Waxing lyrical on Raph Koster, MMO superstar

Raph Koster – a name which should be known to any student of the MMORPG genre – is celebrating a whopping 10 years of blogging. Hurrah!

Ten years ago, I started the site to archive some of the things I was telling the UO community and the LegendMUD community, things about the ways in which online communities can self-determine, things about how virtual worlds can serve as bridges, as ways to connect. To talk about how something people see as “mere games” can mean much more.

Raph is one of the people I respect in the MMORPG industry for two main reasons. First, his ideas that MMORPGs can be more than “mere games” (as he even reiterated in that brief statement above), is something I strongly believe. Heck, it’s the #1 cause for me clashing with those I semi-affectionately call “the WoW kids” on various forums around the Net. You know the type – they see MMORPGs as “just another game” and something to be defeated ASAP, just like a single player game. This generally means racing to the level cap; reading the minimal amount of quest information; ignoring everyone they see on their travels (unless they are a guildmate or someone who can help them level); concluding that any game without 24×7 PvP is crap; and having very little time for the great social aspects that MMORPGs can offer. They are half the reason I think MMORPGs are heading in the wrong direction. But I digress, dear reader.

Second, I will always hold an extreme fondess for the two years, or thereabouts, which I spent on the Star Wars Galaxies developer’s forum, where Raph held court like a benevolent king, prior to that game being launched. That was a really magical time where MMORPGs had yet to become mainstream and, even among those who did know about the game, not everyone was interested in talking to the devs about the game (yes, I know, I know, such a situation is almost impossible to conceive in today’s MMORPG market), so I was one of those who logged in every day with thoughts and ideas and generally got to shoot the breeze with Raph and other people involved with the game. I actually recruited a guild from among those posting on that dev forum – figuring them to be the “thinkers” when it came to SWG – and I wasn’t disappointed. That guild still exists (albeit playing a range of games, not just SWG), almost eight years later with a lot of its original members. I can’t see that happening as easily these days.

So here’s to you, Raph Koster, and your 10 years of blogging. Your opinions have never been fully in-step with everyone in the MMORPG community and, as the genre is increasingly dumbed-down, will probably become even less appealing to a lot of people out there. But for those of us who really think about the genre, and see what it’s capable of – beyond being single player games with lots of people logged in simultaneously – you will always be an inspiration.

Here’s to another 10 years of intriguing thoughts!