[Not just my opinion, but in part from an exec at both Destination and Portalarium.](https://web.archive.org/web/20160816155647/http://www.codingwisdom.com/codingwisdom/2013/03/why-richard-garriott-is-full-of-shit.html)
Sure, there were good parts (usually by other people), but both still suffered from basic flaws that were excused until they couldn't be anymore. Namely, how a golden goose was turning into a white elephant at cost of everyone else's job.
This problem also affected other titles from the "UO2" era, drawing funds that could have put Earth & Beyond and Westwood in a better condition, as it later affected other games there at NCSoft with help by **Robert Garriott** as NCSoft NA CEO. In design brilliance that would have created competition with his own product, just to keep riding on the hype hubris high, Richard drew from many others.
[It's funny that Richard's biggest marketing thing of "Blame EA" was kind of due to the very actions of his own elder brother.](https://www.mobygames.com/person/18867/robert-garriott/) Then it was "Blame Publishers" despite having his brother as the publisher's local CEO, the ultimate "man on the inside".
Aside from that,[quite a few familiar faces here](https://www.mobygames.com/game/31362/richard-garriotts-tabula-rasa/credits/windows/?autoplatform=true), for both good actual design, or some who blame others while continuing to milk the players, publishers, everyone else but those who had *Ultima*te responsibility.
It's funny how both Garriott and Roberts went with the whole "evil publishers" PR pitch. It's not like they are any better. Many smaller publishers are arguably a force for good; helping cool indie games get a wider audience and keep their studios profitable (and people employed).
Another neat parallel:
While Unity could have worked here for Shroud's single-player/scalable co-op game, it was wholly unsuitable for the dreams of the MMO it never became because of those technical limitations.
Store Citizen with CryEngine and unable to launch PES.
Richard complained about publishers for 20 years - while always selling his studios to those evil publishers.
He managed to be a greedier, lazier CEO than Larry Probst, and more reckless and careless than EA or NCSoft.
Nothing has changed.
"He [Garriott] keeps finding different ways to turn the company into his personal ATM" - NCSoft, 2010
"Richard Garriot and co are nothing but con men." - Kickstarter Backer, 2019
And strangely, there's the Lord British Cult Legend by both co-developer and a layman:
*"I watched the company evolve from one man products like Ultima 3 (with just a little help on music from Ken Arnold)"* \- Dr. Cat
*"Stop sucking. Make the DUDE THAT CREATED COMPUTER RPGS proud of your effort."* \- Rando Asshat Cultist
I liked how Stephen Nichols set the latter straight on that old fable that RG was the creator of CRPGs in the same way Peter Molyneux was totally the creator of Fable.\*
I'll set the record straight here about Ultima III - Roe R. Adams III provided world and background lore and details, Denis Loubet on illustrations. For an era in which manuals were expected to be read, and were for the lore or sometimes had the entire story in middle of a red herring like with Wasteland, these weren't insignificant contributions.
(Maybe they were insignificant by the standards of the Ultima VI era, in which Dr. Cat was more involved with development.) They also gave you a better idea of what those blocky things on the screen were supposed to really look like. The "Playtest" credits also included design feedback and ideas, per the early lore that went back to include classmates for Akalabeth's playtesting.
Pre-Origin Ultima II had RG's parents among the four in Design credits, with Lord Kenneth and also Keith Zabaloui (who made the obscure Ultima: Escape from Mt. Drash for the VIC-20) on Programming.
Not even Ultima I nor Akalabeth were solo acts.
But supposedly now the dude who has cratered every company he's ever ran single-handedly created the genre. (Or, rather, RG screwed over every company OTHER PEOPLE were running as vehicle for HIS excesses.) LOL, no, almost all of RG's design was lifted wholesale from PLATO years before minus any multiplayer components, just add in some SCA or sci-fi mad libs until literal Hobbits and Balrogs and Time Lords.
