I doubt it’s any secret that the gaming community has more than its share of elitism, and nowhere does it become more evident than when describing or
discussing MMO games. Well, perhaps when discussing the utter inferiority of consoles compared to PCs, but then that’s just fact, not elitism at all. No, I
think it’s that conversation that usually begins with someone discussing a game, followed by a remark along the lines of, “it’s just not as good as WoW,”
or some other such nonsense, that truly shines the light on this dividing line in our community.

The problem isn’t actually World of Warcraft. The problem is that the game was such an explosive success, that it pulled in new members to our community
who have never had the pleasure of some of those earlier titles and developers that we more mature members have deified over the years. WoW has become
their battle standard because these poor newcomers just have no other frame of reference. Upon that realization, I thought it was time someone make an
effort to introduce our newer peers to Richard Garriott.

To that end, I made a trip to Austin in the great State of Texas. The goal? To interview Garriott, known to many gamers as Lord British, to discover why
those who may have never played his games should care about his newest title in development, Shroud of the Avatar. What I hope you’ll find is that his long
history of innovation, style of games, and the deeply intelligent twists he puts on them, give you a reason to pay at least a little attention to the new
one.

The Father of PC RPGs

Garriott has always had high standards, even insisting Ultima II and on shipped in a box with cloth maps and trinkets despite publishers fighting against it.

In many ways, Richard Garriott is the father of modern computer-based RPGs. I asked him about his early years. “In 1979 I designed Akalabeth for the Apple
II as sort of a hobby as a high school kid,” he said. After selling the game for a short time in a local store where he was employed, he was contacted by a
publisher wanting to take his game to a larger audience. It was a pretty impressive trick for a “high school kid” in a world that had
yet to really even see a glimmer of what computer gaming would eventually become.

That game eventually launched the Ultima series of single-player games. Each of the nine games in the line where innovative in their own rights, and each
holds a special place in Garriott’s heart. The pride in those games was obvious as he walked me around the office telling a story of each while you look at
cover art and mementos. What matters to me, though, is that these games eventually lead to Ultima Online.

UO was released in 1997 and is still running today. How many games have you played that got it so right the first time that they continued online 15 years
later? None, because there were none before Ultima Online. UO opened the door for the massively multiplayer concept and set the standard for games that
would follow. UO was the first MMORPG [Ed. - I await backlash from the Meridian 59 purists], the first sandbox MMO, and the first to handle player issues
through a staff of online Game Masters (or GMs).

For many of us, Richard Garriott was the name we heard for years any time someone was trying something new. Even with something as challenging as defining
an entire genre, he was so successful that Ultima Online is still running strong all these years later.

Question of Style

There’s a deeper debate in the MMO community and we’ve all engaged in it, the old sandbox vs. theme-park argument. Interestingly enough, this argument
started right from the beginning. Where Ultima Online used a skill-based progression system and focused on crafting as much as combat, EverQuest came along
a couple years later and focused on just the opposite. Thus, the first division in the MMO genre was born.

Lord British is known for little details, such as what he calls “Logos,” or words of power, based on quasi-latin dictionary.

As I’ve pointed out in other articles, Class-based games with level-based progression systems are just easier all around. They’re easier to play, easier to
design, and certainly easier to run. They also historically make a lot more money. All that adds up to a market saturated with the obvious win because
that’s what big publishing companies want. Risk is for indie developers. Enter crowd funding and Richard Garriott’s desire to shake the gaming industry up
again. “We hope to accomplish this partly by providing tools to the players to develop their own emergent stories,” he says.

While the name Lord British may stand for virtue, but the behavior in his games is sometimes anything but. On the surface, that may look like a bad thing,
but there’s a deeper truth to it that Garriott himself had to learn in the early days of UO.

Over the years, he’s told the story a few times of how he encountered a player stealing from another. Catching the thief red-handed in his online persona,
Lord British questioned the ruffian and forces an oath to turn from his evil ways. Shocked when the thief promptly broke his word, Lord British confronted
him again and threatened a ban. Richard tends to smile a bit in the retelling and goes on, “So, the guy breaks character and says, ‘Listen here, Richard
Garriott. You made the ability to steal a skill. I’m using it within the rules of the game you set, and I’m playing my character. I’m a thief. If I’m
confronted by Lord British, of course I’m going to lie and say I’ll never do it again.’”

Ultima V was such a success and such a defining game to many of us that it was actually completely remade for TI calculators a few years ago.

That’s the point where sandbox games were truly born. Richard could have worked with the team to prevent players from picking on other players, but he
says, “You can’t blame people for playing with the rules you created.” They went on to find better ways of protecting new players that didn’t keep them
totally safe, while still giving them a chance. However, had they stopped and decided to take a heavy-handed approach to the situation, we would not have
the sandbox games we have today.

The Moral Conundrum

But Richard’s style isn’t just about the freedom to experience the world as you wish, and this is another lesson we older gamers have learned about him
over the years. He also likes to twist your mind in knots and make you question yourself on a level far deeper than any game ought to. “I really enjoy
forcing players to face their own preconceived notions of right and wrong,” he says.

Richard grinned in twisted delight from across the table as he leaned in to regale me with a tale about how he forced players to question their own bigotry
in Ultima VI: The False Prophet, starting with the actual cover art. “In the modern age,” he said, “we all think we’re all beyond bigotry. …but not if it’s
red and leathery, winged and clawed, and has horns!” After the initial shock of the statement wore off, I realized he was right.

Even the cover of Ultima VI was designed to subconsciously lull the player into thinking the gargoyles were evil.

And that’s the genius of Garriott’s games. In each of them, he challenges us to take a hard look at ourselves and engage in the painful process of
introspection. As hard as it can be, and while it might not be the most sale-boosting idea in the world, the result is a game that makes us better people
by playing it. Just as a great book might cause you to consider a point from another angle, games can challenge you in the same way. Richard Garriott has
used his games to help us become better people for years, and I think that’s cool.

It’s not just the difficulty and complexity of Richard’s games that draw us, it’s the intellectual stimulation. I think that says a lot about the quality
of gamers you see enjoying these games. And now you can start to really understand how deep the divide in the MMO genre goes. Those who have never had the
chance to appreciate the depth of these skill-based sandbox games can’t know what they’ve missed, and that makes it hard for them to understand why those
who love them cling to them so passionately. Then, perhaps that’s some of the bigotry at work that Richard is hoping to expose and excise.

Return of the King

You’re dang right.

While he may style himself as a humble lord, those who have enjoyed his games over the years would humbly beg to differ. Richard Garriott has proven time
and again that he can break from the standard flow and establish genre-defining mechanics or twist existing structures in ways no one thought of. Every
time he’s done it he’s been massively successful, and I’m personally very excited to see it happen again. In fact, the only time you could say Garriott
hasn’t been successful was with Tabula Rasa, but for those who care to research the story, I think you’ll find publisher issues created most of the
problems with that one.

Now Lord British is back and is resolving the publisher issue through crowd funding. Those among us, who loved UO and have been hoping for a strong sandbox
type game, should find a lot to love in the new Shroud of the Avatar. For those who joined our community more recently, I hope you take a little time to
check the game out. Sandbox games aren’t for everyone, but for most who give it a chance, I think you’ll find a more rewarding experience than you’d ever
expect. Then, should that sandbox game be from Richard Garriott? Well, that would just be a… ludus ultimum.


To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues Game Page.

Last Updated: Mar 29, 2016

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