Sigil Games Online: The Wallet that Says 'Bad flunk' on it.
4:30 PM Tuesday August 12th 2003, I find myself walking away from an unmarked building in a fairly nice business sector of San Diego with a thought running through my mind: "Attitude. Sometimes, it's simply all about attitude." You can spot attitude a mile away. It's an aura. A feeling. The certain knowledge, that no matter who you are, or what you do, you will be getting your ass kicked by carrier of said attitude.
Alright, I know you're all confused now. Let me jump back a bit and explain. A long, long while back, Brad McQuaid sent me an email about an article I wrote. That turned into me having the odd email correspondence with Cindy Bowens, the amazing Community Relations Manager for Sigil Games Online. Well as it went, us guys (as you know) went to E3 and a few of the Sigil team did as well. That was general madness, and I'm not just talking a quiet hum drum of confusion, I'm talking full on, booze, people, and seething crowds kind of madness. I vaguely remember sending an email to Cindy sometime during the week, but suffice to say, we never met up.
Now seriously, I'll admit it, this pissed me off. I mean how many of you would've liked to meet up with some Sigil people during E3? Exactly what I thought, it's something that most gamers would love to do, maybe even kill to do... kill... errrr, forget I said that.
Either way, as unfortunate as it was, it seemed that my opportunity had passed. I mean that was it, after E3 everybody gets back to work. I'd blown it, right? Maybe not. After telling Cindy that I really wish I'd met up with them at E3, I was told that if I was ever in the San Diego area…
Yes, you heard right. I was being invited to go visit the Sigil development studio. Now I've got a philosophy I live by, and it's never say 'no' to an opportunity. So I made a decision, and that decision was to make sure that before the summer was up, I would make a trip down to San Diego before the end of summer. (Train, plane or automobile, I didn't care. Hell I'd buy a goat and head south, if that was my only means of transportation. Baaaaaa!).
A Goat To Go South?
Summer flew by in a haze of sun, beer and sand, before I knew it I could already sense August winding down, disappearing in a few lazy days and nights. So I looked at my schedule, saw that I had a week free and said to myself: "dammit man! What the hell are you doing? This is SIGIL we're talking about here." That was all the motivation I needed, I had a new car (not a goat I swear), I had the time off, I had some extra cash lying around and I thought, 'yeah, it's a bit crazy to drive for two days to go hang out for a few hours' but I knew I'd regret it if I didn't just kick myself in the ass and go.
Which of course leads up to me taking my trip, and managing to see SOE in the process as well. Now Tuesday was the day I had been invited to go meet the Sigil team. Honestly, I wasn't entirely sure what I was expecting. Ferraris? Hot models, with the Sigil Logo painted across their chest (please)? Trumpets maybe? Ohhh, I know, trained monkeys wearing Sigil jerseys while doing a reenactment of the 10th Coldain Ring war. yeah, that would be badass.
Alright, so that wasn't exactly what was awaiting me. Then again, this is reality, not fantasy land where game development is all about "fast cars and fast women" (sarcastic quote, thanks to Bill Fisher, Lead Designer for SGO). In fact, I couldn't even find the Sigil building at first. It was unmarked (for secrecy I'm sure), so I was strolling around in its general vicinity and saw a guy smoking a cigarette.
Now, he looked like a bit of a dangerous sort as it was, and he had a bit of the surly glare thing going on. His eyes were just oozing, "yeah, you don't know where this is, if you do, I might have to kick your ass."
Bolstering my confidence, I asked shakily “is this Sigil Games Online?” Flicking the cigarette away with a certain disdain he nodded and glared. So I had found it; Sigil Games Online, no monkeys, no trumpets, just a surly designer, an unmarked building and an enigma, wrapped in a mystery, wrapped in an enigma, wrapped in a... yeah you get it. Well at this point I quickly prepared my route of escape should I have to flee an imminent beating (after all, you never know in these situations) and told him that I was here to see Cindy Bowens.
He looked a bit skeptical but deciding to forgo both the beating and more, he shrugged his shoulders and said "you're supposed to use the door around the front, but c'mon in" (of course the door around the front is unmarked black glass and once again, all you're given is a small black box to talk into).
Following the man who had kindly decided not to welcome me to a world of pain, I got to peer into the mystery that is Sigil Games Online. Upon strolling in, what was a very quiet atmosphere outside was chaos inside. People were running around, computers whirring, the walls were covered in beautiful art by Keith Parkinson and there was a feel to the place.
