Online Game Pioneers. Morgan Ramsay Foreword by Richard Bartle

Transcription

1 Online Game Pioneers at Work Morgan Ramsay Foreword by Richard Bartle

2 Online Game Pioneers at Work Copyright 2015 by Morgan Ramsay This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. Exempted from this legal reservation are brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis or material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Duplication of this publication or parts thereof is permitted only under the provisions of the Copyright Law of the Publisher s location, in its current version, and permission for use must always be obtained from Springer. Permissions for use may be obtained through RightsLink at the Copyright Clearance Center. Violations are liable to prosecution under the respective Copyright Law. ISBN-13 (pbk): ISBN-13 (electronic): Trademarked names, logos, and images may appear in this book. Rather than use a trademark symbol with every occurrence of a trademarked name, logo, or image we use the names, logos, and images only in an editorial fashion and to the benefit of the trademark owner, with no intention of infringement of the trademark. The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even if they are not identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are subject to proprietary rights. While the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication, neither the authors nor the editors nor the publisher can accept any legal responsibility for any errors or omissions that may be made. The publisher makes no warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein. Managing Director: Welmoed Spahr Acquisitions Editor: Michelle Lowman Editorial Board: Steve Anglin, Mark Beckner, Gary Cornell, Louise Corrigan, James DeWolf, Jonathan Gennick, Robert Hutchinson, Michelle Lowman, James Markham, Susan McDermott, Matthew Moodie, Jeffrey Pepper, Douglas Pundick, Ben Renow-Clarke, Gwenan Spearing, Matt Wade, Steve Weiss Compositor: SPi Global Indexer: SPi Global Distributed to the book trade worldwide by Springer Science+Business Media New York, 233 Spring Street, 6th Floor, New York, NY Phone SPRINGER, fax (201) , orders-ny@springer-sbm.com, or visit Apress Media, LLC is a California LLC and the sole member (owner) is Springer Science + Business Media Finance Inc (SSBM Finance Inc). SSBM Finance Inc is a Delaware corporation For information on translations, please rights@apress.com, or visit Apress and friends of ED books may be purchased in bulk for academic, corporate, or promotional use. ebook versions and licenses are also available for most titles. For more information, reference our Special Bulk Sales ebook Licensing web page at Any source code or other supplementary materials referenced by the author in this text is available to readers at For detailed information about how to locate your book s source code, go to

3 For Dad and Mom, who survived breast cancer; my sister Leilani and brother-to-be Ryan; and my best friend Brendan Johnson ( ).

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5 Contents About the Author vii Foreword ix Acknowledgments xi Introduction xiii Chapter 1: David Perry 1 Chapter 2: Emily Greer 23 Chapter 3: Doug Whatley 43 Chapter 4: Ian Bogost 71 Chapter 5: Victor Kislyi 93 Chapter 6: Richard Garriott 107 Chapter 7: Gaute Godager 169 Chapter 8: Ilkka Paananen 183 Chapter 9: Jason Kapalka 211 Chapter 10: John Romero 231 Chapter 11: Ray Muzyka & Greg Zeschuk 261 Chapter 12: Raph Koster 281 Chapter 13: Reynir Harðarson 315 Chapter 14: Riccardo Zacconi 335 Chapter 15: Neil Young 349 Index 389

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7 About the Author Morgan Ramsay, bestselling author of Gamers at Work: Stories Behind the Games People Play and Online Game Pioneers at Work, has interviewed nearly 50 leaders in entertainment, technology, and sports, including EA founder Trip Hawkins, Gaikai CEO David Perry, and former NFL punter Chris Kluwe. As the Founder, President & CEO at Entertainment Media Council, the association for business leaders in the video game industry, Mr. Ramsay works with entrepreneurs, C-level executives, and senior managers to advance interactive entertainment by addressing the toughest challenges facing the global business community. Previously, Mr. Ramsay was the Managing Director at Heretic where, for seven years, he provided strategic communication expertise to various clients, from small businesses to the Fortune Global 500, including working with the White House to recognize United States Navy veterans on behalf of the President of the United States of America. Visit theramsayinterviews.com for a complete list of his interviews, and direct all business inquiries to morgan@theramsayinterviews.com.

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9 Foreword Accidents happen: You play online games; you make online friends. By chance, some of these friends make games, or have friends who make games, or have friends of friends who make games; or who don t make games, but want to make games. They need someone with your talent; you start working with or for them, making games. One of your games becomes a hit. You make more games. By chance, some of these are hits too. A larger company is looking to buy a company with the profile of the one you re working for, so they do. You re more financially secure, but you feel strangely less satisfied. Other people you know in the industry feel the same way. You have complementary skills. You leave your job to set up a new company together. One of the many, many investors you pitch to likes your ideas. You get funding. You start making games. By chance, one of your games is a hit. History repeats itself. By chance, more games are hits. By chance, a larger company wants a piece of your company. They buy it. You re now wealthy, respected and in demand. You ve proven yourself. Now, you can do pretty well whatever you want in the games industry. So, you do: you give the public great games. All by chance. This same story, give or take a few fanciful details, is repeated throughout this book. Why, then, would you want to read it over and over? It s the Brownian motion theory of success: right place, right time, right luck, could happen to anyone. The truth, of course, is that if you look at those fanciful details, you ll realize that chance barely has a speaking part in this drama. All the people interviewed in this book are passionate about games. You think you re passionate? They re passionate. They re also highly creative in what they do, whether that s making games or enabling other people to make games.

