Former SWG Developer Jeff Freeman Dies

Jeff Freeman, former leader gameplay designer on Star Wars Galaxies, has committed suicide, according to his brother and his employer Zenimax Online. Freeman, considered by many of his peers past and present as a solid developer with a great work ethic, is best known for the infamous “New Game Enhancements” update that dramatically changed SWG.

This update, which Freeman only had a minimal part in developing, ruined his reputation online. Fans of the game decided, despite evidence to the contrary, that Freeman was responsible for the update and took every opportunity to berate, assail and insult him.

The Escapist did a great job of chronicling Freeman’s terrible treatment at the hands of fans in this article. Raph Koster, Former lead developer of Star Wars Galaxies, talked about Freeman on his blog this morning, after hearing the sad news:

He did much more, but for me that was a shining moment. This was a guy older than me, a guy with more life experience, frankly. But to me Jeff was the guy that I found out there and helped and advised and hired and watched blossom. He was on his own trajectory - no question - but I am not someone who has really been a mentoring type, honestly, for whatever reason. He was a guy I could point to who had challenged me, learned from me when I had something to offer, and forged his own path. He went on to do great work on Jump to Lightspeed and then with Spacetime.

We disagreed about the NGE. But I also knew that when he got blamed for the whole thing, that it was a silly oversimplification, and I said so. It wasn’t fair for him to be the public face of the NGE, but it happened anyway. He spent a huge amount of time talking to the players, talking to people for years afterwards, explaining, apologizing, justifying what he didn’t need to and shouldn’t have had to.

Despite all the chaos that SWG caused Freeman, the game was not the reason he committed suicide, according to his brother. A memorial service will be held for Freeman in his hometown of Austin, Texas, on October 2. Freeman was 39. 

Source: The Escapist