The Man Who Made Ultima: Lord British | Extra Credits Gaming

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From D&D enthusiast to the King of Britannia, Richard Garriott-aka Lord British-has lived a life straight out of an RPG. From creating Ultima and pioneering MMOs with Ultima Online to journeying into space, smuggling Scotty's ashes aboard the ISS, and even claiming part of the moon. His adventures blurring the line between reality and fantasy in this epic story of a game designer, explorer, and self-proclaimed lunar landlord who truly leveled up in life!
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Artist: David Hueso I Writer: James Portnow I Showrunner & Narrator: Matthew Krol I Video Editor: Devon House Creative I Audio Editor: Clean Waves I Studio Director: Geoffry Zatkin I Social Media: Kat Rider
#ExtraCredits #Gaming #GameDesign

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[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

Keep up the good work ❤❤❤

[@TheJacobG]

More videos like this please! Learning more about individual designers not only pushes back on an industry that actively tries to hide them, but also helps explain why some games are designed a certain way. Sometimes it's just a quirk of the designer.

[@MageKiton]

This! This is such a fantastic crossover between the interests of Extra History and Extra Credits! Would love seeing more

[@Novastar.SaberCombat]

In all honesty, Garriott has received a lot of due static for his latest projects. You'd have to look up the history on all of it, but there's been some... shenanigans.

[@ezekielmcgee825]

I’m an archivist, and processed the papers of a gamer that worked at the yearly haunted houses that Lord British used to throw at his castle/mansion. The scripts were incredibly detailed and the entire event was massive-multiple crews for set design, construction, acting, etc. As a longtime larper myself, it was seriously impressive for a short-term event.

[@michiganderryan5293]

Anyone ever makes fun of LARPing, remind them one can LARP themselves right into orbit.

[@gorequillnachovidal]

lightening bolt!!!!

[@FredzDimension]

Larping will always be special to me

[@EpicPizzaz103]

zug zug

[@captainufo4587]

Speaking of changing the space, basically every MMORPG after Ultima Online and before WOW called their servers "shards", either officially or unofficially (that is, some didn't use the term, but it was so much ingrained in gaming culture at the time that players, magazines and fansites used it anyway). That too came from UO: Origin wanted to tie it to the overarching lore of the Ultima series, and give an in-universe explanation of the existence of different servers with different populations of players and occasionally different vibes as well (some were more role-play oriented, some others were more action/dungeon crawl-y). So they retconned the end of Ultima 1 and say that Mordain, U1's big bad, had enclosed Britannia's/Sosaria's universe in a crystal to rule over it, and his defeat caused the crystal to shatter in uncountable shards each containing a different version of the same world. (Edited for the ungodly amount of typos. Never write a post after midnight during festivities where booze flows abundant, kids)

[@thuklusvonrotz3454]

"Nerfing" is also a term that came out of UO. The same with a lot of chat culture language and emoticons.

[@Jobox05]

5:35 "The only Game designer to be featured on MTV Cribs" - If you know hbomberguy, you should feel reminded of something here lol

[@Gyrono]

Well we can definitvely say that Lord British's mother is very proud of him.

[@JusticeForPottsvilleMaroons]

5:45 Ah, Tabula Rasa, home to one of gaming's greatest characters: Gareth Gobulcoque

[@raventhorX]

for real? that shit's hilarious.

[@christopherrenn8137]

I watched as he died, in game, on Ultima online... it was a massive deal and how the dev's reacted.. changing the story of the game... was genius. I still play UO on a private server, its a OG original game.

[@jonlee6794]

5:32 - another was tommy tallarico. he was on cribs. multiple times! his mothers very proud.

[@SharurFoF]

Pretty surprising that they wouldn't mention the most accomplished game designer of all time, Tommy Tallarico. But maybe they'll do a Designers You Should Know episode on him and correct the oversight.

[@Toonrick12]

​​@@SharurFoFI have my doubts. Tommy is a musician, not a designer. On top of that, his accomplishments are debatable at best and plagiarized at worst. And then there's the Amico... A better video idea would be on Ken and Roberta Williams, now there's a power couple in gaming history.

