We all knew he was a crazy bastard: Richard Garriott and Operation Immortality

The Game Room
1

Maybe nobody’s heard of this, 'cos I don’t see any threads about it. And I’m putting this in the Game Room for probably obvious reasons, but where it should really be… :confused:

For the basic stuff, go here:

https://www.operationimmortality.com/

To sum up: Richard Garriott, wild and crazy guy, is going to space. He’s also got a game that isn’t doing terrifically well: Tabula Rasa’s numbers are a skosh disappointing, to my understanding, and while this may be in part due to the unusual game design, it’s probably also got something to do with the general lack of marketing. In a market corned by World of Warcraft, putting out a competitor with a different approach and not much old material to draw on (Lord of the Rings Online has, uh, Lord of the Rings. City of Heroes has every comic book ever) is a pretty risky prospect.

So he’s got a contest now, and if you win, you can send up that lightest of all forms of luggage: information. You can send up your favorite movie, a message to the cosmos, even your own genetic code in case the Earth gets firebombed and some friendly passing aliens want to reconstitute our species.

I’m interested, though: do you think this is going to boost TR’s numbers? Do you think this is a generally nifty idea? Do you think it’s an evil plot?

2

He’s crazy, but he’s got fun ideas. And if it generates publicity, why not?

Tabula Rasa’s not a bad game, really. I’d still be playing it if I hadn’t had to abandon Windows. It’s basically Mass Effect done a little less competently, but still fun.

Which raises a question in my mind: TR gets panned for not being a fully twitch FPS game and for not being a fully RPG game, but Mass Effect is hugely popular. What gives?

3

Sadly I find this as silly as a company ‘naming’ a star after you. :smack:

4

I’m not surprised Garriott would go for space tourism. I know he’s been down to the Titanic and his father is an astronaut so he’s got the ludicrous travel plans and interest in the space program.

This, however, is just silly.

5

The impression I got from the video review at GameTrailers.com is that aiming and timing matters in Mass Effect; your equipment and skills only affect damage (if you hit with good aiming and timing) and usage of ‘spells-like’ special abilities.