Richard Garriott believes that the third era of video games has begun. Casual, social games are paving their way through the last two, and are a driving force in the medium for the next several years. in his LOGIN 2011 Keynote, Garriott discussed what these eras are.
The first era was single-player games. These games were solo merely by the inability for other players to comfortably join. This era pioneered by games like Super Mario Land, Pac-Man, and Garriott’s own Ultima franchise.
Despite the success of this era, it took roughly 20 years to develop and mature, but the games were predominantly played by nerdy men.
Later, online games started to take the market. Massively Multiplayer games are gaming’s second era. Ultima Online–originally called Multima– paved the way for these games, but Garriott notes that it was a project no one initially believed it. “This is the hardest game I’ve ever had tried to get going,” he noted as he described the trouble. He later had to go over-budget on Ultima IX, and used that extra money to start creating the game. This gamble eventually paid off because Ultima Online sold more copies than Ultima 1-9 combined, according to him.
Garriott notes that his is an era because it was pioneered by multiplayer games. In the keynote, he shows examples of how Ultima Online (made in 1999) looked most like Ultima 6 (from 1990). However, press allegedly still praised about the game because of the online component. In the next decade, online games and virtual worlds would become a major force in the industry.
The third–and current–era is the time for social, casual games.“The games in this new grand era are cheap/free to acquire. And they spread virally” Garriott states that he’s already impressed and amazed by the amount of people already working in this design space, and by the speed this era is growing.
Garriott claims that this era is pioneered by the player’s friends. “The people you’re playing with aren’t the strangers you played with in an MMO, They’re the friends you already know.” He also stated that this is the first time games are being played by every demographic. “Instead of being a teenage wealthy nerd, we’re now really getting everybody.”
Richard Garriott claims that he’s had three jobs in his life, and these three jobs cater to each era: Origin Systems–where he created single-player RPGs; Destination Games–where he worked on Tabula Rasa; and Portalatium–where he’s currently working on two social games.
Additionally, he says that these eras are progressing quicker every day. While single player games took twenty years to grow, and MMOs took roughly a decade, it’ll be much sooner for social games to develop. “ [Social games will] dominate era of the next five years”
[...] Additionally, he says that these eras are progressing quicker every day. While single player games took twenty years to grow, and MMOs took roughly a decade, it’ll be much sooner for social games to develop. “ [Social games will] dominate era of the next five years”（source:loginnews） [...]
[...] creator and private astronaut Richard Garriott delivered the keynote address at the LOGIN 2011 conference. In it, he articulated his view that the “third era” of [...]