[@SharurFoF]

@@Toonrick12 I can't believe you would slander the good name of Tommy Tallarico like that. Surely an examination of his many Guinness World Records should put any doubts you might have about his accomplishments to rest.

[@thedsguy550]

I worked for Richard for a few years on Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues at Portalarium. Seeing this video got me really excited. It is extremely cool to get a deep dive on his career and all the interesting history. Thank you for doing this! I dig this video format a lot.

[@Daemonworks]

And many of the already wild individual stories get even wilder if you look into them further. He shot a science-fiction short film while he was on the ISS. It's titled Apogee of Fear and was written by Tracy Hickman.

[@ceninant]

Two of my favorite designers with Tracy as a writer? Checking it out next.

[@michaelsriqui7898]

I played Ultima IV a few years ago when it was made free on GOG. At first, I laughed at how anachronistic it was, but then I ended up getting sucked into like few games I have ever played, it really expanded my perception of the power of the medium and it remains one of my all-time favorite games to this day.

[@Novastar.SaberCombat]

U4 & U5 had some seriously great storytelling. Especially U5. Look up "U5: The Lazarus Project". Thank me later.

[@GraphiteHeart]

My nostalgia watching The Spoony One talking about Lord British kicked me in the heart

[@Novastar.SaberCombat]

"What's a paladin?" --the Avatar, maybe

[@zeugenberg]

Typo in the thumbnail ;)

[@ponderingForever]

Alas, to be deigned

[@BossDD3]

Deigners, Drive-ins, and Dives

[@StephanePare]

I never managed to get far in ultima 4, but the design philosophy seriously impressed me. Thank you for making a piece on one of my favorite game designers

[@ScaerieTale]

I can't think og a better person for the inaugural episode of this series. Ultima is such an important keystone in gaming history. I always wondered where the name Lord British came from though. That's delightful!

[@DDlambchop43]

Wait, the immortality drive was part of a game promotion????? That's, forgive the word, BONKERS.

[@MYR_112]

BONK!

[@theultimatetaco42]

5:32 Nah, I’m pretty sure Tommy Talarico was on MTV cribs because he was the first American.

[@MatthewCobalt]

His Mother is very Proup

[@Naryoril]

Great timing. Yesterday I started practicing an easy harp arrangement i made (and that needs a bunch of changes as i found out) of Stones. The song features in quests of multiple Ultima games and is one of Lord British's favorites. But what makes it really nostalgic for me is that it's the title melody of Ultima Online.

[@VideoGameVillians]

I didn't know he was fired while he was up there sprinkling Scotty's ashes. That's kind of hilarious. - "I'm up her promoting our new game (among other things...)" - "You're fired!" - "For the other things?" - "No"

[@EmilyMemily-it3xp]

0:27 Shield of the cavalier!

[@gunpowdergelatine6358]

We have to get this man to become an actual lord of England

[@Biouke]

He is a Sir already, he married into nobility iirc.

[@daviddobarganes9115]

I will forever love UO but this man is real sketch

[@bubblesdarke5226]

As a child of the 80s, I played a lot of Ultima on my Commodore 64. And Ultima 4 was one of my favorites.

[@Novastar.SaberCombat]

You should really check out "Ultima V: The Lazarus Project". It's a remake of the original U5 so that it could be played by more modern audiences. A lot of the music remains, but was properly redone with orchestral work. A gorgeous game which I hope to revisit again. Last time was back in 2011 or so.

[@raslin2k]

Deigners you should know

[@jhsounds]

I doubt the maker of the thumbnail would deign to respond.

[@aze94]

I am a little amused that you didn't bother mentioning the Lord British Postulate: "If it exists as a living creature in an MMORPG, someone, somewhere, will try to kill it." According to TV Tropes: The name references the fact that there is a way to murder Lord British in nearly every Ultima game.

[@MichaelRainey]

Lord British's assassination in Ultimate Online is a legendary event in video game history. He forgot to turn on his invulnerability while testing something in UO and somebody figured out his protection was down and whacked him.

