Dance partners? Check. Orchestrated moves? Check. Costumes? Check. Innuendo? Check.
Lets talk dancing.
Who feels that having a unique dance for both sexes of every species is important? How much does it take away from or affect your in-game fun-o-meter if you don’t have an interesting set of juicy dance moves?
In WoW, I used to make a gold or two using my dance moves. The amount I received usually depended on my species. As a Blood Elf female, I’d earn a ton of gold shaking my goods on the mailbox in the middle of Orgrimmar. As a troll? Not so much. I suspect it was because I was butt ugly, but hey, who am I to assume?
Some individuals have put great importance in dancing. May I remind you of the Men of Helios? If you have absolutely no idea what I’m talking about, allow me to enlighten you.
In games like Star Wars Galaxies, in which the video above was shot, there was an entire profession built around dancing, and a fair number of players seemed to really enjoy it. In SWG, the developers truly went the extra mile. They even included a system (as seen in the vid) in which players could actually coordinate their dancing. There are also some MMOs that take a more moderate approach to dancing; each species has several different dances. Then, of course, there is Warhammer Online. Many of you may remember that, when Warhammer Online was released, there was no dancing whatsoever. Of course, this elicited some very serious frustration from fans.
So how do you feel as a player if your dance moves are generic, boring and lacking in originality? Will it affect your enjoyment of the game at all? I’m guessing not, but I want some serious thought put into this. From what we’ve seen so far, SWTOR has but one generic dance, shared by everyone. Of course, it’s still in development, and this is likely to change. However, I think that having a killer set of moves is something that I would truly miss if SWTOR were to have a minimal dancing system. Personally, I’d just like something more.
Anyway, leave us a comment, share your feelings, tell us what you think, and just dance!
TORWars Podcast #77: The Big Subscribers Discussion
Galaxy of Guilds - Stellar Corsairs
Jedi Knight Weekly: Slaying the Dragon
James Ohlen Dishes Out Specific Expertise and PvP Damage Formulas
SWTOR Comic Strip: Fail Hunter Episode 35
I can honestly say that the lack of dancing in SWTOR would make absolutely no difference to me; I wouldn’t miss it. The fact that its there and fairly lackluster… well, pretty much the same impact.
Perhaps it’s because I don’t dance in real life, or something!
Honestly dancing is not that important really, if they are amusing dances I may do them for a few moments to chuckle but move on, something out of character. I do not suspect my Inquisitor would slaughter an entire room full of people and feel the need to break into dance, who knows though.
that might actualy be a cool idea,inquisitor lightning dance lol
I think in a group quest that would be realy funny
just finished a raid and funky dance next to dead (insert random creature)
He could do the ELECTRIC slide!
http://www.instantrimshot.nl/
I know some people that chose their race because of the dance moves. I don’t get that, but to each their own. Personally, I found the male troll dance the best there is in WoW and after that, the male undead and male nightelf. But I didn’t pick any of those for my first character. Dances are for fun. they give extra spice, if you are bored, but they aren’t uber important to me.
Daaaaaancing! I would be incredibly disappointed if there wasn’t a unique dance for every gender and race. I’d still get SWTOR, but I’d be a sad-panda.
I too will be absolutely devastated if each haircut and armorset does not feature a unique dance!
This video shows another reason why swg was amazing. Star Destroyers in the sky obviously.
All i need in SWTOR is my moonkin dance.
but I dunno, i think every class but jedi/sith should have a dance. Them dancing just doesnt seem… right. maybe twirl their lightsabers neatly.
MMO Dancing won’t make or break a game for me.
But I won’t be disappointed if my Pureblood Sith Warrior broke into a pop-lock routine after dispatching some enemies!
Dance options are nice to have- but for me I would prefer /silly. I was actually disappointed when my toons could not tell jokes in RIFT. (and was truly embarrassed at how bad they danced)
Emotes are very important for RPers but I only tend to use them when I’m bored or wating for someone or something in game.
Given some of the stuff that’s being put on the wall of crazy I dare say they’re not going to focus much on dancing.
