Garriott: 'I think most game designers really just suck'
I had mixed feelings reading that interview.
Garriot bringing in all his old reference work...Richard, we get it. You want to portray yourself as some sort of "miracle developer". And even his opinion on devs vs dev/artist/programmers, ties back to himself, who is of course a programmer. Still, if his issue is developers that suck, then get new developers. I don't care if you are pulling people from other fields or if you pull in people from outside the industry, that's what people should be doing. I understand what he is saying, because that happens in lots of industries. The "tech" people you can't live without have to remain in their department but the mediocre ones, well,
"maybe they'll be better doing X". But it sounds to me more like he's trying to build a case for HIS talent since he has a game coming out, which makes me shake my head a little. Stop giving interviews where you try to establish your credibility - no one cares. Make a game that is actually awesome and then shill that to us instead.
I almost agree with him if I take "designers" and segue to "designs" (because to be fair designers might get blamed for things that they had no control over, or were forced to do) but I think he is putting too much emphasis on the story. That isn't to say that story and background isn't important, but where I think the industry fails is in regards to the most basic and fundamental design decisions. All we've seen for decades now is studios taking something else and changing a little something here, a little something there. When he says
"...but why? What?s your motivation for being into it? What are the side stories?"I think he has a point, but I want to take it to the very core of MMOs as they stand today. Why have levels? Is there a better way to handle progression? Are loot tables on mobs the best way to go, along with the need to keep spitting out that kind of content? Why build games around raiding as your end game? And in regards to TESO...why have PvP at all in a game built on an IP that was basically a solo exploration and dungeon RPG? Wouldn't it have still been legit to build the game around solo and 1-5 person groups? Are zones for different levels of characters a good idea? Is that going to be ruining people's sense of immersion? (laughable or not) Why have a single shard to begin with? Who the fuck is going to give a shit about rigid factions? I mean, do you even need factions at all? Why are they bothering with voice acting and claiming that all quests will have voice acting? Why run with archetype classes when you're already going to have skills open to anyone - why not just jettison the archetypes and turn people loose? Why are they going with standard MMO instances when the IP was the polar opposite? And while I understand why they might feel a need for instances, are they going to be more like the usual linear MMO snorefest instances, or are we going to have instances that might actually be interesting and immersive, instances that we'd want to lose ourselves in for hours or even days on end? I'm guessing they wont be, but I hope I am wrong.
This complete lack of respect leads to behaviors that only support the prevailing opinion that designers are ?useless?. Low pay, lack of proper training, no credence given to arguments made from logic or knowledge, promotions based on nepotism instead of ability, and so on.
Which leads to, I imagine, the question of why go into that field in the first place? And also, how can you ever bring in fresh blood that can tie their shoelaces when what they have to look forward to is being ignored, being mistreated, and doing way too much work for not enough pay while you have the so called "superstars" going to space or driving around in lamborghinis?