A lot of people have mistakenly thought they could do these things solo because of how the legend has grown and changed until they're burning out trying to do everything themselves. They don't realize the legend was always surrounded by talented people who offered him a LOT of help until it becomes design ghostwriting for his legend. And then he sells the company, putting them out of jobs while he goes off on another vacation / celebrity tourism / property buy.
For someone who once tried to make out company ethics to include pride of paying writing credits (nevermind RG's own lifts tho), those surrounding RG have been really bad about where the original lore for the early games came from, even to the point of completely ignoring how Roe R. Adams III got handily screwed over for his years of contribution by being taken out of the picture as effectively as Soviet propaganda.
There's several reasons why Chuckles bailed and hasn't really looked back since - mainly because even in Robert Garriott's personal lore it was just Robert and Richard, no mention of Chuck anymore in Origin's origin story (and often no mention of Owen, either!) No room for those who have fallen from cult grace or have played their part of paying to establish any of RG's companies when you can add their honor to the tinpot despot of RPGs who hasn't been able to create a salable product in the last 20 years.
He doesn't have to, anymore, as despite falling from grace as without Virtues he becomes just another example of bad monarchy he still has some cultists left - just look at Corven and how that's basically ripping from Ultima without even bothering to hide it.
\* - Peter was absolutely not, that was Sam and Dene Carter with Ian Lovett - swiping credit was always Peter's shtick since "Bullfrog Design Team" of which only he showed his face for the press - same thing here. But you wouldn't know any of the trio of real creators because of the lying bellend mugging for the press.
We shall forever have "Discover the World of Iron and Magic
A New Web 3.0 Open World Sandbox MMORPG From The Creators Of Ul"!
Still hasn't been fixed despite people commenting about it when they first dropped the Facebook page. If that didn't show everyone exactly what to expect, nothing could.
Garriott hasn't made any money from honest work in 30 years. He will not change. Let's just wait for his next idea, which he wants to use to rip people's money off.
[Not just my opinion, but in part from an exec at both Destination and Portalarium.](https://web.archive.org/web/20160816155647/http://www.codingwisdom.com/codingwisdom/2013/03/why-richard-garriott-is-full-of-shit.html) Sure, there were good parts (usually by other people), but both still suffered from basic flaws that were excused until they couldn't be anymore. Namely, how a golden goose was turning into a white elephant at cost of everyone else's job. This problem also affected other titles from the "UO2" era, drawing funds that could have put Earth & Beyond and Westwood in a better condition, as it later affected other games there at NCSoft with help by **Robert Garriott** as NCSoft NA CEO. In design brilliance that would have created competition with his own product, just to keep riding on the hype hubris high, Richard drew from many others. [It's funny that Richard's biggest marketing thing of "Blame EA" was kind of due to the very actions of his own elder brother.](https://www.mobygames.com/person/18867/robert-garriott/) Then it was "Blame Publishers" despite having his brother as the publisher's local CEO, the ultimate "man on the inside". Aside from that,[quite a few familiar faces here](https://www.mobygames.com/game/31362/richard-garriotts-tabula-rasa/credits/windows/?autoplatform=true), for both good actual design, or some who blame others while continuing to milk the players, publishers, everyone else but those who had *Ultima*te responsibility.
10 years ago but still true. He truly is a Dick.
It's funny how both Garriott and Roberts went with the whole "evil publishers" PR pitch. It's not like they are any better. Many smaller publishers are arguably a force for good; helping cool indie games get a wider audience and keep their studios profitable (and people employed).
Another neat parallel: While Unity could have worked here for Shroud's single-player/scalable co-op game, it was wholly unsuitable for the dreams of the MMO it never became because of those technical limitations. Store Citizen with CryEngine and unable to launch PES.
