Continue reading »]]> Richard Allen Garriott (born July 4, 1961), also known as Lord British in Ultima and General British in Tabula Rasa, is a significant figure in the video game industry. He was originally a game designer and programmer, but now engages in various aspects of computer game development. On October 12, 2008, Garriott launched aboard Soyuz TMA-13 to the International Space Station as a self-funded tourist, returning safely 12 days later aboard Soyuz TMA-12.

Early life

Garriott was born in Cambridge, England, and raised in Nassau Bay, Texas. He is the son of scientist Owen K. Garriott, who became an astronaut and flew with Skylab 3 and Space Shuttle mission STS-9. At Clear Creek High School, he took an interest in computers and began self-directed courses in programming in which he created fantasy computer games. In the summer of 1977, Richard’s parents sent him to Oklahoma University for a seven-week computer camp. Shortly after he arrived, some of the other boys attending the camp introduced themselves. When Garriott replied to their greeting of “Hi” with “Hello” they decided he sounded like he was from Britain, and gave him the nickname “British”. Garriott uses the name to this day for his various gaming characters, including Ultima character Lord British and Tabula Rasa character General British. It is important to note that Garriott’s parents moved to Texas when he was a baby and – despite his nickname and birthplace – he has an American accent, not a British accent.

Programming career

Richard continued programming many games, often offering them to friends for free. He produced his first published game, Akalabeth (DND28b), in the summer of 1980 while working at a ComputerLand retail store. Garriott earned more than enough money from Akalabeth to pay to continue his education. In the fall, he entered the University of Texas at Austin, joined the school’s fencing team and later joined the Society for Creative Anachronism.

In the early 1980s, Garriott developed the Ultima computer game series (sequels after the first were numbered, such as Ultima II, Ultima III and so on). Originally programmed for the Apple II, the first was published by California Pacific Computers, and sold in Ziploc plastic bags to interested parties. The second part was published by Sierra On-Line. By the time he developed his third installment, the games had such a large following that Garriott (along with his brother, Robert, and father and others) established Origin Systems, their own video game publisher, to handle the publishing and distribution of his title, now available on several platforms. Origin went on to become one of the most influential game developers in the history of video games.

Garriott sold Origin to Electronic Arts in September 1992. In 1999 and 2000, EA canceled all of Origin’s new development projects, including Privateer Online, and Harry Potter Online. In the midst of these events, Garriott resigned from the company and returned to the industry by forming Destination Games in April 2000 with his brother and Starr Long (the producer of Ultima Online). Once Garriott’s non-compete agreement with EA expired a year later, Destination partnered with NCsoft where he acted as a producer and designer of MMORPGs. After it, he became the current CEO of NCSoft Austin, also known as NC Interactive.

On the 11th of November 2008, in an open letter on the official Tabula Rasa website, Garriott announced his plans to leave NCSoft to pursue new interests sparked by his spaceflight experiences.

Richard Garriott

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Hot on the heels of last week’s announcement that Richard Garriott was leaving NCSoft comes the news that Tabula Rasa will shut down in February of 2009. The sci-fi-themed MMO launched one year ago this month, promising a blend of action and roleplaying in a futuristic setting that was unique to the space. From the official website:

Last November we launched what we hoped would be a ground breaking sci-fi MMO. In many ways, we think we’ve achieved that goal. Tabula Rasa has some unique features that make it fun and very different from every other MMO out there. Unfortunately, the fact is that the game hasn’t performed as expected. The development team has worked hard to improve the game since launch, but the game never achieved the player population we hoped for.

So it is with regret that we must announce that Tabula Rasa will end live service on February 28, 2009.

Before we end the service, we’ll make Tabula Rasa servers free to play starting on January 10, 2009.

Current subscribers will receive complimentary three-month accounts for City of Heroes and Lineage II as well as early beta access to the company’s next big MMO franchise, Aion. Pre-paid subscriptions beyond January 10th will also be refunded.

Reactions from GameSpy and the Community

Despite Garriott’s recent departure, the community was still caught by surprise by the announcement. Tabula Rasa had huge content patches in the works, including content depicting a much-awaited return to Earth.

“This feels like a 12-gauge shotgun to the chest,” one commenter wrote on the PlanetTR fansite. Others are calling for NCSoft to release the game as open source, which is very unlikely.

Here at GameSpy, we enjoyed the action-oriented gameplay that Tabula Rasa brought to the table. Last year we gave the game a four-star review at launch, commenting that “adrenaline junkies finally have their MMO.” We also pointed out some missing features and issues, some of which were fixed right away (no auction house at launch!?) and some of which dragged on for months.

Ultimately, the game never caught on and apparently never reached the subscription goals NCSoft deemed necessary to keep the servers live. Here at GameSpy we’re disappointed to see it go: It offered a great alternative to the fantasy hack-and-slash options out there and had a unique combat model and character-class model we were hoping other games may someday emulate. Farewell, Tabula Rasa.

If you’d like to check out the game, Stick around for January 10th when all the servers will switch to free play.

GameSpy: Tabula Rasa to Shut Down