October 9, 1997…it is a date well known among the most eccentric Star Wars fan boys. The day Jedi Knight was released changed thhe face of online gaming.

In Dark Forces, Kyle Katarn, a young mercenary successfully infiltrated the Empire. Jedi Knight continues the story of Katarn as he embarks on a quest into his past and learns the mysterious ways of the Jedi. With this knowledge, he must stop seven Dark Jedi from unlocking the powers of a hidden Jedi burial ground. This task forces Katarn to decide his destiny. If he chooses the Dark side, he will come into enormous power. If he chooses the Light side, he faces seemingly insurmountable evil. Whatever path Katarn chooses will change the face of the galaxy forever.

An often looked over, but extremely important part of Jedi Knight’s longevity was the addictive online mode. The game lacked a dedicated server and was hosted by the MSN Gaming Zone, although several “IP boards” were hosted on fan sites such as JediKnight.net and Qtracker. Most games were confined to the Nar Shaddaa (Nar) game room which became a refuge for clan wars, recruitment, and challenge. There were five game types. The choice of the ‘elite’ or those aspiring to be were, Full Force (FF) Battle Ground Jedi (BGJ) and Canyon Oasis (CO) and No Force (NF) Battle Ground Jedi and JI Oasis (an add on level created by the Jedi Infantry clan).

A few clans also specialised in the Capture the Flag (CTF) feature but it much less popular than the four key settings. The greater learning curve of the game over most other FPS games of the time, due to the inclusion of extended melee combat (far advanced for the time) and the Force Powers created something of a gap between skilled veterans and newer players. The “NF” servers tended to attract beginners who were more easily discouraged by the fast pace of “FF” play, and was a training area for those who wished to play “Sabers Only” (there was actually no lightsaber only gametype in JK, this was something added in the sequels) and many simple agreed upon their own made up rules in order to facilitate “saber parties,” though these were generally loosely enforced.

While Canyon Oasis was undoubtably the most played multiplayer map and generally well liked due to its variety of weapons/pickups and varied terrain (including water tunnels and ramps). It was also brightly lit, meaning stealth was a less viable tactic as it was in many of the darker maps favored by the development team and mod makers. Despite its huge popularity, there was a movement against its overuse as well (and the proliferation of poor quality remakes of the Canyon Oasis map often merely with some textures changed, extra sniper nests added or extra ammo strewn about), to the point where a prominent addon using player group was formed with the slogan “Because we’re sick of Canyon Oasis.”

Unfortunately at times the game suffered from extensive cheating, until the third party program known as “Kicker Helper” was released to combat the cheating, by allowing the host to rename players and remove certain hacks, restore levels and kick them. JK’s permissive checksum system was what allowed most of the “hacks” or “cogs” (as the cheats were commonly called) to work, an unfortunate side effect of the ease of editing.

Another problem was the font display made it extremely easy for cheaters to use long ascii-laden names in order to avoid being kicked (the primary problem which Kicker Helper addressed). In all, the cheating created an atmosphere of paranoia, in which accusations were much more common than the cheating itself.

In the end…the fun factor far outweighed the risk of having a cheater in your game, since most people only played with friends and people they knew. I will forever have fond memories of this game and as it turns out, I am still friends with a few of the members from the clan I was in.