Hail and well met, Lord British.
I want to open this comment with a quote from Paul Bowls, taken from "The Sheltering Sky", because I think in it's two separate messages, it sums up the response I wanted to make to your fascinating interview today.
“Because we don't know when we will die, we get to think of life as an inexhaustible well. Yet everything happens only a certain number of times, and a very small number really. How many more times will you remember a certain afternoon of your childhood, an afternoon that is so deeply a part of your being that you can't even conceive of your life without it? Perhaps four, five times more, perhaps not even that. How many more times will you watch the full moon rise? Perhaps 20. And yet it all seems limitless.”
I want to tell you one of the afternoons that has become a core of my life. 1989, and the release of Ultima IV for the Sega Master System; I'd never heard of the series before, but coming from having just experienced my first true roleplaying game (Ancient Ys) and on the back of a fantastic review in the British (United Kingdom British!) media, I'd set out on the 3 hour round trip via public transport to Nottingham city centre to pick up a copy. Arriving home, I'd plugged straight in, and was just completely moved by the opening Gypsy introduction, and the clear work of art and love that was the game's setting... but oh no! The battery back save didn't work. I had to play on though, because suddenly I knew where I wanted the rest of the week to be spent. And there was just enough time to get back to the shops before they closed...
I'll always remember that
second journey home,
knowing this time what I was about to experience, reading the lore that came with the game, and gazing out of the window into the sunlight and pondering the journey to be taken, and what I'd learn about myself in this remarkable game. And for that I'll always be eternally grateful to you, Lord British and Origin Systems, for providing such a core, and happy memory that day. And if ever someone was to seek a deep understanding of my own being, that day will be part of this discovery,
But... as I listened to the interview, it also reminded of a wider truth. These moments are fleeting and, for most people, only very rare indeed. And without the key to actual understanding, I'm afraid to say they remain largely worthless to anyone else. I know every poster here can understand to some degree what I've spoken about Ultima IV, because we all love Ultima in some way, or admire your fantastic career in the creative arts, or are just basically gamers at heart and share a core set of similar experiences; We truly have been "Ultima Collectors". Yet the great unspoken about Social Media, indeed society in general is that what keeps it constructive is the ability to negatively filter your experience too.
Let me explain what I mean with a very, very simple illustration. Every person who lives now, and every person who has ever lived, is the direct product of an act they really don't want to think about in too much detail
thank you. After all, have you ever wondered what pet names your father was whispering when... no no NO! Stop that line of thought right now. Of course, we all hope that it was an act of love, but even if it was the sort of love that Greek epic literature could be written about, no one we really want's to see it with too much fidelity, especially the closer it gets to their own person.
And I thought of that when you were talking about your understanding of the social "Tribes". I couldn't help but think about my own, extremely small Facebook tribe, and however much as I love them, I don't really pay all that much attention to everything about them, much less feel particularly warm and fuzzy to hear how big the poo your baby just did is. And to be brutally honest, during this interview too, whilst I believe George seems a lovely chap, I was still seriously wincing when during the interview he talked about the love of his life so enthusiastically... the distance between inspiration and ick really is very, very small indeed, and it was a bit
too much of George for my tastes then.
That is of course a flaw in my own self centred perspective, but sadly it's the only one I have to work with. And so, if you will forgive the cheekiness of this comment, I hope you are giving serious thought to making sure the avatar of "Ultimate RPG" really isn't too much of "play as yourself"... Great art hardly ever comes from only looking inwards! And to tie in with your commentary about games design, it's entirely to avoid the horrors this can lead too that modern games are such as they are; Zynga games like Farmville are just going for the Pavlovian response-reward method of addiction, and bypassing entirely any higher behavioural engagement (except for viral marketting via appeals to self interest like being awared a special coloured pig)... and modern MMOs like you discussed have gone for the pure common denominator (Combat class) because they've not found a way to balance providing a playground for us all in the light of the fact that we're mostly ham fisted when we aren't actively malevolent. And on the other hand, something like the creative tools of Spore acted as an "artistic amplifier", putting as it did the ability to basically 3d model in the hands of even the sausage-fingered like me...
My point then is that what we loved about Ultima, and where your real strength lies, was as the old statement went "Creating Worlds." And we came along for the ride because we found them
better worlds, because for all their restrictions of technology, when inspirationally sculpted, these games were actually a focus for us, rather than a fault of yours!
So I'll be watching the development of Portalarium with interest, but please... give us more of the man who went to space but came back still humble, rather then lots more of me spread out everywhere; there's a reason I don't have my webcam on all the time, you know!
