Episodic content would alleviate 'mistakes' of MMOs, Ultima creator says

Having been involved in role-playing games for so many years, starting with the Ultima games, Richard Garriott is quite qualified to discuss what is wrong with the genre. And one of the biggest problems with MMOs today is spending so much time and money on the game without knowing if the audience will accept it.

"One of the big mistakes of MMOs is spending three to five years and hundreds of millions developing the thing, then having no one like it," he said in an interview with Shacknews. "I think you need to start smaller, get players in earlier, and have the game grow along with them."

Of course, Garriott learned his lesson after the troubled life of his last major project, Tabula Rasa, which started development in May 2001, launched in November 2007, and then was shut down slightly more than a year later at the end of February 2009. Garriott is hoping to solve that issue with his new Kickstarter RPG, Shroud of the Avatar, which is rapidly approaching its $1 million funding goal with still more than 20 days to go. One of the plans is to feature downloadable episodes once the game launches.

Check back later today for the full interview with Garriott and his plans for Shroud of the Avatar.