roam through the cities keeping the peace, or forcing people to keep the peace. The Sith Empire is a harsh and cruel place to live.
The military of The Empire handles all other matters of state. Everywhere you go in The Empire, you see the presence of the military. Guards are posted at all entrances, and armed droids roam through the cities keeping the peace, or forcing people to keep the peace. The Sith Empire is a harsh and cruel place to live.
Dark Side Beliefs
The Dark Side of the Force
In SWTOR there is a magic, or force, that plays a large role in the cultures of The Empire and The Republic. The force is made up of two sides, good and evil. It is more of a way of life than it is a religion. The Republic believes the "good" side of the force. The Republic controls their emotions and use the force responsibly, drawing on an inner peace or equilibrium within themselves. The Empire, however, believe in the "evil" or dark side of the force. The dark side of the force is powered by the user's emotions. They believe that when the user's emotions are raging out of control, they can wield more of the force. If a user of the dark side of the force can use an emotion like hate, and feed that hate, the individual will wield more power by using that raw emotion to draw from the force.
Belief in Natural Selection
Along with this belief, The Empire believes that only the strong should survive. If there is weakness, then you will eventually end up dead. This belief is so strong that individuals in power are constantly challenged, and have to defending themselves in some form or other, becomes a daily routine. If weakness is shown, then it is just a matter of time before they are removed. When this happens The Empire's society will just considered it to be the natural way of things.
Social Class Structure
The Empire is very class oriented, or structured. What I mean by this is that the inhabitants of The Empire are separated into social classes. This is similar to our real life structure of the poor, the middle class, and the rich. The Empire actually has 4 classes as they have slaves. The slaves are the lowest class and basically have no rights as most of them are races that have been captured or conquered by The Empire.
The poor would most likely be those that are not slaves, but find a way to fend for themselves. These would be the common vendors you encounter throughout the world. There is a lot of competition as most of the menial tasks are done by droids. Since the droids in SWTOR are very human-like in their personalities, they comprise most of what could be considered the poor class.
The middle class would be The Empire's military and the bounty hunters. The military has standing within The Empire and can amass wealth and power, although they are always second to the Sith Lords. They can have apprentice Sith work for them and reach a level of command that could rival a Sith Lord. They will always be considered less than the Sith as far as standing, because The Empire look at the Sith as the chosen. Materialistic and authority could be equal or greater than a Sith Lord. Bounty Hunters may never gather as much power as someone in the military, but they can become very useful to the military and the Sith. Successful Bounty Hunters can accumulate mass wealth, and therefore be highly respected.
The rich is obviously the Sith and Sith Lords. The Sith is a race, but also a way of life. You don't have to be an actual Sith to be considered Sith, although true Sith feel they are better than all others. The Empire considers the Sith to be the chosen, and the rightful rulers of The Empire. The Sith are also usually wielders of the dark side of the force. This is held true, as there is no room for the weak in the Empire. Those who do not possess the Force, or are weak, will soon find themselves dead. No other race holds this more true than the Sith.
The poor would most likely be those that are not slaves, but find a way to fend for themselves. These would be the common vendors you encounter throughout the world. There is a lot of competition as most of the menial tasks are done by droids. Since the droids in SWTOR are very human-like in their personalities, they comprise most of what could be considered the poor class.
The middle class would be The Empire's military and the bounty hunters. The military has standing within The Empire and can amass wealth and power, although they are always second to the Sith Lords. They can have apprentice Sith work for them and reach a level of command that could rival a Sith Lord. They will always be considered less than the Sith as far as standing, because The Empire look at the Sith as the chosen. Materialistic and authority could be equal or greater than a Sith Lord. Bounty Hunters may never gather as much power as someone in the military, but they can become very useful to the military and the Sith. Successful Bounty Hunters can accumulate mass wealth, and therefore be highly respected.
The rich is obviously the Sith and Sith Lords. The Sith is a race, but also a way of life. You don't have to be an actual Sith to be considered Sith, although true Sith feel they are better than all others. The Empire considers the Sith to be the chosen, and the rightful rulers of The Empire. The Sith are also usually wielders of the dark side of the force. This is held true, as there is no room for the weak in the Empire. Those who do not possess the Force, or are weak, will soon find themselves dead. No other race holds this more true than the Sith.
Environment
With the class structure, the landscape, and the political structure, it brings about resemblance of Ancient Rome and the Roman Empire. Citizens are classed at birth with it being a rarity for anyone to change their status, politics enforced with an iron fist, and the belief in a natural selection it is no wonder how it is portrayed in their landscape similar to the Roman society. The Romans had a lot of statues of those they held in high positions. Even their names are very similar, The Roman Empire and The Sith Empire. Both empires liked to physically display their power and might. They also built buildings in large scale dwarfing the inhabitants within.
With the totalitarian government style, and the Sith's Belief that only the strong are worthy to live and prosper in The Empire, it is no wonder they are perceived as evil. Most inhabitants may not know any other way to live.
