I remember back when VG was in development Brad would frequent the VG forums and proclaim how his game was only meant for a certain group of people, and the rest of us would never get a beta invite even if we were the best testers in the world.
There's only one developer I like less than Brad. I strongly doubt he will be able to create anything casual, anytime, ever. He was so gung ho about VG being hardcore it was like... dude lay off the speed.
Seriously, I lost all respect for this guy when I found out he laid off his team in the parking lot.
I personally am happy to see him back since it wont cost me a dime unless I pay for whatever he makes. Until then I eagerly await for what he has in store.
All you guys attributing design greatness or failure to Brad or any single designer should understand no games are made and designed by one person. They are made by teams. That is why its so hard to hire good designers based on a shipped titles; you never really now what they actually contributed. They might have spent the entire dev cycle crunching data tables in Excel.
At the end of the day Brad has secured his place in MMORPG history as an innovator and visionary, and while there are many stories of his fall they will never diminish his achievements. Time will tell if history can repeat itself for Brad.
I personally am happy to see him back since it wont cost me a dime unless I pay for whatever he makes. Until then I eagerly await for what he has in store.
All you guys attributing design greatness or failure to Brad or any single designer should understand no games are made and designed by one person. They are made by teams. That is why its so hard to hire good designers based on a shipped titles; you never really now what they actually contributed. They might have spent the entire dev cycle crunching data tables in Excel.
At the end of the day Brad has secured his place in MMORPG history as an innovator and visionary, and while there are many stories of his fall they will never diminish his achievements. Time will tell if history can repeat itself for Brad.
Lets see what the future brings.
Gets my vote. However I will remind you that Brad was the CEO of Sigil (if memory serves me rightly), therefore HE was the "buck stops here" guy who made all the important decisions. However, I will agree that times change and sometimes people do too, depending on the circumstances into which they are put.
I really hope for his sake that he manages to get back on top in the eyes of the MMO industry.
I am a berliever in Mr. Mcquaid,but not at this point in time,because this era of gaming is too much focused on cheap development and jumping on the facebook bandwagon.
When i here him mention "social" i know it means a game ,i couldn't care less about,that tells me it is probably a facebook,or browser app and everyone will be sending twitter's ....no thanx for now,i'll wait until he gets his act back in gear and tries to bring us another great effort as Vanguard was.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
Just an minor news piece about someone who's place in making new advances in MMORPG's is over.
Hey Brad, tell Richard hello for me.
/signed
-Letting Derek Smart work on your game is like letting Osama bin Laden work in the White House. Something will burn.- -And on the 8th day, man created God.-
There are 7 names that, if they are attached in any way to a company, I will never do business with.
John Smedley, Mark Jacobs, David Bowman, Tasos Flambouras, Richard Garriot, Jack Emmert and Brad McQuaid
Tried: EQ2 - AC - EU - HZ - TR - MxO - TTO - WURM - SL - VG:SoH - PotBS - PS - AoC - WAR - DDO - SWTOR Played: UO - EQ1 - AO - DAoC - NC - CoH/CoV - SWG - WoW - EVE - AA - LotRO - DFO - STO - FE - MO - RIFT Playing: Skyrim Following: The Repopulation I want a Virtual World, not just a Game. ITS TOO HARD! - Matt Firor (ZeniMax)
Hey, I liked the "Vision" he had for Vanguard. If Microsoft hadn't bailed...more importantly if they had managed to get another publisher aside from SOE the game had very good chances of taking a positive turn/direction. Heck I'd most likely be subscribed to it!
That SOE got involved got the ball rolling in a negative direction in my view. I refuse to attribute Vanguard's lack of success and staying power to McQuaid's vision of how a MMO should be. Now, his lack of managerial ability, if accounts are true, can be questioned. But his ideas with proper financial backing (and I stress proper as in a company that isn't tainted reputation wise like SOE) could most certainly still produce that old school, actual World instead of "game" type MMO if given a chance.
"Many nights, my friend... Many nights I've put a blade to your throat while you were sleeping. Glad I never killed you, Steve. You're alright..."
