Amber Night

Do you have to, do you have to
Do you have to let it linger?

I enjoy reading Abalieno's heavily detailed observations over at The Cesspit.  I find myself agreeing with him more often than not on the broader topics, if not always on the finer details.  This time I do not:

Let's agree on something: both UO and SWG were ruined by the fact that the original minds left. And it will be the same for EVERY mmorpg out there. Now and in the future. Dev teams change and things usually go right in the toilet. In particular those games with a so strong "imprinting".

I can agree that perhaps the problem with these games was that those left behind when the "original minds" departed were unable to pick up the ball and run with it.

It was your own game and there was noone in the world who could run it beside you. That's the only real truth. *You* killed it the moment you accepted to pass the duty. It's your own responsibility.

Abalieno posits that Raph was so key to the entire enterprise, that his leaving was tantamount to pulling a rug out from under the entire project.  I'm not so sure I can buy that.  If true, then certainly Sony should have realized it and taken appropriate steps.

Abalieno is placing a huge burden on the shoulders of one or a small handful of designers, yet there is no quid pro quo.  For example, I declined a job offer just out of college because I was asked to sign a document that essentially said that, even though I was to be a salaried employee, I agreed not to quit for at least 1 year. (a "loyalty oath" that wasn't tied to a bonus or other kind of compensation.)  I told the recruiter I'd be willing to sign such a document if the company were willing to sign a document saying I wouldn't be fired or layed off for a year. Strangely, they declined.  As exciting and sexy as those of us on the outside may think game design is, when it comes down to it, it's a job.  Game designers have families to feed, houses to buy, and personal goals.  Sometimes a job doesn't continue to align with a person's goals, and they move on.  A good company plans for this eventuality.  They ensure that no one person is indispensable, and that no one person holds the keys to the castle.  You might argue that someone like Raph Koster is indispensable, but evidently Sony didn't think so.  As Raph puts it , "it was a very amicable departure." As much as I love to beat up on Sony, there doesn't seem to be a bad guy here.

Actually I even think that you consciously or unconsciously built it so that the game would have rejected everyone else. Or you or noone else. Like some kind of DNA code identification system that started a countdown to self destruction as someone else tried to "violate" it. You definitely cheated SOE by handing them a crippled game that noone else beside you could have utilized productively.

This is simple conspiratorial rhetoric, and (sorry Abalieno) a ridiculous line of thought.  Even if we were to buy that Raph is some kind of megalomaniac who, if he can't make the game work then nobody can, it's just inconceivable that a single person could hold such sway over such a large project.

Want to design new games every few months? Good, then DO NOT aspire to be a Lead Designer for a mmorpg. These games aren't waiting rooms where you sit for a couple of months before moving onto something else. A mmorpg is a life-job, if you have the opportunity and privilege to continue. It shouldn't be a walk in the park. Being a Lead Designer should be a daunting task that noone wants, not the easiest way to the game industry stardom.

and

Imho a Lead Designer shouldn't move AT ALL. Stop. There's no "early" or "late". Or there is commitment, or things go to hell.

Again, game designers are humans, and they have very normal human responsibilities, hopes, and goals.  Certainly, being the lead designer of a massive online game is a hugely prestigious job, but so is astronaut, surgeon, President of the United States, and firefighter.  Yet in all these cases there has been at least one resignation, and yet we continue on.  The shuttle continues to fly, hearts still get transplanted, etc.  Sometimes the transition is difficult, other times not.  But nobody is indispensable.

Certainly it's a shame that Raph didn't have more time to realize his vision, and yes some of the design was flawed or at least poorly implemented.  Raph has owned up to his share of the blame, which is almost unheard of in this industry.  But no company (not even Sony) in their right mind would stipulate that a lead designer must stick it out for the entire lifespan of the game.  That would be nothing short of disastrous.  And pinning the failure of the entire game on Raph because he left is too harsh.  Blame him for what he did, but don't blame him for what he didn't do when he wasn't there.

(Link on Raph's site with discussion here.)

This entry was posted on Friday, July 28th, 2006 at 7:12 am and is filed under Game Design, MMOs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.