“Most game designers suck” says Lord British

The enigmatic Lord British (aka Richard Garriott), progenitor of the MMORPG genre, self-funded cosmonaut, Tabula Rasa flounderer, and frequent game designer, recently stopped by the PC Gamer offices to show off his new RPG project, Shroud of the Avatar.

Aside from showing off some of his game design artefacts as a backdrop for his intent to marry the best elements of all his previous role-playing game endeavours, Garriott took the time to discuss the state of game design in the modern industry.

“I’ve met virtually no one in our industry who I think is close to as good a game designer as I am. I’m not saying that because I think I’m so brilliant. What I’m saying is, I think most game designers really just suck, and I think there’s a reason why,” said Garriott.

“I think there’s really very few great game designers. I think Chris Roberts is one of them, Will Wright’s another, Peter Molyneux is another. They clearly exist, but on the whole, I think that the design talent in our industry is dramatically lower than we need, as an industry. It’s a very hard skill to learn.”

Richard Garriott, circa 1992 – when games still came in proper boxes. Source: Giant Bomb

Garriott suggests that most game designers end up in the role due to their passion for gaming, and while that is not necessarily a bad thing, it might also indicate they lack other skills. A talented artist or programmer with a love for games might get into game development by honing those particular skills, explained Garriott, whereas someone without any directly applicable skill, may focus on becoming a game designer.

“The most valuable part of creating a game is the design, which the programmers are technically executing. And they’d be happy to just execute some of them. But in my mind, most artists and programmers are just as much of gamers as the designers, and I usually find in my history that the artists and programmers are, in fact, as good of designers as the designers. They’re often better, because they understand the technology or the art,” said Garriott.

“So we’re leaning on a lot of designers who get that job because they’re not qualified for the other jobs, rather than that they are really strongly qualified as a designer. It’s really hard to go to school to be a good designer.”

Garriott’s next game Shroud of the Avatar has just passed its US$1-million Kickstarter goal with plenty of days on the clock to reach stretch goals. Catch up with news of the game here: Ultima creator showcases Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues