I think most of us here are — or should be — familiar with Richard Garriott’s claim to have in effect coined the use of the term “avatar” to mean a digital representation of oneself. If not, he relates the tale in a short interview with Critical Path.

The Critical Path Project, by the way, is an interesting archive of interviews with the minds behind the video game industry. Billing itself as “a panoramic overview of the contemporary state of the videogame medium, uniting luminaries from all sides of the industry as they offer insights into their craft and reflect on how the medium has come to define itself,” it is home to a goodly number if short interviews with the likes of Richard Garriott, Warren Spector, and many others.

I think I’ll make a point of posting about each relevant-to-Ultima interview there over the next few weeks.

(Hat tip: Infinitron Dragon)