Also, it’s a shame for SWG that people didn’t sing its praises as much as they are before it got canned
i feel dancing, like swimming, is one of those feature that many people could care less for, but at the end of the day, it’s something that can break people’s immersion. Usually when an mmo releases, the first thing some people do is check which emotes can be done and which were left out of the game. And when you are a supposed AAA-MMO, going after the biggest name in the business, there are a lot of little things that have no effect on the game itself, that will be expected. So my feeling is that, for an IP of this magnitude, dancing, and as many other emotes as the brain can think of, is going to be critical for this game.
Nothing more immersion-breaking than a Sith Inquisitor doing the macarena in his undies on top of a mailbox.
I didn’t unerstand the “magic” of the dancing emote when I played WoW, and I don’t understand it now. So, you can file my name under the “Couldn’t care less about dancing” section, if you please.
dancing and other emotes aren’t important to game play, but add too it. when i played WOW there was a few days when I would just goof off and emote is one of the way you can do that. that made the game more enjoyable and keep me playing longer.
the immersion breaking part isn’t so much seeing someone doing something oddly out of character, but not being able to do it at all. I very rarely /dance in-game or in real life, but its an option. If there are casual clothes that can be equipped in this game, and cantinas to peruse, I would expect to occasionally see someone /dance in that place.
Just like if I’m on the planet Alderan, which is a lush landscape with snow-capped mountains, and quite a large percentage of bodies of water, AND the map is said to be 7-8 WOW areas in size, i expect to have the ability to swim whether i choose to drop down to my undies or not. Just things that are expected from a AAA-MMO
actually i take back that first sentence. It is VERY immersion breaking to see someone do something oddly out of character like a sith inquisitor break dancing. But isn’t that how you would feel if you saw the chief of police doing the macarena while pulling someone over?
Yes, it is how I’d feel if I saw the chief of police cutting a rug during a routine traffic stop. Then again, I doubt the chief of police is a joyless, murdering, sociopathic warrior who was raised to know only hatred and rage and who’s colleagues would likely have a hard time deciding whether to murder him or murder him quickly if they saw him break-dancing in the middle of the street.
That’s why I can do with or without the dance emote. But then again, to each his own. *shrug* I can just as easily decide to simply not use it. I never cared about or for dancing in my mmos, that’s just the cut and dry of it.
On the other hand…
I did say before I planned on making my sith inquisitor insane, even by sith standards… *strokes chin*
Nothing more crazy than a sith who invites the emperor to do a tango…
Personally I want to see at the very lease entertaining dances for each class/race and gender. Maybe not go quite so far as synchronized dancing professions, but many a giggle will be lost if the dancing is lame.
Dancing is fun, and thats what games are about, having fun. If you don’t like the dancing emote, don’t dance. If seeing other people dance breaks your emersion, play a single player game.
Actually I read on the forums they were considering appearance tabs so that you couldn’t see what gear someone was wearing, maybe they’d consider an emote tab so you couldn’t see someone dancing if it’s that important to people.
omg i miss my SWG buds! we spent hours in the Mos Eisley cantina just hangin out and dancin. that was SWG’s (pre CU, CU, NGE) saving grace. no, not dancing in particular, but the community. and i’d argue it’s probably the biggest reason it lasted this long.
shout out to all the SF members from Radiant!
I think SWG probably spent more time developing dancing than they did the game part of it.
I don’t do a lot of dancing in MMORPGs. I like to have it there just for shits and giggles, but I wouldn’t be heartbroken if it weren’t in there.
I will be deeply saddened if dancing is lame in TOR. There is some great potential for this title.
Sith Warriors with their cybernetics and such, they should do the Robot.
Jedi with their 60s free love ideals, they should dance like a bunch of hippies on psychedelics.
Troopers, seeing as they have spent their early life missing out on all the new dance moves, they should feature the all powerful disco moves.
The Smuggler? You guessed it. These lucky buggers get Michael Jackson’s moves.
Bounty Hunters get break dancing, IAs get the Russian Kalinka dance, and SI get the fiery salsa.
It’s all in good fun, and it really does add a cheap chuckle to the game.