AHEAD OF THE GAME

Raph Koster Charts a Course for the Future of Sony Online Entertainment

As the author and illustrator of Paraglyph Press’ upcoming novel A Theory of Fun, you could say Sony Online Entertainment chief creative officer Raph Koster wrote the book on gaming. It’s not necessarily far from the truth: As the former creative lead and lead designer on the award-winning Ultima Online – a legend in the massively multiplayer industry – he’s certainly been a driving force in MMO's. Seriously; just look at the guy’s resume, which includes everything from a turn as creative director on Star Wars Galaxies to stints performing keynote speeches at the Austin Game Conference.

Desert of Flames takes EverQuest 2 deep into the Desert of Ro.

He’s also a member of the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences and International Game Developers Association. What’s more, a frequent speaker at industry events such as the Electronic Entertainment Expo, the forward-thinking development guru is constantly being invited to give talks around the world to boot. In fact, between penning articles such as “Declaring the Rights of Avatars” and “The Laws of Online World Design,” plus running a canonical history of online worlds on his website (http://raphkoster.com/) it’s a wonder he has time for a day job. Well, that and the short stories, poetry and music he composes as well…

Still, burn the midnight oil Koster does, to bring you the finest in online entertainment. And as a consultant on every project Sony Online dips its toes into, he’s got the power to make or break the next big (or niche) MMO. We cornered the unlikely executive and made him spill the beans on where the company’s come from, where it’s headed, and what online gaming enthusiasts can expect to be playing in the coming months. His comments will, as always, surprise and delight you:

LQGaming Services:: EverQuest and sequel EverQuest II are currently running at the same time, complete with their own fan bases. Unheard of! How do you do it?

Raph Koster: Well, it helps for them to be different games! We spent a lot of time during development to ensure that EQ2 was its own thing, a concept deserving of its own game while still in the EQ tradition. If it had been just EQ reskinned, I'm sure that it wouldn't have its own fan base that way. But we built it to attract a different audience, and it has.

New game, same EQ traditions.

LQGaming Services:: Your company practically invented the modern MMO with EverQuest, back when the concept was unproven. Now you face competition at every turn from upstarts like NCSoft and Mythic – what's the secret to winning the next-gen wars?

RK: I think competition keeps everyone on their toes, and it's a good thing. But the answer to winning next-gen wars in pretty much every business is the same: think out of the box, then execute well on that thought. Followers rarely end up leading an industry – you have to try new things, take some risks, and then make sure that you execute on what you're doing.

LQGaming Services:: The Matrix Online: Why buy it? Who's still playing? And why do you believe there's a strong future for this franchise?

RK: As you know, we've put a lot of emphasis on aggregation, on offering a lot of different titles to our subscribers; The Matrix is a cool brand, a cool universe, and one that we thought would make sense to offer to our Station Access customers. What we've seen is that a lot of the folks playing are actually Matrix fans first, rather than MMO players first, and that's a pretty cool development.

"Think out of the box." with the new EverQuest expansion Depth of Dark Hollow

LQGaming Services:: The DC Comics MMO: Please explain the reasoning behind this decision. And should we take it as part of a push to expand Sony Online’s holdings beyond the standard fantasy/sci-fi realms?

RK: Between Star Wars Galaxies, The Matrix Online, and this announcement, it may seem like we're all license-focused, but that's not the case. We do have internally developed universes coming along as well. But there's no getting around the fact that big brands and universes that players know and love are one way of getting players in the door to try a new game. Plus, it's just such a cool universe – a lot of us here at the office are comic book fans, so it seemed like a no-brainer to us.

We do think that pushing out beyond the standard sci-fi and fantasy is very important. I don't know that superheroes quite pushes us that far out of the typical interests of game players, but we're committed to pushing a lot farther with other titles.

"There's a lot more possible growth still out there, as developers move into new genres and territories."

LQGaming Services:: What's the company's general publishing strategy been in the past? What is it going forward?

RK: In the past, we've focused on trying to bring new genres to massively multiplayer gameplay. I think it's fair to say that we're glad we tried that, since with Planetside we think we hit on something that is very fun and appealing to people.

We're looking at greater diversity still, these days. Cross-platform games are a big part of our plans, and we've been aggressively exploring opportunities on the PSP and PlayStation 3, for example.

LQGaming Services:: How do you feel about the general misconception many companies had in recent years that the MMO market was not as viable as people once thought? Obviously, it's currently going through a resurgence...

RK: Well, we were never believers in that. Obviously, it’s core to who we are and what we do, so we're true believers in MMOs. If anything, I think we feel that there's a lot more possible growth still out there, as developers move into new genres and territories.

LQGaming Services:: To what do you attribute MMO gaming’s return to prominence?

RK: Did it really slip? I think that was entirely a misconception out there in some circles in the press. There was doomsaying when some products didn't fare as well as they might, but based on the stats I see and you probably do too, the net number of MMO players has risen year on year every year since we all went massive almost ten years ago.

"Cross-platform games are a big part of our plans, and we've been aggressively exploring opportunities on the PSP and PlayStation 3, for example."

LQGaming Services:: Where do you feel the MMO market is in its lifecycle – are there still millions upon millions of users to attract? Why?

