Jeff Anderson Interview at GIGnews
Posted Wednesday, June 11, 2003 - 11:53 CET by Mollusken

GIGnews have interviewed Jeff Anderson, who is CEO of Turbine Entertainment, the developer of the recently announced Dungeons & Dragons Online.

In another interview you said that online gaming was your true love and that "no other entertainment medium can bring people together, entertain them, and forge real-world relationships." As an accomplished developer of some enormous MMORPGs, what do you consider to be the greatest challenges specific to creating an online game?

There are a lot of challenges, such as technology, product development, services, funding, human resources…However, the greatest challenges are not that different from those that face developers of single-player games. A successful game requires a great team with a strong, central vision; excellent communication underpinned by a well-conceived plan; and supportive partners. It’s true that online games complicate the matter because of their larger team size, longer development cycle and interesting design complications. Nevertheless, the greatest challenges are about magnitude more than uniqueness.

As for your other recent coup, while wasting away one Sunday afternoon I saw a program on VH1 about the 1980s. One of the more hilarious segments in the program was on Dungeons & Dragons. People have such intense D&D nostalgia whether they actually played or just marveled at those who did. With so much pop culture history tied up in the game, how will Turbine approach its development? Will the game appeal to more than just the traditional D&D player?

Where Tolkien is the father of fantasy, I’d say that D&D is the father of role-playing. Our job with that project is to stay true to its roots and deliver an excellent online role-playing game. The challenge is to balance the project with the audience. We have a lot of hardcore D&D gamers here at Turbine who are totally into the rules, history and nostalgia. (And rightly so!) Still, we don’t want to discourage a new generation of D&D players from enjoying the title.

Get the rest of the interview here.