Introduction

Well, this is my first post on my brand new blog. I've created this blog for one very specific purpose: to create a place where interested parties can get a deep look into my thoughts on MMORPG game design. If someone in the industry likes what they see, or would like to know more, they are free to get in touch with me.

I do not have a degree in CS, nor am I an experienced programmer. However - and I'll explain this in depth at a later time - I do not feel that a good MMO designer needs much coding knowledge in order to create new and groundbreaking designs. I know that this is taboo, particularly among individuals who feel that they have walked their personal rite of passage as testers, coders, QA controllers, etc. I will agree that those positions offer a lot of insight as to the streamlining of the process from a business perspective (an extremely important perspective) but they do not offer much to the experience base that makes a good world designer. What does seem to make a good world designer is a well rounded knowledge base - a renaissance man of sorts. After all, a good MMO should be more than a massive online game, it should be a world.

If you would like to know my profession or schooling please contact me, I'd prefer not to give much of that out publicly. What I will say is that, like many, I have taken courses in economics, in philosophy and theology, in history (with a concentration on war/tactics), in science and engineering, in math and basic programming, in writing, etc. The college that I attended required far more than most in terms of the credit hours required that had nothing to do with my degree. Am I saying that I have a larger breadth of knowledge than your typical CS major who dreams of designing MMOs? Yes, I am. I am also saying that my education and breadth of actual life experiences qualify me more than he to design a dynamic world - albeit not to code one. Why do I say this right off the bat with such an apparently bloated ego? Well, fundamentally what I'm interested in is in fact a certain business, and in business no one is going to promote me but myself. So I thought it best we begin with that understanding.

Perhaps if you read my blog for a while, I'll eventually begin to grow on you.