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Sir Peter Molyneux?
KBV writes "It seems that for the first time in history a games developer has been granted an OBE (Order Of the British Empire) by the Queen of England. When Peter Molyneux - the creator of Black & White, Fable, Populous and many other games - was asked by BBC News about the honor he simply said "It's come completely out of the blue, I never would have guessed that I'd have that kind of honour." For the games industry as a whole, this is very much a good thing. It's great that developers are being recognized for their hard work and cultural impact on the world."
To answer your question, "Sir Peter Molyneux?", the answer is no. He's been awarded an OBE not a knighthood.
OBE incidentally, is a three-letter acronym meaning, "Other Bugger's Energy".
... but the award is actually decided firstly by a 'relevent' government committee, and the prime minister comes in later on. At no point does the Queen decide who receives the awards - she simply hands them over.
It's Peter Molyneux OBE, rather than Sir Peter. He wasn't awarded a knighthood. Well done him though.
And it might be worth mentioning that Her Majesty is Queen of an awful lot of other places as well as England.
I mean, have you seen some of the people who have been Knighted? Charleton Heston, Peter Falk, Bob Hope, etc. I can only think of a handful of people who truly deserve this, such as Tim Berners Lee, etc. It's as overrated and unfair (in the subjective sort of way) as the Nobel Prize, where politics, incredible bias, and so forth determine nominees and laureates, not pure merit.
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That's a Knighthood or KBE for overseas, I believe.
Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Sir Steven Spielberg, but just Peter M OBE, here.
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Since arthurs, actors, movie directors and musicians ,all of whom contribute to video games these days, are awarded this title, it is fitting and may I add over due that someone who wrote the backbone for the above artists talents should also be recognized.
Thank you Peter Molyneux and congratulations.
-Teiresias
what about "aptly named, Sir Not Appearing in THis Film"??
It seems that Her Majesty Queen had a great time playing Populous.
"Two things inspire me to awe -- the starry heavens above and the moral universe within." - Albert Einstein
But how would that work - Sir Lord British? That's like, redundant in so many different ways...
Spelling, grammar, punctuation? We need something that checks logic.
Recipients of a KBE (Knight of the British Empire) are called Sir. Whereas KBEs are limited in number (a KBE has to die before another can be kinghted) OBEs are quite commonplace - frequently given to non-celebs that do a service to their community etc..
Jez San of the late Argonaut Software received the title in 2002. Good research!
But what about Lord British?!
You can get these Honours for 'services to ', and lets face it, a couple of these games are all time classics, Populous certainly defined a new genre of gaming. Oh, and a OBE doesnt make you a Knight, which is what you need for a Sir title.
OBE is a joke these days, to the point where people turn them down. Once they ment something but now they get handed out for next to nothing. Everyone in the country knows this and it gets 10 minutes on the news once a year at most.
I like muppets.
The entire staff of Rockstar Games was knighted today for their contributions towards "Thefting Autos Grandly."
shame on us / for all we have done / and all we ever were / just zeroes and ones
Now, it's not unusual for "celebrities of the moment" getting awards from the PM, but a games designer is rarely considered a celebrity. And Populus is hardly a current game.
Don't get me wrong - I think this is a good trend, and I'd like to see Ian Bell and David Braben also get awards for their contributions. It's just very surprising - it goes against the usual way these things work.
Mind you, Britain's current Prime Minister is a former Heavy Metal guitarist, so I guess unusual things can be expected to happen from time to time.
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You get a medal, the Queen taps your shoulder with a sword and, if you are a citizen of a Commonwealth country, you would become Sir Samir.
You know, the Queen has got to be the biggest moron in the entire world.
Much as I hate the Royal Family, you can blame the government for the poor choice of candidates. Remember, it's Tony Blair's behind you have to kiss if you want a knighthood. (David Blunkett will probably get something to cheer him up now he's out of a job).
Besides, scientists do 'controversial' things that millions of registered voters might object to, so no awards for them.
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The female equiv. of a Knight has always been a Dame. eg the Actresses Dame Judi Dench and Dame Maggie Smith
You get a little badge that says you don't have to pay taxes.
It's only awarded to men and only to those who have ingratiated themselves sufficiently to the self appointed elite.
It depends on how many sandwiches the caterers have made for the buffet. In a nutshell, if you turn up and the Queen spots you with a cucumber sandich, you get a knighthood. OBE's and MBE's are given to the poor sod's with the vol-au-vents. More excitingly, if you have a pretzel, you get to be president of a minor colony.
You only get knighted once, no matter how many sandiches.
No, they get to be "Dames". As in, Dame Edna Everage.
Yes - they become Dames, but I'm pretty sure they are not included in the official decoration ceremony with the sword et al.
although the letters obe mean order of the british empire, they refer to several actual 'titles'
If you get an OBE it stands for Officer of the British Empire, a specific title. Above MBE (member) and below CBE (commander).
Free pedant points please
FGD 135
In an interview I read in Molyneuws, the Peter Molyneux quarterly, Peter had said in 2002 that he was going to become God's Second Son and appointed by God Himself. In 2003 he said he would be president of the world and that it would be announced at the next G8 summit. Late last year he said he would become a Governor of some northwestern state in the US.
Small potatoes make the steak look bigger.
Like Knight Commander Bill Gates wasn't enough! (yes, it's true)
Microsoft said Mr Gates, 48, was "absolutely delighted".
Words chosen by a true fearless knight, indeed.
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
The relevant Constitutional clause reads:
No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States; and no person holding any office of profit or trust under them shall, without the consent of the congress, accept of any present, emolument, office, or title of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state.
