Richard Garriott makes deepest dive

There's always a lighthouse. There's always a man. There's always a city.
 
I have to give Garriott credit - he's an honest nerd, well justified as one of the scions of the (W)RPG genre. His entire life he's tried to do new things both in terms of his media/games early on and, when he gained material success, he lived the dream. He basically created a medieval Ultima style castle down in Texas where he and his wife live, host events and all kinds of things, he's been to to space aboard the ISS, to both North and South Pole expeditions, and now he's diving into the Challenger Deep . You can say that its all him opening his wallet and to a degree its true, but you still need to pass a number of mental and physical tasks, training etc... in order to be able to do this sort of thing, so its nice he's been committed and capable even long into his middle age. He;s even a long standing member (and apparently newly elected President, taking office next term) of the Explorer's Club which has a century of history and, if nothing else, is proof that he's more than a "tourist" as the Explorers Club only admits full members/fellows or signs off on expeditions (much less flag carrying ones) that contribute scientifically.

Even with all of this he's tried to launch new games over the years including Tabula Rasa (the failed collab with NCSoft ) and more recently the niche but quite well done Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues - https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com - . Crowdfunded quite a few years ago, its a spiritual successor to Ultima Online and I've had a great time with it over the years. Its not perfect (graphically, notably. I look forward to the updates that allow new hairstyles) but it tries to do some things that most other (MMO)RPGs don't even try to do and has fantastic housing, player settlement, roleplaying, music etc.. and other game systems. Even more, Garriott routinely shows up on stream/cam to interact with the community along with other devs, so it isn't like he just fuck'd off after putting his name on it - he continues his Ultima Online tradition of coming in with his Lord British avatar to interact with others too. Overall a pretty interesting guy who has seemingly done everything he wanted to do in his life and has no sign of slowing down.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top