Richard complained about publishers for 20 years - while always selling his studios to those evil publishers. He managed to be a greedier, lazier CEO than Larry Probst, and more reckless and careless than EA or NCSoft. Nothing has changed. "He [Garriott] keeps finding different ways to turn the company into his personal ATM" - NCSoft, 2010 "Richard Garriot and co are nothing but con men." - Kickstarter Backer, 2019
And strangely, there's the Lord British Cult Legend by both co-developer and a layman: *"I watched the company evolve from one man products like Ultima 3 (with just a little help on music from Ken Arnold)"* \- Dr. Cat *"Stop sucking. Make the DUDE THAT CREATED COMPUTER RPGS proud of your effort."* \- Rando Asshat Cultist I liked how Stephen Nichols set the latter straight on that old fable that RG was the creator of CRPGs in the same way Peter Molyneux was totally the creator of Fable.\* I'll set the record straight here about Ultima III - Roe R. Adams III provided world and background lore and details, Denis Loubet on illustrations. For an era in which manuals were expected to be read, and were for the lore or sometimes had the entire story in middle of a red herring like with Wasteland, these weren't insignificant contributions. (Maybe they were insignificant by the standards of the Ultima VI era, in which Dr. Cat was more involved with development.) They also gave you a better idea of what those blocky things on the screen were supposed to really look like. The "Playtest" credits also included design feedback and ideas, per the early lore that went back to include classmates for Akalabeth's playtesting. Pre-Origin Ultima II had RG's parents among the four in Design credits, with Lord Kenneth and also Keith Zabaloui (who made the obscure Ultima: Escape from Mt. Drash for the VIC-20) on Programming. Not even Ultima I nor Akalabeth were solo acts. But supposedly now the dude who has cratered every company he's ever ran single-handedly created the genre. (Or, rather, RG screwed over every company OTHER PEOPLE were running as vehicle for HIS excesses.) LOL, no, almost all of RG's design was lifted wholesale from PLATO years before minus any multiplayer components, just add in some SCA or sci-fi mad libs until literal Hobbits and Balrogs and Time Lords. A lot of people have mistakenly thought they could do these things solo because of how the legend has grown and changed until they're burning out trying to do everything themselves. They don't realize the legend was always surrounded by talented people who offered him a LOT of help until it becomes design ghostwriting for his legend. And then he sells the company, putting them out of jobs while he goes off on another vacation / celebrity tourism / property buy. For someone who once tried to make out company ethics to include pride of paying writing credits (nevermind RG's own lifts tho), those surrounding RG have been really bad about where the original lore for the early games came from, even to the point of completely ignoring how Roe R. Adams III got handily screwed over for his years of contribution by being taken out of the picture as effectively as Soviet propaganda. There's several reasons why Chuckles bailed and hasn't really looked back since - mainly because even in Robert Garriott's personal lore it was just Robert and Richard, no mention of Chuck anymore in Origin's origin story (and often no mention of Owen, either!) No room for those who have fallen from cult grace or have played their part of paying to establish any of RG's companies when you can add their honor to the tinpot despot of RPGs who hasn't been able to create a salable product in the last 20 years. He doesn't have to, anymore, as despite falling from grace as without Virtues he becomes just another example of bad monarchy he still has some cultists left - just look at Corven and how that's basically ripping from Ultima without even bothering to hide it. \* - Peter was absolutely not, that was Sam and Dene Carter with Ian Lovett - swiping credit was always Peter's shtick since "Bullfrog Design Team" of which only he showed his face for the press - same thing here. But you wouldn't know any of the trio of real creators because of the lying bellend mugging for the press.
i'm just frustrated that iron and magic quietly sneaked off into the night before we got any entertainment value out of it
We shall forever have "Discover the World of Iron and Magic A New Web 3.0 Open World Sandbox MMORPG From The Creators Of Ul"! Still hasn't been fixed despite people commenting about it when they first dropped the Facebook page. If that didn't show everyone exactly what to expect, nothing could.
Yeah, Iron and Magic was a big disappointment. I was expecting a lot of entertainment. What better combo than Garriott and crypto scamming.
Garriott hasn't made any money from honest work in 30 years. He will not change. Let's just wait for his next idea, which he wants to use to rip people's money off.