As of late, it has become more and more evident that Richard "Lord British" Garriott is adamant about going forward with his plans to focus his efforts entirely on "Social Games" for facebook. Now, to an old ultima and UO fan like myself, this news is extremely disheartening. After watching one of his most recent interviews on Youtube.com, he seems to have himself conviced that Social Games are the future of on-line gaming.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_ak0WR7vbI&feature=related

The interview comes in 3 parts.

In the interview, he speaks of 3 eras of gaming. The first being single player games that you buy at retail and play alone. The second era, which he thinks is over, is the era of the MMORPG. The third era, the one he believes is the future, is social games.

Now, any gamer worth his or her salt knows that the social games on facebook are hollow at best. They are stale, repetitve, and to be honest, stupid.  The types of players he is going to attract are the usual facebook attention whores many of us have come to know and loathe. Not to mention that these social games are a fad, like Myspace was. Eventually, they are going to be beaten out by the next "big thing" flash in the pan to catch the attention of pop culture. If social games are indeed the future, then it is a bleak future that awaits gaming.

And how is the age of the MMO over? Currently, every game company out there is focusing on making some form of MMO game. However, most keep following the same EQ clone model that WoW did. If anything is killing the MMO market, its the lack of originality. The age of the MMO is far from over, its actually just beginning.

But true MMOs, ones like UO, have proven they can stand the test of time, but only if they are made correctly. This brings me to the question of the poll:

If Richard Garriott were to abandon this social game craze and focus on and release an MMORPG that measured up to, if not surpassed, the quality of game play of UO with modern graphics, would you play it?

I know I would, in a heart beat. If he could deliver the same experience that he managed with Ultima Online, I dont think I would ever log off.

Well, in my understanding, a game like UO cant be made with modern graphics, unless you also have either outrageous funding (given the size of the interested audience - not gonna happen) or cut back in other areas.

I have no clue why I should do "social gaming". For that I have a circle of reallife friends, thank you very much. But if the guy wants to do that - sure, just go ahead.

Game design is like creating popular music, you somehow manage to find the groove, pump out some high quality stuff but eventually the creative well runs dry and you can no longer find the magic.

Richard may be able to create something new in the social gaming world, but as far as MMORPG's go, he's played out and no good purpose would be served by his return.

Even with UO, I've always felt he was more of a figurehead and the real brains behind that endeavour are a cast of unsung heroes instead.

Ill be more than happy to play another game by him. If things turned out to be in line to the good old times with lots of freedom and exploration with updated graphics then ill be drooling ;D

I loved UO when it first came out! I'm surprised it hasn't been updated. Be a great game to play again!

I sure as hell would. That's what I've been waiting for from MMORPGs.

As far as the Facebook thing, I think the idea from their standpoint is to bring Facebook gaming up to speed with the MMORPG's standards. They would have some advantages if streaming video (or whatever technology they use) can be developed to that extent. Some big advantages, like massive numbers for battles, anti-cheats (no speed hacks, no dupes, no special visual aids, etc.), and less lag allowing for things like UO's "items on the ground".

There's also huge benefits to "no downloads". Not only does it offer easy access, but think about things like terra-forming. They can change the world on the fly, and the player wouldn't need downloads to update the game world, because it will all be on their servers and you'd see whatever they "tell you" you see through the stream.

This is the way of the future. It's got a long ways to go yet, but the tech moves pretty fast. I think this is within 10 years, probably closer to 5.

As far as Garriott and UO and his team, it was a team effort. And I wouldn't be surprised to see Garriott reassemble much of that old team for a new game. Most of those people are probably chomping at the bit to do this anyways. But it's just not ready to happen yet.

I think that what he means is Facebook games are the future of making a quick buck.

It doesn't mean that online MMORPGs are going anywhere.

Even Grandma has a facebook page these days, adn she might play Farmville, and she might even pay for some credits to buy fertilizer or whatever the hell you do in Farmville.

But Grandma ain't gonna play Rift, or TOR, or WoW.

so yea, there's lots fo money in the FB games, because they can get essentially non gamers to play them.

I think he's all out of good ideas and creativity. He's all about the $$ now.

A Mystical Land is already out..

I see browser games coming out nowadays like Drakensang Online and realize that the graphics/gameplay are pretty darn impressive for what they are, and hope that Lord British's New Brittania may actually be somewhat decent, but I know I'm just fooling myself. I think it will even have a T.V. Show that will accompany the game..and that just makes it seem weirder.

I don't have a facebook account and never plan on getting one, so I guess I shouldn't care anyways.

Your question is not really phrased well heh. It's like asking "if a perfect game existed, would you want to play it?".  Well, "duh".  

I never played UO, but I liked Tabula Rasa a lot and think it's a shame it got canned.  It has some cool ideas and great immersion.  I got the sense that Garriott eventually just thought "well this isn't  great success, so i don't want it anymore" which is a disappointing way to act toward your creation, especially one that was still being enjoyed by many, many people.