BUYING AND SELLING IN SWTOR
Mission Income
There are a couple of ways to gain wealth in SWTOR. The first and most common way is by looting. When you defeat an enemy or creature in SWTOR, you have the ability to loot them for dropped items or credits. Credits are the currency in SWTOR. Some of the items you loot are items that your character can use. Other items you can sell to vendors for credits.
Vendors
There are many different types of vendors in SWTOR. There are vendors that sell protective armor and clothing, vendors that sell weapons, vendors that sell healing and enhancements, and vendors that sell items to help you gain your companions' favor.
Player Market
Players do have their own market where they can sell items that they have looted or crafted. Currently there is not much in this market that I can find of value to my character. This I believe is because SWTOR is a new virtual world, and the player's market hasn't been completely populated yet. There are other types of currency. There are accommodation currencies that you collect from random loot drops, or completing special missions. You can gather enough to be able to purchase top grade items from a specialty vendor. The economic balance appears to be well and good. I have been able to purchase what I need and have also not been able to purchase everything. I have worked on my crafting to try and gotten into the player market. Crafted items will sell for the cost of making that item, and a small profit. In my opinion though, the SWTOR economy is still in its beginning stages. But it is there and selling items can be lucrative.
SOCIAL INTERACTION
There are a number of ways to socialize in SWTOR. In the top left corner of the screen is a chat box where you can converse with other players in a general chat. If you know a player's character name, you can also converse with them privately, in what is called whisper chat. Most of the game can be played solo, and without much socialization. There are certain instances or missions, however, that you will need help with, because of the level of difficulty. These instances force the player to interact with other players, in order to complete them. SWTOR has a social window dedicated to helping players find other players to group with, to find friends, and if you join a guild you can see who is on, or what scheduled events the guild has. Because the game can be played solo for the most part, there are social points awarded to players for interacting with other players, giving players a sense of accomplishment for social interaction.
Another social aspect of the game that most players don't consider, or is overlooked, is social interactions with the game's AI. In SWTOR, there are many NPCs that you have a conversation with. Some you become to dislike and others you come to like. This is all brought about by the social interaction players have with the AI of the game. As you progress in the game you gain companions. With companions, you can gain or lose their affections by giving them gifts, and by decisions you make within the game. This can have a positive, and a negative effect on how the companion AI views your character. In essence, this creates a social interaction with the companion AI, and NPCs that can have social consequences, good or bad.
CONCLUSION
Star Wars the Old Republic is a game that can be played by multiple players at the same time. These players create an avatar and populate a virtual world. Like any world that has multiple inhabitants, there is a level of socialization that goes along with it. Players converge on this virtual world to fight for their allegiance. From the beginning of the game, players are separated into social groups; light side, dark side. From there they can join guilds, and then at the smaller levels groups or individual. Players also develop their characters as they gain more experience with the environment and character abilities. Just like in real life, we progress with knowledge, SWTOR and other MMORPGs simulate the growth of experience and knowledge. There are many purposes in SWTOR, action and adventure, character development, social interaction, crafting and economy, end game play, AI interaction, player vs. player competition. With so many different reasons why someone would play, it is hard to narrow it down to one particular purpose, but this is also a reason why these types of games are referred to as virtual worlds. As in real life, there can be multiple purposes and this is also simulated in virtual realities.
The virtual world of SWTOR is quite unique. As an inhabitant, I find myself drawn in by the worlds AI. When I first created the Sith Warrior avatar Arggenus, I planned on playing the role of an evil character, after all I did pledge my allegiance to The Empire. As I played through the first few levels of character development, I, for the most part kept to that role. Then the game through a companion into the mix. When I go through conversations with the games AI, I find myself watching how I respond, because my companion will agree or disagree with my responses.
This creates turmoil. As long as I am arrogant and just, my companion is happy with me and I gain favor with her, but if I am cruel and heartless, she is not happy with my avatar. I find myself torn at times between playing an evil character for the fun and fantasy of it, and pleasing my companion. This causes me to bring my conscience into the game. Something you don't normally think you need to have. It is a fantasy world where you fun, and the freedom of judgment should reign.
SWTOR plays like a single player game. What I mean by that is you don't have to interact with other players in the game, unless you want to. I find that myself, and other players don't really interact with each other as much as I have seen in other MMORPGs. There are only Heroic Missions that require you to group with others to accomplish them. Other players that I have talked to and interacted with appear to be very friendly and helpful. It doesn't matter whether I am on the good, or the bad side.
REFERENCE
BioWare and LucasArts. (2012). Star wars: The old republic. Retrieved from
Central intelligence agency: The world factbook. (n.d.). Retrieved from
Fletcher, A. (2012). Paradoxplace rome pages: Ancient rome and the good emperors.Retrieved
from http://www.paradoxplace.com/Perspectives/Rome & Central Italy/Rome/Ancient_Rome/Ancient Rome.htm
Viator Travel Team. (2010, November 12). Ancient rome: A beginner's guide. Retrieved from
