I want to know what EA now thinks of Richard Garriott

[Derium of ls]

Before you go and lock this, hear me out!

most of us remember the whole thing with OSI/EA/Starr Long/Richard Garriott (if you do not know why our Lord is missing, I beg you to look it up).

And I know tempers ran rather high and all parties involved were left with a sour taste in their mouths, seeing this was over ten years ago now, how do you think they view our Lord? i have wondered that for some time now

I talk to Lord British on facebook (granted, it's not too much) but he has never said anything about UO, he actually seems to shy away from it. The best I got out of him was a knighting of me, being known in the land as "Sir Derium" (I could gloat ALL day about being the only official Knight by Lord British that I know of... but I'll spare you all from that, well... except for what I just said ha)

I think they used his character a while ago didn't they? Last I knew he owned the rights to Lord British therefore wouldn't allow them to use his character after the whole mess, but after that I am unaware of how they got use of it.

 

[Dermott of LS]

...

If I remember correctly, he showed up at one of the Town Halls for the 10th Anniversary celebration and had some pretty nice things to say about the game... if there was any animosity, it didn;t seem to be on show or reported in any way.

 

[BeefSupreme]

My guess is he's waiting for EA to lose a bunch more money until they are desperate,
then buy back the ultima name on the cheap.

That's what I'd do.

 

[Cloak&Dagger]

I know he has spoken about UO a couple of times in interviews over the last few years. Also the last time they used his char, from what I can remember personally is when AOS launched, and that was to retire his char, this of course could be wrong but I can not remember them using his char after that.

In other news, I am sure EA could care less, *shrugs* just my opinion on the matter, I really do not see a reason why they would care anyhow.

 

[Longest Journey]

Before you go and lock this, hear me out!

most of us remember the whole thing with OSI/EA/Starr Long/Richard Garriott (if you do not know why our Lord is missing, I beg you to look it up).

And I know tempers ran rather high and all parties involved were left with a sour taste in their mouths, seeing this was over ten years ago now, how do you think they view our Lord? i have wondered that for some time now

I talk to Lord British on facebook (granted, it's not too much) but he has never said anything about UO, he actually seems to shy away from it. The best I got out of him was a knighting of me, being known in the land as "Sir Derium" (I could gloat ALL day about being the only official Knight by Lord British that I know of... but I'll spare you all from that, well... except for what I just said ha)

I think they used his character a while ago didn't they? Last I knew he owned the rights to Lord British therefore wouldn't allow them to use his character after the whole mess, but after that I am unaware of how they got use of it.

Garriot said not too long ago he would like to work on Ultima again. Something about he'd do it "by hook or by crook". Bascially, by any means necessary.

I think hes just making the facebook browser games for money so he would be able to buy back the Ultima series, and hopefully UO too.

 

[Derium of ls]

wow, I didn't know that, awesome. If we ever had a hope of him correcting AoS (or at the time UO:R) it would be that man

if he came back that would be the single best thing to happen to this game, not to plug a classic shard... well okay, you get my point ha.

As for the facebook aps, I thought he was still pretty loaded on cash, I wouldn't imagine he would have to save up to buy his baby back.

 

[Guido_LS]

Lemme preface this by saying that all of us owe a great debt of gratitude for the RPG industry to OSI, SirTech and Infocom - if not for those 3, I have serious doubts that it would have ever gotten to this point.

In that vein, of course we all owe Richard Garriott a huge debt of gratitude as the founding father of one of the original *big* 3.

But as with all things, his importance in today's gaming industry is questionable, at best.

EA will see him as someone that, depending on who's version of history you believe, not only got forced out of EA, but also out of NCSoft, with his newest vision, Tabula Rasa shut down.

He's lived more dreams than most of us are entitled to have even once in life. He launched one of the most successful RPG series of all times. He launched one of the longest running MMORPG's of all times. He had the opportunity to actually launch a 2nd. He was able to live his dream of going in to space.

There aren't too many things, if any, that he's entitled to. And I'm not entirely certain he'd be a welcomed re-addition to the UO universe. There's been entirely too much water under the bridge.

