About
I, me, Mark Jacobs, am not *that* Marc Jacobs, but rather a guy who has been making online games since back in the days of acoustic couplers, Dec-10s and can sadly remember the days of running through reams and reams and reams of paper playing the original Adventure game on old paper terminals (the names of whom I’ve happily forgotten).
If you’re reading this blog for heavenly insight, flowery prose and even decent grammar, you’re in the wrong place. I write as I speak and I don’t have a lot of time to spend on such stuff, especially these days. If you decide to stay anyway, I promise not to intentionally bore you and I’ll do my best to start a fire here and there. I do love movies/television/books so expect to see lots of references and bad puns whenever I can work them in there. Oh, I was also a failed (a polite way of saying I went down in flames, crashed on the highway and then was run over by a herd (or is it gaggle) of semis) standup comedian.
Oh, and I apologize for ToA, the nerfing of your favorite class in DAoC as well as the extinction of the dinosaurs and anything else that people love to lay at my feet, goes with the job description. I’m the former co-founder, former GM (General Manager, not Game Master, wiseguys) and former VP of Mythic Entertainment (an Electronic Arts studio).
Also, I won’t trash other developers (99.9% of the time), other publishers and other MMORPGs. So, if you’re hoping I’ll do that here, don’t waste your time. I’m planning to talk about a bunch of stuff but I won’t be breaking with my long-standing traditions.
Oh, and here’s a disclaimer, what I say here are my own opinions, thoughts and nothing more. I’m not speaking for Mythic, EA (now, more than ever) or the Pope when I’m posting here unless I put on my special tin-foil hat, wave my magic wand and say Presto Chango. I haven’t set up this blog to do CM, M&Ms and though it may seem so at times, S&M, I’ve set it up to have a little fun, say some things and occasionally talk to people.
So, if you want to leave a comment, feel free but don’t expect me to answer all of them especially if you’re looking for me to do what I do on the forums like the Vault and IGN. However, I will read them all and I’ll try to answer some of them as time permits.
Online Games Are a Niche Market 
Sep 04, 2008 @ 01:21:54
I see you….
Sep 04, 2008 @ 01:45:32
Id be worried now…
Sep 04, 2008 @ 07:15:46
Nicely said, Mark.
And I expect you to revive your standup comedy, don’t let me down. 😉 (If not I’ll forgive you, though.)
stewie-Y
Sep 04, 2008 @ 09:27:35
Garthilk was so onto this blog, it’s almost as if MJ said something beforehand….
Various… stuff. I guess. « The Frozen Elf
Sep 04, 2008 @ 09:45:23
Sep 04, 2008 @ 10:32:23
about now is when i pull the blanket over my head crawl into the fetal position and worry about the monsters….
no but seriously nice to see a GM of any major production studio talking openly and candidly about the industry he works in thank you and i look forward to seeing what you put out for us to read
Sep 04, 2008 @ 14:28:09
greetings
keep up the blogging
much appreciated 🙂
looking forward to WAR
Sep 04, 2008 @ 15:13:59
I still love you…even after you nerfed my smite cleric. I really look forward to playing WAR, and hope you do well.
Sep 04, 2008 @ 16:56:47
Keep up the great work Mark and team!
We are all very blessed to have you in the industry.
-Gunn
Sep 04, 2008 @ 18:40:53
Oh hey, a blogger from Mythic! Hooray! Looking forward to reading your posts, good stuff so far.
I actually applied for associate designer for UO recently… probably wishful thinking. 🙂
Looking forward to kicking the tires on WAR. As someone fed up with all the negative aspects of WoW, I’m hoping y’all can tear it down.
Sep 05, 2008 @ 07:23:49
I left the website blank because its not mine but I heard about you at warhammeraliance.com
I would like to start off by thanking you for choosing a career in game making and being a part of Warhammer. Most people know Warhammer was the original out there and are greatful it made it to the cyberworld ( I’ll leave it at that )
My free time out of school & work will be spent pleasing my girlfriend and enjoying your hard work. For that I hope you are sucessfull and are greatly rewarded 🙂 Thanks
Sep 05, 2008 @ 23:31:32
You good sir are a god among men.. or at least game developers.. that develop online games.. in a niche market? I bet AOL regrets that decision.
Anyway always happy to listen to your crazy ramblings any day man! Keep up the good work and may all your future endeavors be successful and full of fun.
Sep 09, 2008 @ 12:23:13
awesome and inspirational stuff over the last few days, mark
thanks for letting us be part of WAR
funny thing is, mythic now hold all the oneline game titles i spent too much time on.
ps: tao is forgotten
pss: sack goa
Sep 11, 2008 @ 22:26:04
Your sentence structure gets an A in my book!
