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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."
... 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.
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.
Jez San of the late Argonaut Software received the title in 2002. Good research!
But what about Lord British?!
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
"I mean, have you seen some of the people who have been Knighted? Charleton Heston, Peter Falk, Bob Hope, etc."
Whatever, Peter Falk is awesome.
OddManIn: A Game of guns and game theory.
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.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
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.
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
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
Being Peter Molyneux, he probably hyped that he was being created a knight, but it turned out only to be OBE.
English is easier said than done.
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.
Panurge has posted for the last time. Thanks for the positive moderations.
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.