Is SWTOR a 'big-boy' MMO now?

That's awesome and all, but you're being insulting. You know well and good that when people say that they love something, they sure as hell don't mean that they love something in the same way that we love our families.

Least of all, a game. But, you're not a stupid person, so you know that already. So, stop being trolly and insulting.

I was trying to put things in perspective, not insult. An emotion such as "love" (in the context he used it), seemed over the top to me. I'm guilty of using the word myself, so I assure you, no insult was intended.

Nice catch...I expect the hypocrisy from certain posters though.

Oh gawd, I do!

I sleep with the CE box under my arm, we pillow talk together. Sometimes I let Darth Malgus Statue get in on the action (he's a cuddler).

I take the CE with me everywhere, I even dress it. Some of my friends have drawn unfavorable analogies to the film Lars and the Real Doll, but I just hit them with Force Lightning and they quiet down.

They're not Force-sensitive so they use the Galactic Basic term "tazer", but as a proper Sith I know that it's Force Lightning.

How to explain the neckbeards that can be found on youtube and twitch that haven't called their family in weeks but converse with their cats hourly...

There's nothing wrong with that....

Anyway does "big" really even apply to MMOs anymore? What's the actual competition for that term?

Isn't the whole early-2000s MMO psycho-craze kind of deflated and it's just another specialized genre like single-player RPGs now?

WoW, probably the most significant MMO in Western gaming culture, lost its hype train and population growth a long time ago; even Blizzard's baby is firmly in "flatline" level where it has its loyal subscriber base that's not going away and that's about it.

New MMO launches don't seem to garner nearly the same interest or hype outside gamer microcommunities — I think people have moved on to other gaming pastures (like P2W phone-games they can diddle with between calls at work) and/or realized how monumentally wasteful dedicated MMO play is vs. other RL options.

So I guess for starters it's important to establish what "big" even means in this odd-ball genre nowadays.

I've often used the word in reference to books, movies, games, tech items and just about everything else that garners a good bit of my fondness.

I somehow doubt that you act like this in public when someone mentions how much they love their Iphone.

But, Internet, right?

I use the word love for lots of things I thoroughly enjoy. In fact, I hear people use the word to mean that all the time. It doesn't mean they're obsessed with whatever they "love". Hell, I love coffee. I wouldn't pick a cappuccino over my mother... Ok maybe I'd pick a double caramel espresso over my mother.

Well bully for you two but your personal definition is not held by all, so the question remains...