Saturday afternoon at 2:30PM the Video Gaming Track welcomed to the Westin August E-H none other than Dragon Con’s Computing Guest of Honor in 1987, Richard Garriott, to discuss his Ultima franchise. Joined by Chris Spears, Starr Long, and moderator Jason Gonding, Garriott took the members on a journey into the past as well as the future.
Garriott is a self-professed science guy. The son of an astronaut, he’s always had a keen intellect. As is often the case, young students with intellectual gifts don’t necessarily do well in classrooms. Such was the case with Garriott. He described himself as a less than stellar student (C, C+ at best) but he was a “whiz” at science fair. His memories are of competing in the fair at a very young age and always winning. He was an avid fan of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, and the tabletop role playing game Dungeons & Dragons. These passions led to him to very quickly begin developing his own D&D campaigns. They were all written out (he showed one of them to the audience) and again, he recalls once earning an “A” on an assignment in high school English when he turned in one of his campaigns for a grade. All total he wrote almost thirty Akalabath campaigns, all on paper.
What changed the world, including his, was the arrival of the Apple II computer. With that he was able to explore the technological possibilities of game design. Garriott started creating computer games using teletype terminals but, in the summer of 1979, while working at a computer store, Garriott was introduced to the color graphics on the Apple II. The computer’s capabilities allowed him to begin to create an actual environment. He created his computer game Akalabeth just for fun, but the store owner encouraged him to sell it. Garriott had his mom design and draw a cover sheet, put copies of the game in Ziploc bags, and launched his game development career. The California Pacific Computer Company wound up with a copy and signed him to a deal. The game sold more than 30,000 copies and stands today as the first published computer role playing game.
While attending school at the University of Texas Garriott took the next step: he developed Ultima. As the Ultima series moved through versions and iterations, Garriott moved to secure greater control and independence over his work by establishing his own company: Origin Systems.
By the time Garriott arrived at Dragon Con in 1987, he had been developing computer games for 15 years. The Ultima franchise had reached a new peak thanks to Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar, a game released in 1985 that introduced the avatar. This was an important departure point. Game players traditionally created a character, but what Garriott tried to do was to establish the concept of a person manifesting himself in a virtual world and being represented by an avatar. The success of Ultima IV captured Electronic Arts attention, and in 1992 they purchased Origin Systems for $30 million.
Garriott emphasized members throughout his overview to note the “big movements.” The technology was continuously evolving, memory capacity, processing speed, graphics, coding, and at each point he was able to both respond to and take advantage of the change. By embracing technological change, Garriott and his team were able to continually move their creation forward. They avoided the “Great Video Game Crash” (1983) because they had moved to PC gaming and left the consoles behind. He emphasized this because of where he sees the technology taking him and his work now.
Garriott fully recognizes that AI (Artificial Intelligence) and the way we use it has a lot to address. He’s aware of the ethical concerns, etc., but he and his colleagues are quite comfortable using the technology the way they’ve used every other technological innovation since the introduction of the Apple II in 1977. He’s always used the technology to push the work forward; to allow him to realize his ideas. Garriott plans to continue that, and he encouraged those in attendance to use the tool both ethically and responsibly.
This is a key moment for Garriott as his original Ultima work and the copyrights on them are poised to expire and return to him. Copyright law allows creators to reclaim their copyrights if the recipient is no longer using them. He is exploring his options with Electronic Arts and some iteration of Ultima may once again be looming in the future.
Dressed in his Lord British attire, Richard Garriott enjoyed the members full attention. It was a fascinating hour with a “father” of the computer game.
