Carmack turned down Quake MMO offers
by Justin McElroy 
{ Aug 5th 2008 at 11:30PM }
So, what do you think the biggest news here is? Is it that this a Quake MMO isn't going to happen? We don't think so. We're far more concerned that some publisher somewhere thought that making a Quake MMO was a good idea. Dearest game publishers, please don't think that "MMO" actually stands for "Tons of Free Money." It's because of that kind of thinking that Richard Garriott had to pick up a second job at Toys 'R' Us.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
emmzee @ Aug 5th 2008 11:38PM
Cue ppl remembering how they used to play Quake on MPlayer back in the 'day and how a Quake MMO would be like sooooo totally awesome. :)
Ayrkain @ Aug 5th 2008 11:42PM
Ah, don't be mean to poor Lord British. (Seriously, he'll start hitting people with his cane again and rambling about the days when software came in baggies)
Ron Smith @ Aug 5th 2008 11:49PM
Argh, its so odd for me to hear these guys mentioned as game developers. I am more used to Carmack working on Armadillo Aerospace, or Garriott hitching a ride to the ISS on the next Soyuz flight. Did you know his father was an astronaut in the Apollo days and flew on Skylab 3?
Smoke_Dawg_187 @ Aug 5th 2008 11:53PM
I keep seeing LFG, but I have no idea what it stands for. Can anyone clue me in?
Tom18230 @ Aug 5th 2008 11:59PM
LIKE MY FANNY!?
Tom18230 @ Aug 5th 2008 11:59PM
Looking For Game ;)
drsashamd @ Aug 6th 2008 12:17AM
LFG = Looking for Group
t_m @ Aug 6th 2008 10:37AM
I voted you up purely because anyone who doesn't know MMO expressions has to be worth a vote.
Psaakyrn @ Aug 6th 2008 12:01AM
Not to mention an MMO FPS already exists...
(Planet side Says hello)
Rii @ Aug 6th 2008 2:46AM
I'm curious as to how Carmack's declaration that "id has no interest in MMO development" (from the source article) squares with the following earlier this year:
"I'm really into the idea of a massively multiplayer cell phone title... I have absolutely no interest in going and competing with Blizzard in the high end of that market, but a cell phone version might be interesting." - John Carmack.
Source: http://money.cnn.com/2006/05/17/commentary/game_over/column_gaming/index.htm
Mixed messages much?
Rii @ Aug 6th 2008 2:54AM
That CNN link is from 2006, not earlier this year, my mistake. In my defence the Massively article from which I derived the link is dated 2008. xD
http://www.massively.com/2008/01/06/john-carmack-to-make-a-cell-phone-mmo/
Of course the question still stands. What's changed between then and now?
josh @ Aug 6th 2008 9:00AM
uhhh quake live happened? he mentions it in the linked article as the reason they dont want to do a mmo
J.Goodwin @ Aug 6th 2008 12:46AM
That's hilarious, because Quake was described in a manner very similar to an MMO in some of the old .plan files.
Fully persistent multi-server world.
Chase @ Aug 6th 2008 7:55AM
Nice reference. +1
kevinski @ Aug 6th 2008 10:06AM
Ooo...nice Tenebrae screenshot. I urge anyone who has Quake for PC to download Tenebrae. Damn...that game looks amazing with Tenebrae.
t_m @ Aug 6th 2008 10:42AM
Quake would be an interesting setting for an MMO (not that i'd actually ever play an MMO, but as an observer).
I miss the times when games could have totally artificial and incohrent settings, purely created to make a cool game. These days everything has to be realistic. (part of the reason doom3 sucked compared to 1&2).
An MMO with the totally schizophrenic settings of quake would be interesting.
Though, kind of like that upcoming horror MMO, i wonder how much people will want to hang around in a relentlessly dark environment.. If i'm paying to hang out and chat then i'd probably like to have some cheerful, fun places to hang out.
I want a randomly generated, quake style, persistent world online shooter.. where we can upload our own levels and affect each other's levels dynamically.