Gamasutra is doing a great job of covering the conference so far. Some highlights of the first day:

Blizzard Entertainment VP of Game Design Rob Pardo’s Keynote:
(Speaking about tradeoffs that had to be made with World of Warcraft)

High-level gear was another area where compromises were necessary. “It was really cool in Ultima Online to make your own character or guild with your own colors and your own look,” Pardo said. “But there’s only so much art time that you have, and only so many artists. We chose instead to concentrate that coolness on making really cool prestige armor sets that came from specific places.We allowed raiders and more hardcore players to get that prestige and reward, so that you can recognize where someone has been. With customizable gear, everyone can look different. But you can’t have both.”

MMO Personalities ‘Rant’ On Industry
Remember Gordon “Tyrant” Walton (no :love: lost), UO:Ren, UO: Third Dawn

Gordon Walton is best left with the last word at this year’s Austin Game Conference MMO Rant session. He’ll want to have it, might as well give it to him.

“… You’re all a bunch of whiny little b—-es,” he said. “‘We’re all victims of the guys with the money!’ No. Guess who signs up to make the game. Guess who along the way decides to change things. … Guess who won’t stand up and lose their job rather than s—-t-start. I put myself in there. I’ve done that. I’ve made bad decisions … many more times than most people here in this room … I think the challenge here is, are we agents of our lives, or are we victims? We’re talking about, oh, it’s going to come from the top down. Well guess what, if nobody will work for those schmucks, it’ll come from the bottom up. … What are they going to do? They don’t know how to put it on a disc. …

“The other thing is, we’re not holding up our end. Somewhere along the way we caved and promised something we couldn’t deliver. So you can’t say it’s the other guy, it’s some other motherf—er. No, it’s not. Everybody in this thing is responsible for what happens. Every single person on the team had a opportunity to do better. And I’d like to see more people think about how they’re going to make it happen rather than sit up and rant and b—- about it.”

Richard “Dupre” Vogel (UO, UO: The Second Age):

Vogel praised Pardo for his emphasis on not being in a rush to release a game, but lamented the lack of innovation in the genre, at least outside of Asia. WoW’s success seems to have pushed many business-types to look for ways to copy or re-skin WoW, Vogel said, rather than focus on innovation, which could reach the mass market that no game, not even WoW, has reached. “Looking out at E3 this year, there is nothing innovative coming out in the next three years, and that’s pretty sad.”

The Austin Game Conference started up today, and lasts through friday:

Austin Game Conference (AGC) - now in its 4th year - is the definitive conference for online and networked game development, including massively multiplayer online games, casual games, online PC and console games.

Quite a few people (including some big names) associated with Ultima Online in the past will be there and will be speaking. Among those in attendance (and what they are going to be speaking about/discussing):

- Raph “Designer Dragon” Koster, the former Lead Designer on UO and UO: The Second Age (although according to his website, he appears to be sick and may not be there the whole time).
“The Age of the Dinosaurs”:This lecture will examine business trends in the game development industry, the pressures that are changing the current publisher-developer model and the brave new world that faces us all after the fruition of current trends.
“The Future of Virtual Worlds”: The virtual worlds are changing drastically, atomizing through user-created content, providing end-users with business opportunities and meshing with an increasingly interoperable World Wide Web.

- Richard “Dupre” Vogel: Producer/Director of UO: The Second Age.
“Beta Community Roundtable”: The Beta period of an online game is the most crucial time in development. It is the first time the public will play the game. Opinions are being formed and viral marketing can be the biggest asset if there’s good buzz or a disaster if feedback is negative.
“”New” Challenges Facing MMOG Development”: An MMOG related discussion about the “new” challenges facing development, such as pursuing a broader audience, bridging platforms and incorporating mechanics from other genres.
“MMOG Rant”: Though our medium is becoming more significant yearly, we still have a long way to go to fully realize it’s potential. The panelists are going to unleash their inner anguish on an issue they believe is holding back our industry. (Also Jessica Mulligan and Mark Jacobs).

- Jonathan “Calandryll” Hanna - Former Online Community Relations, Content Designer
“Building Communities from Alpha to Launch”: Roles and best practices of community relations during development and testing of an MMOG. Once an MMOG has reached a developmental stage where any kind of external testing is to begin (alpha, friends and family, closed beta, etc.), new sets of challenges arise outside of the developmental process.

Mark Jacobs - EA Mythic General Manager: “MMOG Rant” Though our medium is becoming more significant yearly, we still have a long way to go to fully realize it’s potential. The panelists are going to unleash their inner anguish on an issue they believe is holding back our industry. Our goal will be to challenge ourselves and the audience to look beyond the current industry results. (Also Jessica Mulligan who is associated with UO somehow, Richard Vogel are speaking during this one).

- David Swofford - Media Relations for Ultima Online
“Emerging Public Relations Strategies for MMO Games” - Public relations strategies are changing in the game industry as more MMOG titles come to market. To break out from the noise, public relations professionals need to develop and implement innovative new strategies and programs that go beyond the traditional preview/review gaming cycle.

Also: Eugene Evans - EA Mythic VP of Marketing - Speaking about “Where is Asia Going?”

Note: Carly “LadyMOI” Staehlin will not be attending.

