Richard Garriott - Your Headline is Wrong

Myrthos

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In order to deal with the backlash of the recent interview with PCGamer in which we learned that Lord British virtually never met a game designer that was any good, he comes with an explanation.
In it he explains that it is the press who has put his quotes out of context and they are an inaccurate representation of the intent of his full commentary.
Perhaps my statement that has been quoted so often in recent days could have been presented in a more eloquent fashion. But I stand by the point I was making, that game design is the hardest profession in our business to understand and to learn.
He also discusses again why game design is so hard to learn and that most people in game design are not good at it.
Sadly, I really do think that most people who get into design roles on a team have no more skills at design than the programmers and artists. They may not be worse, but they rarely have better training than theothers to tackle the hardest job of all, determining what game is going to be built.
Which in my opinion is the same thing as he said before, but nicer. However to be sure you should read the entire thing for the proper context.

More information.
 
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I actually like this quote better:

And I certainly am not trying to put my own career on some sort of game design high ground. While I have hit occasional home runs, I have made plenty of unforced errors. I was not attempting to prop myself up with these comments, but rather lament my need…our industry’s need for proper training in the most important skill required to make a good game. I never had any formal training either; I have just had more time to learn from my mistakes than most. If what comes from all this is a frank discussion and lively debate on how to best address this issue,
then hopefully I’ve accomplished something.
 
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"So basically, everyone in this country except me and some friends are complete idiots. By which I mean, our schools need more funding."
 
"So basically, everyone in this country except me and some friends are complete idiots. By which I mean, our schools need more funding."

I don't get it. You post this right after another qoute I posted like you didn't even see it. At this point, I wonder if anything other then negative gets through to you. How in that letter did you come away with that opinion?

Sadly for people who really are passionate about designing the next great game, “game design” remains a hard skill to learn. A lot of indie dev
elopers right now who are “triple threats” of artist, programmer and designer, will likely rise to the occasion. They will have a good understanding of ALL the issues. Designers, who never coded and never drew art, have a far harder path ahead of them. After all, we are making “computer games,” and a deep knowledge of the computer is mighty helpful

Is another good quote.
 
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I don't get it. You post this right after another qoute I posted like you didn't even see it. At this point, I wonder if anything other then negative gets through to you. How in that letter did you come away with that opinion?

That was just an example meant to illustrate the silliness of his excuse. After reading his apology (is it an apology?) I'm p. sure his statements simply were the result of clumsy wording + overblown ego. Which some people may think makes him a jerk, but I just find it funny. ;)
 
Well it's an improvement at any rate. Telling people they aren't good at their jobs generally isn't a useful behavior. Telling them how they could best improve their skill sets is much more beneficial.
 
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He is still a jackass and an egomaniac nothing can change that. :smug:

Reminds me of politicians who open there mouth and backtrack when they realized they shouldn't. Nothing new here moving on.
 
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When you combine statements like, "I’ve met virtually no one in our industry who I think is close to as good a game designer as I am. I’m not saying that because I think I’m so brilliant. What I’m saying is, I think most game designers really just suck," with this, "Since [Ultima Online], most every other RPG has focused more on level grinding than on “role playing”, which has been reduced to a few initial character choices. While advancements in graphics and sound have been phenomenal, in many ways the virtual worlds we play in have become less real. Less open. Less immersive," and Hickman's statement that games haven't changed in 30 years, it becomes apparent that these guys really don't know anything about gaming circa 2013.
 
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When you combine statements like, "I’ve met virtually no one in our industry who I think is close to as good a game designer as I am. I’m not saying that because I think I’m so brilliant. What I’m saying is, I think most game designers really just suck," with this, "Since [Ultima Online], most every other RPG has focused more on level grinding than on “role playing”, which has been reduced to a few initial character choices. While advancements in graphics and sound have been phenomenal, in many ways the virtual worlds we play in have become less real. Less open. Less immersive," and Hickman's statement that games haven't changed in 30 years, it becomes apparent that these guys really don't know anything about gaming circa 2013.

Really? I'm not sure they are wrong about the role playing part, sure there are a handful that push roleplaying, many push leveling and following a storyline instead.
 
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Really? I'm not sure they are wrong about the role playing part, sure there are a handful that push roleplaying, many push leveling and following a storyline instead.

Let's keep in mind, UO came out in Sept. 1997. Games that came out after that: Everything by Black Isle, Obsidian, Troika, and BioWare, and anything by Piranha Bytes, Larian Studios or CD Projekt Red. Also most of the output of Bethesda and Spiderweb Software. It's like he lives in a world where Tim Cain, Chris Avellone, the Doctors, etc. etc. etc. never existed and had no impact on anything.
 
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I try thanks.:biggrin:

Let's keep in mind, UO came out in Sept. 1997. Games that came out after that: Everything by Black Isle, Obsidian, Troika, and BioWare, and anything by Piranha Bytes, Larian Studios or CD Projekt Red. Also most of the output of Bethesda and Spiderweb Software. It's like he lives in a world where Tim Cain, Chris Avellone, the Doctors, etc. etc. etc. never existed and had no impact on anything.

None of them are him. At least in his little world they don't exist. I consider them some of the best in the last 20 years.
 
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And Jagged Alliance.

Taking that phrase out of context was a cheap journalistic shot. But that choice of wording is his and even out of context I find it pretty damning. The rest seems pretty reasonable though.
 
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When you combine statements like, "I’ve met virtually no one in our industry who I think is close to as good a game designer as I am. I’m not saying that because I think I’m so brilliant. What I’m saying is, I think most game designers really just suck," with this, "Since [Ultima Online], most every other RPG has focused more on level grinding than on “role playing”, which has been reduced to a few initial character choices. While advancements in graphics and sound have been phenomenal, in many ways the virtual worlds we play in have become less real. Less open. Less immersive," and Hickman's statement that games haven't changed in 30 years, it becomes apparent that these guys really don't know anything about gaming circa 2013.

I wonder if Hickman's reference to the less immerse experience comes from the greater reliance on the media to provide the sensory experience, rather than relying on the player's imagination (as in literature). Yes, there have been a number of incremental enhancements to the CRPG genre. But the games still don't provide an effective replacement for the GM; there's only limited ability to adapt to the player choices, and all of the conversations and outcomes are purely canned decisions by the developers. It's going to take a fundamental improvement in computer AI before a real, living breathing campaign setting can be brought to fruition.
 
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I truly hope that Lord British isn’t writing a check that his ass can’t cash. I want SotA to live up to his hype… after all, I’ve sunk $150 into it. It’s true that Richard hasn’t delivered on his promises since U7p2… but most of us blame EA’s acquisition of Origin for that. Then there’s Tabula Rasa… False starts and differences between Richard, NCsoft and the developers cause it to suffer from the taffy effect. This time, there’s no publisher to blame…
 
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I guess we'll find out if he can be a good developer on a shoe-string budget. ;)
 
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I guess we'll find out if he can be a good developer on a shoe-string budget. ;)

How much is considered shoe string?
 
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His shoe string is looking to be about 200x the size of mine...
 
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I know there has been other investors that's why I'm curious to know what is considered shoe string...if it was just the kickstarter then yes. But it's not.
 
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