#257 Richard Garriott (Video Games and Space Exploration)

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Jul 15, 2022

Explore the fascinating intersection of video games and space exploration as a pioneering developer shares his journey. Discover how creativity and storytelling can transform industries and shape personal destinies. Delve into the unexpected economies that emerge within virtual worlds and the resilience needed to navigate failures in entrepreneurship. Experience thrilling tales from the gaming revolution, where humble beginnings lead to monumental successes, all while reflecting on the adventures inspired by historical heroes. Embrace the malleability of life!

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ANECDOTE

The Intruder

Richard Garriott was awakened by a stranger breaking into his uniquely designed Austin home.
The intruder claimed to be following a hologram of Garriott, highlighting the blurring lines between games and reality.

INSIGHT

Explore and Create

Richard Garriott's creative drive extends beyond game design, influencing his unique home and explorations.
He views a deep understanding of the world as key to mastering it.

INSIGHT

D&D and Company Building

D&D's interactive storytelling, like company building, involves players working together to solve problems and advance the narrative.
This mirrors Edwin Land's view of leading Polaroid as a grand scientific experiment with his employees.

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Finding the Next Steve Jobs

How to Find, Hire, Keep and Nurture Talent

Nolan Bushnell

Gene Stone

In 'Finding the Next Steve Jobs', Nolan Bushnell shares unconventional strategies for identifying and nurturing creative talent. Bushnell emphasizes the importance of hiring passionate individuals, celebrating failures, and fostering a culture of innovation. The book offers insights into creating a workplace that encourages creativity and risk-taking, drawing from Bushnell's experiences as a pioneer in the tech industry.

Insisting on the impossible

The Life of Edwin Land

Victor K. McElheny

This biography explores the life of Edwin Land, a pioneering scientist and entrepreneur who revolutionized photography with instant film. It delves into his inventions, entrepreneurial spirit, and contributions to science and technology. Land's relentless curiosity and innovative spirit are highlighted throughout the book.

A triumph of genius

Edwin Land, Polaroid, and the Kodak Patent War

Ronald K. Fierstein

This riveting biography visits the spectacular life of Edwin Land, perhaps the most important yet least known inventor and technology entrepreneur in American history. Land’s most famous achievement was the creation of a revolutionary film and camera system that could produce a photographic print moments after the picture was taken. The book takes you behind the scenes of his discoveries, triumphs, and defeats, including his involvement over four decades with top-secret U.S. military intelligence efforts during World War II and the Cold War. It also details the epic legal battle between Polaroid and Kodak, one of the most significant patent litigations of the 20th century. The book is a biographical legal thriller that offers many lessons for 21st-century entrepreneurs.

Endurance; Shackleton's incredible voyage

Alfred Lansing

The book narrates the almost two-year struggle for survival of the 28-man crew of the Endurance, which was beset and eventually crushed by ice floes in the Weddell Sea in 1915. The crew had to endure extreme conditions, including living on pack ice, launching small boats into the Southern Ocean, and making a perilous journey to Elephant Island and eventually to South Georgia. The story is based on personal diary accounts and interviews with the surviving members of the expedition, providing a detailed and gripping account of their ordeal.

Build

An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making

Tony Fadell

This book is an advice encyclopedia and a mentor in a box, written for anyone looking to grow at work, from young graduates to CEOs. It charts Tony Fadell's personal journey from a product designer to a leader, startup founder, executive, and mentor. The book includes captivating examples, such as the development of the first iPod and iPhone, and offers practical advice on various aspects of product development, leadership, and entrepreneurship. It emphasizes the importance of human relationships, continuous learning, and caring deeply about the work you do.

Masters of Doom

David Kushner

Masters of Doom tells the story of John Carmack and John Romero, often referred to as the 'Lennon and McCartney of video games.' The book details their rags-to-riches journey, from their troubled childhoods to the creation of iconic game franchises such as Doom and Quake. It explores their unique personalities, their contributions to gaming culture, and the eventual rift that drove them apart. Kushner's narrative delves into the broader impact of their games on society, from MTV to the Internet, and the controversies they provoked.

The Chronicles of Narnia

C.S. Lewis

The fish that ate the whale

The Life and Times of America's Banana King

Rich Cohen

This book tells the fascinating story of Samuel Zemurray, who started as a roadside banana peddler and eventually built a sprawling empire involving banana cowboys, mercenary soldiers, Honduran peasants, CIA agents, and American statesmen. Rich Cohen's narrative explores Zemurray's rise to power, his involvement in overthrowing Central American governments, and his complex role in American history. The book delves into Zemurray's personal life, his business exploits, and the moral implications of his actions, painting a nuanced portrait of a man driven by an indomitable will to succeed.