 

[Konge]

Lemme preface this by saying that all of us owe a great debt of gratitude for the RPG industry to OSI, SirTech and Infocom - if not for those 3, I have serious doubts that it would have ever gotten to this point.

In that vein, of course we all owe Richard Garriott a huge debt of gratitude as the founding father of one of the original *big* 3.

But as with all things, his importance in today's gaming industry is questionable, at best.

EA will see him as someone that, depending on who's version of history you believe, not only got forced out of EA, but also out of NCSoft, with his newest vision, Tabula Rasa shut down.

He's lived more dreams than most of us are entitled to have even once in life. He launched one of the most successful RPG series of all times. He launched one of the longest running MMORPG's of all times. He had the opportunity to actually launch a 2nd. He was able to live his dream of going in to space.

There aren't too many things, if any, that he's entitled to. And I'm not entirely certain he'd be a welcomed re-addition to the UO universe. There's been entirely too much water under the bridge.

Agreed...

 

[Tukaram]

I've seen interviews of him where he said the early days of UO were a social experiment gone wrong. He honestly did not think the PK's run as rampant as they did. He said the behavior, because of the anonymity of the internet, was a surprise. So don't count him reverting UO:R, if he came back...

I did see an interview lately where he said he was making the FB games because that is the what of the future for gaming. No installation or upfront purchase. A friend tells you about a game, sends you a link, you sign in and start playing. He wants them to start with the FB game and can buy 'stuff' like all the FB games, then can move over to a more internet based, similar/same? game with various in-game purchases, possibly free areas and pay areas. He seemed a bit vague because he was not sure which would best, until he gets there. He did say he would definitely be making another "Lord British type game".

But he also said his favorite online game to play is Toon Town.

 

[Jhym]

In answer to your question, they don't.

Their style of games doesn't lend itself to his type of game building. They have no reason to link up with him until he builds something that is profitable.

As for me, I never was particularly a fan of his, and his willingness to leave his works (games) by the wayside and find something "better" means he will never build something that people could be certain he'd stay with.

I'm very glad British is gone, I hope he stays gone. I was always more a fan of Blackthorn anyway.

 

[Storm]

Without gygax and DnD We would not have a lot of the games we have or at least in the incarnations we know today including UO!
But as for on the computer itself Origin was for sure at the top tier !

 

[Gheed]

As for me, I never was particularly a fan of his, and his willingness to leave his works (games) by the wayside and find something "better" means he will never build something that people could be certain he'd stay with.

There are a few brilliant people who create. The rest of us maintain. RG is a creator. Those types don't stay with anything long. I wouldn't think that he is looking for something better really... just looking for something new. If it weren't for that state of mind we wouldn't have this game to begin with.

 

[G.v.P]

I think hes just making the facebook browser games for money so he would be able to buy back the Ultima series, and hopefully UO too.

Wow, you can make money from those? I just ignore them all ;D

 

[Sneaky Que]

I've seen interviews of him where he said the early days of UO were a social experiment gone wrong. He honestly did not think the PK's run as rampant as they did. He said the behavior, because of the anonymity of the internet, was a surprise. So don't count him reverting UO:R, if he came back...

Nothing went wrong, some people just like PvP and PKing people. Nothing wrong with that.

In an odd sort of summary... Being safe from evil is, in my mind, an uneven tradeoff for the fact that you don't get to be heroes anymore, in that you can just opt out of fighting evil. It may be nobody wants to be heroes except when it doesn't count, when it isn't challenging, that people would rather fight "pretend evil" than the real thing, but I don't personally believe that. I still think people are better than that.

I know this is an odd and probably controversial (perhaps even stupid) position to take, but it's how I feel. I think that the greatest value of interactive entertainment is when it engages you for real, and teaches you things for real. It is what made the Ultima series great. For me, the struggle to be good, to be one of the good guys, is where people were really challenged in UO, and it's not really a challenge that exists elsewhere. Sure, you can choose not to use ShowEQ, or choose not to auction spawn points in AC on eBay, but these are not as immediate and direct as dealing with people "virtually" face to face. Being safe from the only real evil in the game, and choosing not to fight it is, well, just fine, but it's also nothing that is going to teach you about where you stand. It's the difference between living the Virtues and, well, playing them in a computer game.

