Jedi also complained about the game's undocumented "visibility" system. Any time a Jedi shows his or her powers in front of someone else, their visibility rating goes up -- eventually landing their name on a bounty hunter mission terminal. This effectively cut Jedi off from participating in any of the game's minimal content or playing with friends. The visibility and permadeath systems along with bugged elements of the class' combat abilities also completely knocked out the game balance between Jedi and the players that were tasked with keeping the number of powerful Jedi down, the bounty hunters.

"Other players are excited about hunting Jedi, I mean why not … they don't have anything to lose. Jedi, on the other hand, have everything to lose."
- Nick N, Jedi, Intrepid
"In the movies/books all Jedi and bounty hunters were both risking something equally important ... their lives. In the game the Jedi is risking everything and the bounty hunter has zero risk. Jedi permanently die, bounty hunters don't. That is in addition to all of the combat advantages the bounty hunter currently has."
- Marty F, Jedi, radiant
"Any player-versus-player combat at all and I end up staring at the sky while they proceed to kill me, and there is nothing I can do about it. Anyone with a dizzy/knockdown skill puts me flat on my back."
- Dave A., Jedi, Ahazi
Two Sides to Every Story

Of course, complaining is par for the course in a massively multiplayer game -- after all, the entire fan base has access to online feedback, and not every player can have the fun he/she wants if it means conflict with other paying customers. Deciding who to listen to and who to ignore is part of the pain of building and maintaining an online world.

The Jedi camp was as divided as any other player community. One role-player summed it up succinctly:

"There are essentially two camps:
1) I'm a Jedi, and I'm upset this is difficult. Make me even stronger, give me more lives; make me Yoda now, please.
2) I'm a Jedi who is aware of the power I have been given to me and don't understand why other Jedi are complaining. I have leveled up to Jedi Guardian (or whatever) by being careful and have enjoyed every minute of it."
- Steve V., Ahazi
The class itself, as designed, would be the ultimate prize for a role-player who wants to play as one of the fugitive Jedi who exist during this period in Star Wars history. Unfortunately, the method of acquisition had turned the entire Jedi class into a piece of "¿ber-Loot" within the game. Most of the people playing it were power-gamers, those most likely to be unhappy with the need to play solo, hide from others, and unable to show off their cool new powers. Those role-players who were happy with the system were routinely shouted down on the official message boards.

Even the Official Forum's Jedi Correspondent admitted that a lot of work needed to happen (and succinctly expresses why it's so important for players to get this right):

"As you know the current Jedi system has met with a mixed bag of responses. There is a lot of frustration just in becoming a Jedi, which has then been compounded by bugs and shortcomings in the design. The most prevalent complaints are simply lack of content, and a lack of overall adherence to the model of a Jedi. Having to wear armor, lightsabers wearing down too quickly, no ability to reflect blasters, a lack of contrast between the Light and Dark sides … the list goes on of discrepancies between Jedi in SWG and the movies … and the fact is, people just will not stand for it when it comes to Jedi. Jedi and The Force is the heart of Star Wars. It's just not acceptable to have anything short of perfection when it comes to the class."
- Arjun, Jedi Correspondent
Ironically, while researching this piece a representative from Sony asked us to keep in mind that many of the players complaining "weren't playing the class right," and that the class was designed as a solo experience. Such a comment is indicative of the original Ultima Online mistake: not realizing that once an MMO is released to the public, it no longer belongs to the developers, it belongs to the people paying $14.99 a month for the service.

An Interview with Haden Blackman

The issues people had with the Jedi and game itself might have stayed within the game community had the Jedi not been used in subsequent PR and marketing efforts on the part of LucasArts. Downloadable films were released of the Jedi in action and quite a few articles and interviews regarding them were printed various gaming journals -- including GameSpy.com. One particular piece caused GameSpy to be deluged with e-mail.

The explosion concerned a comment made by LucasArts' Game Producer, Haden Blackman on December 8 in a GameSpy interview that was published on December 20, 2003.

GameSpy: Is the payoff of being a Jedi worth it? How has the feedback from Jedi players been on how they're enjoying the experience?
Haden Blackman: We believe the payoff is well worth the effort to unlock a FSCS. A Jedi Master is one of the most powerful individuals in the game. We're confident in the system because the feedback from players has been extremely positive. Not only are Jedi players happy with the system and the powers they are receiving, but other players are just excited about the opportunity to interact with (or hunt down) Jedi.