May
29

The Influentials

7 Comments

Issue #13 of Beckett Massive Online Gamer Magazine shows the top 20 most influential people in massively multiplayer video games for 2007. Quite an interesting list of individuals out there:

1. Rob Pardo, Senior VP of Game Design, Blizzard Entertainment
2. Jeffrey Steefel, Executive Producer, Turbine
3. John Smedley, CEO, Sony Online Entertainment
4. Hilmar P?tursson, CEO, CCP
5. Jack Emmert, CCO, Cryptic Studios
6. Rob Seaver, CEO, Vivox
7. Min Kim, Director of Game Operations, Nexon America
8. Scott Hartsman, Formerly Senior Producer, SOE
9. Raph Koster, President, Areae
10. James Phinney, Lead Designer, ArenaNet
11. Richard Garriott, Creative Director, NCSoft
12. Starr Long, Producer, NCSoft
13. Cory Ondrejka, Formerly CTO, Linden Labs
14. Mark Jacobs, GM and VP, EA Mythic
15. Sulka Haro, Lead Concept Designer, Sulake
16. Sage Sundi, Global Online Producer, Square-Enix
17. Jess Lebow, Lead Quest Designer, Carbine Studios
18. David Perry, CCO, Acclaim
19. Sanya Weathers, Director of Community, Guildcafe.com
20. Daniel James, CEO, Three Rings Design

I’ve only really met a couple of them, but I can’t really disagree with anything there…although I would have though Raph, Scott and Min would have been a bit higher :)

I’m not too sure how influential Rob Pardo actually is in the industry. I know that WoW definitely is, so may there is some confusion between the two….or maybe I’m confused, which would not surprise me in the very least.

D out.

Posted in Links and News
7 Comments Posted by Darren

7 Responses to "The Influentials"

  • SmakenDahed says:
    May 29, 2008 at 9:59 am

    What no Brad? Failure is something that can be observed and learned from just like success is, and it can be just as influencing… though I guess you’re more likely to witness resulting product of something that is successful than a failure. The lack of a similar failure could be a resulting influence… no? :)

  • Kendricke says:
    May 29, 2008 at 10:10 am

    If you actually read through the article, it explains why Rob Pardo was chosen (and it becomes apparent why there’s no Brad).

  • Cuppycake says:
    May 29, 2008 at 2:34 pm

    I don’t understand your reasoning behind why Pardo shouldn’t be #1. Rob Pardo is VP of Design for the most successful MMO game in the industry for the last 3+ years. If you’re in charge of game design for one of the most influential games to hit the industry yet, then you’re a pretty influential dude. =P

  • Keen says:
    May 29, 2008 at 4:50 pm

    I would have moved Mark Jacobs and Raph Koster up the list into the top 5. Pardo deserves his spot.

  • Rog says:
    May 29, 2008 at 10:11 pm

    It’s impossible to make a perfect list, because the requirements are so poorly defined. The very definition of what a ‘massive multiplayer game’ is still pretty fluid and different between who you ask. Linden Labs IMHO doesn’t qualify and as much as I love Raph, I don’t count Metaplace as the same category either. And why is Guildcafe on there exactly? Community is great, but I’d disagree about them being so influential, there are individual guilds that have had more effect on the games themselves. Better if they just kept the list to the direct industry itself.

    While most of these are deserving names of accolades, it’s got some odd mixture of current top honchos and nods for historic reasons. Overall though, it’s a fair representation of 2007.

  • Swift Voyager says:
    May 30, 2008 at 9:50 am

    Yeah I was thinking the same thing about current trendsetters and people who seem to have made the list because of prior accomplishments. If you are just looking at 2007, then the list should be somewhat different. The biggest MMOG (not RPG’s but just MMOG’s) accomplishments of 2007 shouldn’t leave out Habo, Zwinky, Webkinz, Club Penguine, Nickelodeon, and the other numerous children’s and tweenz MMOG sites. I think the advances made in the young MMOG market should be counted highest right now because that’s where all the really astounding membership numbers are, and they are creating a generation of people that will make MMOG’s mainstream.

  • Swift Voyager says:
    May 30, 2008 at 9:51 am

    P.S.

    #20.5 Darren of TCSG?

Leave a Comment