Notice I didn't say "MMO of the time" - UO was indeed the progenitor, and reflecting upon gaming as a whole and not just the genre it birthed, I think it was fantastic.
As far as Garriot the business man and developer is concerned - I'm willing to bet he still has another winner in him. He did do really well up until Tabula Rasa, over the course of many years, after all. The next publisher that decides to deal with him should, in my opinion, just be sure to reel him in from the get go so that he can't get out of hand - as it were. Because his profile of character since UO (including his departure from the game) hasn't been that of an esteemed gentleman. But that doesn't mean he still can't develop a good game in the right environment.
The magic that happened in Ultimas and Wing Commanders etc was because Garriot had some of the greatest developers all time working for him who had the skills and talents to take his visions and turn them in to games.
I agree, UO2 without people like Designer Dragon ( Ralph Koster) would never succeed.
<-- Remember when UO introduced hair dyes and you could dye them with neon colors like these guys? That was just one of the magical and wonderful things about UO as it growed over the years. While it was somewhat artificial and synthetic, I really enjoyed those vibrant and unique hair colors that people ran around with once it was introduced.
Comments
Notice I didn't say "MMO of the time" - UO was indeed the progenitor, and reflecting upon gaming as a whole and not just the genre it birthed, I think it was fantastic.
As far as Garriot the business man and developer is concerned - I'm willing to bet he still has another winner in him. He did do really well up until Tabula Rasa, over the course of many years, after all. The next publisher that decides to deal with him should, in my opinion, just be sure to reel him in from the get go so that he can't get out of hand - as it were. Because his profile of character since UO (including his departure from the game) hasn't been that of an esteemed gentleman. But that doesn't mean he still can't develop a good game in the right environment.
The magic that happened in Ultimas and Wing Commanders etc was because Garriot had some of the greatest developers all time working for him who had the skills and talents to take his visions and turn them in to games.
I agree, UO2 without people like Designer Dragon ( Ralph Koster) would never succeed.