Not from a galaxy far, far away, of course. We're talking about the digital Jedi within LucasArts and Sony Online Entertainment's Star Wars Galaxies, a group of players who more than any other embody both the promise and frustrations of a massively multiplayer online game (MMOG).

Development of any MMOG is a careful balancing act, like spinning a thousand plates on poles at once and not letting any of them fall. In a single-player title, game developers can tailor the game experience to one player. Not so online, where everybody is a paid subscriber and one player's fun can't take priority over another. In Grand Theft Auto players can steal cars; in an online game, players couldn't steal cars without the owners getting upset and canceling their subscriptions. It's (literally) a whole different world. Making an MMOG is tough.