Raph Koster on the birth of MMORPGs and sandboxes as the ultimate expression of social gaming

Interviews MMORPG News Videos Say, would you like to hear Raph Koster talk about the history of our genre? But this time in a condensed video format without having to pay for entry into an expo or panel? Then look no further than a video from Noclip , which features Koster almost exclusively talking the entire time about how MMORPGs were born, which is appropriate considering he was there. Obviously this being a history lesson means there are no new revelations here for veteran MMO players. Koster discusses the birth of the very genesis of the genre with MUDs, recounts his first time in working on Ultima Online and its impact on MMOs moving forward, the effects of World of Warcraft’s design on social interaction. Koster ultimately ties it all together by explaining how all games can become social spaces, even if they’re not designed that way, while propping up sandboxes as the ultimate expression of social gaming and talking up how MMORPGs make dependence among others that much more important. “The single-player games of the first couple of console generations were still mostly played by a passel of kids on a couch, passing the controller between them,” Koster points out. “In sandbox games […] that idea of, if you start building up enough roles, you actually start mimicking the interdependency of a society, well that idea is very powerful. It means people can each play the way they like, and they matter to each other […] and that builds up social ties.” source: YouTube , thanks to Clowd for the tip!