Don Daglow holds the notable distinction of not only
developing the first computer baseball game, but also the first
graphical MMORPG. He founded the now defunct Stormfront Studios. His
titles have sold over 12.5 million copies. If you're interested in learning more about Daglow, you can check out our exclusive interview with him!
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When
Don Daglow first began making video games, he probably never imagined
that gorgeous women would be entertained by the products of his
profession.
One of the first presentations of Day 2 at Leipzig could turn
out to be one of the most entertaining and informative. Industry
legend, Don Daglow drew upon his 37 years of experience to explain to
those in attendance what they should expect from their careers in the
next 20 years. Don explained it as
"...sharing the patterns of gaming history and from that
each developer can attempt to predict what the future will hold."
Don's foray into the gaming industry began when he was hired
to 'guard' school mainframes against unintended use, such as the
development of games. While guarding the systems he of course took time
to also use them for his own devices, most notably the aforementioned
development of games.
A well spoken, eloquent and entertaining speaker, Don first
touched on the root of games. Where do they come from? What
similarities do they have with other forms of media? The answer as Don
sees it is that like sports and stories, games involve heroes and
villains. This isn't true of all games of course. Tetris doesn't
necessarily fall into this broad stroke for instance, but massively
multiplayer games, the games that we are passionate about certainly do.
Most of you play a hero, though a few of you play Blood Elves and
assumedly some will play the dastardly and deceiving High Elves in
Warhammer Online when it launches in a couple of weeks time.
Irrespective of what class or race you play, your experience is one of
hero versus villain. The good folks at Cryptic figured that out when
the created first City of Heroes and subsequently, City of Villains.
Well played Jack Emmert, well played.
Though predicting the future can be entertaining Don advised
against taking your predictions too seriously by proclaiming Daglow's
Law of Technology Improvement
"No matter how much you believe technology will change in
your chosen field, changes will happen in the next 20 years that will
surprise you."
He predicts that games are being sold today that universities
and the press will call innovative in 2028. Unfortunately, today those
same games may be called "weird" or "off topic". These titles are
unlikely to receive any fanfare. Trumpets will not proclaim their
prominence. The judgment of history takes time.
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Although
innovative games are being sold as this is written, but they probably
won't have the sort of popular fanfare that creates this type of mad
mosh pit.
Alternatively, what seems to be important today may be
embarrassing tomorrow. Don showed slides of the Intellivision versus
ATARI console advertisements that compared the graphics of the
competition consoles. Will we look back and laugh at the marketing
slogans or perhaps even the game mechanics of today in 20 years? Will
our children's children puzzle over an archaic title named World of
Warcraft?
One fortunate circumstance of being part of the game
development industry today is that there is over 30 years of user
'interface culture' to draw upon. Players no longer need to be taught
how to use a drop-down menu for instance. Some level of competence is
assured simply because the players have experienced user interface
elements before. . Development teams can build on this historically
created foundation.
Don continued, explaining that it is not developers, not the
press, not publishers and not the retailers who determine the future of
our industry. It is the players, therefore developers should worry
about creating something that is fun and not worry about being in
charge.
With titles like GTA IV people sit with their friends and say
things like, "I did this and I want to do that". With Guitar Hero and
the Wii the conversation is "We played this and we are going to try and
do that." The 'I' has become a 'we'. This can only bode well for the
future of the MMOG industry as more and more game players experience
the love of playing games with others. Video games are now a part of
the fabric of peoples' lives. Developers and the press are given the
rare opportunity to be part of your family. You welcome us into your
homes each and every day. It is an exceptionally high honour that for
many members of the press is over-looked or taken for granted.
Perhaps with the new generation of collaborative or 'family'
games the views of not only the developers, but the press will change.
Here's to change!
--John Hoskin, TenTonhammer.com
Ten Ton Hammer would like to thank Don Daglow for
giving us some of his valuable time.
