The Historian

After successfully fighting a cease and desist order by Vivendi Universal five years ago, the unofficial continuation to the King’s Quest series has been shut down for good. In 2005, fans successfully convinced Vivendi to allow the indie team behind The Silver Lining to continue development, thanks in part to a letter writing campaign. The original deal would see the game’s authorized release as part of a non-commercial fan license; however, current King’s Quest IP holder Activision has decided (after “talks and negotiations”) it is not interested in entering a similar agreement with the indie team. In 2008, Activision said it didn’t have any immediate plans to utilize the classic licenses (including King’s Quest) it received in the infamous $18 billion merger with Vivendi.

What concludes is eight long years of development by a dedicated fan base. On the fan project’s official site, a letter from the development team thanks fans for their continued support and shares its disappointment in the decision…

Now I realize that the Activision of today is not the Activision founded by former Atari programmers David Crane and Alan Miller, and Jim Levy of GRT Records. That Activision was the first Independent Developer. Before the formation of Activision in August 1979, software for video game consoles was created and published exclusively by the makers of the systems for which the games were designed. It was the programmers aggravation at not getting financial rewards for games that sold well, and not receiving credit for their games that set them on the path to becoming the first 3rd party developer.

And let’s not forget that it was a “Mom and Pop” shop that were the creators of the “King’s Quest” series. Sierra Entertainment was founded in 1979 as On-Line Systems in Los Angeles, California by Ken and Roberta Williams after Ken, a programmer for IBM, bought an Apple II which he planned to use to develop a FORTRAN compiler for Apple computers. At the time, his wife Roberta was playing text adventure games for the Apple II. Dissatisfied with the adventure games that existed at the time, she realized modern computers could display graphics and had the potential to do more than presenting text descriptions on the screen. Again an Independent Developer started by a fan of the genre.

Here is an IP which you were not and have no plans to use. IP that was so loved by fans that they worked for eight years to keep it alive and you shut it down, just because you can.

Activision, you screwed this one up.

Activision shuts down fan-made King’s Quest sequel via Joystiq

In 1982, we were fairly well off. Better than most, as my step-dad was an officer in the Air Force. Things weren’t perfect with them and they divorced just after Christmas.

So from riches to rags.

We really struggled to make ends meet through that year and as Christmas 1983 rolled around we had no money for gifts. We had a small plastic tree, a few decorations and no lights. Mom and I went to the grocery store to pick up a couple of TV dinners for Christmas day. They just happened to be having a blow out sale of Atari carts. Everything was $5.00. I knew things were tight so I just looked while she shopped. Being Christmas Eve, people were grabbing games faster than you would believe, I watched them all fly by. I noticed a Miner 2049′er that people just passed up and I really wanted it.
We left and headed home. Once at home I guess my mom, started to feel bad about not having anything for me for Christmas and asked it there was a game that I saw that I wanted.

“Yes”, I said, “but we don’t have the money”. She, didn’t say much more for awhile.

About an hour later she told me to get my coat on because we forgot something at the store.
You can guess the rest, with a slight twist at the end. Miner 2049′er was not there. Instead I got Fathom and I played that game for days on end. I don’t know exactly what it was, but that game was a turning point in my life. It led to computers and to the games there and many steps later to a career with computers. I also ran fan sites for games from time to time, when one caught my attention; the last one was Planet Dungeon Siege. I now work for Acclaim Games.

Even a $5 gift can change someone’s life and the the simplest acts can lead to much greater things. One game eventually lead to a dream job, even if it took 25 years.

In the chaos of bring a major expansion I sometimes get one or two people who ask, "How do you do it?", "How to you stay calm when it seems like chaos?" and "I don’t know how you don’t just lose it sometimes".

I rarely talk about my spiritual beliefs. I’m just one of those people that feels like it is a very personal thing and I don’t want to seem like I’m forcing what I think on others. That said, it is at the core of my ability to weather the storms of the players.

At about nineteen I came across a copy of "Way of the Peaceful Warrior" by Dan Millman. Little did I know then the impact that it would have on my life. The title of this post, applies to a main character in the book, which I encourage you to read. No, I’m not going to review it here, but only touch on one aspect of its greater message: "Accept emotions completely, let your feelings be; just don’t let them run your life".

I do get angry with people. Sometimes very angry, but I try to not let it run me. In fact I try to maintain a good sense of humor. I also try very hard to understand their perspective.

So are they really mad at me? At the root of all their complaints they want the same thing we do: "A game that works well and is fun to play". Yes, they typically have a very specific thing that is most important to them, but honestly, all the complaints boil down to that one truth.

And in that, we are on the same side.

I think the perception of some game communities is that Publisher likes to point the finger at Developer… The Community likes to point the finger at the Publisher and yes we know which finger most of you choose.

To give an analogy, I kind of see games as car, The publishers are the mechanics and the developer are the auto makers. The developer made the car, it is the publishers job to keep it running. They fix the flats, change the oil and filters (when the get new ones) and try to keep things running as smooth as possible.

Now let say that there is a real defect in the car, that allows someone to hotwire it, really easily. The Mechanics say; "We can make it difficult for them to do that, but we can’t really slow it down unless the auto maker makes changes to the design of the car…".

Do you yell at the mechanic? Or the auto maker? Publishers can’t fix that. It must come from the Developer.

The bot and hacking issues in MMOs are quite frankly, a war. I can say publishers are doing the best they can.. some of you won’t care.. or for that matter, believe them when they say so. Most of bots are there to farm the in-game currency, that means someone is buying from them. No buyers, no bots… since it wouldn’t be economical to run them. Is that a flaw in publisher running the servers? Or does that hint at issues with game balances that cause a need for more in-game currency than the game produces? Factor in the hacking of a game and you just add more mess to the game balances. All things that ultimately a Developer must fix.

There was no real point to this point.. just a rant I guess. I hope it helps some to see things in a different light.