An Interview with Industry Legend, Don Daglow

Continuing our "Legends of the Industry" series, the Ten Ton Hammer team tracked down Don Daglow, the creator of the first graphics-based MMORPG, the original Neverwinter Nights. Since then, Daglow has worked on over thirty different video game titles and has held positions at EA and is the president and CEO of Stormfront Studios. In our discussion, we chatted about his work on Neverwinter Nights, how D&D has shaped his work in the industry, and where he thinks the MMOs of the future are heading.

I'm always happy to give away what I think is the secret of MMORPG design. Unlike writing a novel or even a highly-scripted adventure game, creating an MMORPG is not about telling a story. It's part theme park design, part architecture, part tour guide, part history-re-enactor. It's like writing the first chapter of 64 books instead of writing 64 chapters of one book. That's how we leave room for the players to come along and experience the fulfillment of creating the next 3,402 chapters.

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