On Writing

A Memoir of the Craft

Stephen King

This book is both a memoir and a writing guide. It details Stephen King's life, from his childhood and early writing endeavors to his struggles with addiction and his near-fatal accident in 1999. The book is divided into sections that cover King's life ('C.V.'), the nature of writing ('What Writing Is'), writing mechanics ('Toolbox'), his advice on the craft ('On Writing'), and his recovery from the accident ('On Living: A Postscript'). King offers practical tips on writing, including the importance of vocabulary, grammar, and style, as well as the need for consistent writing routines and ruthless editing. He emphasizes that good writing comes from within, driven by curiosity, wonder, and emotional honesty rather than commercial motives.

Explore/Create

My Life in Pursuit of New Frontiers, Hidden Worlds, and the Creative Spark

David Fisher

Richard Garriott

This memoir chronicles Richard Garriott's life, from his early days in the video game industry to his adventures in space and other extreme environments. Garriott, known as 'Lord British,' shares his experiences as a pioneer in the gaming industry, his expeditions to the Titanic wreck and Antarctica, and his journey into space. The book includes interactive activities and 'secret codes' from his games, making it an engaging and unique read. It highlights his insatiable curiosity, playfulness, and contributions to making space travel more accessible.

The Lord of the Rings

J.R.R Tolkien

The Lord of the Rings, written by J.R.R. Tolkien, is an epic high fantasy novel set in Middle-earth. The story follows Frodo Baggins, a hobbit who inherits the One Ring from his uncle Bilbo. The Ring, forged by Sauron, holds the power to control all other Rings of Power and must be destroyed in the fires of Mount Doom to prevent Sauron's return. Frodo is joined by a fellowship of other characters, including Gandalf the Grey, Samwise Gamgee, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, and Boromir, as they embark on a dangerous quest across Middle-earth. The novel explores themes of good vs. evil, the corrupting influence of power, and the struggle between fate and free will[3][4][5].

Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know

Sir Ranulph Fiennes

In 'Mad, Bad & Dangerous to Know', Sir Ranulph Fiennes recounts his extraordinary life, from his early days at Eton to his daring expeditions across the globe. The book covers his experiences as an elite soldier, his polar explorations, and his personal struggles, offering a candid look at his motivations and achievements. Fiennes also reflects on his charity work and the challenges he has faced throughout his career.

Shackleton

The Biography

Sir Ranulph Fiennes

This biography, written by polar adventurer Sir Ranulph Fiennes, provides a vivid account of Ernest Shackleton's life and his legendary Antarctic expedition. In 1915, Shackleton's ship, Endurance, became trapped in ice, leaving him and his men to fight for survival in one of the most famous adventures in history. Fiennes, who followed in Shackleton's footsteps, brings unique insights to bear on these expeditions, separating Shackleton from the myth he has become. The book is both a re-appraisal and a valediction, celebrating Shackleton's leadership and endurance.

Sid Meier's Memoir!

A Life in Computer Games

Sid Meier

What I learned from reading Explore/Create My Life in Pursuit of New Frontiers, Hidden Worlds, and the Creative Spark by Richard Garriott.

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[6:49] Richard Garriott’s house

[7:39] Past episodes on video game creators

Sid Meier's Memoir!: A Life in Computer Games by Sid Meier (Founders#195)

Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture by David Kushner (Founders #21)

[9:31] I was lucky to learn early on that a deep understanding of the world around you makes you its master.

[9:52] The world is a very malleable place. If you know what you want, and you go for it with maximum energy and drive and passion, the world will often reconfigure itself around you much more quickly and easily than you would think. — The Pmarca Blog Archive Ebook by Marc Andreessen (Founders #50)

[10:08] Life can be much broader once you discover one simple fact. And that is everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you. And you can change it. You can influence it. You can build your own things that other people can use. —Steve Jobs

[10:33] The tagline of his company: We create worlds.

[13:13] My heroes are people who took epic journeys into the unknown often at substantial personal risk. I am simply following the path that they carved into history.

