Richard Garriott, the creator of Tabula Rasa, who's name appears in the title of the game, who recently departed from NCSoft a very short time before they announced the cancellation of the online sci fi game, therefore signaling the failure of yet another MMO game, recently revealed in a BBC interview that he wants back in the MMO business.
This time, he wants to try his hand at creating an online fantasy world.
I want to know...why do the MMO God's hate us soo?
Hehe, well, he did say he wants to do a fantasy game like Ultima Online, which was a success, as opposed to the quest-arc-based loot-and-level grind like Tabula Rasa. So maybe if he goes back to his roots, he'll do ok. Though given how he disappeared from Tabula Rasa instead of going down with the ship, I doubt his name is going to be anything but a hindrance now. Its pretty much synonymous with Brad McQuaid now.
ReplyDeleteYeah!
ReplyDelete*shakes fist*
How dare he come back after 30 years of success in fantasy and one big SciFi flop!
*grin*
I'm just saying.... a true captain goes down with his ship.
ReplyDeleteRG would probably make an awesome fantasy MMO...ok maybe he would make an awesome MMO, but his inability to stay with the sinking ship that was Tabula Rasa, his baby, his dream Sci fi MMO, just tends to rub me the wrong way for some reason.
If anything, you stay and try to make it right or figure out a way to keep it going, not head back to your castle and announce your going to try your hand at something you know you won't fail at, which is a cop out no matter how you slice it up.
I still think there's more to the story. RG is coming across as a git, but I suspect the PR wonks and beancounters at NCSoft are just as much to blame. Even the economy at large is a significant factor.
ReplyDeleteWell, I'm sure NCSoft could have kept the game running, it wasn't making spectacular profits, but it was probably making enough to keep servers up and a small staff employed. They could have taken the game in a RMT direction or copied their Guild Wars model by offering the game free to play online, but they decided to close the doors.
ReplyDeleteThen again, RG spent a couple of Million dollars just to spend a week in space, when he could have used that money to save the floundering game he helped design, but instead he left and turned his back on it.
Everyone pretty much is to blame, the problem is, the players are the ones that suffer.