Posted by
chrisd
on from the who-doesn't-want-a-moat-after-all dept.
Our friends at Salon have an article "The Return of Lord British" about what Richard Garriot has been up to in the last year since he's left Origin. It is mostly about Lineage (a mmporpg?), but it touches on EA mismanagement (new tagline "We create write-offs").
I used to work for Origin/EA
by
mark+knopfler+69
·
· Score: 1, Troll
Starting on the Ultima 7 and the Serpent Island shit. I was a tools programmers, which is pretty significant in the whole scheme of things (binding icons to the executable, world editor, and file formats, that sort of thing) but little focus was spent on it. Whoever said everything after Ultima 6 was absolutely right.
Its obvious that Garriott has incredible programming talents and innovative game design ideas, but with the Ultima 7 project he spent most of the time diddling with project numbers, budgets, the latest of his many bosses, etc. Most of the time he was trying to please EA which was not an easy task.
At any rate, about half way through the original project timeline (games weren't as late back then, but this one missed its milestones by a lot in many cases), it was apparent that the game was going to suck. People sort of stopped caring about not only Ultima 7 but the entire series from then on it. EA constantly bitching at programmers who have little to no ability to change anything didn't help better.
The end result: a buggy, incomplete game. Whoop!
Re:A short history
by
Bi()hazard
·
· Score: 0, Troll
For those who don't feel like reading through that entire posting log linked to above, here's a few of the most interesting posts: 123.
Before getting too excited about this possible Next Big Thing, think about how incredibly difficult it is to create a smoothly functioning online RPG. (No I will not use the ridiculous acronym MMOORMMORGPG!) The kinds of concerns you see in the posts listed and the pieces linked to in the article are pervasive in online gaming. I've played a lot of Diablo 2, and it provides an excellent example. In fact, Blizzard's lackluster attempts to fix these issues have been much better than most companies'.
Players sell characters and equipment online for real money. Although this is illegal, game companies generally ignore even the worst offenders. Fraud is rampant, and watch out whenever a patch drastically changes the game or a new cheat becomes known. All hell breaks loose, as you would expect when there is a major monetary incentive to abuse the game and naive buyers. As games grow in popularity this problem will worsen exponentially, and the stakes will become higher. We all know what happens when money, corruption, and lack of law enforcement coincide.
The more important concern is how players relate to one another. In Korea, we see violence in the streets-this is not poor reporting by Salon, there's a history of this sort of thing stemming from a variety of games. This isn't going to happen with the US version of the game, but we will see problems. Look at Diablo 2: Although there are separate realms for US and Asian players you find huge numbers of Koreans on the US servers. At first you might think, "Cultural exchange always benefits everyone", but you would be mistaken. There exists extereme animosity between US and Korean Diablo 2 players, and racism is nearly universal on both sides. My friends and I have found ourselves convinced that the Korean players are inferior to US players in every way, including as human beings-despite the fact that we're open minded enough to have Korean immigrant friends in real life. The Korean players, by culture, are more aggressive, selfish, and eager to use unfair advantages (those gaming cafes are competitive, and often help players cheat in exchange for customer loyalty), while at the same time being fairly dumb in regard to strategy, annoying and obnoxious, and much more likely to steal and kill other players. They don't speak english either, and that definitely hurts relations. In short, the majority of Korean players act like the typical 12 year old American player. (that includes the language skills;) ) How much do you associate with typical 12 year olds, and what do you expect from them in real life? Exactly. Although there are plenty of problematic American players, these are the minority-but among the Koreans, the friendly and honest players are the exceptions. They even have a word for changing their playing style to one that doesn't involve behaving like sociopaths at every opportunity, it translates into "manner game." It tells you a lot that the American players need no equivalent term. It also tells you a lot that the Koreans have had extensive experience with these games in the past few years, while the genre is still developing in the US. Perhaps as time goes by more American players will act like the Koreans?
