Raph “Designer Dragon” Koster, one of the key architects of Ultima Online, has left the employ of Playdom (and, with it, Disney). And in the blog post in which he announces the event, he reminisces about the founding of Metaplace, the advent of Playdom proper, and also details what he will and won’t do next:

• No, I am not doing a Kickstarter. I get asked about it about once a week. I suspect that those of you who want this all want me to make a worldy MMO. I may yet make one of those in the future, but I don’t think that you can raise enough money on Kickstarter to do it justice.
• I’m available for consulting, if you can afford my soon-to-be-exorbitant rates.
• I suspect I will be able to do a bit more writing and speaking than I have been doing. I look forward to catching up with all the stuff going on in the academic scene…
• I don’t have a next job lined up yet. I am, as they say, exploring opportunities. I’ve talked with a few folks, and now that this is public, expect to talk to more. But…

Most likely, I will simply start making games. Lots and lots of games.

Well, maybe someday, one of those games will end up being a “worldy MMO”. Or maybe not. Regardless, let’s all wish the good Mr. Koster all the best in his new endeavour(s).