TenTonHammer.com - Taking MMO Gamers to the Next Level!

**Special Content Today**
We are fortunate enough to have a video interview with none other than Dr. Richard Bartle, a legend in the MMOG industry. Enjoy!

Cody "Micajah" Bye was honored to sit down with one of the true visionaries of online gaming at IMGDC 2007, Dr. Richard Bartle, and we bring our time with Dr. Bartle to you in streaming video, complete with all the dry English wit and class he brought to the Indie MMO conference. Bartle, whose very accessible and fun-to-read scholarly work is required reading for anyone hoping to understand MMOs and MMO communities, speaks to the challenges and great opportunities for virtual world games developed by an indie developer with complete creative control over his or her work.

• Dr. Richard Bartle Video Interview

Last week we asked the development community what could be done to lower the barrier to entry to massively multiplayer games. I posted many of the answers in, "Devs Tear Down The Wall". Chris Klug, the Creative Director of Stargate Worlds weighed in over the weekend and his insight, as usual, is right on.

"The one thing that would lower the barrier to entry would be to choose a game topic that would appeal to a broader audience than simply aiming at geeky gamers. For instance, an MMO detective game, an MMO romance soap-opera game, an MMO sports title, all would have the potential to open the space to a much broader audience. We tend in the industry to design games only for ourselves." - Chris Klug, Creative Director - Stargate Worlds

The most intriguing idea in that quote is that developers design games that they themselves would like. It's a basic premise and of course it is true; most basic premises are. The bottom line is that until some bright light who enjoys sports games also starts enjoying MMOs that we aren't likely to see a good MMO sports title delivered. Role playing games are by their very nature and design a cooperative experience. So far, sports titles have not reached the same level. Someday...dare to dream!
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