Update #2: Richard Garriott has composed an extensive defense on his Portalarium website regarding his comment. “Wow, did I stir up a commotion!” it commences.
Update: Richard Garriott clarified his viewpoint in a comments thread on Gamasutra.
“My contention is that game design is the most challenging yet also the most precious skill to cultivate in the industry,” he penned. “That every company thrives or perishes based on the prowess of its game design team, and that as an industry, we are not performing exceptionally well in generating the talent we require in this domain since educational systems have not kept pace in this area as effectively as in programming and art.
“I was not attempting to boast,” he concluded, “rather asserting that game design is arduous.”
Original story: Ultima creator Richard “Lord British” Garriott has criticized the majority of game designers, stating that, in general, they “truly just are subpar.”
Can someone please bring Lord British back to reality?’
In an interview with PC Gamer, Garriott expounded that he believes the majority of game designers are unqualified, while he is well-versed in his field.
“With the exception of a few, such as Chris Roberts, I have virtually encountered no one in our industry whom I consider to be nearly as proficient a game designer as I am. I’m not stating this because I think I’m so exceptional. What I’m saying is, I think the majority of game designers truly just are lacking, and I think there’s a justification for it.”
His reasoning is that most designers assume their role because they are not particularly proficient in any other area. “We are relying on a considerable number of designers who obtain that position because they are not qualified for the other jobs, rather than because they are truly strongly qualified as designers,” he elucidated. “It is genuinely challenging to attend school to become a proficient designer.”
“Every designer with whom I have collaborated – throughout my entire life – I genuinely believe is indolent,” he added.
Garriott explained that this is associated with a severe deficiency of ambition. “They tend to make one or two alterations to a game they otherwise appreciate instead of truly sitting down and rethinking, ‘How can I truly make a significant impact here?'”
He noted that not all designers are inept and some, like Will Wright’s and Peter Molyneux, were visionaries deserving of his respect.
Garriott’s statements are indeed forceful, but we shall observe whether he backs up his words with actions when his successfully Kickstarted RPG Shroud of the Avatar: Forbidden Virtues arrives on PCs and Macs in October 2014.
