Richard Garriott's 2011 LOGIN Keynote Speech: Three Eras of Gaming
Ultima creator and private astronaut Richard Garriott delivered the keynote address at the LOGIN 2011 conference. In it, he articulated his view that the “third era” of video games — casual, social gaming — is well underway, and that social games “are paving their way through the last two, and are a driving force in the medium for the next several years.”
The first era was single-player games. These games were solo merely by the inability for other players to comfortably join. This era pioneered by games like Super Mario Land, Pac-Man, and Garriottís own Ultima franchise.
…
Later, online games started to take the market. Massively Multiplayer games are gamingís second era. Ultima Onlineñoriginally called Multimañ paved the way for these games, but Garriott notes that it was a project no one initially believed it. ìThis is the hardest game Iíve ever had tried to get going,î he noted as he described the trouble.
…
The thirdñand currentñera is the time for social, casual games.ìThe games in this new grand era are cheap/free to acquire. And they spread virallyî Garriott states that heís already impressed and amazed by the amount of people already working in this design space, and by the speed this era is growing.
…
Richard Garriott claims that heís had three jobs in his life, and these three jobs cater to each era: Origin Systemsñwhere he created single-player RPGs; Destination Gamesñwhere he worked on Tabula Rasa; and Portalatiumñwhere heís currently working on two social games.
Garriott’s self-assessment largely dovetails with observations of the man’s career by outsiders, and I’d have to say that I agree with his assessment in general. Regular readers of Aiera will no doubt have noticed that I’ve been quite open in voicing my belief that social games — despite the relative fluffiness and primitivity of the current crop of social/casual titles — are a field in which there will be explosive growth (both in terms of the number of games available and the quality/engagingness of these games) in coming years.
As I’ve said before, it’s like playing games on a mobile phone. My first mobile was a primitive little Samsung flip phone, with some version of Solitaire and a primitive little driving game installed on it. And these were, admittedly, terrible games, and very poorly implemented. Now, though? I’ve got Infinity Blade (an Unreal Engine 3-powered game) on my iPhone.
That’s exactly the sort of revolution that’s about to take place in the social gaming space. Just watch.
Well then.. I hope that great, deeply immersive single-player games, and RPGs specifically, continue to be made in this era. I play games to get away from everything, and therefore social gaming is anathema to me.
My wife plays Farmville a lot. I can’t stand that game and would rather do house chores all day, than touch it. For me, Farmville is a typical representation of a social game.
Along those lines, even if a “social game RPG” comes out that is massively successful, what definition separates it from a similarly successful MMORPG? Would it be the “cuteness” and lack of complexity that separates the two? (I’ve noticed that Farmville could be played by just about any age)
If not, then should (e.g.) World of Warcraft ever be attached to Facebook, would it then be considered a “social game”, since it similarly involves people playing together and socializing while adventuring?
The idea is, everyone is on facebook, the ones that don’t are a vast vast minority. Not everyone uses it everyday, but the majority do. People use it as an instant messenger and stuff. It will always be as watered down to accommodate all age groups. It’s a cheap tactic to get to as many people as possible.
Unless he’s making this game like his ultima’s with insanely difficult puzzle’s and things to do. But I doubt it.
Maybe one day he’ll make a sweet single player game for the fun of it!
I have collected a good amount of games, old and somewhat new, to keep me busy in the coming years. This is because of where trends seem to be headed. Thank the gods for Dosbox, Exult, and numerous other ways to continue to play the classics.
Don’t forget about Indie RPGs. That is what I have turned to for quality RPGs with depth (if not the Final Fantasy-like production values). Check out the Avernum and Eschalon series, for starters.
As indies go, I must confess a certain raw enjoyment of Runic’s Torchlight. Pure addictive joy. Threadbare plot, though.
I still see these “Social Site Games” as more of a bubble, like the dot com’s that will some day burst. As much as I love and admire Garriott, he continues to not show any proof of innovation or moving a genre forward with his latest new found “loves” (MMOG or Social Gaming) when he has been involved with or creating them (like Tabula Rasa).
Garriot’s a cowboy. He realizes he just doesn’t work well in an industry once it becomes too big budget and established.
He doesn’t want to compete in the single player arena with Bethesda and Bioware. He doesn’t want to compete in the MMORPG arena with Blizzard.
So he’s going west, moving on to the next empty pasture. We’ll see if he makes it there or if he gets scalped by the natives (ie, social gaming types who are repelled by his attempts to introduce any sort of complexity or depth beyond what they’re used to).
WTF, Avadon was just released by Spiderweb Software;, I really enjoy and recommend their games.
If you are more into platform RPGs, I would throw Aquaria into the mix. It has great visuals and smooth animation although it is a bit “cute”. The RPG elements are a bit light, but it’s enjoyable.
The thing about Dwarf Fortress, is that it is ugly. There are two types of players who start playing Dwarf Fortress.
The first kind finds it a clunky, intelligable mass, they are unable to get past the initial learning curve, and quickly give up.
The second kind perseveres, forgiving the game its weaknesses because it is still in development. These type get to the point that they no longer see the ascii characters. Where they saw smiley faces before, now they see dwarves, where they saw Capital “E”s now they see ravenous Elephants…
There are two types of players who start playing Dwarf Fortress.
You’ve forgotten the third type – roguelike fans who have been playing games with that kind of presentation for many years.
I think Garriot might have lost his mind….dang.
Or I am just getting old and need to shut up:)