[13:33] Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing (Founders #144)

[13:49] Two books coming soon:

Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know by Ranulph Fiennes

Shackleton: The Biography by Ranulph Fiennes

[14:57] By endurance we conquer. —Ernest Shackleton

[17:01] Insisting On the Impossible : The Life of Edwin Land by Victor McElheny

[17:45] In his acceptance speech, Land chose to pay tribute to the process of invention by analogy to the basic American sense of adventure and exploration: We are becoming a country of scientists, but however much we become a country of scientists, we will always remain first of all that same group of adventurous transcontinental explorers pushing our way from wherever it is comfortable into some more inviting, unknown and dangerous region. Now those regions today are not geographic, they are not the gold mines of the west; they are the gold mines of the intellect. And when the great scientists, and the innumerable scientists of today, respond to that ancient American urge for adventure, then the form that adventure takes is the form of invention; and when an invention is made by this new tribe of highly literate, highly scientific people, new things open up. . . . Always those scientific adventurers have the characteristic, no matter how much you know, no matter how educated you are in science, no matter how imaginative you are, of leading you to say, “I’ll be darned, who ever thought that such a domain existed?” —Edwin Land in A Triumph of Genius: Edwin Land, Polaroid, and the Kodak Patent War by Ronald K. Fierstein (#134)

[17:55] I misspoke. The word should have been ancestors! Not descendants :(

[21:40] The most powerful person in the world is the storyteller. —Steve Jobs

[22:00] Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making by Tony Fadell

[25:09] One of my favorite sentences in the book. Every storyteller is familiar with the pleasure that comes from sitting with your friends around a fire, pouring a few drinks, and weaving a yarn. This was man's first form of entertainment, and when done well is still his best.

[26:09] Finding The Next Steve Jobs: How to Find, Keep, and Nurture Talent by Nolan Bushnell (Founders #36)

[34:10] The owner of the store told me, "Richard, this game you've created that we're all playing is obviously a more compelling reason to have one of these machines than anything that's out there. We really need to be selling this on the store wall."

Selling? Wow, what an interesting idea.

[35:30] This was a state-of-the-art operation then. We hung them up in the store and in the first week sold about twelve copies at $20 each. I would estimate that at the time, there were probably fewer than a couple of dozen people anywhere in the world creating computer games, and not one of us could have imagined we were creating an industry that in less than three decades would become the largest and most successful entertainment industry in history, that a game would gross more in a few weeks than the most successful movie in history had earned in decades.

[37:46] California Pacific's version of Akalabeth was priced at $34, of which I received $5; and they sold thirty thousand copies.

I had earned $150,000, more than twice my father's yearly salary as an astronaut. It was a phenomenal amount of money, enough to buy a house.

It was so much money that it didn't really sink in; it all seemed like some kind of fantasy.

We all thought it was a fluke.

It was great that someone wanted to pay me for doing what I was already doing.

[38:59] The Fish That Ate the Whale: The Life and Times of America's Banana King by Rich Cohen (Founders #255)

[41:55] By then I knew enough about the computer game industry to understand that it wasn't actually an industry; it was an association of companies run by people who had no more experience than I did and who popped up, published a few games, then disappeared. So my brother Robert and I decided to start our own company.

[43:21] The leader's habits become everyone's habits.

[47:00] It would have been almost impossible to be more wrong. That was one of my first big lessons in: "What I think is not necessarily right and perhaps not what everybody else thinks.”

[49:04] Dune Director Denis Villeneuve Breaks Down the Gom Jabbar Scene

[53:32] The belief system of the founder is the language of the company. That is why it is usually written down and repeated over and over again.

[54:03] Imitation precedes creation. —Stephen King On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King. (Founders #210)

[1:05:59] This is going to be one of the most successful games they ever make and he had to fight just to get them to let him do this.

[1:07:42] The EA marketing team had projected lifetime sales of Ultima Online at 30,000 units—which they thought was wildly optimistic. We put it on the Internet Within a week or so 50,000 people had signed up to pay $5 for the disc.

[1:08:46] The Pmarca Blog Archive Ebook by Marc Andreessen (Founders #50)

[1:09:40] One thing is for sure. People are very, very willing to spend real money on all types of virtual items.

[1:10:18] A lesson on human nature: People began to covet these items— like property and magic swords— but were not willing to put in the time to earn the gold needed to buy them.

[1:12:01] The art of business was to stay in business long enough to give yourself the best chance to get a big hit.

[1:15:55] The creative joy we'd once shared in developing a game had been replaced by the prosaic demands of running a business. It was hard to believe how much had changed; only a few years earlier our people would happily work all night and love every minute of it, and now we had become a sweatshop.

[1:17:17] I left the office, drove to a grocery store parking lot, and wept for several hours.

It was the end of my personal Camelot. This was no game, this was my life. It had been painful for me to fire other people, but as I had just learned, that was nothing compared to being fired myself. I got blindsided by a deep and complex range of feelings.

I felt like a failure; I was angry and depressed and confused.

It was a hurt that lasted a long time and, frankly, I don't think I ever fully got over it.

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