CGW interview
The April 2006 issue of Computer Gaming World has a 2 page interview with yours truly. Some excerpts:
Both MMOs you’ve been involved with — Ultima Online and Star Wars Galaxies — earned CGW‘s Coaster of the Year award. Do you have anything to say about that?
I tend to think that part of the reason for the snubs is that people were let down when all our big dreams didn’t pan out. But the disappointment wouldn’t have been there if we weren’t dreaming big together in the first place. Many games settle for small dreams, but I am not interested in settling.
What five games would you want with you if you were trapped on a desert island?
I’d really want a way to code. I’d want a compiler… My favorite game is making games. That way I get infinite levels, tough bosses… and unlimited replay value.
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[…] Comments […]
I liked your response to their “Coaster of the Year” comments, and what you use as a true measure of success. Very poignant, yet delivered as to not insult CGW’s medium (by virtue of them printing it 🙂 ).
In any case, nice coverage! And good timing too… or is there a connection there? (j/k)
“Many games settle for small dreams, but I am not interested in settling.”
… That’s the best response I could have ever seen for a question like that. 🙂 Actually, to be honest, it doesn’t need the question.
Heh… so Raph, now that you’ve left SWG, when will you be free to discuss the particulars of SWG? I’m dying to hear your view on what you’ve learned from the experience. What were the good things, what were the things that failed to live up to expectations, what would you like to see developed and added to either it or another SW game in the future?
In short, if you could wave a magic wand and have the perfect Star Wars MMORPG, what would it look like?
I think that’s a tougher question than it appears on the surface, because that particular mythos has several inherent challenges, such as the whole Jedi-vs-non-Jedi balance issue. And then there’s the technical issue of expansive player-developed content and rich customization vs. server lag.
For my part, I’ve long wondered why there is so much visual content built into the original worlds that just sorta …um… sits there: Things like the Nightsister Stronghold, for example. It’s filled with NPCs that look fascinating, and several of them give pseudo-quests to go find other Places of Interest. Not to mention the planets themselves: huge, rolling expanses of beautifully-detailed scenery — almost totally devoid of in-game content. It really puzzles me why the team invested all the work in these graphical elements, and then created so few stories and content to go with it.
I’ve spent the last month or two sampling D&D Online and WoW, and neither give me the virtual-world feel SWG did in its heyday. Discuss?
Huge kudos to you for NOT “settling.” It’s what makes the old SWG so hard to forget.
I’d be much more interested in Raph’s thoughts about the future of complex virtual world games, not the past of this one.
Give me a game like the original SWG, only feature-complete and not hamstrung by intellectual property limitations, and I’m there in a shot.
I also would like to hear about the future of complex virtual world games.
Nothing has even come close to the search and harvest of raw materials mini game in SWG. (Which I loved)
(Games now seem to be……just walk to never moving spawn point, fill up and walk back…no fun in that)
I want to hear about the Future of Complex Virtual Worlds.
However, I want to mention that those worlds should use The Daedalus Project surveys to think about where gaming is headed. I have found that intelligent gaming is a rarity in creation. What I mean by that is games that give you the oppurtunity to think your way around an issue/ battle/ encounter. (More than one way to a successful end)