The folks over at Funcom's Age of Conan have provided us with a new Developer Profile Q&A. This time around, AI Designer Haluk Diriker answers our questions as we get to know the folks behind their highly anticipated game.

MMORPG.com:

Tell us a little about your childhood. How did school and where you live influence your choice to join the video game community?

Haluk Diriker:

My family moved around a lot due to my father's profession. I think I lived in 3 different cities before I was sent back to my home town to live with my grandparents. It was decided that all the moving was interfering with my education.

It all paid well for me in the end. I was a hyperactive kid and my grandparents couldn't run after me the whole day, so I was awarded with an Atari 2600 and the handhelds of the time: Gamewatches. That's when games really entered my life.

Read the whole article here.

From a gamer point of view, I hope it will boost the industry and won't make high-budget titles obsolete. Experienced gamers are a small percentage compared to the untapped potential customers out there and the costs for triple-A titles are increasing by leaps and bounds, like the technology that is used to make them. This might sound like conspiracy theory to some, but in other industries, a still-profitable product being replaced by a more profitable one is not uncommon.[/quote]

We are screwed.

Originally posted by Leary
Gamewatches! Ha! I had forgot about those! How much trouble did I get into with those in school!

Oh sweet nerdy memory lane...

dunno guys - i find them interesting to read. shows what background people have and what kind of people make the games i like to play.

i agree tho, some of the questions are not really interesting at all - i do quite like questions that draw out what the developers are thinking (without revealing whats in their particular game). i.e. "Where do you see the MMO industry going" or "What mechanics etc. would you like to see in a game."

IMO it's good to see that gamers make games :)

  Snore

Originally posted by Salvatoris
I wonder who the people are that are really interested in developer profiles... is there anyone?  I know you guys at MMORPG.com take what you can get from game developers, but do the game developers really think the best way to hype their game is by telling us what Joe Blow does around the office all day?  I bet a few new screens and a little bit of info about the game would go a lot a further.  I guess it all comes from misidentifying your customers as your  "fans".

Agreed 100%

Well, maybe 95%.  I don't mind the biographical info on developers, coders, artists, janitors and lunch ladies who work at these companies so long as it is IN ADDITION TO  information about the game!!

NOT INTEAD OF information!!

If the Funcom developers really think this type of stuff is an adequate subsitution for screenshots, videos or actual information about the game, they are horribly mistaken.   This is not the way to generate hype, it's the way to put your potential customers to sleep.

Let's hear something interesting about AoC for a change instead of just flowery descriptions of game mechanics and classes that don't give any real details.

How can a dev company get you to the stage of hero worship, if they give dont  you "targets" for you to apply it too ?

Thats really all these "meet the dev" articles and events are about.

They want you to look up to the people they highlight, aspire to be like them.

Because that way, your much more lenient/forgiving when it comes to making judgements about their product.

Think of it as the digital autograph event, or the Hollywood "actors patting other actors on their backsides " shows,or the equal to a  politician kissing baby/photo op  event.