Exclusive Interview With Raph Koster: Areae “…doing Microtransactions.”
I know. I was surprised too. Also, Shamans have been nerfed. Typical.
So Raph thought a real interview might be slightly more accurate than a fake interview, and agreed (volunteered actually, and no crying or kidnapping on my part) to answer some of my questions about Areae and their forthcoming product, Tertio Life. Seriously. I am not making this up. Oh, Tertio Life I'm totally making up. But not the interview. That's real. (I wonder if this tactic would work with Dr. Richard Bartle who is also on the team, and, apparently, still very much alive.)
I asked the hard questions. The tough questions. The questions nobody else would ask because they can't handle the truth. Unfortunately, you can't handle the truth either, so you really only get to learn what kind of tree Raph is least like. Trust me, it's for your own good.
Let us begin.
AN: When choosing a company name, were there any other names on the shortlist that were simply too pronounceable for consideration?
RK: I did consider Aereae, Aereaae, and Aeaereaeaeae, as well as kooky crazy stuff like radixynth, tecelao, synthikat, various names based on the Sanskrit word “ylem,” and so on. They just didn’t have the same quality of simplicity and confusion, although they did meet the pretentiousness quotient. (You may now Google for word fragments out of that in order to ascertain what other dead languages I tried to steal from).
Finding a name is, by the way, a pain in the ass. Now we have to do it all over again but with the product. I’m thinking no vowels this time. We used up our quotient anyway. How about Tghtgrddwq? Or maybe a name in Welsh.
AN: That cute little graphic on the Areae website depicts everything from an ancient castle, to future tech, to androgynous silhouetted dancers, emphasizing the message of "many places." There is also a half hidden dog behind a building. Why do you hate pet classes? Also, does this idea of many worlds imply, perhaps, player-created worlds (or content?) within the context of a single game? Or is the truth much more sinister?
RK: I don’t hate pet classes! You’ll notice that the pet here is actually larger and more impressive than the car, the rocket, or the people. Be glad it’s only a puppy – if the graphic had included a full-grown pet hippo, all we’d see would be giant purple butt.
Truth is never sinister. It’s more like callous, indifferent, unconcerned with how people view it.
Notice how nicely I ducked the middle question there? (—AN: /em shakes fists at heavens. Kosterrrr!)
AN: On your website you mention that "we've got a cool world or two incubating on the back burner." Does it make your investors nervous that you don't know exactly how many worlds you have?
RK: Upon occasion they ask me about it, but then I dazzle them with doubletalk.
AN: The website says "we're working on some new tech that will literally change how virtual worlds are made." Can you talk a little bit about what's wrong/inefficient with the current model, and what aspects Areae hopes to address? For example, you mentioned to Gamasutra that the traditional MMO client is "an accident of history." How will players experience your virtual world? Is this something we're going to be able to experience through our web browsers, and if so, aren't you worried that we'll all play it at work, be fired, and have to cancel our subscriptions?
RK: The current model has the following problems:
- it’s insanely expensive
- it takes forever
- therefore it breeds conservatism and lowest-common-denominator approaches
- it’s all “broadcast” based – the games work like Prodigy or AOL used to, before the Intarweb appeared with its miraculous tubes and saved us all.
If you recall, AOL and Prodigy had custom proprietary clients too (AOL had to fill those CDs with something. Today though, we live in a very different world of digital delivery, user content, “small pieces loosely joined,” insert other gag-inducing Web cliché here. I think there’s a lot to learn from that model, because it’s in the midst of really ripping up other content industries and forcing them to top to bottom rethink how they do business.
As your worries… play at work? Sounds good to us. Get fired… We care deeply about our hypothetical customers, and don’t want something bad to happen to them. Cancel subscriptions? There you go, jumping to conclusions on business model again. Next, you’ll accuse me of doing microtransactions. (—AN: I wouldn't dream of spreading such a nasty rumor.)
AN: As a player in Tertio Life (which, my sources tell me, is your project's codename) can I expect a traditional experience in terms of class-based/skill-based characters, or something radically different? I.e., does a re-thinking of the traditional MMO also mean a re-thinking of our in-game personae? Also, will everyone still just roll a Shaman?
I think people LIKE characters. They LIKE avatars. And like snowflakes, they all want theirs to be unique and different and completely indistinguishable from anyone else at a distance of five feet. I think you should expect a mix of traditional and non-traditional here. Shamans not included.
AN: Obviously, at least until more details are revealed, people are going to be comparing Project Tertio Life to Second Life, because, you know, we're sheep. But I think the big question people are asking is: "will I be able to buy a pair of Air Jordon's in Tertio Life, or will I be relegated to buying Payless™, at least until the first expansion? (assuming of course that your new technology hasn't made expansions obsolete–or do I know too much now?)
RK: I already said that “we’re as different from Second Life as we are from EverQuest.” So the comparisons are all interesting to see.
Currently, our sneaker support is fairly limited. But hey, we’re not even in alpha yet.
AN: You wrote a Declaration of the Rights of Avatars a few years back. How well you think its ideals have held up over the last 6 years, and what impact, if any, does it have on your project?
It has a lot of impact. I think you should expect that we’ll step up to the plate on something like this, and really take users seriously. It’d be hypocritical of me not to. I think the ideals have held up fairly well, though the precise wording probably needs to be updated a lot, given that many things have changed a bit here and there. Today, were I writing it again, there’d be more in there about user IP, there’s be more accommodation for alternate business models like mocrotransactions, and so on.
Hey, this question wasn’t funny. What gives?
