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Tabula Rasa: Garriott Announces Departure from NCsoft
Stradden
Managing EditorMember CommonPosts: 6,696
Now that his feet are once again planted firmly back on Terra Firma, video game legend Richard Garriott used an address to the players of Tabula Rasa to announce that he is leaving NCsoft.
Garriott cited a desire to simply devote time and resources to other projects in a move that appears very sudden to those outside of the company. What this means, if anything, for the future of RGTR (his name accounts for the RG in the acronym) remains unclear. MMORPG.com will contiinute to follow this story as it develops.
Fellow Soldiers of the AFS,
I am happy to finally be able to write the players and community of Tabula Rasa. We've been on quite a journey together. First in creating a game unlike any other on the MMO market, then growing a loyal community and finally launching the game and its players into space with Operation Immortality. It has been quite an unforgettable journey, one that I will treasure for the rest of my life.
I am very grateful to you loyal players for sticking around through what I think we can all honestly say was a rough launch. I thank the development team for pushing hard to get polish, updates and new content out every month since launch...a feat that I think is unusual in MMO development. They have a lot to be proud of.
Many of you probably wonder what my plans are, now that I have achieved the lifelong dream of going to space. Well, that unforgettable experience has sparked some new interests that I would like to devote my time and resources to. As such, I am leaving NCsoft to pursue those interests.
This news is difficult for me to deliver. I am honored to have worked with the team I've had and I'm grateful to the community who makes this game so unique and fun.
Thank you and farewell.
Cheers,
Jon Wood
Managing Editor
MMORPG.com
Comments
Well as much as I would have liked to see him actually finish the product he released, I guess overall this is really nothing to get upset over. I would have been more concerned if he was actually concentrating and focusing on his project Tabula Rasa... but with his trip to space I am sure he hasn't been focusing on the game for some time.
Oh well I guess we'll never see TR's true potential and it's hype lived up to where it "could" have been. Good luck in your pursuits Garriott.
I played many of OSI's (Origin Systems Inc) games that came out in the 1980's. Richard Garriott was a name I liked to see.. simply because back then it meant (most likely) a good quality game was coming.
The early Ultima games were a big reason I enjoyed computer gaming.
I was around for Ultima 9 and have mixed feelings on that. When he left OSI.. might as well just say when he left EA I understood that.
I bought TR based on that past... At this point its very mixed feelings.
I never really want to wish ill on someone and I hope he has success and/or enjoyment from whatever he is going to pursue now.
At some level I feel as tho NCSoft and the people who bought TR were cheated. RG never seemed to put much into the game after the PR phase was over. He only really seemed interested into "going to space".
I can understand that and in past interviews he had mentioned his father... So the idea was there. Yet its another thing to commit to a company.. a project and sell a product to a fanbase that you never really support.
If this is what he wanted to do.. I wish he hadn't been involved with TR at all. That he had just pursued his dream instead.
This isn't really meant to be negative and I know it will sound that way or be taken that way.
Its just the general idea you really shouldn't get involved in something you can't commit to. Especially when people depend on a job (people who worked on TR) or people that buy the product. With NCSofts current financials, both Garriotts having left the company (if I remember correctly) what future is there for TR, its team and its subscribers.
Regardless..
I do wish him well. He was part of some very amazing gaming experiences that I had "back in the day".
Read Richard Garriott's Announcement
i think he is going to develop a space mmo to compete with eve and JG:E but he first needs to find another publisher with deep pockets to finance his next trip into space so he can do more hands-on research
I bid Garriot a happy journey!
After going to space I imagine it changes your perspective of life quite a bit. Personally I bet he will be pursuing paths outside of gaming entirely. Like Will Wright , he is a bit of a erratic man when it comes to his interests Who knows, maybe he will join the likes of Bigelow and his space projects launching a space station. Which I mite add seems to be going very well
"Freedom is just another name for nothing left to lose" - Janis Joplin
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He should team up with Brad Mc Grind the Jolly Green Ranger and Gaulte Gonard, it would triple the chance of getting funding. Three times virtualy zero is still virtually zero.
All the guy has to do to get more space flight money is say he's going to make Ulitma 10. He would have alot of people throwing money at him.
MAGA
Actually I suspect someone at NCSoft forced the Tabula Rasa project to change from a swords/magic/elf type game to that of a space alien FPS-style MMO. This was right in the middle of production.
Whoever made that decision was the person to blame for what Tabula Rasa turned into and how it launched. No one is talented enough to make that massive of a revamp in that short of time.
While I doubt Richard Garriot had that much control over the TR project that force that drastic of a change (and essentially dooming the gamge), I suspect it was the choice of some NCSoft executive fearing competition with WoW, it doesn't garuentee that RG would be able to replicate his past successes.
Sure he got to fulfill a lifelong dream of going to space, kudos. Now he has to deal with the image he is left with after dealing with NCSoft.
Link please.
I agree. The ORIGINAL TR looked like it would be genre shattering. Then it got emasculated into it's current incarnation.
Not suprising since he spent most of the time worrying about his space expedition. NCSoft is definitely headed in a new direction but wether that pans out or not has yet to be seen. I wish him the best of luck.
*THIS* is what TR was going to be. What some people said is definitely true, switching a game to something so different midway would be hard to pull off in even the most talented hands. I don't think RG's departure will have any effect on the game whatsoever.
