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General: LOGIN 2011 Keynote With Richard Garriott
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
MMORPG.com writer Carolyn Koh attended the opening of the LOGIN Conference in Washington state. The keynote address was delivered by famed game developer and astronaut Richard Garriott. Garriott's comments centered around what used to make good games and how those things are still critical to games today with one critical new component: Social relevance. Check out Carolyn's report and let us know your thoughts.
He illustrated what he meant with examples drawn from his own work as well as that of movies. Social relevance may sound like a lofty ideal but need not be hard to achieve. In Ultima V – Quest of the Avatar, the message contained was that virtues were worth defending. Ultima VI – False Prophet was a commentary on social and racial tolerance. Most fantasy games have them; it is the age old struggle of good against evil.
Read more of Carolyn Koh's LOGIN 2011 Keynote With Richard Garriott.
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Comments
I'll take 1 beuatiful handbag please.
Good article also.
I agree with a lot of what Mr. Garriott says most of the time...but I have some issues with his description of the 'eras' of gaming. I'd like to hear his original speech in its entirety to get the context, but from the paraphrasing it seems like he's saying that the eras of single-player and MMO RPGs are over, and I totally disagree with that idea.
The idea of wrapping a set of games up into a package and giving it bookends (calling it an ERA) just doesn't really describe what's actually happened in the industry over its history.
New genres of games are constantly evolving, but old genres don't dry up and blow away. We still see extremely successful and great-quality single player RPGs being made with plenty of new innovations to improve them, and the possibility still exists that we'll see more truly high-quality MMOs (despite the crap in the last five years) with their own innovations and improvements in game design. There's no doubt that social/casual/mobile gaming is becoming a huge market, but I don't think that's at the expense of the "older" genres...I think all types of games can continue to co-exist, and should.
When new developers start sitting down and deciding what kind of game they are going to make...I hate to think they are saying things like "The era of MMORPGs is over! We need to make a farmville-ish game to have success!" That kind of thinking seems just as dangerous as the corporate formulaic design thinking that has lead to all the MMORPG clones they’ve been forcing on us. There’s nothing wrong with making a new, better MMORPG…genres is a better word to describe groups of similar game designs, rather than eras…because “era” implies a finite time…I don’t think a particular style of game ever needs to go away completely, as long as developers truly love the genre and can find clever ways to innovate and keep things fresh.
I miss Tabula Rasa
good article
"Garriott also questioned whether gamers have change or if it were simply the industry tapping the formerly unserved or underserved gamers."
Despite the poor English, he is trying to state that those types of gamers are still alive and strong.
Great article.
Still to this day amazes me that EA were not willing to "take a risk" on Ultima Online when they were dealing with a man who had made them so much money from so many successfull titles, even if US had failed I am sure EA could have afforded to give them $300-$500k and write it off as a failed experiement and moved on without batting an eyelid.
He's been saying this for awhile and I'm not so patiently awaiting his new social game.
Well thats definitly how EA was and is still making money i guess. Those guys are just the vultur of this business as few others, nothing new or strange. Those guys definitly have their place in the biggest picture.
I guess R.G is still biting himself during his nightmares to have have sold one of the best rpg IP "Ultima", one he entirely made with his own hands. At that time a name meant nothing but is so valuable now, such a shame, most of the best Ip are now in some sub par hands, that moslty keep up on their laurel. Can't you EA guys just gave it to him back?
UO is still so much more advanced than any of the money machine crap they are doing now; only those that never played it claim otherwise. But i guess all that screaming suffocate that evidence to him and a lot others. Screams were so load at this time and even now. Sometime you wish our inner voice was a lot stronger really.
I was so sure Tabula rasa will bring back a little of your innocence in the scene, damn it.
I do not care if it is called UO plead R.G. make another game like it with 2011 tech.
MMO's should be about more social elements and things to do... people are tired of running dungeons/raiding and chasing gear for their only end game content.
Played: MCO - EQ/EQ2 - WoW - VG - WAR - AoC - LoTRO - DDO - GW/GW2 - Eve - Rift - FE - TSW - TSO - WS - ESO - AA - BD
Playing: Sims 3 & 4, Diablo3 and PoE
Waiting on: Lost Ark
Who's going to make a Cyberpunk MMO?
I have a lot of respect for Richard Garriott. He changed the gaming world multiple times and went to space!
UO is and will likely always be my favorite game ever made. I still miss it.
I think what he says about the future of gaming is true, although I don't think he was saying these viral free to start games cant be AAA titles.
Remember Old School Ultima Online
I would call his first era that of the hot seats. He makes it sound as if there were no multiplayer games before MMOs. Soloplayer games you do have all the time.
I miss Tabula Rasa.
"Never met a pack of humans that were any different. Look at the idiots that get elected every couple of years. You really consider those guys more mature than us? The only difference between us and them is, when they gank some noobs and take their stuff, the noobs actually die." - Madimorga
Era of social games, I guess for some, but a lot of us still prefer our original mmo's. It just shows how out of touch and eccentric Garriott really is.
I miss Tabula Rasa
The only way we will ever see another game like UO will be when the players get together and create a gaming company owned by players...and finally design the game they want to play and invest their time and money in to keep it successful