After seeing all of this in the game world, I can assure you these problems are not easily solved by game designers. Don't expect to see the perfect online RPG any time soon-unless you expect tourism in space to become mainstream soon. Social engineering is not easy. However, psychiatrists have a reason to celebrate: you can expect to see everything wrong with modern society distilled and prominently displayed within these fantasy worlds.
Slashdot Mirror
Starting on the Ultima 7 and the Serpent Island shit. I was a tools programmers, which is pretty significant in the whole scheme of things (binding icons to the executable, world editor, and file formats, that sort of thing) but little focus was spent on it. Whoever said everything after Ultima 6 was absolutely right.
Its obvious that Garriott has incredible programming talents and innovative game design ideas, but with the Ultima 7 project he spent most of the time diddling with project numbers, budgets, the latest of his many bosses, etc. Most of the time he was trying to please EA which was not an easy task.
At any rate, about half way through the original project timeline (games weren't as late back then, but this one missed its milestones by a lot in many cases), it was apparent that the game was going to suck. People sort of stopped caring about not only Ultima 7 but the entire series from then on it. EA constantly bitching at programmers who have little to no ability to change anything didn't help better.
The end result: a buggy, incomplete game. Whoop!
Before getting too excited about this possible Next Big Thing, think about how incredibly difficult it is to create a smoothly functioning online RPG. (No I will not use the ridiculous acronym MMOORMMORGPG!) The kinds of concerns you see in the posts listed and the pieces linked to in the article are pervasive in online gaming. I've played a lot of Diablo 2, and it provides an excellent example. In fact, Blizzard's lackluster attempts to fix these issues have been much better than most companies'.
Players sell characters and equipment online for real money. Although this is illegal, game companies generally ignore even the worst offenders. Fraud is rampant, and watch out whenever a patch drastically changes the game or a new cheat becomes known. All hell breaks loose, as you would expect when there is a major monetary incentive to abuse the game and naive buyers. As games grow in popularity this problem will worsen exponentially, and the stakes will become higher. We all know what happens when money, corruption, and lack of law enforcement coincide.
The more important concern is how players relate to one another. In Korea, we see violence in the streets-this is not poor reporting by Salon, there's a history of this sort of thing stemming from a variety of games. This isn't going to happen with the US version of the game, but we will see problems. Look at Diablo 2: Although there are separate realms for US and Asian players you find huge numbers of Koreans on the US servers. At first you might think, "Cultural exchange always benefits everyone", but you would be mistaken. There exists extereme animosity between US and Korean Diablo 2 players, and racism is nearly universal on both sides. My friends and I have found ourselves convinced that the Korean players are inferior to US players in every way, including as human beings-despite the fact that we're open minded enough to have Korean immigrant friends in real life. The Korean players, by culture, are more aggressive, selfish, and eager to use unfair advantages (those gaming cafes are competitive, and often help players cheat in exchange for customer loyalty), while at the same time being fairly dumb in regard to strategy, annoying and obnoxious, and much more likely to steal and kill other players. They don't speak english either, and that definitely hurts relations. In short, the majority of Korean players act like the typical 12 year old American player. (that includes the language skills ;) ) How much do you associate with typical 12 year olds, and what do you expect from them in real life? Exactly. Although there are plenty of problematic American players, these are the minority-but among the Koreans, the friendly and honest players are the exceptions. They even have a word for changing their playing style to one that doesn't involve behaving like sociopaths at every opportunity, it translates into "manner game." It tells you a lot that the American players need no equivalent term. It also tells you a lot that the Koreans have had extensive experience with these games in the past few years, while the genre is still developing in the US. Perhaps as time goes by more American players will act like the Koreans?
After seeing all of this in the game world, I can assure you these problems are not easily solved by game designers. Don't expect to see the perfect online RPG any time soon-unless you expect tourism in space to become mainstream soon. Social engineering is not easy. However, psychiatrists have a reason to celebrate: you can expect to see everything wrong with modern society distilled and prominently displayed within these fantasy worlds.