I just deleted my secondary Star Wars Galaxies account. This means that I just deleted my character Saphiri. I probably would not have mentioned this had it not been for the exit survey that Sony Online Entertainment asked me to complete. I looked forward to this survey, because I welcomed the opportunity to tell them exactly why I deleted this account, and why ultimately I've left the game.

Well, it's not that kind of survey. They give you a list of things to choose from. None of which address the real reasons I quit the game and cancelled this account. For example, one section asks what you liked about the game (choose up to three), but there's no section where you can check off what you didn't like the game. All of the possible answers are slanted toward keeping Sony from hearing what they don't want to hear.

Okay. So here's what I would have like to have been able to say. I quit playing Star Wars Galaxies because Sony forced through the Combat Upgrade, a system overhaul that was almost universally hated by SWG players. Sony brushed aside the concerns, comments and complaints of the community, and essentially told players to get used to it. The new system completely changed the character of the game, and made it virtually unplayable for me. It made it virtually impossible to play the game as a combat oriented character without grouping with other players. And while I enjoyed grouping with other players when I chose to do so, I also liked the fact that I could just go knock around the SWG universe on my own when I so desired. I greatly resented the fact that Sony forced me to group with other players if I wanted to advance my character.

In the end, Sony told SWG players to kiss its ass, and that this was the way that it was going to be, and to get used to it. So while it may have taken me some time to finally shut down this secondary account, I am well aware of my reasons for doing so. So tonight I went on and finished moving over Saphiri's belongings to my main character, Mesu. I resigned from my guild, sat Saphiri in Mesu's house, and went onto the Sony web site and deleted the account. Sony will no longer receive any more of my money than is absolutely necessary.

And what about Mesu? Well, she's on my station access account, so it doesn't cost me anything extra to keep her. She's bundled with my Everquest characters. Saphiri had an account of her own. And if SWG had been more like Everquest II, where you can create multiple characters on the same server, I'd still have Saphiri. And I deeply resent that Sony has forced me into a position where I had to delete a character that I was very fond of. To be honest, if Sony had not fundamentally changed a game that I love, I would still find ways to justify that $20 a month subscription fee. But thanks to their changes, I doubt that I would ever have played Saphiri again. It doesn't cost me anything extra to park Mesu and leave her in limbo. Saphiri cost me $20 a month.

Bye, SWG. I'll miss the friends I made there. While I may park Mesu and keep that subscription open (because it's bundled with my EQ account and costs nothing extra), I doubt I will ever play Star Wars Galaxies to any great extent again. Thanks, Sony, for really screwing up the game that introduced me to online gaming.