[@darthtace]

I will never stop getting Richard Garriott confused with Richard Garfield. Which is to say, you should totally do him next just to confuse matters.

[@michaelturner2806]

I keep getting Steve Jackson the tabletop game developer mixed up with Steve Jackson the other tabletop game developer.

[@jroden06]

This was awesome to watch and i cannot wait for more!! I hope you will cover Brad McQuaid (Rest in power) and Yoshi P

[@Jedith_Freelance]

I'm surprised you didn't bring up the slight gaming scandal that happened to him. He was on Ultima (online, I'm pretty sure) and he was playing Lord British, naturally. He would normally show up to player gatherings, as their king in the game, and would make proclamations, etc. Well, this time, he did it without activating developer God Mode. And one player noticed that he was able to target Lord British and cast a fire spell on him, killing him in front of a bunch of players. I don't remember what happened afterwards, but everyone was just kinda shocked that Lord British had been killed and that someone had the stones to even try it.

[@FaytVanguard]

I feel like we need to do an entire series of great devs. (Literally had to fight an ad to type this.)

[@Pangloss6413]

so that's where Lord English gets his name!

[@graefx]

I was playing MMOs almost exclusively in the 00s, Lord British was a name you just knew. I remember the hype around Tabula Rasa and the whole roll out. It's a shame because it's sensibilities appealed to my tastes and I wasn't a huge fan of the WoW mold. But it being a shooter pushed me away and then everything else. Maybe it was just my interests but he seemed like a larger than life Rockstar just in general it was weird to me that my non gamer friends didn't know 😅

[@ARHaslage]

I met Richard twice online. I had gotten into MUDs in 1988 and by the mid-1990s, I was running part of a significant MU* community. My team developed code based off Richard Bartle's work and Lord British, as one of the many programmers representing a game company, attended our events. In fact, I am still friends with some of those people despite no longer being in the industry.

[@michaelturner2806]

I absolutely missed any Shorts you make. I do not like youtube's presentation of them and will not watch them. So making a longer form video of any you're especially proud of will definitely reach people like me.

[@journ9er]

Wing Commander is long overdue for a remaster and/or remake.

[@KillahMate]

Last I heard Howie Day was still working on an indie remake of the first Wing Commander - it's called Wing Leader.

[@CthulhuCuddler]

I honestly had to do a double take...I was literally just listening to the Ultima Underworld ost, saw this video, and thought I was imagining things. First game I beat start to finish, still have a complete boxed version on my shelf. Thanks for this!

[@kazaktranslator9850]

3:33 did he just say "while meanwhile"?

[@HenHex17]

Love that y'all are doing "Designers you should know"

[@simonashtear2739]

"He might own part of the moon. But that's a story for another time." WHEN? WHEN could there possibly be a better time?

[@JonManProductions]

More of this format please and thank you. :D

[@sirrliv]

Not a word of a lie: In the 1980's my mother knew Richard Garriot through her boss Steve Jackson and played D&D with him, sometimes even subbing in for him as Lord British when he was unable to attend gaming sessions.

[@Voreten]

Do Ken&Roberta Williams next!

[@DarkBloodbane]

It's sad to hear sad news with Garriot's last kickstarter but we have to realize that it's part of Game designer's journey like him that he took. He had made some flops but he also had made some great successes.

[@mittensfastpaw]

Certainly led an interesting life. Nobody can say he didn’t leave a mark.

[@Kyleology]

You should do an episode on John Romero. Make sure to mention that time he married a Romanian teenager.

[@SEGAClownboss]

He's never gonna get his laurels but I'd personally like a video on Benoit Sokal, the creative visionary of "Syberia". My other choice is Brian Reynolds, who developed Civ II, Alpha Centauri, Rise of Nations and Rise of Legends. By all means he's very learned.

[@xyvazkrown8048]

I did not fall Shorts of the Algorithm tyvm, I use my subscription feed as god intended.

