In part II of our interview with Ultima series creator Richard Garriott we talk more about the “rooms full of killing children,” the dark nature of The Black Gate, creative ways to kill Lord British, fan mail, and the possibility of a new Ultima game from Garriott in the future. Read it after the break, and check out Part I if you haven’t already done so.
Richard Garriott, who is now spending more time thinking about space travel than virtual worlds, was kind enough to spend some time talking with us about the darker side of the Ultima series of role-playing games. This interview is a companion piece to The Black Gate Murders, an alternate playthrough of Ultima VII: The Black Gate that involves killing everyone in the game.
In Part I of our interview, the creator of Ultima reveals some little-known facts about Ultima VII, the origins of a room full of crazy children that caused a memorable family feud, and his feelings on selling Origin to EA so many years ago.
As I ponder new and exciting ways to kill Lord British and every other NPC in Ultima VII, you can ponder today’s bullet points in The Rundown. Today we detail Cross Fire going “open beta,” the launch date for Evasive Space, the release of SARPBC in PAL territories, a new PvP tournament for Grand Chase and a whole lot more. Check it out after the jump.
Killing children is a big no-no in video games. Developers often gently cross the line with violence and sexuality, but it is generally a rule of thumb that giving players the ability to kill children in a video game goes beyond the pal of decency and good taste - and will inevitably open the door to mainstream media criticism, angry political diatribe from the government and possibly censorship.
Sure, some of the best games (like the original Fallout and Ultima VII) allowed you to kill children, but Fallout 3 developer Bethesda Softworks never even considered including such a dark option in their game. There were certainly conversations about it, according to lead developer Emil Pagliarulo, but not one bit of code was included in the game. In other words, the option was never entertained.