RK: When you look at countries where there’s a higher penetration of bandwidth, where gaming is more culturally accepted than it is here, where there’s higher population densities, what you see is that MMOs can reach FAR higher numbers as a percentage of population. Here in the West, I think it’s still considered to be hardcore, something for the real gamers – but if anything, MMOs have the potential to reach out to casual gamers and to non-gamers in a way that console games don't. So yeah, I think we're still very early in the adoption cycle.

LQGaming Services:: Most of America (not to mention the world) still isn't playing these titles... Why is it inevitable that this situation will change?

RK: Someday there will be an MMO that is as easy as a webpage to get into, as compelling as a TV show to keep track of, and as fundamental to everyday life as email is. The applications for MMOs as a medium are just too large; we just need to give it time to be adopted and for the right uses to be found.

"Someday there will be an MMO that is as easy as a webpage to get into."

LQGaming Services:: How does Sony Online decide which titles to publish? Is there a particular type of game you're looking to push forward with in coming years?

RK: We've talked a lot lately about our cross-platform strategy, and about our emphasis on broadening out the business models that exist today. Right now, most everyone in the West is on the subscription model, and I think that while subs are going to stay around for a while, we shouldn't forget that the last big upheaval in online gaming happened when the business model shifted towards something more accessible.

But that's not a kind of game, of course. As far as kinds of games – we want more fun faster, that sort of accessibility and ease of entry. We chase away so many people these days with that hardcore image. We want more fun: less of this spreadsheet sort of play. When we're looking at a pitch, a lot of the decision rests on how well you can sell everyone on whether it's a game that they want to play – fundamentally, we're all gamers here, and we go by that in the end. We do pay attention to things like filling all the slots in a strategic plan, but whether it's a cool game comes first.

RK: Actually, for us, a title like Untold Legends on the PSP was a bit of an experiment. To the outside it doesn't seem this way, but it was very much a small scale, risky thing to do, to try to jump in early on a new platform. From the player point of view, they think "oh, it's a dungeon crawl," but from the developer side there's a lot more risks than it seems. Untold Legends has been in the top selling PSP games since it launched, so that experiment is clearly paying off.

But you mean stuff that is innovative in design, a little out of the box. I think you'll be hearing some stuff from us soon that doesn't sound like any of the MMOs you're playing today. We're very much aware that making last year's game isn't a recipe for success.

"These static worlds not only have to go, but are going to go."

LQGaming Services:: What other developers/publishers out there are you seeing whose work you like? Do you feel that some are pushing SOE to become a better competitor?

RK: Of course! We play all the games. We're MMO fans. We see stuff we want to add into our games, and stuff that we don't. We see things we want to try and do better. That's how the whole industry works. And we play not only the big games – it's not all about watching World of Warcraft, it's also about watching Dofus and Second Life and so on, you know?

LQGaming Services:: Do you plan on reaching outside of Sony Online for the majority of upcoming projects, or tapping internal talent? Why so?

RK: It'll be a split, I think. We've done more and more publishing of outside titles, but at the same time, we have this tremendous pool of talent here and we want to let them be creative and come up with the next generation of games. Different projects are suited for different development plans in that way. Something really risky and experimental, we're going to do it in-house.

"The line between the virtual world and the real one is really permeable."

LQGaming Services:: Where does the future of the MMO scene lie?

RK: It's cross-platform, it's probably not the same business models as today. It's more accessible. It's far more dynamic – these static worlds not only have to go, but are going to go. There are a lot of things that can be done to make the worlds come alive that just aren't really being tried, and we're going to try some of them.

LQGaming Services:: How's the Station Exchange been working out for you?

RK: Pretty good! You've seen the numbers we released, I'm sure. As you know, we rolled it out on just a couple of servers, and we've been watching it closely. It's clearly a viable business, I guess is the thing to say.

LQGaming Services:: Why, as a company, choose to jump into the resale of virtual goods market after decrying the industry for so long?

RK: A few reasons. The first was the huge amount of costs we were incurring dealing with fraud. By bringing it in-house we were able to provide secure transactions and also greatly reduce customer service costs. That lets us provide better service to all our users. In the end, that's what it's gotta be about, giving better service to the users. Clearly there were and are a lot of users participating in this activity, and there's a certain degree of fighting the tide there. By creating Station Exchange, we think we can get in front of it and make sure that it happens in ways that improve the experience rather than in ways that are detrimental to it.

Sony Online Entertainment Chief Creative Officer Raph Koster

LQGaming Services:: How did that whole “/pizza” promotion work out? Should we expect to see more in the near future (“/beer” seems a natural compliment)?

RK: That worked out pretty well for us too. If anything, I'm prouder of the application of that technology to the /donate option that we offered our players to use to help Katrina victims. Both, I think, show the huge potential that MMOs have to reach outside of themselves. The line between the virtual world and the real one is really permeable, and whether it's using the MMO as a tool to order RL pizza so that you can stay in the virtual world a little longer instead of fixing dinner, or whether it's using the community formed within the virtual to reach out and supply much needed support to those in need in RL, it's a sign of how important the virtual space is.

LQGaming Services:: Just how much of an MMO nut are you yourself? And what sort of character do you most enjoy playing... female barbarians?

RK: Oh, I've been playing online worlds since 1992 or so, so I think I qualify as a real nut. I usually play some sort of ranger type, actually.

- Scott Steinberg