Richard has an interview with the Guardian that’s worth reading, especially for his response to the question, “If you could take control of one major MMORPG, which would you choose and what would you do with it?” His answer?
“I’d take over World of Warcraft and I’d close it. I just want better virtual worlds. Sacrificing one of the best so its players have to seek out alternatives would be a sure-fire way to ensure that unknown gems got the chance they deserved, and that new games were developed to push back the boundaries. Er, I would get to do this anonymously, wouldn’t I?”
See? What the hell are you thinking, Richard? Think it, don’t say it! I’m pretty sure that some of those 8.5 million people can find out where you sleep. Doing it anonymously would be no good as we all know that you can’t hide information from MMO players. They will ferret out that it was you and then you’ll find yourself on the receiving end of the mother of all gankings as Millenium and Nihilum team up to find out what your drops are.
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July 17th, 2007 at 11:58 pm
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July 23rd, 2007 at 5:42 am
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July 17th, 2007 at 7:12 pm
Marc/Richter
I’m a fair bit of the way through Designing Virtual Worlds, and the whole time I’ve been thinking, “I wonder what his viewpoint would be on WoW”, since it came out after the book was written. Now I know!
Interesting way of thinking. Makes sense though.
July 17th, 2007 at 11:58 pm
Richard Bartle
>See? What the hell are you thinking, Richard? Think it, don’t say it!
Well the thing is, I’m not actually going to be given control of any major MMORPG, am I? That being the case, I can say whatever I like, because it’s not going to happen.
That said, if one person in every 200,000 is a psychopath, that means I could have over 40 of them gunning for me irrespective of whether I can do what I said I’d do…
>Doing it anonymously would be no good as we all know that you can’t hide information from MMO players.
Oh well, after 20 years of living in hiding I’d be up for a knighthood so it wouldn’t be all that bad. Hey, it worked for Salman Rushdie!
Richard
July 18th, 2007 at 2:38 am
Iruen
I shouldn’t read this stuff at the office while drinking coffee, now my keyboard is a mess
July 18th, 2007 at 3:21 am
Michael Chui
I’m not convinced it would work, either. =P So you’re making yourself a psychopath-target for what? A gamble? Yeesh.
July 19th, 2007 at 4:26 am
Jonas Antonsson
Wouldn’t 1 of 200.000 be a “low end” estimate? I know a fair lot of addicted WoW players and I’d say that taking that game away from them would be enough to turn them into rampaging goo-goo-heads in an instant. After all, they haven’t interacted with the real world for a couple of years and I think they would have no clue as to what to do “out there” so chasing someone down would probably seem like a good idea.
Of course, chances are that if they would catch up to you, you would still be okay since they would probably try to zonk you with a fireball or something…
J#
http://www.gogogic.com
http://gogogic.wordpress.com
July 24th, 2007 at 1:58 pm
Andy Havens
If you really want to get hate mail and death threats, criticize anything Apple does, specifically the Mac. NOTE: I am NOT criticizing the Mac. I love ‘em! I’m in advertising and a designer. Love the Macs! And Apple. Steve Jobs is God.
[Does that cover my a** well enough? Hope so… I can’t afford to go into hiding. Getting broadband in the middle of the Wyoming desert is a beyotch]
August 18th, 2007 at 10:31 am
Lindorn
I don’t expect my words to be consolence to anyone, but quite frankly I am so glad Richard said what he did. I think it heartbreaking that so many of you industry gurus really have to bite your tongues as opposed to expressing opinions that, quite frankly, need expressing. We need people of virtual world authority calling out the status quo.
There is nothing crazy about what Richard said, it’s crazy that people’s jaws are dropping because of what he said. When you get to the root of his opinions there is some gem-like insight in there and I think the people that really look at that interview know exactly what he’s getting at.
Everyone who has played in virtual worlds consistently over the last few years is coming to the same conclusion. Something is terribly wrong here.