I don't like to say anything too revealing, but it was a feeling of greatness. There was something epic you could feel. As if everybody was sharing the same dream. It sent shivers scurrying up my spine, and I hadn't even done or seen anything yet. You know what it was though? It was attitude. Like how Jules in Pulp Fiction has a wallet that says "Bad flunk" on it? I would swear these were all walking around with similar wallets.
Interrupting my moment of awe, I was introduced to the infamous Cindy Bowens, who is well known for her work with the EQ community. As came to no surprise, after dealing with her multiple times over email and phone, she was every bit as welcoming in real life, as she had been through other mediums. You know, there are certain people you can meet, and pretty much feel right at home with? Well I wouldn't be surprised if Cindy was like that with most people. It's a talent, a skill. A gift perhaps. Upon shaking hands and a quick laugh, with a smile she began showing me around.
Talk about a blur. I've got a fairly good memory at taking notes, but it was an introduction here, a smile there, a piece of artwork here, and a handshake there. Designer, after developer, after designer. Everybody was busy, everybody was working on something. The place was verily alive with energy.
After getting a drink out of the Sigil fridge which was chock full of pretty much everything, I got to sit down with Cindy for a few minutes and participate in a friendly chat. Talk about the community, the company, the developers, our own past experiences with MMOGs, and MMOG players.
The whole thing was, to be honest, I didn't really have a lot to ask or say. Crazy as it might sound, I truly did make a trip down to San Diego to say "hi". If I had left at that point, while it would've been shorter than I would have liked, I honestly would've still thought it worth it. After all, you don't get these types of opportunities every day. Strangely enough though, this is where things just got interesting.
Sigil vs Rockstar Games?
Brad McQuaid (President & CEO/Co-Producer), and Jeff Butler (Vice President/Co-Producer), were both busy at the moment. This was fine with me because, you know, I was pretty much content to sit there all day, keep Cindy and other Sigil employees from getting any work done and look at art (wondering how I could steal it). Nevertheless, within what seemed to be a few minutes, the place turned from work based environment to an excited hustle of bodies all milling about. I hear the fateful words murmured, 'soccer' and 'rockstar'. Cindy filled me in that today was not going to be like most days (she apologized actually, though she shouldn't have). Apparently there was a Development vs Development Studio soccer game going down and I was invited to tag a long. Uh, maybe this would annoy some people, upset some people even. of course those would be very stupid people. My general reaction was a: "Hell yeah!"
You see, apparently, for fun, most of the Sigil development team gets together and plays soccer once or twice a week (you know, get some sun and physical exercise sort of thing). Well somehow, and I'm not sure how exactly, they had struck up a bit of a friendly rivalry between another soccer influenced development studio. Who was this mystery opponent? None other my friends than Rockstar Games. I'm sure a few of you have heard of them.
At this point, Brad, exits his office. He is playing soccer with the rest of the guys so is in a bit of a hurry but greets me and asks if I'll be around later (which I will be unless I was unable to resist, and am being chased by the cops with a trunk full of Keith Parkinson's art. The Mexican border is like only 20 minutes away...) From there, it was to the soccer game.
Now I know, I can judge your reaction already, you're here to read about Sigil the DEVELOPMENT STUDIO and here I am wanking on about a soccer game. You see though, the thing that most writers and reporters, and journalists will always miss is communicating with people in a real environment. I mean honestly, the majority of you are probably employed (wait, I'm talking to MMOG gamers? Nevermind... just kidding!) Now I don't know about you, but in every work place I've ever worked in there is the 'customer face' in which you smile, nod, say polite things and carry on. Then there is the 'real face' where you curse at your coworkers, tell lewd jokes and generally carry on like uncivilized savages. You know, the only thing that keeps you from going completely insane.
So as I cruised with Cindy to the soccer field, I got to start seeing the comfortable side of these guys. Cindy was a great hostess, nice, kind, polite, I swear it all comes naturally to her but the rest of the guys are, you know, guys. I mean, we arrived at the soccer field and there were a few who didn't play soccer that I was hanging out with. The Rockstar team showed up and what can I say. These aren't the type of guys you want to meet in a back alley (maybe this was to be expected). I'm talking, in shape, tanned, tattooed, and the general feeling of "Bring the pain baby! We like it!"
The Sigil team, well not so much. This is where I go back to attitude though. It's not necessarily what you present yourself as; it's what you know yourself as. So here we have a group of guys, who haven't played soccer that long, are in it for fun, nearly assuredly going to get beaten but they're into it. I mean, they're joking about it, they're getting ready, they're teasing each other, and they're having fun. The correlation between the soccer game and the Sigil Employees is obvious. They're a team. Win, lose, whatever. They're a team, and they're ready to kick ass or blow a gasket trying.
