KickStarter Shroud of the Avatar - Lord British's Not-Ultima Online 2

[Stabwound]

Wow, this is the weirdest shit. Is Richard's ego something worth having a battle over? Maybe he's actually very fragile and in the midst of a nervous breakdown at the moment. It might explain the great stretch goals and updates lately.

 

[Capitalism]

You know, Chris Spears should sing this song.
Fucking avatarmons.

 

[Infinitron]

http://kotaku.com/5991702/the-irrepressible-ingenuity-of-people-who-draw-dicks-in-video-games

"Every time we've given people the ability to arrange things of their own-bread, ships-inevitably people want to leave a mark that people recognize," Ultima's lead creator Richard Garriott recently told me when he recently visited our offices in New York. That mark they leave, he said, is "not just something like ‘Killroy was here,' but something that was purposefully shocking or affronting. And if you're going to draw a purposefully affronting and shocking thing, a stick and balls is a pretty good easy basis to create a reaction."

Like Hecker and others in gaming, Garriott doesn't think this tendency to draw penises is unique to gamers. He also doesn't think it always has to be shocking. In come cultures, it's not.

"People's proclivity when brought into a new world to want to mark their new territory most commonly with things with a phallic nature, I actually do think this is something that transcends games," he said. He cited primitive art and its three common variations: beautifully symmetric objects made with skill, such as spear tips; images of big-breasted women or phalluses.

The globe-trotting game developer told me that he and his wife recently made a trip to the nation of Bhutan, country that had been isolated from Western culture for a long time. He recalled them attending a fertility ritual. "It is interesting to note that in all of the country of Bhutan, this is the decoration," he added, handing me a color print-out of the following:

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"This is what we found all over the doors of people's houses…

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"Painted on the sides of buildings…"

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"All through downtown areas is the cult of the ejaculating phallus. No one was shy about it. It wasn't considered obscene in any shape or form. It is clearly something that is
universal that transcends games."

wat

 

[Diablo169]

Well now we know what the kickstarter is for. to satisfy his need to travel to far off lands and be photographed next to giant penises.

 

[Runciter]

Who is that blonde he's with?

 

[Zed]

sums up this KS pretty damn well.

 

[Infinitron]

Who is that blonde he's with?

His wife.

 

[LeStryfe79]

It almost looks like he is wearing a crown of skulls and the penis is actually floating above his hand. I bet someone could do a damn fine photoshop with this one.

 

[Micmu]

So this is from his visit to Bhutan? When I first saw those photos I automatically thought this is from his mansion, didn't even surprise me or anything.

 

[Ninja Destroyer]

Who is that blonde he's with?

His wife.

http://blogs.forbes.com/people/laetitiagarriottdecayeux/

Hot and wealthy. Richard has a good taste for woman.

 

[Infinitron]

Who is that blonde he's with?

His wife.

http://blogs.forbes.com/people/laetitiagarriottdecayeux/

Hot and wealthy. Richard has a good taste for woman.

You might be interested in these articles about her before she became "famous":
http://www.extendfertility.com/downloads/documents/elle-200404-ice_ice_baby.pdf
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2004-08-01/us/27158772_1_eggs-single-women-fertility

 

[Stabwound]

He took his wife's name? Oh wow.

 

[Diablo169]

Hold the phone, all this time I thought that De Cayeux nonsense was Garriott being a twat. Instead he just took his wifes surname? :O

 

[Runciter]

Who is that blonde he's with?

His wife.

Nice. She has definitely found a knight in shining armour for herself

 

[JudasIscariot]

http://www.portalarium.com/images/docs/Words Taken Out of Context.pdf

 

[Excidium]

He took his wife's name? Oh wow.

Of course, you think he'd miss the opportunity to have a larping surname name like that? It's probably half the reason he got attracted to her.

 

[octavius]

He took his wife's name? Oh wow.

Of course, you think he'd miss the opportunity to have a larping surname name like that? It's probably half the reason he got attracted to her.

Especially if the De Cayeuxes were part of the Norman Conquest of Britain.

 

[Infinitron]

 

[Severian Silk]

So this is from his visit to Bhutan? When I first saw those photos I automatically thought this is from his mansion, didn't even surprise me or anything.

PHOTO TAKEN OUT OF CONTEXT!!!

 

[Stabwound]

This is a really good interview. Matt's a good interviewer where most other people gave him herp derp questions, he comes across like he has a clue what Ultima is. Garriott is doing a good job at actually explaining things, too.

Biggest incline I've heard of the game so far: he's kind of a bro when it comes to how modern roleplaying games play. He absolutely hates quest markers and compasses and how they've dumbed modern games down so much, so Shroud won't have any of that. It doesn't have a quest log either, and there is no actual "quests" that you go on and complete like Skyrim. You just get information and have to work with it. That's actually pretty if you ask me. It works like the early Ultimas when you had to write all the NPC clues down by hand, except now it logs them for you, I think.

So it's a totally open world like U 1-7 and no "quests", you just explore and figure out what to do. I like that a lot.

-Also, the way you act in the game according to the virtues can have an affect on how the story plays out. C&C?

-Aiming for world interactivity level of U7

-He really hates Ultima 8 and how bad of a state it was in when they were forced to release it. He got pressured into it by EA to get it out before Christmas because its by far the best selling period of the year.

-He's a bro about current Everquest/WoW type MMO's, too. If he ever does an MMO again, it will be in the UO model.

-Wants to get it on tablets if at all possible.

All in all, this may end up good for what it is. It would be shit for sure if it played like any modern CRPG with quest compasses and MMORPG style quests. Good interview, anyway.

 

[~RAGING BONER~]

haha I just can't hate this guy...he's too ridiculous

 

[Saduj]

http://kotaku.com/5991702/the-irrepressible-ingenuity-of-people-who-draw-dicks-in-video-games

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"All through downtown areas is the cult of the ejaculating phallus. No one was shy about it. It wasn't considered obscene in any shape or form. It is clearly something that is universal that transcends games."

wat

Lord British Presents........ Shroud of the Avatar: Stones of Arnhem

 

[I_am_Ian]

I'm uncomfortable with the idea that there exists a society that would not tremble in fear at the sight of my ejaculating member.

 

[taxalot]

Richard Garriott said to J_C's wife (or whatever) that he likes Parappa the Rapper. So I'm glad I backed SotA.

 

[Ozma]

http://kotaku.com/5991702/the-irrepressible-ingenuity-of-people-who-draw-dicks-in-video-games

wat

That is a cool photo of a giant dick




the one on the wall is p. good too

Also holy shit check out his huge ass