The Guardian Unlimited interviews Richard Bartle
by Elizabeth Harper 
Jul 17th 2007 at 4:22PM
...[today's] virtual worlds are not as sophisticated. Yes, they have the 3D graphics, but what you can do in them as a player isn't as sophisticated as what you can do in a textual world. This means players don't have as many tools and abilities available to them within the world to enhance the experience of others.
And of World of Warcraft, Bartle says:
...I'd close it. I just want better virtual worlds. Sacrificing one of the best so its players have to seek out alternatives would be a sure-fire way to ensure that unknown gems got the chance they deserved, and that new games were developed to push back the boundaries.
Filed under: Interviews
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Pingmeister Jul 17th 2007 4:36PM
What do you wish to do?
- Get stuckk in the past
I do not uderstand stuckk
- Get stuck in teh past
I do not understand teh
- Get stuck in the past
That is not an option
For those who did not endure text adventures THAT is exactly what they were.
I don't deny that some were very well written (they HAD to be all game content was writing) but to say that games today have less "tools and abilities" is sheer insanity.
Honestly, if you had a hammer and there was a nail in your hand you had to describe EXACTLY what teh game designer was thinking or it wouldn't work.
Hit nail with hammer
-The hammer hits the nail in the air
Put nail on wood
-The nail is on the wood
Hit nail with hammer
-The hammer strikes the side of the nail against the wood
STAND NAIL STRAIGHT UP
-The nail is straight up
HIT NAIL WITH HAMMER
-The hammer strikes the nail in the air
PUT THE NAIL STRAIGHT UP ON THE GODDAM WOOD AND HIT IT WITH THE HAMMER
-Too many commands
James Jul 17th 2007 4:37PM
Closing WoW is a dandy idea, especially for the reasons he stated. I tell you what though, I'll get on the bandwagon just as soon as you can find me an "unknown gem" that rivals or surpasses WoW. Let me know how that works out. Maybe we could all go play Runescape or something.
James Jul 17th 2007 4:39PM
Or maybe Hello Kitty Island Adventure is that unknown gem? Does Richard Bartle know something we don't???
Bobby Hansen Jul 17th 2007 4:39PM
Me thinks he romanticizes his achievements.
Madcatt Jul 17th 2007 4:48PM
@1
Lol, that's the most perfect example of exactly why those games are so limited. Not everyone has a mind that is logical by the standards required to get anywhere in those text based games. Which is exactly why WoW and other virtual worlds are so popular. If WoW disappeared people most of the audience would never even consider playing those types of text games, they would go back to FPS, RPGs like Morrowind/KOTOR, platform games, etc.
They're like cryptic crosswords and lateral thinking puzzles. You can either do them or you can't. There isn't really a grey area to it.
Kahja Jul 17th 2007 4:48PM
I don't play WoW anymore and I tried to find other gems... None that I found compared (of the 20 some odd that I found).
@3 I agree entirely.
Chilblain Jul 17th 2007 5:13PM
That company still making telegraphs wishes AT&T and Apple would pull the plug on the iPhone, too.
Dracula Jones Jul 17th 2007 4:53PM
MELT WIZARD
THROW THERMAL POD
thx big
WoW simply does not have the depth of Hugo's House of Horrors.
foop Jul 17th 2007 4:53PM
I think a lot of you are confusing text-based single-player adventures with text-based MUDs. Just because they didn't have graphics didn't mean there weren't complex PvE and PvP interactions.
His point about unknown gems is a good one. From personal experience, I've played EvE Online. Not to everyone's taste, with rabid politics, a steep learning curve and no allowances for stupidity. But it's deep, complex and well-made.
Having said all that, WoW is just so well built. It does so many things right, which is why so many people play it.
Karl Jul 17th 2007 5:03PM
Use lantern.
YOUR LANTERN IS FADING QUICKLY.
North
YOU ARE IN A DARK ROOM.
Use lantern
YOUR LANTERN IS OUT OF OIL.
South
YOU ARE IN A DARK ROOM. YOUR SWORD BEGINS TO GLOW.
South.
YOU CANNOT GO THAT WAY. YOU HEAR STRANGE NOISES.
North.
YOU HAVE BEEN EATEN BY A GRUE.
Yeah, I miss Zork on occasion, but this guy is an idiot if he thinks those text-based games involve more thinking. Poster #1 Hit the nail on the head...
Karl Jul 17th 2007 5:05PM
#1 Hit the nail on the head...
Karl Jul 17th 2007 5:07PM
I apologize for the double post.
Frogs Jul 17th 2007 5:21PM
I know that I, for one, probably wouldn't play MMO's at all if it weren't for World of Warcraft. I doubt many of the subscribers to WoW would switch to "previously unknown gems" if the game were suddenly shut down.
