Richard Garriott Quits NCSoft

unc0nn3ct3d writes "In a shocking update on the seemingly endless troubles plaguing NCSoft, Richard Garriott — the king of online games, creator of The Ultima Series (and consequentially Ultima Online), as well as the recently troubled Tabula Rasa — has announced that he would be stepping down from his position at NCSoft. Apparently motivated by his recent trip into space, perhaps he has found a higher purpose while orbiting so high above the earth."

Comments

Centuries ago, Internet time

[CommandoCody]

The "recently troubled" link leads to a blog posting from February 2008. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that Tabula Rasa's still having trouble, but that's an interesting definition of "recent".

Does this surprise anyone?

[HBI]

The games industry has sucked the life out of any 'franchise' inherited from when the PC game market was healthy.
Tabula Rasa has zero name recognition.
The number of people who know who Garriott is, is not enough to sustain usage on an MMO.
The cost of the game was exorbitant when you have zero name recognition.
MMOs have a shelf life and expire after a (very few) years.

Therefore, why would someone do a project like this, as a pure business case? I love Richard Garriott and what he represents, but I blame NCsoft for greenlighting and funding this MMO, rather than Garriott for creating it.

Re:Does this surprise anyone?

[log0n]

I'm not a hardcore MMO player.. but I've played WOW, Anarchy Online, Guild Wars and TR (picked it up at a firesale at Target). TR SUCKS. I played 3 days out of the free initial month before I canceled billing.

The interface was backwards and counter intuitive, the mechanics of the game didn't make much sense nor did the story. Not to mention the performance was pretty horrible (MBPro, 256mb video, etc).

I read a bunch of reviews explaining the game and I know that point was that it was intended to reinvent what an MMO game is - and maybe it did so. But in doing that, it had next to ZERO mass appeal. The things that it changed to 'be different' didn't make sense why they were changed - and what was put in place instead felt tacked on, confusing and backwards.

Honestly, I can't think of a single thing I experienced during my limited run with it that was superior, or even on par with other MMOs. YMMV.

Overview Effect

[Metasquares]

Apparently motivated by his recent trip into space and perhaps has found a higher purpose while orbiting so high above the earth.

This actually is a phenomenon known as the overview effect. Space travelers often report a transcendental sense of connectedness.

Plaguing NCSoft??

[geminidomino]

What sort of troubles that aren't related to Tabula Rasa?

Is Guild Wars 2 at risk?!

Re:The King is Dead...

[Anonymous Coward]

That name - Lord British - makes me cringe every time I hear it. General British is slightly better, but not much.

As a rule of thumb, consider that pretty much every person who could be considered British does not think of themselves as such - we're English, Scots, Welsh, Northern Irish, Cornish, Manx, and so on. Only someone not from here would call themselves something like that.

"General" British? Did I miss something?

[mark-t]

[NT]