~Raph Koster (lead designer; OSI 1997)
http://www.raphkoster.com/gaming/postmortem.shtml

 

[Aurelius]

I think hes just making the facebook browser games for money so he would be able to buy back the Ultima series, and hopefully UO too.

I love the irony that whilst he's getting in to Facebook games and the profits they may hold by setting up a company to design and make the games, EA have just woken up to that being a market they realise they need to be in, and are going about it the usual EA way - buying someone who is already involved in it.

 

[Morgana LeFay (PoV)]

If there was room...this would be my signature here...

In an odd sort of summary... Being safe from evil is, in my mind, an uneven tradeoff for the fact that you don't get to be heroes anymore, in that you can just opt out of fighting evil. It may be nobody wants to be heroes except when it doesn't count, when it isn't challenging, that people would rather fight "pretend evil" than the real thing, but I don't personally believe that. I still think people are better than that.

I know this is an odd and probably controversial (perhaps even stupid) position to take, but it's how I feel. I think that the greatest value of interactive entertainment is when it engages you for real, and teaches you things for real. It is what made the Ultima series great. For me, the struggle to be good, to be one of the good guys, is where people were really challenged in UO, and it's not really a challenge that exists elsewhere. Sure, you can choose not to use ShowEQ, or choose not to auction spawn points in AC on eBay, but these are not as immediate and direct as dealing with people "virtually" face to face. Being safe from the only real evil in the game, and choosing not to fight it is, well, just fine, but it's also nothing that is going to teach you about where you stand. It's the difference between living the Virtues and, well, playing them in a computer game.

~Raph Koster (lead designer; OSI 1997)
http://www.raphkoster.com/gaming/postmortem.shtml

 

[Llewen]

Lemme preface this by saying that all of us owe a great debt of gratitude for the RPG industry to OSI, SirTech and Infocom - if not for those 3, I have serious doubts that it would have ever gotten to this point.

In that vein, of course we all owe Richard Garriott a huge debt of gratitude as the founding father of one of the original *big* 3.

But as with all things, his importance in today's gaming industry is questionable, at best.

EA will see him as someone that, depending on who's version of history you believe, not only got forced out of EA, but also out of NCSoft, with his newest vision, Tabula Rasa shut down.

He's lived more dreams than most of us are entitled to have even once in life. He launched one of the most successful RPG series of all times. He launched one of the longest running MMORPG's of all times. He had the opportunity to actually launch a 2nd. He was able to live his dream of going in to space.

There aren't too many things, if any, that he's entitled to. And I'm not entirely certain he'd be a welcomed re-addition to the UO universe. There's been entirely too much water under the bridge.

Well said. Frankly I think this falls under the heading, "Be careful what you wish for." I don't think Tabula Rasa was anything like old school UO and I think anyone that thinks Lord British would come back and restore the glory days of Ultima Online and reverse all the changes made since then is dreaming in technicolor.

 

[Trebr Drab]

Well said. Frankly I think this falls under the heading, "Be careful what you wish for." I don't think Tabula Rasa was anything like old school UO and I think anyone that thinks Lord British would come back and restore the glory days of Ultima Online and reverse all the changes made since then is dreaming in technicolor.

I've read from some developer types somewhere that NCsoft had put someone else in with Garriott as sort of a co-leader of the project, and forced changes that Garriott didn't want.

Realize that these guys are not the dictators of production, they are parts of teams, and the real authority is the money behind it. What typically seems to happen is that a development leader has an innovative idea, but some others on the team don't belive in it and want to stick with the old standby, "level grind". That leads to a problem that ends up facing the money people, and they usually will go the safe route, WoW clonism.

Edit to add: This is why we have "dumb down". True innovators and those with vision often have their ideas hampered by those who lack said vision. They are truly alone at the top. Being a true leader is a very lonely business. The only way Garriott or anyone else can get what they want out there is to have control. And that control is hard to come by. He had it for UO until EA saw how successful it was going to be. And even then, at first, since there was no competition, Garriott had control. But once things went wrong with rampant PKing and droves leaving the game, and they failed to get in a working justice system after several attempts, EA took over. And Garriott left.