I mean hell, they didn't even have a full team for the soccer game, you know who showed up to help them out though? That's right, their UPS guy. Hell yeah, and he was ready to play too. He parked his UPS truck and that was it; it was go time baby. The comments "Upie, upie, upie!" could be heard chanted from the Sigil guys not playing, along with lines like "He delivers!" This of course was between the constant good natured banter that was ever flowing between the Sigil employees.
Fact is, for the two minutes during the game I wasn't laughing, I was cheering. I mean damn, the game was great. Closer than people had originally estimated, it ended up 9 to 4 for the Rockstar team (or somewhere around there, the exact number escapes me), but the thing that impressed me was, despite the Sigil team losing, they didn't walk away losers.
You could tell that they'd be back. They had fun, they'd worked hard and though the points lay against them, everybody seemed satisfied nonetheless. This wasn't a defeat, it was simply a test, a learning experience... one that had taken up most of lunch. Because of lunch being past, myself, Bill Fisher and Cindy jumped into her car and headed to a food court to meet up with some of the other team and grab some food before heading back to the Sigil building.
I've got to say, there isn't much better than sitting in San Diego on a hot day, eating, surrounded by about eight or so developers who are all just shooting the breeze about whatever strikes them. Some game talk, a lot of jokes, even a good session where the guys teased Cindy for a good ten fifteen minutes. It was comedy gold, I feel like a bastard just telling you guys, unable to remember any of the juicy direct quotes to entertain you. Yes, this was far more than I could've hoped for.
As I pointed out before, in my opinion this will always be better than the journalist type of interview you usually end up with, simply because it's real. I mean, lets face it, you pick up a magazine, you read an interview with somebody and what do you get? You get pre-prepared lines, for pre-prepared questions. You know it's not real. What is real, is gamers who in turn are developers, the brains and driving gears behind the games we play, being themselves. It is this that produces a good or a bad game. All the talk about mechanics in the world won't actually assuredly produce anything brilliant or fun. In my opinion, this has always been because you don't know what the people working on the game are like.
For that matter, are they even gamers?
Well, with the Sigil Team, I got to find out first hand that, yeah, these guys are gamers, and yeah, they think teasing each other is funny, and yeah, they believe in being kick ass at what they do. This is real. This is what gets me excited, because with all the other projects, you don't know. You simply can't tell. Is it truth you're getting? Or just another media prepared line? Most people will never know, because you can't force people to be comfortable, you can't force a group of people to hang out and be themselves. Especially when they have a company image to withhold.
I got the truth, and it was priceless.
After the game and lunch, it was back to the Sigil building. Finally, the time had come. Brad had a few minutes available, and I got a chance to enter the abode of the man who much of Everquest is accredited to. Walking into his office is like stepping into a different world. A cooler world albeit, but a different world.
There is a Usual Suspects poster on the wall (amazing movie, if you haven't seen it you're an infidel), there are collectables scattered about. On the wall hangs the infamous license plate 'EVRQUST'. The room is not simply an office; an office is cold and sterile. This place, with its meeting table and chairs, desk with papers and phone numbers, mixed in with Magic: the Gathering cards and computers, this is a place of creation. Business yes, but of creative inspiration and control. This is a place where you can nearly smell the imagination and ideas run rampant.
And there, I sat beside Brad McQuaid and I saw something. I saw the future. They will probably send the surly guy I first met (I can't remember his name for the life of me dammit!) to kill me (Brad's team has it all, they're very multitalented, I'm sure they've got an assassin on the list somewhere). But in one word, I will attempt to describe what I saw.
Ready?
No really, you sure you're ready for this? This is major stuff I'm telling you, this is going to be worth its weight in gold. Hell, maybe even more.
Alright, here goes...
The One Word to Describe All
Orgasmic.
I've already said too much, they'll kill me for this. And I know what all you women are thinking, you're all "oh, what a man, always thinking about sex." To this I say, "ooooh noooo" I'm all about equal opportunity baby! This is not gender biased, this is the simple truth. Why, perhaps even, dare I say it... multiple orgasms!
I'm a dead man for this. I'm wasting time typing right now, they'll kill me you know? But hell, I'm not in this for me, I'm in it for you, and I swear had I not been worried about making a mess of Brad's office and definitely ruining my chances for ever going back, that probably would've been my exact physical reaction.