There are 7 names that, if they are attached in any way to a company, I will never do business with.
John Smedley, Mark Jacobs, David Bowman, Tasos Flambouras, Richard Garriot, Jack Emmert and Brad McQuaid
Add in Derek Smart and you just about covered 'em all.
-Letting Derek Smart work on your game is like letting Osama bin Laden work in the White House. Something will burn.- -And on the 8th day, man created God.-
I'll have the wait-and-see approach. I didn't play EQ past Velious and I didn't try VG until a lot was smoothed (about 1 or so years after release), so I didn't see the worst of these games directly. I can only go by what other people are saying here. It doesn't fill me with confidence about what this guy can or can't do on his own. It won't hurt to see what he does, but I won't give it much of my time either.
John Smedley is the name on that list I dislike the most by far after how he treated SWG players when CU got changed to the NGE. The fact that the NGE happened without players' knowledge after they bought the expansion that provided content for skillsets that were no longer going to exist, that was just the top of the wrong.
Brad MCtwat has gone back into business? Guess he got tired of playing his violin to mountains and has been snatching those meds off co workers desks again, think I'll have to do an interview with him soon!
"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience"
Originally posted by Agricola1 think I'll have to do an interview with him soon!
Please do!
"If all you can say is... "It's awful, it's not innovative, it's ugly, it's blah.." Then you're an unimaginative and unpolished excuse for human life" -eburn
I am glad Brad is back, Vanguard (despite its rough launch) ceratinly got me back into MMO, Sadly it was $OE handling of it that killed it for me, The way teh cut out updating Diplo, then crafting, then butchered crafting, then added more raids (with an epic arc) then butchered it,
I hope that this time Brad gets to keep control of it, I cant wait to see what he comes up with next, as one guy said, it wont cost a penny unless you buy his product
There are 7 names that, if they are attached in any way to a company, I will never do business with.
John Smedley, Mark Jacobs, David Bowman, Tasos Flambouras, Richard Garriot, Jack Emmert and Brad McQuaid
Add in Derek Smart and you just about covered 'em all.
Good list, but i dont think Smedley belongs in that failure pool
Smedly is the kingpin of murdering mmos and should be front and center on any do not touch list. Just listen to the guy give an interview and then ask yourself if he even understands that he is making a game and not some vehicle to get revenue from people. He can't even be bothered to talk about what makes games fun anymore and only talks about pricing and market demographics.
Not sure I'm ready to abandon Richard Garriot yet. He might be past his prime of just got invovled with some companies that didn't work well with how he goes about making games. Worth another shot I think.
I'm surprised no one has mentioned Gaute Godager or David Allen yet.
Brad was bad at running a BUSINESS, but the elements of vanguard are much better than most mmos have come up with in years. Had there been someone with business savy in a position to tell Brad NO!, then Vanguard might have turned out differently. Even with the mess it is in, it is still a better game than anything soe has done since he left.
Also, Brad was LONG GONE from soe before planes of power and luclin. The last thing he worked on was Velious, which is widely considered to be EQ's best expansion. Blaming Brad for EQ2 is a bit over the top since he wasn't around for years and years when it was in production and couldn't possibly have any power over what direction the game would take. Maybe he came up with some design ideas before the game went into production, but that doesn't mean it wasn't butchered to death when soe took full creative control... just like soe did when they kicked Raph Koster out and took over SWG and when they bought the matrix and everquest and EQ2 and vanguard and basically anything they touch.
That being said, Brad is going to screw up this new company as well. Social gaming is so far out of his area of interest and he is far to late to jump on the bandwagon to do anything serious. Perhaps this is just an attempt to restore some credibility.
how was brad long gone before luclin? luclin released in December 2001 and he left October 2001? He had a hand in Luclin. Now PoP he was long gone but doesnt mean there wasnt a creative plan project he was on that focused on the next expansion after luclin was to be released and he could of contributed to some of the concepts.
