Raph Koster Decloaks Off Starboard Bow

Posted on December 16, 2006 by Scott Jennings| 19 Comments

…and apparently decides that not enough game companies have Latin names.

Areae, Inc. is a company dedicated to taking the tired old virtual world and making it into something fresh and new. Something anyone can jump into. Something where anyone can find something fun to do or a game to play. Something where anyone can build their own place on the virtual frontier.

His new company’s email server immediately imploded from complaints about the NGE and stat loss for reds.

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  • http://www.uopowergamers.com blachawk

    Now that he has complete control over his game, it will be interesting to see if Raph can produce a game that will have mass appeal. Right now, I’m sensing this ‘game’ will fill a niche in the market similar to Mihaly’s Iron Realms.

  • brent

    Given the collective Latin education levels of the target demo populace and their logo design, I call it’ll be two weeks before the consensus on the boards is that Raph is running “Area E”.

    Or if he’s less fortunate, ‘Areolae’.

  • Jessica Mulligan

    I like option #2: A game all about personalizing virtual nipples.

    Oh, the co-marketing possibilities…

  • http://mythicalblog.com Jeff Freeman

    It is very difficult for my fingers to resist typing arena.net when my brain is telling them areae.net…

  • http://ambernight.org Amber

    So…Tertio Life?

  • http://ve3d.ign.com/ Apache

    >>Or if he\’e2\’80\’99s less fortunate, \’e2\’80\’98Areolae\’e2\’80\’99.

    lol

  • VPellen

    Hmm. I don’t know if this is good or bad omen.

  • Evangolis

    Having had some experience with being management, I can say that control is an illusion. Influence, sure. Responsibility, certainly. But control is a myth. It’s all herding cats.

  • Riprend

    Their VP of production was responsible for Omens of War? EQ2, Planetside, etc… it doesn’t look like Donham has a single game on his resume that’s not marred either by low sales and staying power (Planetside), bad gameplay (Omens) or unmet expectations (EQ2). That doesn’t seem like the most auspicious omen. [rimshot]

  • http://www.wtfno.org Jiffy

    >>Or if he\’e2\’80\’99s less fortunate, \’e2\’80\’98Areolae\’e2\’80\’99.

    Yes!! OWNOO! (Our World’s Nipples Origen Online). Nipples sell, so therefore there should be an MMOG about it. :D

  • http://www.battlevortex.com Fear of BV

    OMG, what next? Broken Gamez dot Org featuring Scott?

    Good luck Raph, plz bring back pre-casting beotch! k-thx

  • Aufero

    Interesting mix of designers and idea people (Between Raph, Richard Bartle, Christopher Allen and Cory Doctorow, I’d be as interested in reading the design docs as in playing the game they make) and a VP who obviously knows the production ropes. I hope they can bring it all together.

  • http://www.raphkoster.com Raph

    John Donham got started on Gemstone at Simutronics. He’s been doing online games a very long time. He was in charge of all production at the San Diego studio for SOE, so *every* game from SOE-SD for the last few years is on his credits.

  • Evangolis

    So does he get credit for the successes, or blame for the failures? It’s a busy world out here, and we need to get people pigeonholed ASAP. An armchair designer’s work is never done.

  • http://www.4thfg.com No.6

    “John Donham got started on Gemstone at Simutronics. He\’e2\’80\’99s been doing online games a very long time.”

    That is a long time. Suddenly I’m again grateful I’m no longer paying $6/hour ($12/hour at primetime) for online gaming…

  • http://www.eqclerics.org Boanerges

    bad gameplay (Omens)

    I think you’re thinking Gates of Discord, not Omens. OoW wasn’t a bad expansion really. Why some people remember it unkindly is that EQ2 and a little known game called Worlds of Warcraft launched in the middle which caused EQ servers to implode in terms of population.

    I think I know who this guy is tho. He’s not bad in terms of development. I think Raph made a good call.

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  • Michael Chui

    “John Donham got started on Gemstone at Simutronics.”

    Whoa. No kidding? That makes me even more optimistic.