 

[canary]

Before you go and lock this, hear me out!

most of us remember the whole thing with OSI/EA/Starr Long/Richard Garriott (if you do not know why our Lord is missing, I beg you to look it up).

And I know tempers ran rather high and all parties involved were left with a sour taste in their mouths, seeing this was over ten years ago now, how do you think they view our Lord? i have wondered that for some time now

I talk to Lord British on facebook (granted, it's not too much) but he has never said anything about UO, he actually seems to shy away from it. The best I got out of him was a knighting of me, being known in the land as "Sir Derium" (I could gloat ALL day about being the only official Knight by Lord British that I know of... but I'll spare you all from that, well... except for what I just said ha)

I think they used his character a while ago didn't they? Last I knew he owned the rights to Lord British therefore wouldn't allow them to use his character after the whole mess, but after that I am unaware of how they got use of it.

Heck I doubt most of the current team even KNOWS who Lord British is. rolleyes:

 

[Otis Firefly]

little quote from draconi not to long ago on the LB subject..guess he's offered to come to UO a few times since he left..

Thank you so much, but no, nothing can compare to the loss of our great liege... and yet, is hope lost? Nay! He's offered several times even during my tenure to make a return...

Perhaps one day the stars shall align and allow for such a fortunate event to come to pass

Having met Lord British at the 10th Anniversary UO celebration in Austin, I can assure you he still cares very much for the world he brought to life.

 

[Llewen]

I've read from some developer types somewhere that NCsoft had put someone else in with Garriott as sort of a co-leader of the project, and forced changes that Garriott didn't want.

Realize that these guys are not the dictators of production, they are parts of teams, and the real authority is the money behind it. What typically seems to happen is that a development leader has an innovative idea, but some others on the team don't belive in it and want to stick with the old standby, "level grind". That leads to a problem that ends up facing the money people, and they usually will go the safe route, WoW clonism.

Edit to add: This is why we have "dumb down". True innovators and those with vision often have their ideas hampered by those who lack said vision. They are truly alone at the top. Being a true leader is a very lonely business. The only way Garriott or anyone else can get what they want out there is to have control. And that control is hard to come by.

Garriott had a special idea. It wasn't completely original, but it was at the leading edge, and he created something special. But you are having memory problems if you imagine that there were no serious problems while he was at the helm.

But once things went wrong with rampant PKing and droves leaving the game, and they failed to get in a working justice system after several attempts...

Exactly.

He had it for UO until EA saw how successful it was going to be.

This is flat out nonsense. You've clearly bought into the culture of conspiracy theories that exists on the net. I'm no fan of EA, but the problems they have created were the result of greed and incompetence, not some grand plan to destroy UO. If they had truly wanted to destroy UO they could simply have chosen to shut it down years ago.

My post here was flat out nonsense. I misread what Trebr posted...

 

[Evlar]

Do you think he would bring us some classic shards though?

 

[G.v.P]

little quote from draconi not to long ago on the LB subject..guess he's offered to come to UO a few times since he left..

Okay, so when is Draconi anddddddd LB joining forces to make something cool?

 

[popps]

little quote from draconi not to long ago on the LB subject..guess he's offered to come to UO a few times since he left..

Thank you so much, but no, nothing can compare to the loss of our great liege... and yet, is hope lost? Nay! He's offered several times even during my tenure to make a return...

Perhaps one day the stars shall align and allow for such a fortunate event to come to pass

Having met Lord British at the 10th Anniversary UO celebration in Austin, I can assure you he still cares very much for the world he brought to life.

I would really love to see Ultima Online again on stores' shelves in the new games section, fresh arrivals, and see magazines articles all over the place talking about some breakthrough in the gaming technology that it achieved.

Who knows.........

For example, I seem to recall that the original plan was about having dynamic spawns with monsters roaming the towns when there was shortage of food and stuff like that.
Perhaps now, after some 13 years it could be possible to code into UO some very special new monsters' AI that would make it be once again the game of the moment ?

It would be amazing, a game old 13 years becoming again the hit of the moment because of new, great AI code put into it which no other game out there has.......

