OGaming: Tabula Rasa means “blank slate.” You've been quoted as saying you were hoping to wipe the slate clean with this title and redefine MMOs. How do you plan on doing so?

Richard Garriott: The reference was originally a working title. We chose it because after creating fantasy based games loosely built atop the common language of Dungeons & Dragons and Tolkien, and 20 years of sequels, we were starting fresh, from a blank slate! We did not want to build a story or game play that people could say we built atop anyone else’s ideas. While not the original meaning of our name, yes, we do hope to redefine MMOs!

While MMOs opened up a great new area for gaming opportunities, most MMOs follow the narrow mold that was defined early on by Ultima Online and EverQuest. That even includes new MMOs like World of Warcraft. Basically they are all long, slow leveling fests, where monsters wait around to be “harvested” by players and then re-spawn back where they were. There is no real sense of a changing world, or my impact in it. No real sense of accomplishment above leveling up along with the masses of others on the same treadmill.

In Tabula Rasa, players will live and play on worlds under constant pressure and change. Battles will be won and lost and with it, control of territory. Players will go on a personal series of missions through which they can actually solve epic storylines and participate in events that significantly change the game state.

Tabula Rasa is a fast paced game that feels and plays more like a shooter than a traditional MMO where “He who does the most damage over time wins!”