Beckett names Rob Pardo most influential person in MMOs
by Daniel Whitcomb 
May 29th 2008 at 8:00PM
Beckett's July-August issues of Massive Online Gamer magazine (which went on sale yesterday) names what they think are the 20 most influential names in the MMORPG business today, and as you might expect, a World of Warcraft figure topped the list, namely Rob Pardo, Senior VP of Game Design for Blizzard Entertainment.
Interestingly enough, Rob Pardo is the only current Blizzard figure that appears on the list. It seems to me, at the least, that Tom Chilton (If only for the Esports thing) or Jeff Kaplan should have been considered for the list as well, and I'm sure most of my fellow old school gamers are noticing the glaring absence of Lum The Mad, the grandfather of all MMO critics.
Still, most of us can agree, I'm sure, that Pardo deserves the top spot. It's hard to argue with the success of Blizzard's games, especially WoW, and it doesn't look like it's going to flag anytime soon with WoTLK on the way. You can check out the complete list here, and see how much you agree with it.
[Via Massively]
Filed under: Blizzard, News items
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
mizatt May 29th 2008 8:39PM
I don't think he deserves the top spot at all. What successful MMOs have been inspired by Warcraft? It's mostly the other way around. Warcraft is relatively new and while I think it's the best MMO there is, I wouldn't say it's the most influential yet. I would argue that others influenced it more than it influenced anything else.
Zeplar May 29th 2008 9:34PM
Yeah, this should be a guy from Ultima Online, not a relatively new MMO (although WoW's not "new" anymore).
Brawli55 May 30th 2008 12:22AM
Yes, it should be Richard Garriott. If not for being the lead behind the world's first succcesful MMO ( Ultima Online ) then for the fact he is the only lead developer to have his in game character killed.
Badger May 30th 2008 4:19PM
Beckett products are generally full of inane, pointless, redundant filler, so you probably shouldn't be surprised that they didn't bother really thinking about this article before publication.
Daniel Whitcomb May 30th 2008 6:27PM
I should speak up and say that I think The Realm and Meridian 59 can both vie with Ultima Online for the title of "first successful MMO," although it is probably true that Ultima Online beat them out as far as numbers.
Sandlance May 30th 2008 3:29AM
... new "wowinsider.com" logo on top :D ... shiny shiny...
Thal May 30th 2008 6:14PM
LOL, a Beckett publication?!? I'm surprised they're still in business. Badger is 100% correct. Beckett is a defunct company trying desperately to stay in business. I used to work there, and without going into massive detail, let's just say I freaking hate the entirety of the management running that unethical organization and I can't wait to see them finally go under.