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The captain always sink with it's boat, he can't leave.
Oh man, I've been watching how they were gonna improve TR with new contents and updates and actually waiting to see how the Mech implementation would play out. Tried out the trial and liked it. The game has lots of potentials and hopefully it won't die after he leaves. Really seriously was thinkin of getting the game.
Being an old fan of Origin games its sad to see Richard Garriot had no luck with his partner NCSoft. I wonder wether he really had any influence in TR or if he was more of a name they hired. I never understood why Garriot didnt stick to what he was good in: making great single player RPGs like Ultima. Maybe he will return to his old virtues. There are too many cooks having their hands in mediocre MMOs and his expertise definitely lies not in them.
TR was a lackluster, mediocre game at best. I never got it why they totally skipped the initial design. Hope we hear from him and some cool RPG projects soon. Wish ya luck, Lord British.
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
*THIS* is what TR was going to be. What some people said is definitely true, switching a game to something so different midway would be hard to pull off in even the most talented hands. I don't think RG's departure will have any effect on the game whatsoever.
Well the core of TR was very smooth and the mechanics were well done. They just never did much with it.
However, what bothered me was... If you played Auto Assault.. if felt very much like they took the core of that game and built TR on it.
Right down to the paint loot and the forward roll you did when you jumped. Of course in AA it was paint for your vehicle isntead of your armor.. and your verhicle tumbled (just like your character does in TR).
Oddly enough AA was a lot of fun at first just like TR.
TR was great fun early on.. I really wish they had done more with it. The combat was fun, the way your character moved and in general I thought the mechanics etc were very well done.
They just didn't have enough of a game imho
So, wheres the pool about how long before he shows up to be part of yet another MMO failure?
I want dibs on 3 years.....
Hi, Late 90's calling, asking you if you're familiar with our "MMORPG" system, including one of the original and greatest MMORPG's of all time, Ultima Online. Ring a bell? Just the granddaddy of MMO's, which had more features and freedom than any MMO has ever been able to pull off.
But yeah. That guy was a hack, didn't have a clue what we wanted. Freedom? Role playing? A virtual second world? What the hell was he thinking?!
He is just getting clear of NCsoft so he can return to EA. He will be working with Mythic on the new version of UO. I know this because he was at Mythics offices several times last year. EA is determined to have the number one MMO in the industry, and they belive with enough money the right IP and RG they can beat WoW.
Link please.
www.youtube.com/watch
Here is a youtube video that has been floating around for a while.
Who knows how well that game would have done head to head with WoW, but someone forced way to many drastic changes on the team making Tabula Rasa. There is no possible way they could have recovered from that.
I hope they take his name off of the game title since he is leaving. I think it was stupid to put it on there in the first place.
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Killer 86%, Socializer 53%, Explorer 33%, Achiever 26%
Garriott was my hero in the 80s, but he's been a mere figurehead in this industry for at least the past decade. UO was primarily designed by Raph Koster. I'm not saying Garriott wasn't still involved then, but his version wouldn't have lasted 10+ years. I don't think he ever had squat to do with anything about TR other than maybe periodically commenting on somebody else's designs. I doubt he's spent any of his free time gaming since the 90s, and certainly not playing any time-consuming MMOs. He's a totally different person now from the guy who single-handedly wrote & marketed Akalabeth (look it up, and yes I played it). If he is ever associated with another MMO, be it "UO2" or something else, it will be strictly a marketing move, because his name *still* sells a few extra boxes. He will not be involved in the game's design , and will not measurably affect the game's success or failure.
For the record, I bought TR, but only because it was $10 at EB within a couple of months of shipping. It had nothing to do with Garriott's name being associated with it. And it was a much better game then I'd been led to expect...
Man!...and I was all set to pawn General Garriott ingame, I've been working at it for ages too, that sucks all that planning out the window, all those hours training, all that time setting up all for nuth'n!
Me thinks his head got hit by space debris on his way back to earth.
Playing now: Cities: Skyline / Ori and the Blind Forest / Banished
Wow! Watching that video... that game surely changed. But for the better, if you ask me.
When I started playing TR about a year ago I was stunned. I was in love. I was home. It felt like a FPS, played like a MMO, a dream. The idea of fighting for bases, claiming them, defending them, against an onslaught of far too many enemies... it was surely a wonderful dream. Hell, even leveling up, usually the most boring part of an MMO, was fun! Yes, people, grinding in this game is fun!
Then you're 50 and then you're... well, done. Nothing left to do. Well, except leveling up another toon. But I loved my character. I didn't want anything but my Engineer. Well, maybe a Xenobiologist, but I loved my cute little turrets! They were cute, they were damn powerful and I felt fine! I didn't want a spy, I didn't want a sniper, I wanted to continue playing my Engi!
The problem now is I think they cornered themselves with their story. PvP? How? Hell, we're fighting a losing battle for survival against some aliens and we should battle each other. For ... what, by the way? Prestige? Pride? As your General, I'd fire your rear out of the next orbital cannon if you started a gang war against other humans for bragging rights while we got worse things to fight!
If they reduced the aliens to some sort of petty nuisance so human vs. human battles made some remote sense, create the long promised player owned bases and gave it some meaning to fight over them, we could talk again.
But so far I don't see anything that could convince me I should renew my subscription that I ended in June. If you know anything that might change my mind, please go ahead. I loved the game. I just saw no reason to continue playing.