Richard Garriott's latest venture

[Riyana]

Richard Garriott is working on a new game, and MassivelyOP has put out a couple of articles about it. Check them out:

Here is an article about the project.

And here is a critique of his funding.

From the first article:

while acknowledging that crypto games aren’t traditionally very good games and that gamers are immensely (and justifiably skeptical) skeptical about them, the duo justify the business model as a way to “provide direct value to players” while somehow managing to avoid pay-to-win scenarios.

This game, as described so far, sounds like UO if it was a pure cash shop pay to win, which appeals to me not one single iota. Thoughts?

 

[Lore]

I agree with the critique. I didn't want to throw this out into the universe anymore than it's already out there... but luxury MMOs are for sure coming. The MMOs for people with money. It's just another thing going around investment circles right now.

If UO wasn't still an owned IP, I'd say someone should make a luxury UO shard where the NPCs are actually staffed by a real person and you provide a 5 Star MMO experience with non-generic story.

But Garriott is definitely predatory in his games. People pay it though. I think his respect for those players ends at their wallets.

 

[Archangel0]

after SOTA, I'll stay away from anything that dude makes...

 

[Draza]

after SOTA, I'll stay away from anything that dude makes...

I felt that way afyer tabula rasa, that game felt horrible

 

[Deraj]

Funding for the game will be sourced both from traditional investment as well as an NFT land sale;

I didn't dip my feet too deeply into SOTA, but isn't this essentially the same thing? A kickstarter + selling land deeds for $$? If the first thing I hear about a game are the various ways I get to pay for it, that's probably a sign to avoid. Unfortunately at this point RG is more business man than game developer; his focus is more on how to generate "revenue opportunities" than making a genuinely fun game.

 

[Kirthag]

another one?

 

[petemage]

If UO wasn't still an owned IP, I'd say someone should make a luxury UO shard where the NPCs are actually staffed by a real person and you provide a 5 Star MMO experience with non-generic story.

Idk, the average free to play game has more customization options for characters than UO these days. Can't even change your undies. Let alone dance emotes that UO doesn't have at all. Someone looking to throw out money for status will have a better time on Gariott's games.

 

[Lore]

Idk, the average free to play game has more customization options for characters than UO these days. Can't even change your undies. Let alone dance emotes that UO doesn't have at all. Someone looking to throw out money for status will have a better time on Gariott's games.

There are people here that will definitely pay hundreds a month for a full service shard with employees that play the NPCs and create story arcs with scripts and plans. They'd also be on a shard with similar players and a guaranteed spot for castles because of a lower population. If demand is higher than space, increase the price.

 

[petemage]

There are people here that will definitely pay hundreds a month for a full service shard with employees that play the NPCs and create story arcs with scripts and plans. They'd also be on a shard with similar players and a guaranteed spot for castles because of a lower population. If demand is higher than space, increase the price.

Oh when you spoke about luxury I assumed you aimed for more than a dozen UO die hards and a couple hundred bucks from each.

I really don't see it though. A castle is nothing but a big grey abomination for anyone outside UO. I'm not a fan of Garriot at all, but UO has to look no further than his games to get an idea where customers spent money these days. I surely had bought all dance & emote packs for UO if any had existed.

"NPCs played by paid humans" sounds a lot like "dead game without real players" to me. I mean what's the point of telling jokes if you paid everybody to laugh about them beforehand.

 

[John Knighthawke]

Richard Garriott's latest venture is living off of his wife.

 

[HRH Liz]

Sounds more like he put together a good group to create UO and he was just the head man only.

 

[Veldrane]

Sounds more like he put together a good group to create UO and he was just the head man only.

Designer Dragon was responsible for the majority of UO. Richard was just a stuffed suit

 

[Dryzzid of Atlantic]

Speaking of, today I learned that he is working on another MMO.

Playable Worlds

Playable Worlds builds the most alive online worlds ever -- powered by cloud-native technology that enhances all types of play.

www.playableworlds.com

Not much there.

 

[Sargon]

Speaking of, today I learned that he is working on another MMO.

Yeah, but I think we're very far away from seeing anything substantial from that project. It is still in the very early stages. The part I found most interested was that Steve Meretzky is one of the designers on the team. That is a name I haven't heard in well over 20 years.