Great read Scott, as always. :)

Very glad to see you writing here, very nice addition to the columnist team. :)

Originally posted by Khalathwyr

Ok, wait, so the overwhelming majority of people applying that you interviewed were asked to reference WoW, City of Heroes or Guild Wars. Man, I may be right, lol. There aren't many people actually building/programming games who have played EQ, UO and AC anymore. All those guys are doing the hiring these days and not making worlds. That's why I'm not too happy about the overwhelming majority of the latest offerings. These guys more than likely think that because they were asked about those games mentioned above, that's what they should reflect on when making design decisions.

Being able to explain why a poor design decision is a poor design decision in your opinion is a skill that should apply regardless of title. WoW is the most played, most well-known MMO so it serves as a good starting point for the discussion (as Lum indicates, it's common ground). Your opinion might be disagreed with, but it's how you explain yourself that counts.

I actually think that no matter who you went to, saying, "I haven't played any other MMOs apart from EQ, UO and AC" is probably going to raise alarm bells about your knowledge of MMO development, particularly recent progress. Going into a 5 minute rant on UO's design flaws from over 10 years ago is probably going to see your interviewers give a lot of polite smiles as they help you towards the exit door.

Also, according to the forums, everyone played UO and everyone quit due to Trammel.

As one of the old guys from early MMO's and a old time reader I say bring back Lum the Mad!

Well it's good to know that designers are meant to have opinions about things, since I started veering off the programmer job and heading towards design, I've been thinking a lot more about design choices made in games, and picking them apart... it's a bit like, if any of your old high school English teachers did this, when you watch a movie and pick apart all of the little scripting parts, and how the scenes link together and relate to the "Hero's Journey", and then you go home and try to watch a movie you like and you can't help but piece together the "Revelation", "Tragedy", "Metamorphosis", "Resolution" parts, etc.

Sort of annoying, really, that I can no longer enjoy things ignorantly, blissfully unaware of their now obvious flaws.

A very good article and right on the head im sure.

Im not a game coder I come from the other line of coding. 24 years of Cobol on MVS IBM systems.  You would not beilive what it takes to code entire systems.

I can only imigine with all the graphics prosssing and modling and what not all the extra stuff that has to be done.

So kudo's on the article.

Oh hey, it's LumTheMad. You may or may not remember my UO character. I wrote much in defense of player-killing.

Why did they use a picture of George Lucas? :D

You forgot the most important part:  Be ready to deal with venture capitalist "jocks" who are ignorant trust fund babies only looking to make a quick buck and won't think twice about laying off an entire team to save their own asses.

I thought the guy in the picture would be perfect for a job at Leisure Suit Larry Online.

Nice article even though I am not looking for an interview :)

Originally posted by UnSub

Originally posted by Khalathwyr

Ok, wait, so the overwhelming majority of people applying that you interviewed were asked to reference WoW, City of Heroes or Guild Wars. Man, I may be right, lol. There aren't many people actually building/programming games who have played EQ, UO and AC anymore. All those guys are doing the hiring these days and not making worlds. That's why I'm not too happy about the overwhelming majority of the latest offerings. These guys more than likely think that because they were asked about those games mentioned above, that's what they should reflect on when making design decisions.

Being able to explain why a poor design decision is a poor design decision in your opinion is a skill that should apply regardless of title. WoW is the most played, most well-known MMO so it serves as a good starting point for the discussion (as Lum indicates, it's common ground). Your opinion might be disagreed with, but it's how you explain yourself that counts.

I actually think that no matter who you went to, saying, "I haven't played any other MMOs apart from EQ, UO and AC" is probably going to raise alarm bells about your knowledge of MMO development, particularly recent progress. Going into a 5 minute rant on UO's design flaws from over 10 years ago is probably going to see your interviewers give a lot of polite smiles as they help you towards the exit door.

Also, according to the forums, everyone played UO and everyone quit due to Trammel.

I think that saying " I haven't played any MMOs apart from WoW, Guild Wars and City of Heroes" should raise alarm bells. Just because they are more recent that the others I mentioned doesn't mean they are better references. Recent "progress" isn't universally considered so. Coming up with "someting new" doesn't seem to be working well. Maybe it's time to revisit the old some for inspiration.

Nice to see you join the crew, Scott.

Good Read/Article...look forward to more Lum

Great stuff! Good to see more great columns on the lineup.

Nice article, good to know if I'm ever suicidal enough to want to go into the industry =P.

MMORPG has landed a talented writer & I very much enjoyed this first column of yours here.

There are many great designers around & I would say most of them could write up a column in a similar vein, whilst only a few actually do because of time constraints or an unwillingness to divulge their own "tricks of the trade" I guess.

Informative & amusing & of practical use to any thinking of a career in the industry, one thing you hint at but don't expressly state is the depth of passion for what you do in the industry that you NEED, without a seriously, verging on obsessive degree of pasion for games you'll lose heart & give up when the going gets tough or the deadlines get tight, the passion drives you onwards through serious challenges, so if you aren't 100% convicted in your comittment just don't try, the industry will chew you up & spit you out if you haven't got the fight in you.