AN: If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be? (Sorry, I'm kinda new at this interview thing…)
Clearly, I’m not a linden tree. My actual tree nature is as yet unannounced, but I expect an ar
ticle on TechCrunch about it any day now. Once I know, I’ll let you know.
AN: Thank you Raph!
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- The Raph Roast continues
- The new Lara Croft
- Because It Depletes The Soil. Or Weren’t You Paying Attention?
Hmmm, somehow you managed a funny yet somewhat informative interview about a game not even in alpha. Well done. But I think that to properly differentiate it from second life it needs to be called Tertio Vita.
Njal
You should have asked him if this will be a Hello Kitty clone … with puppies.
[...] Pretty standard, really*. AN: On your website you mention that “we’ve got a cool world or two incubating on the back burner.” Does it make your investors nervous that you don’t know exactly how many worlds you have? [...]
It all sounds scary to me. I’m interested to see how gameplay will translate into the we-worlds2.0- frankenstein-like monster-child. (Woo, triple hyphen’s!) I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
Nice Scoop!
The only part of this intervew that was even close to funny was watching you embarrass yourself in front of the whole community who will probably fall over themselves to link it. What a waist. Koster gave you a free opportunity to get more information and all you could do was make lame jokes. Also FWIW “precasting” is only 1 word. Dur.
Thanks, I’ve been working out.
Lighten up, Francis.
Good read, Amber. Very funny stuff – it’s nice to see Raph get his humor groove on. It’s nice to read things from The Great And Powerful figures that are a bit more relaxed and show a lighter side of themselves than the dry, PR fodder that so often gets spread around. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some falling over myself to do…
[...] A very tongue-in-cheek one at Amber Night’s [...]
[...] A very tongue-in-cheek one at Amber Night’s [...]
[...] A very tongue-in-cheek one at Amber Night’s [...]
[...] A very tongue-in-cheek one at Amber Night’s [...]
This interview tickled me. Amber, I’m madly in love with you! You’re not single, are you?
I’ve never even seen a Linden tree, and I’ve spent an embarassing amount of time in SL. I think they’re a myth, and that negates everything Raph said!
Here you go, Slyfeind:
http://www.ext.colostate.edu/ptlk/1734f2a.html
I can’t wait to live in the new Firefly world you’re building, Raph. By the way, I’ve always thought Edward and Ein from Cowboy Bebop would fit in perfectly on Serenity!
Surely syzygy is the name of choice for the product, then? It even keeps up those spacial, locative elements.
[...] Raph Koster has announced a new project thing with a classical name: Areae. The world and his virtual dog are discussing what might be going on his big brain over their late night milk and cookies although Amber’s inciteful and disarming interview with the man himself tells you all you need to know about stuff. And a bit about why you won’t find Shaman’s in Tertio Life. [...]
[...] Raph Koster has announced a new project thing with a classical name: Areae. The world and his virtual dog are discussing what might be going on his big brain over their late night milk and cookies although Amber’s inciteful and disarming interview with the man himself tells you all you need to know about stuff. And a bit about why you won’t find Shaman’s in Tertio Life. [...]
[...] Raph Koster has announced a new project thing with a classical name: Areae. The world and his virtual dog are discussing what might be going on his big brain over their late night milk and cookies although Amber’s inciteful and disarming interview with the man himself tells you all you need to know about stuff. And a bit about why you won’t find Shaman’s in Tertio Life. [...]
[...] Raph Koster has announced a new project thing with a classical name: Areae. The world and his virtual dog are discussing what might be going on his big brain over their late night milk and cookies although Amber’s inciteful and disarming interview with the man himself tells you all you need to know about stuff. And a bit about why you won’t find Shaman’s in Tertio Life. [...]
[...] Koster Interviewed Raph Koster Interviewed: “Pretty standard, really*. AN: On your website you mention that ‘we’ve got acool world or two incubating on the back burner.’  Does it make your investors nervous that you don’t know exactly how many worlds you have? [...]
[...] Koster Interviewed Raph Koster Interviewed: “Pretty standard, really*. AN: On your website you mention that ‘we’ve got acool world or two incubating on the back burner.’  Does it make your investors nervous that you don’t know exactly how many worlds you have? [...]
[...] Koster Interviewed Raph Koster Interviewed: “Pretty standard, really*. AN: On your website you mention that ‘we’ve got acool world or two incubating on the back burner.’  Does it make your investors nervous that you don’t know exactly how many worlds you have? [...]
[...] Koster Interviewed Raph Koster Interviewed: “Pretty standard, really*. AN: On your website you mention that ‘we’ve got acool world or two incubating on the back burner.’  Does it make your investors nervous that you don’t know exactly how many worlds you have? [...]
[...] A very tongue-in-cheek one at Amber Night’s [...]
[...] A very tongue-in-cheek one at Amber Night’s [...]
[...] A very tongue-in-cheek one at Amber Night’s [...]
[...] A very tongue-in-cheek one at Amber Night’s [...]
Lies, damn lies, and interviews.
Doing Microtransactions to Preserve The Pretentiousness Quotient!
I don’t have anything witty or constructive to say. I just like the ladybugs and think we need more of them…
(Nice interview tho, really. Fun, funner, funnerest one I’ve read about *any* game in a dogs age and what’s best is nobody got nerfed.
Well, apart from the shammies but hey, that’s what they are good for!)
Raph said: “Sounds good to us… doing microtransactions.” I’d like to see the follow up interview delve more into Raph’s infatuation with microtransactions. Thanks, Amber.