Personally I've always loathed to do PvP other than when I absolutely had to. I've spent the past several years in Star Wars Galaxies, where open world PvP was effectively destroyed by years of terrible updates and warzones that came in late and were buggy. In TOR beta though I decided to give them a shot and fell in love. I enjoy how the warzones force players to work together or get slaughtered. Even on Ilum we hid behind a snow dune and ambushed a superior Republic force between points, catching them unaware and destroying them. 

So for today's Force Reflection, let us know what you think about PvP in The Old Republic. Has it won you over or turned you away? Do you do it for fun, or just as part of your roleplay? Let us know your favorite stories too! PvP has and will remain a large focus of BioWare's development team, so hopefully we can all find something to enjoy about it.

So what does it all mean? When you're roleplaying, no one can force you to do anything with your character, right? Or do you give up a bit of that control when you step out into a wider world with other players? To be sure, there is no way we can all agree one way or the other, but that's why we have many servers, for different types of people, more then just PvE and PvP, though there is some parallel thinking going on. 

Are any of you even reading this? You're playing The Old Republic aren't you? Aren't you? Google can tell me if you are. For those of you too busy grinding to read the full thing I'll cut to the chase. Compromise is essential if we're going to coexist. Ultimately, surrounding yourself with only a small group of like-minded souls will eventually fall apart. There is no right way to work together – but more wrong ways then we can count – and many of them boil down to stop being such a jerk.

Tziena and Vaanthe are back from the second Fan Site Summit, held with the developers from BioWare and the selected fan sites for The Old Republic at the BioWare base in Austin, Texas. Game Director and Lead Designer James Ohlen, Lead Combat Designer Georg Zoeller, and Lead End-Game and PvP Designer Gabe Amatangelo participated in interviews and Q&A sessions during the Summit. Want to know what they discussed? We've compiled the best bits in another wrap-up where you'll find information on achievements, chat bubbles, social points and some of the items you'll be able to purchase, as well as details for character's wishing to maintain some neutrality on the light and dark side scale. PvP is discussed, as are game metrics used by BioWare to monitor specific in-game activities. Continue reading to soak up the best bits from the Fan Site Summit Q&A with the developers.

Achievements have been popping up in both PC and console games of late, and The Old Republic won't be seeing any shortage of them. James Ohlen kicks off proceedings by touching on the achievements system which will be available at launch. It is a system that can be easily expanded upon, and we'll be seeing more achievement additions in future updates implemented by BioWare. Don't expect to find achievements at every corner of the game, as it is still in the works, as well as being a system that James Ohlen believes is used more often by players making use of end-game content.

In-game combat for roleplayers in MMOs can be had in two main ways. The first consists of what we call an "emote duel." This consists of, majority of the time, a die roll which decides on which player lands the successful blow. This is determined by the highest roll of the die. This continues back and forth until someone loses a limb or they run away in utter defeat. The other form consists of using the game's combat mechanics. No die, just an all out brawl using the abilities given to the character classes of the game. This relies heavily upon character statistics, their equipment, as well as a proficiency in keyboard bashing. 

Roleplayers have their own preferences as to how duels are carried out, however the decision could possibly weigh heavily upon the game's ability to make combat look impressive. Perhaps this is something Star Wars: Galaxies failed to do, however BioWare have managed to make combat in The Old Republic to be much to the contrary; it is beautiful, almost as if we're watching a choreographed combat scene in a Star Wars film. The many in-game combat scenes depicted in some of BioWare's trailers, specifically the Join the Fight and Fate of the Galaxy trailers, are a clear representation of what BioWare like to call "heroic combat."

Here at SWTOR-RP, we've discussed emoting in The Old Republic extensively. It has been covered in All The Galaxy's A Stage: Emoting in RP, The Darker Side of Life: Emotes, Dice, and Duels, as well as the Codex of Roleplaying. We now pose the question of emoting in duels to you in this Force Reflection. Which do you prefer? The emoting style of combat, or the utilisation of the game's combat system? Pop your opinions in the comments section. 

Welcome back everyone to this week's The Darker Side of Life. In this edition, we will be discussing our characters and how we create and become attached to them. The two main issues here are called Mary Sue, and the IC/OOC divide. Mary Sue refers to the complexity of a character, their balance, and how much of ourselves we put into them. The IC/OOC divide is a term for how we keep ourselves as players separate from our characters, sometimes not always successfully. 

When I think of Mary Sues, I like to think of Duke Nukem. He represents an unstoppable killing machine bubbling over with testosterone that is out to kick ass, get the ladies, and nothing else. When it comes down to it though, it's not much fun to be in Duke Nukem's universe if you aren't the king himself. Mary Sues tend to put other roleplayers in a similar position, since they are often all powerful or unstoppable. The question is, where do you draw the line? How much is too much? 

The IC/OOC divide is an even more convoluted topic. We often put a bit of ourselves into our characters, but again, how much is too much? How do you know when you've become so attached to a character you cannot bear to see them harmed? Every roleplayer has become too attached at some point, and the question here is more how to deal with it when it happens, otherwise it can be a problem for everyone around you.

Roleplayers are renowned for their ability to immerse new characters in to a pre-established environment. We create characters from scratch, putting together physical features, personality attributes, skill trees, as well as a story to add the finishing touches. For roleplayers in an MMO based on Star Wars, there is one more aspect in character creation to take into consideration. The Star Wars universe if filled with countless creatures of all shapes and sizes. We've seen numerous species depicted in the Star Wars films and games, and with BioWare's addition to the Lucas universe in The Old Republic, we get to take our pick from a bunch of aliens for our characters. However, we need to ask ourselves, are we capable of immersing our characters into BioWare's fantasy world successfully with these alien choices for our characters?

In Sa Chi's latest edition of All The Galaxy's A Stage, he discusses the very topic of species and roleplay. It wouldn't be awfully difficult to roleplay a human character in The Old Republic, as we know how they perceive the world from our own experiences. However, when it comes to alien races, we need to take a bunch of other race-specific attributes into consideration. Twi'leks are capable of communicating via their lekku, Sith Pureblood can also communicate expressions by twitching their cheek tendrils, and the Miraluka perceive the force not by sight like other races, but by an ability called Force Sight. Here is a snippet of Sa Chi's take on the Miralukan ability and how it would affect roleplay:

The personality of a character created by a roleplayer for an MMO, such as The Old Republic, can be one of two things. The character's personality traits and habits will either be a mirror or slight extension of the roleplayer, or much to the contrary, where the character would be the complete opposite, sharing almost no similarities with it's maker. In The Old Republic, you could come to face a character who is your everyday nice guy, created by a person who is very much the same in real life. On the other hand, your everyday nice guy might just want to test the waters to see how evil they can be, hiding behind a virtual creation, reaping havoc across the Star Wars galaxy. Both options are viable, as the quality of roleplay isn't defined by how a character is created, but by how the roleplayer can immerse their character into the virtual world. 

In today's Force Reflection, tell us what was involved in creating the personality for your character. Are you the devil's advocate in real life, creating a mirror of yourself for the game so that you may slice and dice anyone that opposes you? Or are you going to lay your evil ways to rest during your game time with The Old Republic, donning the wings of an angel, swooping in to save those in need? Let us know whether your character is very much like yourself, if they're an extension of you, or if they're the complete opposite. Add your answers to the comments section below.