That being said, I did like it, so i'd play another MMO made by him.

Originally posted by Ihmotepp

I think that what he means is Facebook games are the future of making a quick buck.

It doesn't mean that online MMORPGs are going anywhere.

Even Grandma has a facebook page these days, adn she might play Farmville, and she might even pay for some credits to buy fertilizer or whatever the hell you do in Farmville.

 

But Grandma ain't gonna play Rift, or TOR, or WoW.

so yea, there's lots fo money in the FB games, because they can get essentially non gamers to play them.

Thats why hes selling out. FB games are made for grandma and little timmy. Real gamers tend to look down on FB and its games. Hes not reaching out the fans who helped make him. He's going to the darkside and making facebook games for the cash.

I also thought it was ironic that he believed these facebook games would be a challenge. Challenge? Ive seen these games. A first year programming student could make a dozen of them in a day. I guess thats his new master plan, start pumping out Facebook crap and just keep raking in the easy bucks.

Originally posted by Amaranthar

I sure as hell would. That's what I've been waiting for from MMORPGs.

As far as the Facebook thing, I think the idea from their standpoint is to bring Facebook gaming up to speed with the MMORPG's standards. They would have some advantages if streaming video (or whatever technology they use) can be developed to that extent. Some big advantages, like massive numbers for battles, anti-cheats (no speed hacks, no dupes, no special visual aids, etc.), and less lag allowing for things like UO's "items on the ground".

There's also huge benefits to "no downloads". Not only does it offer easy access, but think about things like terra-forming. They can change the world on the fly, and the player wouldn't need downloads to update the game world, because it will all be on their servers and you'd see whatever they "tell you" you see through the stream.

This is the way of the future. It's got a long ways to go yet, but the tech moves pretty fast. I think this is within 10 years, probably closer to 5.

As far as Garriott and UO and his team, it was a team effort. And I wouldn't be surprised to see Garriott reassemble much of that old team for a new game. Most of those people are probably chomping at the bit to do this anyways. But it's just not ready to happen yet.

 This kind of operation would be laggy and delayed as hell too. The trafic on the servers would be ultra high, especially with them constantly having to send new data to the clients. Download packets reduce server traffic and strain, allowing the game to operate more smoothly.

Not to mention the graphics would be stuck in a perpetual 2d state. Browser games arent the most visually stunnig. And, lets face it, people are graphics whores. They want the games that look the most real but also play real too.

I really dont see these facebook games being anything more than Iphone apps for bored suits to play on the plane, bored students to play in class and bored people on the buss to play.

Based on the question posed for voting in this thread, "If Richard Garriott were to abandon this social game craze and focus on and release an MMORPG that measured up to, if not surpassed, the quality of game play of UO with modern graphics, would you play it," I'm unsure that any UO veteran with balls or merit would say no. If they were to create another Ultima MMO in the style and tradition of the original Ultima Online (hopefully ignoring anything that happened beyond T2A), perhaps with slightly updated graphics, UI or minor gameplay changes, I have a feeling that games like Darkfall and Mortal Online would die almost over night, and that the game's success would actually depend entirely upon the team who makes it and have absolutely nothing to do with Garriott (aside from assembling the team, maybe). So, do I think Garriott is actually important anymore in the MMO scene? No. Do I think he could be again if he revisited some of his original game design, and perhaps located that old team of UO devs? Probably.

Hell yeah I would play another Richard Garriott game.  Like you even needed to ask :)  I would especially be interested if it was a fantasy mmorpg.  

I am not sure what his thinking is now.   But I know I read an interview with him where he was talking about social games, but did not rule out a mmorpg.   Can't remember where I seen it but I know that he was not opposed to mmorpgs at the time.  Just wanted to focus on social games.

 I am guessing that he will get the mmorpg itch at some point in the future.  Like the OP stated social games are rather shallow.

Why in the world would you not play something because of the person making it, that just makes no sense.

It wont happen.  He wont make the game I want. . .again.

UO, before Trammel but after Rennaisance was the best game ever...EVER.

Originally posted by Arthineas

Hell yeah I would play another Richard Garriott game.  Like you even needed to ask :)  I would especially be interested if it was a fantasy mmorpg.  

I am not sure what his thinking is now.   But I know I read an interview with him where he was talking about social games, but did not rule out a mmorpg.   Can't remember where I seen it but I know that he was not opposed to mmorpgs at the time.  Just wanted to focus on social games.

 I am guessing that he will get the mmorpg itch at some point in the future.  Like the OP stated social games are rather shallow.

 Well, hopefully, that itch bites him sooner rather than later, because frankly, the current quality of MMORPGs just keeps going down with each EQ Clone that gets spewed forth from the Machine.

I'll just prefer to have Richard's bank account number and make an electronic fund transfer to him instead.