I love GDC post-mortems, and the deconstruction of Fallout and Diablo is a prime example. This year's latest all-digital GDC, Star Wars Galaxies, was on display as Creative Director Raf Koster and Executive Producer Richard Vogel dissected what went wrong with this infamous MMO. As the opening crawl states, "This is the story of the worst game that became a classic, and the most infamous patch in video game history."

Star Wars: Galaxies may be remembered fondly today for its crafting, player-driven economy, house customization, dancing, and focus on relatively mediocre characters, but it was a flop upon release. Much of it, Koster and Vogel say, was due to how rushed it was, and the developers' request for a six-month extension before launch was reduced to a one-month preparation period.

One of the features cut during that month was a system to track how players could unlock the ability to become a Jedi. The plan is that the player must complete a randomized series of activities, but is not told what they are. They would explore, learn, try everything, and then one day be told that they had connected with the Force. Instead, in the final game, they must use five skills chosen at random from a vast array of skills. This was "a very fateful decision made after 14 or 16 hours of crunching," Koster said.

The result was exactly what the developers wanted. Jedi were rare and mysterious, and most people played other characters. On average, one-third of the players on each server ran a store. Ignoring the rudimentary quests, role-playing, running beauty pageants, and making music videos became a game of making your own fun.

Yet it's a difficult angle to sell. A warrior with a laser sword is easier to make into a poster. As Koster explains, "We got a call from marketing saying, 'We need a Jedi in the game to do new marketing. We want to have the Jedi in the game by Christmas.' They first added a holocron that tells players what to do next to unleash the power of the Force, and soon those players abandoned the store in droves to grind their skills and become Jedi. This proved to be no fun, but it is impossible to suppress perfectionism.

Then the New Game Enhancements patch only added the Jedi as a class option, but overhauled and removed many of the existing systems. It alienated the community who missed the rough launch because the game about crafting, dancing, economics, home decorating and pets was what they actually wanted. They left in droves.

When Star Wars Galaxies closed in 2011, its final hours were filled with love for this much-maligned MMO, and players returned to log in one last time. As Vogel puts it, "They created their own stories in the Star Wars universe, and that was special to them."

Previous GDC postmortems have been posted on YouTube, and we expect this one to be posted soon.