SWG Tales

I only mentioned this to Tovaar tonight so far before we all got offline but figured I'd throw this up to see what ideas some of you may have. Here's the jist of it: I'm doing a rl Informative Speech about Star Wars Galaxies. It has to be drawn up with an outline with 4 sources (preferably one magazine, one book, one website, and a newspaper article if possible). I have no restrictions save it must only be between 4-7minutes long and have a catchy Intro and wrap up neatly. I do have to have a visual aid but I think I'll use a screenie and take the Prima guide in for this.

My question is how would some of you set up the outline for this?

Describe factions/crafting/and adventuring? etc, etc.

I don't want to make this too technical as I've got to make this interesting to an outside audiance of mostly non-gamers.

Thanks for any help.
Batty

The mechanics of the game themselves can be boring.. you need to make a connection from them to the gaming experience and perhaps how they immitate similar systems IRL.

The Economy is an infinately interesting topic in my opinon, and one that your audience may be able to relate to. SOE posted and article on the "Faucet - Drain" model in SWG that you could use as a good source. Crafting is a good "in" to this subject.

Factions.. I am not sure how interesting that could be. The faction system adds little to the game other than giving people an excuse to kill eachother.

Adventuring.. that is not a strength of SWG either. It is simply what you must do to gain XP/Credits/Loot. It is more of a repetetive exercise or "work" thank it is "adventuring".


One track I may take is to draw comparisons from the SWG economy to RL economy. You could even trace the steps of an artisan working small mineral harvesters all the way up to someone running a full set of heavies and making a good pile of cash. A case study in investments and risks in SWG.

You could even tell the story of an item. Pick one that requires components from all over the place to make and tell how each piece got there. Well.. maybe that won't be that interesting.. just an idea.


Do this.. if you can think of something your parents could almost understand, you'd be in the right track.

So far, so good, that helps a lot actually. Thanks Ekade! *hugs*

Ekade wrote:You could even tell the story of an item.

This I think is a great part to focus your presentation on, you could perhaps even touch a bit on the conecpt of digital property. These concepts are a bit fascinating and could be a presentation in themselves.

Jabe

A lot better than what I had planned thus far...

I was starting with... "What if the only thing that lay between you and your goal was a squad of well armed troops? (show a screenie of someone entrenched with troopers in the near distance) You've just entered the realm of Star Wars Galaxies." Then trying to figure out how I describe 'the basics' of the game in a 4-7 min span and make it interesting to non-gamers. Total crap I've decided... all this time playing and both your ideas didn't really dawn on me till you mentioned them.

Economics would be a little lengthy and dull... although interesting... But I do think the item idea might just work. "How does a game imitate Life?" might be the opening I use.

My other favorite topic is psychology.

You could get into some of the facets of roleplay, alternate personnas, etc. What it takes to get into character.. But this may far more "geek" than your audience can handle.

I would set up the outline as such


I. Immersion (Being part of the Star Wars Universe)
A. Planets/Travel
B. Professions
C. GCW
D. Wildlife

You can touch on the subject of digital property having real world value.

There is a krayt pearl on sale on ebay... last time I checked, the bid was $100.00.

There was also a company that only delt in digital property, Ultima Online I think. It was sold by it's owner for about 10 million dollars.

Ekade wrote:My other favorite topic is psychology.

You could get into some of the facets of roleplay, alternate personnas, etc. What it takes to get into character.. But this may far more "geek" than your audience can handle.

I wrote a paper on this a few semesters ago, got a lot of interviews with other players for it. It's harsh.

Dwilah wrote:

Ekade wrote:My other favorite topic is psychology.

You could get into some of the facets of roleplay, alternate personnas, etc. What it takes to get into character.. But this may far more "geek" than your audience can handle.

I wrote a paper on this a few semesters ago, got a lot of interviews with other players for it. It's harsh.

Harsh as in it was hard to do? Or harsh in that you are critical of something?

Ekade wrote:
Harsh as in it was hard to do? Or harsh in that you are critical of something?

It was pretty critical of some aspects of role-playing online, but in a pretty generalized way. It was a paper for school...presented both sides. And I am a role-player myself...can't be too harsh. I could send it to you in a PM later if you were interested in reading it.

Actually I am.. but maybe you should not. If I disagree with your points we will end up discussing it.. LOL.

Dwilah wrote:

Ekade wrote:
Harsh as in it was hard to do? Or harsh in that you are critical of something?

It was pretty critical of some aspects of role-playing online, but in a pretty generalized way. It was a paper for school...presented both sides. And I am a role-player myself...can't be too harsh. I could send it to you in a PM later if you were interested in reading it.

Why don't you post it?

Jabe

Dwilah wrote:

Ekade wrote:
Harsh as in it was hard to do? Or harsh in that you are critical of something?

It was pretty critical of some aspects of role-playing online, but in a pretty generalized way. It was a paper for school...presented both sides. And I am a role-player myself...can't be too harsh. I could send it to you in a PM later if you were interested in reading it.

I'd love to read this... it'll go a long way to helping me figure out how to piece this together if I've got an example to follow.

Another good subject would be the diversity. All the different races, languages, and even the diversity of professions. You're not tied down to one type of profession like in most RPG's. You don't have to choose Warrior or Crafter, you can have a mix if you like.