[@m1raclemaxsax]

I cannot stress this enough... I want this guy's life

[@linforcer]

Ah yes "DEIGNERS YOU SHOULD KNOW" I DEIGN whoever designed that thumbnail not worth knowing.

[@Alevamltd]

Can we get an episode on Jeff Minter?

[@bass679]

Oh man UO was my first Mmo. Awesome episode.

[@Vareon-r1h]

3:05 Well, pretty sure Cameron based it on Vishnu's 10 manifestations rather than anything related to video games, especially since quite obviously where the game's title originated as well

[@wariodude128]

Should probably do Robert Woodhead and Andrew Greenberg next. Otherwise known as the mad overlord Trebor and the evil wizard Werdna, they made the first Wizardry game.

[@perjohanaxell9862]

I remember playing Ultima online paying by the minute phone fees. Didn't play that much out of fear for getting reprimanded for the phone bill.

[@EmilyMemily-it3xp]

0:04 Neither, I looked at your channel page 😅.

[@SageofStars]

Eh, I was sent here likely because I've watched 3 of the long form retrospectives on the Ultima series. Spoony's is a classic of the net, sadly the only video does have to cut around stuff due to...issues we're going to say. It's still mostly complete though. Finntrovert's is a long process, and goes into more detail than Spoony's as an analysis of the games themselves, as Spoony's was more about the experience he had with the series. It's good, informative, and well done, I highly recommend it, as it's already finished too. And Majuular is still making them, but he specifically did one on the World of Ultima games, a subject touched on but not covered by the other two. Also he spread his focus out, going into the background of the development and releases of the games, which is probably the deepest dive into them you're going to find.

[@Jaziem]

Ooo a Extra Credits Christmas gift. ❤😊

[@steveweidig5373]

This sounds like it could be a great, albeit a bit short, series about legendary game designers. How about suggestions for who else could be featured in such an episode? Here's my suggestions: Peter Molyneux Jon Van Canegem John Romero John Carmack Brenda Romero (née Garno) Sid Meier Will Wright

[@scotandiamapping4549]

This man is nuts, but in that way that makes it enjoyable.

[@idnyftw]

ooh this is like extra credits and extra history crossing streams!

[@time_warriors]

From RPGs to real-life quests, Lord British proves that life itself can be the ultimate adventure! 🚀🎮🌕

[@talideon]

Ah, yes. Shroud of the Avatar. One of my greatest Kickstarter regrets.

[@Artista_Frustrado]

his knowledge of the Land shall be great

[@Ratstail91]

Garriot's life story is something most of us only dream about. Getting canned while in space though, that's douchebaggery of the highest order.

[@jeffcallahan5467]

I love this series already

[@Wexdarn]

He was on MTV's cribs? His mother must be very proud

[@andrewmirror4611]

There used to be a great retrospective of the Ultima series by TheSpoonyOne if you remember that fella, even had Richard later in some videos.

[@Petch85]

0:01 Some of us still use the sub-feed. Finding anything useful on youtube now a days is impossible.

[@greensteve9307]

Agreed. Subscription feed via desktop browser is the way to go.

[@SaberknightX]

Dude's life has a lot of plot twists!

[@raventhorX]

Ultima was one of my first games ever however I played the original Nintendo Entertainment System version which if I remember correctly was completely remade or rather made completely different than the PC version due to the limiting hardware for the NES at the time. Most people my age started with Super Mario Bros. however. I also always thought it was the third Ultima game because on the NES they dropped what number it was out of the title.

[@davetronred11]

I'd watch this series! I can't say I'm certain it has staying power but I'm certainly interested

[@bakuiel1901]

Get series idea, I would to see an episode on Jon Van Caneghem my favorite game designer, or maybe Jordan Weisman.

[@emer2475]

I really thought that the Lord British Postulate would be brought up.

[@aerozord]

didn't mention my favorite factoid. He programmed Ultima, in raw binary

[@GoofballPaul]

5:31 You know who else had their house featured in MTV cribz? MY MOM.