This only prohibits those who "hold any office of profit or trust under [the United States]" from accepting titles, which I think has been interpreted to mean those who hold a position in government (although I could be wrong there).
As a bit of trivia, Canada also has a prohibition (the Nickle Resolution) against its citizens accepting foreign titles, including British peerage titles---even though it recognizes the Queen as titular head of state. I believe several other Commonwealth countries (Australia and New Zealand?) have similar prohibitions on British honors.
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
It seems that for the first time in history an semi-realistic American cartoon character has purchased a lordship. When Zonker Harris - plant-whisperer and babysitter extraordinaire - was asked by BBC News about the honor he simply said "It's come completely out of the blue, I never would have guessed that I'd have that kind of honour, right up until when the credit card confirmation came through." For the world of fictional people as a whole, this is very much a good thing. It's great that cartoon characters are being recognized for their hard work and cultural impact on the world.
jrnl: http://tinyurl.com/c2l8yr / foes: http://tinyurl.com/ckjno5
Denegrate the Queen all you want, but at least she's not a Head of State that's culturally-, intellectually- and geographically-challenged, unlike those of some other countries that I can mention.
By the way, you have no idea how the British honours system works. The Queen has about much say so in who does and doesn't get recognised as you do over who does and doesn't get to be struck by lightning.
Fool.
"Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue." - David Brent, Wernham Hogg
Hmmm...weren't Black & White and Populous games where the player had 'absolute' power? And isn't the monarchy something that used to have 'absolute' power? :-)
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The first? Not so.
3 12 7/
Stephen Grand, creator of the Creatures series, already has one:
http://www.nesta.org.uk/mediaroom/newsreleases/
--
Marc A. Lepage
Software Developer
The Order of the British Empire is a completely fictitious society invented to satisfy people who want impressive titles, without really giving them anything. The worthy people - the people who have done jobs nobody else wants to do for years - get the lowest ranks (OBE,MBE). The flashy people get the right to be called Dame or Sir, and the lower ranks exist so that the higher titles are not too obviously a complete joke. You can't be a commander if you have nobody to command, though that doesn't stop those terrorist "liberation armies" that seem to have no rank below colonel.
The only parts of the Honors System that are actually worth having are:
Real peerages (e.g. Lord Muck of Bradford): Allow you to spend your time in superior London hotel and get paid for it.
Order of the Bath (not what it sounds like)
Order of St Michael and St George - what civil servants get for creating the maximum bureaucratic chaos, and divided into 3 levels, viz.
CMG (Call Me God)
KCMG (Kindly Call Me God)
GCMG (God Calls Me God)
Finally, I have to point out that the real pinnacle of English aristocracy is to have a real, ancient and very important title and then NOT USE IT or even give it up. The left-wing parliamentarian Tony Benn, whose family have held the title of Lord Stansgate for many years till he renounced it, is an example of this tendency. The problem is that there is no official register of People Offered an Honor Who Refused It, and letting it be known that this has happened rather defeats the whole "I am above fancy titles" thing.
I do not understand why so many US science fiction writers seem to think that Empires are such a good idea. All they do is go into decline, leaving behind a flotsam of empty titles and people playing games in silly uniforms.
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True, but at least we had a chance to vote for our chimp.
Bill Clinton: Pimp we can believe in. - The Shirt!!!
Well deserved award. Not only was Populus an stroke of pure, unadulterated genious (and helped create an entire game genre), but to my knowledge, Populus was one of the few games that was never successfully cracked. I recall a slew of irritating patches that *never* worked.
Peter Molyneux has come up with some really great games over the years, most of which have allways been right on top of the latest technology.
Games like Populous (back in the sega days) was way ahead of its time, and even new games like fable where characters and even the game change as you progress has allways seemed like a major effect he has gone after with each game.
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There was a period a bit back where that many of these seemed to be given out that I suspected that the Queen's primary motivation in bestowing them was actually to make sure that there were still *some* people around who had them. I didn't think Gates really deserved his, in all honesty...and I'm not sure what Elton John did to receive one, either...Presumably it was his cover of Candle in the Wind.
I do get the feeling though that despite long periods of inactivity, the Queen periodically experiences bouts of sheer terror over the idea of becoming irrelevant. I'm going to be accused of being an anti-monarchist here, but I'm actually not. I occasionally hear stirrings about the idea of the Queen being terrified about the monarchy's continuation, when if it dies, I believe that she as an individual should take full responsibility.
As an example of another religious leader, although the Pope has no real relevance whatsoever in the mind of me as an individual, he has gained a huge amount of respect and political influence from his involvement in the collapse of Soviet Russia. My point is, that because as an *institution* these figures (the Queen, the Pope, probably the Dalai Llama) have very little contemporary relevance, the only relevance/influence/power they can gain comes directly from their action as individuals.
To me, virtually nobody in the contemporary English royal family really does much at all. Elizabeth II has been almost entirely a caretaker monarch to my mind. Diana tried to be a lot more active, and the Queen's inner circle responded to that by ostracising her while she was alive.
So to the Queen I say...if you're worried about the monarchy dissolving, get out of the palace occasionally and actually *do* something. The world is currently going through a period in which Darwin's theory is acting ruthlessly upon institutions which do not remain in some way useful. If the monarchy dies, it will be directly your fault as an individual, not public apathy or anything else. We only need to look at the monarchy's (even comparitively recent) history to know that if the monarchy is in any way currently at risk, it only is primarily because of the current monarch.