Holding myself back though, I didn't pass out on Brad's floor (Nothing like staring like a vacant eyed monkey, with a line of drool slipping unnoticed down your shin for making first impressions. Hooyah!) While this was going on, I got a chance to talk to Brad. Really, we just chatted a bit about various game mechanics, and something he said really stuck with me. "Just because the implementation was wrong, doesn't mean the original idea was bad." This seemed to be more than just a line, this was a philosophy. It was not, 'let's scrap everything everybody has been tried and done before us', it was 'let's take everything we've ever learned and do it better than anybody can imagine'.
With this thought clunking around in my mind, Brad then took me on a journey to find some artists, you know, see what was up. As we were going, I've got to say, Brad impressed me. Now I'm sure that's nothing new, but I grew up in a strong business environment, met some very wealthy and successful people in my life, and there is a noticeable difference to them.
They walk differently, you can actually tell them apart from others, and it's less a walk but more a stride. What does it all mean? Focus. Passion. These people see their goal, and they drive towards it with a furious energy. Brad was no different, thoughtful and open minded without a doubt but you could see in his eyes he knew what he was doing. Nearly Yodaesque even, there simply is 'no try' to him. You do it, or you don't, there is no middle ground. No half assed effort. To me, this is what oozed out of the Sigil team. Brad certainly fairly emanated with it, but it was as if the entire Sigil team knew what was on the line, but also knew that they were working on something great.
First we walked through the design department, and here Brad pointed out various things on various flickering monitors, how everything was coming together like a gigantic puzzle. And yes, he even showed me the Holy Grail itself, and in that, I mean the Design Document, or at least one tome of it. The thing was massive, had to weigh at least a few pounds. Obviously I didn't get to touch it, as I'm sure my skin would've burned off and melted, ala Raiders of the Lost Ark, but simply the size of the thing was overwhelming. You don't think Sigil has anything actually in progress and figured out yet? You tell that to the minds behind the design doc.
From here, we flew to the Art Department. Walking around the Art Department a bit, Brad found himself at a loss for artists, and so he showed me a few sketches that were being worked on, but then wandered back into the central area with me. Here Jeff Butler was booting up Star Wars Galaxies on a machine that had been giving them some problems. At what seemed impeccable timing, Brad's cell phone rang, and so that gave me time to chat to Jeff Butler about the game everybody loves to hate, Star Wars: Galaxies.
I've got to say, there is something very fulfilling about talking to somebody how doesn't simply 'think' he knows how things should be but truly, realistically, does ‘know’ how things should be. Funny thing is, Jeff, who sees a lot of merit in Galaxies, much as I do, voiced many of the same opinions I have on the game, both about the good and bad.
Obviously, this talk interested me, more than it would probably interest the rest of you but I've got to say, it was fun to talk to somebody who knew what they were talking about and was an avid MMOG player. I'm not entirely sure how long we chatted for, I know I got another drink out of the communal Sigil fridge though and before I knew it Thad Clevenger, Senior Artist extraordinaire was back at his computer and Brad took me over to see some art that was currently being worked on. I've got say, Thad was a great guy, really congenial and easy to talk to, gladly explaining what he was doing and working on as he went along, chatting about how fun it was to work with renowned artist Keith Parkinson (I bet).
After I had bugged Thad for long enough, I wandered back into the central room. I had spent about six hours with the Sigil team, all in various states of work and unfortunately, I had to go. So bidding my farewells (somewhat reluctantly) I said good bye to everybody who was around and exited the building with the gears turning in my mind. Everything I had seen, everything I had witnessed, made me absolutely positive these guys were working on what is undoubtedly the future of gaming. Everybody demands proof, with their eyes but honestly, while what I saw certainly impressed me, it was more a feeling I got that reassured me. I've seen a lot of cool demos that have impressed me, you know what though? I've also ended up playing a lot of stuff that turned out to be crap *cough*AC2*cough*.
This has turned me into a cynical and jaded gamer. I am not looking to be simply impressed by projects in development or a pretty picture. That's not good enough anymore. I am looking to be reassured. I need to be impressed by every single person I meet, I need to get a feeling that dwarfs any one entity or concept. I need to feel it.
Walking away from the mysterious Sigil buildings, this is exactly what I'd gotten. I had found what I had hoped, I had been reassured by what I saw and excited beyond belief. Like a scavenger stumbling across buried treasure I had found gold in the unmarked building behind me. I'd found attitude and with it I had found what I believe to be the future of gaming. Sometimes it isn't about what you see that's important, it's about what you don't see but know nonetheless.
Check out the official Sigil Games Online site here.