Brad coming back is the worst thing to happen to the MMO since he released that pile that is refered to as Vanguard. No one in there right mind can be excited about this news in any shape way or form. He must think that we have forgotten his greatest mistake and are ready to forgive him. Sad thing is that he is going to do what he did in Vanguard again and people are going to buy into his hype of whatever he is developing. Hopefully and I truely mean hopefully SoE doesn't give this douche money to create EQ3 at his crappy ass new company. Some people are just not meant to be the Boss. Just wish those people who arnt meant to would figure this out.
Comments
I remember back when VG was in development Brad would frequent the VG forums and proclaim how his game was only meant for a certain group of people, and the rest of us would never get a beta invite even if we were the best testers in the world.
There's only one developer I like less than Brad. I strongly doubt he will be able to create anything casual, anytime, ever. He was so gung ho about VG being hardcore it was like... dude lay off the speed.
Seriously, I lost all respect for this guy when I found out he laid off his team in the parking lot.
Abominations like Farmville come to mind in that context <shudder>. But it seems popular, so to each their own <shrug>
I personally am happy to see him back since it wont cost me a dime unless I pay for whatever he makes. Until then I eagerly await for what he has in store.
All you guys attributing design greatness or failure to Brad or any single designer should understand no games are made and designed by one person. They are made by teams. That is why its so hard to hire good designers based on a shipped titles; you never really now what they actually contributed. They might have spent the entire dev cycle crunching data tables in Excel.
At the end of the day Brad has secured his place in MMORPG history as an innovator and visionary, and while there are many stories of his fall they will never diminish his achievements. Time will tell if history can repeat itself for Brad.
Lets see what the future brings.
www.TXcomics.com "Your daily webcomics broadcast"
Half decent summary
http://www.socialtimes.com/2008/07/social-games/
www.TXcomics.com "Your daily webcomics broadcast"
Gets my vote. However I will remind you that Brad was the CEO of Sigil (if memory serves me rightly), therefore HE was the "buck stops here" guy who made all the important decisions. However, I will agree that times change and sometimes people do too, depending on the circumstances into which they are put.
I really hope for his sake that he manages to get back on top in the eyes of the MMO industry.
Top 10 Most Misused Words in MMO's
if there is money to be made from it or at least get from investors...
I am a berliever in Mr. Mcquaid,but not at this point in time,because this era of gaming is too much focused on cheap development and jumping on the facebook bandwagon.
When i here him mention "social" i know it means a game ,i couldn't care less about,that tells me it is probably a facebook,or browser app and everyone will be sending twitter's ....no thanx for now,i'll wait until he gets his act back in gear and tries to bring us another great effort as Vanguard was.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
Well, I did like the concept of VG
/signed
-Letting Derek Smart work on your game is like letting Osama bin Laden work in the White House. Something will burn.-
-And on the 8th day, man created God.-
A failure not too long ago run out of the industry, hmm maybe he can start a game with Richard Garriott and Gaute Godager.
but yeah, to call this game Fantastic is like calling Twilight the Godfather of vampire movies....
I wish him much luck.. Glad he is back.
http://s36.photobucket.com/user/mhoward48/media/OnwYv97.jpg.html
There are 7 names that, if they are attached in any way to a company, I will never do business with.
John Smedley, Mark Jacobs, David Bowman, Tasos Flambouras, Richard Garriot, Jack Emmert and Brad McQuaid
Tried: EQ2 - AC - EU - HZ - TR - MxO - TTO - WURM - SL - VG:SoH - PotBS - PS - AoC - WAR - DDO - SWTOR
Played: UO - EQ1 - AO - DAoC - NC - CoH/CoV - SWG - WoW - EVE - AA - LotRO - DFO - STO - FE - MO - RIFT
Playing: Skyrim
Following: The Repopulation
I want a Virtual World, not just a Game.
ITS TOO HARD! - Matt Firor (ZeniMax)
That would be my list too, good call.
Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.