In a thread at UO Stratics’ UO Hall, we find Draconi discussing the various properties of Blackrock:

Blackrock

Blackrock is one of the most dangerous naturally occuring substances known to Britannia. Its capability to block and channel the ether is poorly documented, yet known, as are its unstable properties. Many lives have been lost already in events surrounding this terrible material.

There are no guarantees for this substance. It could explode, disappear, multiply, shrink, increase, become permeable, or tear holes in the very fabric of reality at any time, with or without any provocation. Or, it may just sit nicely on your shelf, inert. We don’t know. We can’t promise anything.

Be wary.

According to a post by Draconi at Stratics’ UO Hall, there will be a re-enactment of the Blackrock Pillar Battles.

Hello everybody!

For those who missed the epic battles upon their own shards, or perhaps would like a second chance against the unknown foe that guards it, Test Center will be hosting several battles throughout today, Sunday, August 27th.

Scheduled times (All PST):

* 12:00 PM
* 3:00 PM
* 6:00 PM
* 9:00 PM

These events will occur at the Umbra arena, and is open to both spectators and participants. A black moongate is available in Luna for anyone who would rather teleport and utterly fear walking through the woods outside Umbra.

Mages should remember that “An Sanct Flam” will bring down the barrier flames if spoken aloud by a Grandmaster+.

Note: The blackrock pillar battle does not generate any loot except blackrock pieces, which can be found scattered on the ground after the battle.

Get out there if you missed out on this event - Draconi is taking time out of his weekend to put this on.

UO.com has been updated with this week’s Five on Friday from August 25, 2006 - questions and answers for and from the UO Development Team.

1. Can you tell us more about the 9th Anniversary box?

Darkscribe: Just a bit. It will contain Mondain’s Legacy, cost $19.99, and even though it ships in late October, you probably won’t see it on shelves until early in November. And there is a very special surprise early buy anniversary gift, and it doesn’t involve the word “soul” or “stone.”
(more…)

CatHat’s thoughts about EA Mythic’s head honcho, Mark Jacobs, as posted in Stratics/UO Hall:
(more…)

The March 24, 2006 edition of the Five on Friday has been posted on UO.com. I though this bit from Darkscribe was very interesting, in regards to future scenarios: We had a long planning session this week that will result in a year long arc of events that will tell an epic story with long-lasting implications for Sosaria

1. Does the proficiency system have any impact on PvM, or is it just for PvP?

Wilki: It will be applied equally to both PvM and PvP. However, for weapon damage increase, there will be options to focus in both PvM and PvP WDI, or both if a player chooses to allocate their proficiencies in that manner. So far, everything else is equally applied to both, though that could change as we begin our testing phase.

2. I really enjoyed participating in the old scenarios, and more recently, the EM events. Are these ever going to return to UO?
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According to GameSpot, Raph “Designer Dragon” Koster has left Sony Online Entertainment:

Raph Koster, chief creative officer of Sony Online Entertainment, and one of the leaders behind the development of Star Wars Galaxies, has left the company, SOE reps confirmed today.

Based in Austin, Texas, Koster is widely considered an expert when it comes to the design of massively multiplayer online games. He often participates in event panels and maintains an active blog that focuses on the nuances of the genre.

Koster is leaving his post of six years “to pursue development interests outside of the company,” SOE said.

“Although his current interests take him into areas that don’t match SOE’s strategic goals, we wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors.”

Interesing news, but not surprising, after the New Game Enhancements of SWG. Long-time players will recall that he was Lead Designer on Ultima Online and
Ultima Online: The Second Age (T2A).

His personal website features many in-deph writings about Ultima Online.

Ultima Online’s new producer has introduced himself: UO.Com - “New Year, New Team, New Producer, New Ideas”. Among his comments, news about some of the new team members, Pub 40, mentions of plans going into the next few years (yes, you read that right). I like what he says, when he talks about their guiding motto is “More reasons to log in, more often.”

Have you ever wanted a job so bad that you’d literally beg for it, down on your knees, hands clasped in front of you, pleading in your eyes? Have you learned the true meaning of the phrase: “Be careful what you wish for?” I can honestly answer both questions with a hardy “yes-in-freakin’-deed.”

So here I am, the new producer of Ultima Online, after eight years of working for Electronic Arts in various ways, as a PR director, marketing director, E3 demo monkey, screenshot taker, the press tour guy, the ad copy guy, party thrower, ninja, press release scribe, Powerpoint giver, coffee runner, and once, voice actor. (I did a bad celebrity impersonation in the expansion pack for Command & Conquer Tiberian Sun.)
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GameSpot interviewed Raph Koster recently, and he had some interesting comments about where he thinks MMOs/MMORPGs are headed:

What is the MMO today? MMOs to me are a platform, and we deliver games in them. Right now, we usually do the one game per [world] but I don’t think it needs to be that way. I think a lot of the trend has been to deliver more games within one world. Crafting is now a viable sub-game and a lot of the games’ economics are coming in–like people playing arbitrage and all kinds of things like that. To me, MMOs are a platform. They’re a place that offers entertainment, where you can put games and community and socialization and all kinds of other things. That’s what the MMO is to me.

Raph “Designer Dragon” Koster was the Lead Designer on Ultima Online and Ultima Online: The Second Age (T2A).