 

[Rhiannon]

I've seen interviews of him where he said the early days of UO were a social experiment gone wrong. He honestly did not think the PK's run as rampant as they did. He said the behavior, because of the anonymity of the internet, was a surprise. So don't count him reverting UO:R, if he came back...

Nothing went wrong, some people just like PvP and PKing people. Nothing wrong with that.

I think the point is that it wasn't what RG had in mind when he envisioned UO. I know it sure wasn't what I and all of my friends had in mind when we started playing. I envisioned an online version of the game series. You lived in a world where virtues existed. You saved the world from nasty creatures and evil. You became virturous and a hero based on your deeds.

But what happened early on, and what made all of my original friends leave, was that people (mostly bored kids from my experience) found ways to crash the game, they found ways to cheat and ruin the economy, they found ways to steal homes that represented hundreds of hours of work for people to achieve and be proud of. All of the people I originally started playing with were late 30-something year olds with full time jobs. That means that our UO time was limited to nights and weekends. Twice we had our guild home keys stolen and everything we had accumulated stolen. All of my friends were disgusted and quit within a year of the UO launch. It was a waste of their precious relaxation time. Our line at the time to the Pkers was "if you want to play like that, go play Diablo". I believe that RG felt the same way.

 

[Trebr Drab]

I've read from some developer types somewhere that NCsoft had put someone else in with Garriott as sort of a co-leader of the project, and forced changes that Garriott didn't want.

Realize that these guys are not the dictators of production, they are parts of teams, and the real authority is the money behind it. What typically seems to happen is that a development leader has an innovative idea, but some others on the team don't belive in it and want to stick with the old standby, "level grind". That leads to a problem that ends up facing the money people, and they usually will go the safe route, WoW clonism.

Edit to add: This is why we have "dumb down". True innovators and those with vision often have their ideas hampered by those who lack said vision. They are truly alone at the top. Being a true leader is a very lonely business. The only way Garriott or anyone else can get what they want out there is to have control. And that control is hard to come by.

Garriott had a special idea. It wasn't completely original, but it was at the leading edge, and he created something special. But you are having memory problems if you imagine that there were no serious problems while he was at the helm.

But once things went wrong with rampant PKing and droves leaving the game, and they failed to get in a working justice system after several attempts...

Exactly.

He had it for UO until EA saw how successful it was going to be.

This is flat out nonsense. You've clearly bought into the culture of conspiracy theories that exists on the net. I'm no fan of EA, but the problems they have created were the result of greed and incompetence, not some grand plan to destroy UO. If they had truly wanted to destroy UO they could simply have chosen to shut it down years ago.

WTH are you running on about?

Fact: EA bought Origins before UO was made.
Fact: Making UO was part of the deal with EA
Fact: At first EA pretty much ignored UO, then realized the potential from web interest.
Fact: At that point EA gave the UO team a load of assets to help and UO was expanded in concept.
Fact: UO, being a first of it's kind, was a sort of social experiment, and rampant PKing started killing subscription numbers.
Fact: When various forms of a justice system didn't work, EA pushed for and got Trammel
Fact: EA also at this time cancelled another online project that Garriott was working on, called "Privateer Online".
Fact: At this point Garriott left.

 

[Llewen]

WTH are you running on about?

Apologies, I misunderstood what you posted. I thought you were saying that EA wanted to destroy UO. Missed my medication I guess...

 

[Trebr Drab]

No worries.

 

[sablestorm]

I talk to Lord British on facebook (granted, it's not too much) but he has never said anything about UO, he actually seems to shy away from it. The best I got out of him was a knighting of me, being known in the land as "Sir Derium" (I could gloat ALL day about being the only official Knight by Lord British that I know of... but I'll spare you all from that, well... except for what I just said ha)

Yeah, don't get big headed about that. Just remember that Lord British's knights got owned by mongbats, allowing him to be captured by the Shadowlords.

 

[Trebr Drab]

I talk to Lord British on facebook (granted, it's not too much) but he has never said anything about UO, he actually seems to shy away from it. The best I got out of him was a knighting of me, being known in the land as "Sir Derium" (I could gloat ALL day about being the only official Knight by Lord British that I know of... but I'll spare you all from that, well... except for what I just said ha)

Yeah, don't get big headed about that. Just remember that Lord British's knights got owned by mongbats, allowing him to be captured by the Shadowlords.