10 x Foreword You think you re creative? They re creative. They want to say things through games which they can t say by working for someone else. They re passionate enough that they re willing to put their career on the line to start a company from scratch just so they can create what they want to what they have to create. Is there risk involved? Well yes. The risk is that they re even worse at developing games than they think they are; worse at running companies than they think they are. They know they have too much to learn, they know that the road ahead isn t so much full of potholes as of gaping chasms, but they re passionate enough to set out anyway. Some people have the passion, but not the creativity. They fall into chasms and they re never going to get out. Other people, like me, have the creativity, but not the passion. They hit a pothole, don t like the jolt, and spend the rest of the journey trying to avoid every single obstacle in their path and never getting anywhere. Other people have both the passion and the creativity: sure, they may take a wrong turn and drive off a cliff, but they patch themselves up, drag themselves into another vehicle, and soon they re back taking a wiser route to the same destination. Eventually, they make it there. Those are the people you re reading about in this book. Morgan has assembled an astounding collection of online game founders for this series of interviews. Given the demands on their time and their degree of success, you might expect them to be divas who speak nothing but anodyne platitudes for eight minutes then they flounce off but they re not like that at all. Every one of them is honest, open and generous with their time. They tell things just the way they are, without any spin, and with insights freely flowing. That s either a feature of successful game developers or a testament to Morgan s interviewing skills. I suspect it s a combination of both. One thing is for sure, though: it s no accident. Richard Bartle Co-creator of MUDs

11 Acknowledgments Online Game Pioneers at Work continued my work from Gamers at Work: Stories Behind the Games People Play, subsequently and almost interminably without rest between them. I would be remiss to not again acknowledge everyone who had been instrumental to that first book. Yet, something feels off about copying the acknowledgments of another book verbatim. Instead, I will thank just a few people whose specific contributions were essential: Adam Kahn, Alena Smychkina, Annie Luther, Greta Melinchuk, Linda Åström, Molly Mulloy, and Tiina Oikarainen. I will also thank Lisa Revelli and Tomoyuki Akiyama, for their assistance with DeNA founder Tomoko Namba, whose interview does not appear in this book. I would also extend my gratitude to my good friend, Zachary Jacques of ZJ Transcription Services, whose hard work we balanced with many hours playing online games. Dear Zack, it s just no fun winning all the time!

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13 Introduction On October 14, 2008, Richard Garriott de Cayeux became the first video game developer to travel into space, a journey made possible by a true spirit of adventure and a fortune earned as a role-playing game pioneer and entrepreneur. Richard s fascinating story, from teen game developer to astronaut, is just one of the 15 diverse, detailed, and enlightening interviews with 16 industry leaders in Online Game Pioneers at Work. Like Garriott, video games have come a long way over the last 40 years. From the lab to the arcade, and from the arcade to the home, the video game market continues to expand. There are not only new platforms and genres, but new and exciting ways to discover, buy, and play video games. There are, effectively, whole new worlds to explore. The Internet has made a significant contribution to the advancement of the video game as an entertainment medium and as a business, connecting a diverse number of players around the world and frequently at scales beyond anything we would have ever imagined. Indeed, many of the creative and business leaders in this collection of interviews have at times commented on the pace at which the online game will displace other forms of interactive entertainment. Online games are everywhere. They re on mobile phones, tablets, and virtual reality headsets. They re digitally distributed, streamed in real time, and played in web browsers. They re free-to-play, buy-to-play, and subscriber-only. They re social, casual, and massively multiplayer; they re sandboxes, theme parks, and virtual worlds. They re esports, played by amateur and professional cyberathletes, covered by ESPN, and watched by audiences rivaling those for other sports and competitions. More than just an entertainment product category, online games have produced wide-ranging social benefits, too. Online games connect disparate groups of people within safe, virtual spaces, enabling players to communicate, cooperate, and learn together more effectively without the physical and social boundaries that hold us back in the real world. While some developers of serious games construct virtual environments where we can practice vital workplace and emergency response skills, others create online experiences from which we come away better informed.

14 xiv Introduction In Gamers at Work: Stories Behind the Games People Play, published in 2012, I spoke with 18 founders of successful console and PC video game companies about their stories and what we could learn from them. I wanted to learn about the challenges of entrepreneurship, and specifically, how those who had gone before managed to come out alive and on top. With Online Game Pioneers at Work, I continue that good work through interviews with 16 founders of successful online game companies, but with an eye toward the shift to the online future of video games. In this collection, you will enjoy some of the deepest treatments of the business of video games, as well as some of the most exhaustive and illuminating interviews with working founders of major entertainment companies. I hope the questions I ve asked have revealed insights into online games that you will find informative, uplifting, and never less than entertaining. Morgan Ramsay Founder, President & CEO Entertainment Media Council