Hey, I liked the "Vision" he had for Vanguard. If Microsoft hadn't bailed...more importantly if they had managed to get another publisher aside from SOE the game had very good chances of taking a positive turn/direction. Heck I'd most likely be subscribed to it!
That SOE got involved got the ball rolling in a negative direction in my view. I refuse to attribute Vanguard's lack of success and staying power to McQuaid's vision of how a MMO should be. Now, his lack of managerial ability, if accounts are true, can be questioned. But his ideas with proper financial backing (and I stress proper as in a company that isn't tainted reputation wise like SOE) could most certainly still produce that old school, actual World instead of "game" type MMO if given a chance.
"Many nights, my friend... Many nights I've put a blade to your throat while you were sleeping. Glad I never killed you, Steve. You're alright..."
Chavez y Chavez
Add in Derek Smart and you just about covered 'em all.
-Letting Derek Smart work on your game is like letting Osama bin Laden work in the White House. Something will burn.-
-And on the 8th day, man created God.-
Failures need to stay away. No room for failure anymore if the past 5 years has been any indication.
I'll have the wait-and-see approach. I didn't play EQ past Velious and I didn't try VG until a lot was smoothed (about 1 or so years after release), so I didn't see the worst of these games directly. I can only go by what other people are saying here. It doesn't fill me with confidence about what this guy can or can't do on his own. It won't hurt to see what he does, but I won't give it much of my time either.
John Smedley is the name on that list I dislike the most by far after how he treated SWG players when CU got changed to the NGE. The fact that the NGE happened without players' knowledge after they bought the expansion that provided content for skillsets that were no longer going to exist, that was just the top of the wrong.
Playing MUDs and MMOs since 1994.
Brad MCtwat has gone back into business? Guess he got tired of playing his violin to mountains and has been snatching those meds off co workers desks again, think I'll have to do an interview with him soon!
"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience"
CS Lewis
Please do!
"If all you can say is... "It's awful, it's not innovative, it's ugly, it's blah.." Then you're an unimaginative and unpolished excuse for human life" -eburn
Seconded!!
I am glad Brad is back, Vanguard (despite its rough launch) ceratinly got me back into MMO, Sadly it was $OE handling of it that killed it for me, The way teh cut out updating Diplo, then crafting, then butchered crafting, then added more raids (with an epic arc) then butchered it,
I hope that this time Brad gets to keep control of it, I cant wait to see what he comes up with next, as one guy said, it wont cost a penny unless you buy his product
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/ab/Norsefire-logo.png
Good list, but i dont think Smedley belongs in that failure pool
my web design: www.advancedws.com.au
Smedly is the kingpin of murdering mmos and should be front and center on any do not touch list. Just listen to the guy give an interview and then ask yourself if he even understands that he is making a game and not some vehicle to get revenue from people. He can't even be bothered to talk about what makes games fun anymore and only talks about pricing and market demographics.
Not sure I'm ready to abandon Richard Garriot yet. He might be past his prime of just got invovled with some companies that didn't work well with how he goes about making games. Worth another shot I think.
I'm surprised no one has mentioned Gaute Godager or David Allen yet.
how was brad long gone before luclin? luclin released in December 2001 and he left October 2001? He had a hand in Luclin. Now PoP he was long gone but doesnt mean there wasnt a creative plan project he was on that focused on the next expansion after luclin was to be released and he could of contributed to some of the concepts.
Brad coming back is the worst thing to happen to the MMO since he released that pile that is refered to as Vanguard. No one in there right mind can be excited about this news in any shape way or form. He must think that we have forgotten his greatest mistake and are ready to forgive him. Sad thing is that he is going to do what he did in Vanguard again and people are going to buy into his hype of whatever he is developing. Hopefully and I truely mean hopefully SoE doesn't give this douche money to create EQ3 at his crappy ass new company. Some people are just not meant to be the Boss. Just wish those people who arnt meant to would figure this out.
He has some very good ideas. But like alot of creative people they have trouble runing companies because they are just not practicaly minded.
Vanguard was only spoiled when they tried to release it early because SOE got greedy and wanted their money.