The Brit Richard Garriott (61) is regarded as one of the founding fathers of MMORPGs and RPGs. With the role-playing series ‘Ultima’, he wrote role-playing history in the 80s, and the MMORPG ‘Ultima Online’ is one of the cornerstones of online role-playing games. His latest new MMORPG ‘Shroud of the Avatar’ was intended to benefit from his fame. Now he presents a new MMORPG with ‘Iron and Magic’, but the game is already overshadowed by a controversial discussion about NFTs.
How is the new MMORPG introduced? The website for Iron & Magic calls the game ‘a new Web 3.0 open-world sandbox MMORPG by the creators of Ultima.’
The second thing visible on the website is various plots of land that the game presumably wants to offer for sale in a shop. The shop is under construction – prices are not yet known.
The central message: ‘Buy land in the realm of Lord British’, this was the name of Garriott’s in-game character 40 years ago in the Ultima series (via ironandmagic).
MMORPG aims to offer players more than just 60 hours of fun
What is known about the project? In an interview with Garriott and his partner Todd Porter with PC Gamer, he introduced the game in April 2022, back then it was still called ‘Effigy’ (via pcgamer):
- There was talk of an ‘overhead’ perspective like in Diablo.
- The focus of the MMORPG is to be on content created by players. The creation of this content is to be rewarding for players. Iron and Magic seems to be going in a ‘Play2Earn’ direction: players should be able to earn (and spend) real money.
- Iron & Magic aims to lead the MMORPG genre in a new direction – as currently all games are following the same paths, all heading towards ‘WoW’.
About NFT, it should be possible in the game to make items ‘truly unique’ . Through NFTs, players would truly own items and thus be able to earn money, as Porter and Garriott stated.
Garriott stated in the interview:
We are doing more for players, certainly more than this ‘You give us money, and then you play the game and maybe get 60 hours of fun.’
MMORPG meets extreme hostile reaction: A shame – how deeply he has fallen
How is the game being discussed? The first articles about the game are already very negative.
The site MassivelyOverpowered lists the numerous failures and disasters that Garriott’s last MMORPG, ‘Shroud of the Avatar’, went through. A game plagued by numerous controversies and problems.
The site PC Gamer points out that NFTs are unstable and that six of the largest metaverse projects, which are based on the cryptocurrency Ethereum, have lost an average of 85% in value. There is a warning that ‘digital land could suddenly become worthless.’
In comments, fans openly mock Garriott (via mop):
- One writes: ‘It is just a shame that he is doing this.’
- Another writes: ‘It is super disappointing to see how deeply Garriott has fallen.’
The last hype before NFTs was “crowdfunding MMORPGs” like Shroud of the Avatar:
Buy virtual land, the game will come later and will be fantastic – trust us
Why is the mood so hostile? The project Garriott is now presenting has existed in basic form several times: It is always about buying ‘virtual land’ for a blockchain currency and somehow there should also be an MMO attached that will be delivered later.
Much seems simply absurd: You could buy a plot of land in a PC MMORPG about The Walking Dead for €615,000.
It is unclear why Garriott’s project is supposed to be ‘the metaverse’ that ultimately prevails and why the land you buy will become more valuable over time.
In all these projects, it seems as if the purchase of virtual real estate is the focus – and the game that is supposed to give these properties value is loosely trailing behind it.
According to the motto: The shop is already finished – the game will come in 3 years in a pre-alpha.
Overall, the mood against NFTs and ‘Pay2Earn’ games is negative among magazines specializing in games and among players. Many players are biased and outright reject the whole concept of ‘NFTs’ and ‘Play2Earn’.
The hostile mood is further reinforced by influential MMO experts like Josh Strife Hayes, who have posted devastating videos about ‘Play2Earn’ games and NFTs. They categorize these games as scams and criticize them harshly (via youtube).
‘Play2Earn’ games and NFTs seem to be something that speculators are betting on, hoping to buy into a game early at a low cost, which then becomes successful, to later sell the purchased goods for profit.
With gaming, as most MMO players know and love it, this seems to have little to do.
Many players also do not understand why NFTs are needed to earn money from games: because accounts or items in MMORPGs have always been sold on eBay.
This negative basic attitude cannot be changed by Lord British, who has squandered the goodwill of many fans with Shroud of the Avatar. Even then, Lord British felt somewhat like a victim:
Shroud of the Avatar: We are the target of an organized smear campaign
