Richard Garriott launched the modern MMORPG with Ultima Online. Today he is working on “Shroud of the Avatar” and utilizing robotic telepresence.
Who is Richard Garriott? Garriott is one of the most well-known game developers in the world. Some know him by his Ultima name “Lord British”. Garriott programmed himself as a ruler in the world he created.
With the Ultima series, he established his reputation as a developer legend in the 80s. He developed one of the world’s first MMORPGs with Ultima Online.
Then Garriott was in space, lived in a sort of castle in Texas, and developed the online RPG “Shroud of the Avatar”.
This is how Garriott works today: Garriott lives in New York City – for love. However, he works in Austin, Texas. That’s where his company Portalarium is located, developing their game “Shroud of the Avatar.”
The distance between Texas and New York is about 2,500 kilometers. Far too much to commute daily.
For Garriott, it is important to be “physically” present. For this, he uses a “robotic telepresence”.
We know this from an episode of the comedy series “The Big Bang Theory” in Germany. Sheldon decided not to leave his room – for entirely understandable reasons.
With the device “Beam”, Garriott can control a kind of “robot” with a screen as a head from his home in New York, thus participating in the office environment in Texas. On lifehacker’s site, some pictures show five people standing together with Garriott as a robot head at chest level.
This is what Garriott says about his robot body: Garriott says the method has several advantages.
He is one hour ahead of Texas. Therefore, he can take his kids to school in peace in the morning. Then he logs into a Beam and “teleports” to Texas, where he begins his day’s work. It’s like he is really in Texas. He can welcome employees as they come into the office and participate in the daily flow of the company.
If someone wants to talk to him, they just go to him. He chats with people in the hallway and even hangs out in the kitchen.
The downside: He wishes he could grab a snack in the kitchen, but that’s not possible.