Hehehe, Darium is Mongbat bait. hehe

 

[Ahuaeyjnkxs]

You guys are sooo far off its kind of scary...

But I think yall are cool and psychically "present", but a bit naive to think pking got Gariott or anyone out of the game. It shows you guys never got into a big corporative show. Those that plainly bash on RG's face personality... don't even deserve a comment.

Follow the money and political pressure ; you'll get a glimpse of the truth I am not allowed to write here because of more or less justifiable censorship. It's when you tell stuff like "stratics is hated by off boarders" that it tickled my 6th sense...

You're "new" here, and you're being BOLD which is a bit suspicious, because once again I'll say it... stratics IS UO... community is UO. If it's been corrupted as well, you're as responsible as the rest for letting it happen. I don't know about any of that stuff and it's really uninteresting to me.

And about that "evil" theory, I think that all evil corrupted by money or sex are just pathetic lumps of non life that fail to be dynamic. I am genuinely the only true evil remaining anywhere, the rest have compromised, or have retired to pretending and mocking the rest of the time. Seeing Raph saying that isn't very surprising, I'm going to keep my opinion to myself I guess.

Oh and yes popps, I still hold that great AI code... actually it's a AI metaframe that would change everything and propel ANY game to number 1 and beyond, and it was delivered straight into my brain by the genius AI that was programmed by Nystul (whoever that was) that is the wisp AI that fused with my spirit and prevented me from becoming the Avatar. A heavy penalty for playing around with powerful magics.

And I will hold this code until a non secret society member aproaches me with a genuine NON-CORRUPT environement to develop the idea. It might be EA, or Google for all I care they all have the power to do it ; all I know is that nobody else can think it out ; and it's thus risking to die with me right now (I am very sick with mercury poisoning)...

 

[kelmo]

This kinda reminds me of Chistopher Walken in "Pulp Fiction".

 

[Ahuaeyjnkxs]

Why do people always have to compare me to famous actors ?!

I'M NOT THE COMEDIAN !

 

[Derium of ls]

Yeah, don't get big headed about that. Just remember that Lord British's knights got owned by mongbats, allowing him to be captured by the Shadowlords.

Ah crap, I guess as a Knight of Lord British I shouldn't have spent all of my time loitering in my house working on BODs huh? *sigh*

welp, I'm off to go punch some mongbats now

 

[Llewen]

This kinda reminds me of Chistopher Walken in "Pulp Fiction".

Or Russell Crowe in "A Beautiful Mind"...

 

[the 4th man]

First things first, My wife knighted me, and that holds more honors than some has been from Facebook.

Secondly, try calling EA and asking them. Posting this "thing" here is just showing the general public what you have an interest in.



Garriott bailed out, meaning he quit, regardless of the consequences and the situation. So, he created UO, once in a lifetime acheivments do happen....
UO was prbably Garriotts.

Again, let your fingers do the walking, ( means; look up the number)


later, adios, and cya

 

[Derium of ls]

First things first, My wife knighted me, and that holds more honors than some has been from Facebook.

Secondly, try calling EA and asking them. Posting this "thing" here is just showing the general public what you have an interest in.



Garriott bailed out, meaning he quit, regardless of the consequences and the situation. So, he created UO, once in a lifetime acheivments do happen....
UO was prbably Garriotts.

Again, let your fingers do the walking, ( means; look up the number)


later, adios, and cya

"than some has been for facebook" I'm not following.


" Secondly, try calling EA and asking them. Posting this "thing" here is just showing the general public what you have an interest in"

Are you saying I shouldn't have posted this because all it's doing is showing something I'm interested in? if so, you need to reevaluate why you have so many posts under your belt in these forums.


however...

"So, he created UO, once in a lifetime acheivments do happen....
UO was prbably Garriotts."

that shows that you honestly have no idea who that man even is... if you think UO was a once in a lifetime achievement of his...

 

[Ahuaeyjnkxs]

Maybe he's part of a secret society... what do you think ?