[@Fishrokk]

That's weird. I remember the word avatar from the original Deities and Demigods, published in 1980. Page 75 "Probably the most difficult concept this mythos presents, at least in AD&D terms, is that of the “avatar’’. An avatar is a physical manifestation of a deity upon the Prime Material Plane. An avatar usually has lesser powers and a different appearance than the deity it has sprung from. Avatars often represent one particular aspect or side of a deity, and may have been created to perform a specific function. A deity may have several avatars simultaneously co-existent, each one different and uninvolved with the others. Vishnu, in particular, has many avatars."

[@dogbert32]

That's using the term "Avatar" as a synonym for "Aspect". This was the first time Avatar was used to describe a video game character that was a direct representation of the player.

[@jamic6107]

Suggestion for a future episode: Gunpei Yokoi.

[@skykid]

I'm playing Ultima Online right now! Well, a heavily modified version on a private shard called UO Outlands, but...

[@Vareon-r1h]

2:36 I guess getting isekai'd to become a hero was not invented by Japan.

[@SolarisWesson]

I wonder why they didn't mention his new MMO, shroud of the Avatar?

[@TyLarson]

I had cracked version of autoduel for c64 signed by Lord British. Good times.

[@ironwolf5802]

"Look guys, we put the face of our game in space. Like and buy our game, also he's fired. See you never Lord British, wait did we say we would bring him back down too? Darn we did, uh, that's going to be a problem."

[@katuraysalad]

Great video 👍

[@Felenari]

Good listen ty.

[@gunpowdergelatine6358]

Were back!

[@jeremy1860]

Now THERE'S a name I haven't heard for a while :)

[@FredzDimension]

I remember seeing his MTV Cribs video, Cool house

[@josukex42]

I otherwise knew of Lord British from Zero Punctuation review of Tebula Rasa

[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

LOVE YOUR CONTENT! YOU'RE THE BEST ❤❤❤❤❤

[@rodefshalom]

Please bring back EC’s Because Games Matter and Games You Might Not Have Tried series.

[@trevinbeattie4888]

Algorithm? Shorts? I was notified of this by Patreon, thank you very much.

[@SanoKei]

What a legend

[@lthereader5670]

Damn you guys should start a channel talking about important history figures or somethin

[@MonochromeWench]

The Early Ultimas were designed purely by using the Rule of Cool and were a weird mess of fantasy and sci-fi. Ultima 4 was where he finally figured out how to actually design a game with a consistent theme.

[@MurphyAKA]

ive been to sca events on his land

[@KenjiShiratsuki]

I'm gonna be honest, Tabula Rasa was awesome and I loved it. The problem was that NC Soft is a BAD COMPANY and they had one of THE WORST game designers try to step up to the plate after they got upset with how exacting Garriott was with making his video games. The developer in question? Statesman, AKA Jack Emmert. This was the jerk who allegedly had a shouting match with one of the other developers on City of Heroes over the infamous update which lost them half their player base. He essentially said that the players were idiots who will play whatever they put out and that it was HIS game to decide what to do with, and anyone who doesn't like it can leave. Guess what? They did. I still mourn Tabula Rasa because they did something VERY innovative in allowing you to CLONE your character whenever you reach a new class split, so you can explore every class in the game by making a clone for each one and instead of losing all progress, you just continue from the "save state" of that class decision. It was really good.

[@KenoticMuse]

Looks like there's a typo in the thumbnail and "designer" is mispelled.

[@bensaret]

Ah, Lord British: the only character in Ultima VII (besides yourself) that *doesn't* die when you cast the Armageddon "Vas Kal Corp" spell (but he'll quickly hunt you down to punish your ass for Thanos-snapping Britannia)

[@raynitaylor1912]

So... Anorak and Og from Ready Player One is actually based on this dude. 5:34

[@dstovell]

Design is such an important part of making games, but we need to be honest, it is vastly overrepresented when talking about game devs. There are so many roles that are equally important, including all the design that is left to be filled in by the person actually building the thing. I don't want any less spotlight for designers, but damn it'd be nice if artists and engineers that are working so hard would get some spotlight too.