Ive been watching this promotional video of StarWars Galaxies. Knowing something of what it takes to build such a system makes the viewing of this clip all the more satisfying. The movement of the character models is what got me. I busted out laughing when the big lizard dude with the overcoat actually looked good doing 80s dance floor moves.
I think its interesting that the video alone is entertaining. The engine is visually appealing enough that one might want to watch sequences from the world without playing the game.
The game involves enough people that experiments in completely non-tech non-geek non-scientific topics are possible. The idea of player cities is facinating - I cant wait until they implement it. In the game a player can buy a house and place a house. Yeah i know its a whole house but you just plop one of these things down wherever you like. If you place your house near other houses there is the opportunity to become a city. Being part of a city means special community-benefit structures can be placed such as a bank branch so you dont have to walk all the way back to a real city. It also means electing a mayor. The mayor is one character that runs the city by setting tax rates etc. Each week a new election is held.