Baluki Jul 17th 2007 5:12PM
Yea, show me a game that's half as good as WoW, and I'll...um...try it out.
I don't think the problem is that other games are getting ignored because of WoW. The problem is that WoW set the bar so high, and so far, nothing can touch it. It's not a popularity contest; WoW really is the best.
James Stuart Jul 17th 2007 5:23PM
All the commenters above are kind of missing the history here.
Bartle is not related to the history of Zorks and other text-based adventures, but rather, MUDs, one popular flavor of which, dikumud, is essentially the framework for all modern MMOs.
Text-based adventures usually consist solely of puzzles to solve, DikuMUDs have few to no monsters, but instead consist of various zones of content where most of what you do is wander around, run into monsters, hit them and cast spells and special abilities at them until you get XP, where you would level up and gain more abilities and spells so you could go to new zones in order to fight tougher monsters, often with other people who were playing int hat zone.
Health and mana and special abilities refreshed based on 'ticks' that would happen every two seconds or so, and you couldn't activate abilities faster than that.
If that doesn't sound familiar...
In summary:
Not Bartle = text adventures = get ye flask
Bartle = MUDs -> DikuMUD = 1112111131212 => WOW
CVJ Jul 17th 2007 5:27PM
I used to play muds and mushes and this guy is a fool thinking you had more tools at your disposal, any mmo made in the last 5-7 years easily outshines MUDs in regards to the amount of sheer creativity that youy can do with your imagination or what you can create in the game.
Chris M Jul 17th 2007 5:26PM
The company making telegraphs doesn't give a ***t about the iPhone.
I realize it was an example; but we're looking at this situation the wrong way. Richard is proposing that WOW players are stuck in the world we love (all 8.5 million (?) of us) and refuse to try anything else; so shut down WOW and give us a chance to seek alternatives that might be BETTER.
Proposing that we shut own the iPhone for telegraphs is not forward progress; it's reverse. Chilblain made the assumption that other MMOs/games are inferior to WOW, which is an opinion.
A more realistic example would be pulling the plug on the iPhone so people will remember the Blackberry. A better, more functional alternative.
I know for a fact if WOW was gone I'd play more Counter Strike Source- I play occasionally now; but more WOW than anything else. Alongside Battlefield 2 and numerous FPS'es.
The thing about WOW as an MMO is that it attracts people from ALL facades of the gaming spectrum. FPS'ers, Role Players and tabletop gamers alike can find something to love- PVP, deep invested and sensible lore, and fluid/logical theorycrafting respectively.
WOW is the game that brings the worlds together, and I don't think any MMO can compare. I've tried, believe me; but they all fall short.
Chris
Coherent Jul 17th 2007 5:37PM
As the commenters have so eloquently discerned, Richard Bartle is a dinosaur with little-to-no relevance to the modern gaming world. Yeah, close WoW? For those of you who ARE paying attention, WoW's subscriber base is about six to eight times bigger than ANY previous MMO subscriber base that preceded it. The people who play WoW are here for WoW, if you turned off WoW (without replacing it with something better) they would LEAVE FOREVER.
Bartle; way to show that you're an idiot stuck hopelessly in your glory days long past. That thing you created, the text based MUD? It had a total worldwide population equivalent to maybe TWO WoW servers. It did not have the mojo, and there ARE NO UNKNOWN GEMS that are being suppressed by WoW's greatness.
There's a whole lot of crap out there that is being suppressed by WoW's greatness though.
Joyd Jul 17th 2007 5:47PM
Ugh, I've played my share of MUDs, and while they're an important part of gaming history, they're flat-out outclassed by modern games in most regards.
MUDs tend to be evolving worlds, which can be exciting, but also tend to require a massive life-investment in order to integrate oneself in the world. Someone willing to put a lot of time and effort into WoW can get epic items. Someone willing to do the same for a MUD can dramatically shape the world. (In WoW, players have essentially zero effect on the world, and given the demographic, that's probably a blessing.) On the flip side, someone willing to put a just a bit of effort into WoW can see some cool stuff and get some cool things, while someone putting a comparable amount of effort into a MUD can wander around lost, die, and lose all their stuff. MUDs may be able to do some beautiful things conceptually, but they're without exception brutally unfriendly compared to WoW. (I don't mean that the players are not friendly - MUD players are MUCH more social and less toolish than WoW players, it's just harder to get the hang of things.)
Ugkul Jul 17th 2007 5:58PM
Yeah, close WOW, because seriously Kingdom of Loathing is the best MMORPG out there right now. ;)