PJ
Sep 12, 2008 @ 05:36:01
PJ, you’re too kind, way, way too kind. If I had the time to spend on my entries, well, they might be decent but like I said, I write like I speak, very fast and with an accent. 🙂 Thanks though.
Sep 12, 2008 @ 08:28:16
“Late night passage of PIE ensues….”
Here’s to a great launch, all the best.
We’ll all be there, I’m sure.
-Gunny
Sep 12, 2008 @ 15:34:28
I hope you can keep up the blogging Mark. It takes me bloody ages to finish entries on mine so the level of stuff you’re putting out is really impressive hehe.
I love the casual Q&A posts you put out and make it a point to check the blog each day. Like many have said, its so refreshing to see one of the ‘higher ups’ speaking so honestly outside of their marketing speak. Like you’re posts on the forums (particularly over at warhammer alliance), people listen, admittedly we all sometimes hear different things hehe.
Keep up the good work.
Owen
Sep 14, 2008 @ 05:38:27
Thank you for starting this blog to share your insights with us. The realm of video game development is often a mystical thing to outsiders, even those in the technology industry (like myself). In-house testing, NDAs, obfuscated changes by Devs, and a general unwillingness to communicate clearly with the community are all contributing factors to this ongoing problem.
Mythic has proven to be very different from the norm, and I hope that difference becomes the norm. In the meantime it’s nice that at least one company is willing to stand up and run their business the “right” way (IMO, of course).
Also, thank you for being brave enough to share personal posts with an unknown group of people — both about your company and your personal history. It takes a great deal of strength to talk openly about the bad as well as the good in life.
Sep 15, 2008 @ 22:38:09
Right on brother. I’ll be checking back here from time to time to see whats going on in your head as the game progresses.
Sep 17, 2008 @ 15:17:29
Nice to see you’ve gone places since Dragon’s Gate Mark, still have fond memories of the huge amount of time I spent in there in 91 and 92. I do miss my Muatana-als. Not to mention all the time playing Magestorm.
I may give your new one a whirl if I can find the time.
MMORPG DG would rule sir.
Sep 18, 2008 @ 04:03:49
Mark, your interview with Gamespot was excellent. You didn’t give them fluffed-up “community safe” answers, you gave them real, serious answers. You gave them business answers.
Much appreciated. I could just as easily go to the WoW forums and hear their developers and admins give everyone the fluff, or I can hear worthwhile things from you. See you in WAR.
Sep 24, 2008 @ 14:42:43
Looking forward to reading this blog as it continues and just want to say thank you for the strong release of Warhammer.
And also, your apology has been accepted in regards to TOA and for nerfing my Druid.
Nov 23, 2008 @ 10:36:29
I just noticed the little smiley that’s in the top right of the background of the website. It made me laugh, since either he got added recently, or I’ve just always missed him being there in plain site!
Aug 27, 2010 @ 15:31:02
Let me preface by saying this, DAOC was the ultimate MMO PVP game in the entire existence of the genre. I played it through my college years and the times I had in DAOC were the best of any game I’ve ever played.
Being a die hard fan of DAOC I always took an interest in how the game was doing and the direction it was going. The directions you and your team took were questionable at best otherwise they were just downright insane. I won’t go through the whole laundry list but I’ll mention the major ones. TOA goes without saying. Before that horrid expansion you had laid the perfect groundwork of a pretty well balanced PVP game. Instead of leaving PVE to the experts like SOE you decided to punish us with the sick and twisted joke that was TOA. For what? Just to attract a miniscule amount of people from EQ?
Next on the list: Bugs, Radar, and Team Leads. Again, I think under this category is where the game really died because TLs were a good move but were largely ignored. This ignorance applies to your biggest blunder of them all which is Radar in DAOC.
Next on the list:
Ok that was a joke but you get my point.
The real shame of it all was when Blizzard released WoW and Mythic sat idling by while losing subscribers without a care in the world. It wasn’t until a few months later that DAOC was terminally ill and the clusters were getting clustered that I finally joined the legion of WoW players because you couldn’t be bothered to manage your game in the face of real competition.
Ultimately, no one is left to blame for the success and the demise of DAOC except you. But there’s an air of arrogance surrounding you which suggests that it sometimes takes quirky people to make something unique and interesting. But the same way a MMO grows, so should the leadership. Either way, I have to thank you for the fond memories I had in DAOC. I tried WAR but again, most of us were hoping for a DAOC2ish type of evolution but clearly so many balls were dropped that it was never going to recover.
Good luck with your future endeavours.
Aug 30, 2010 @ 14:51:11
It’s great to see you posting again Mark. I, for one, have missed your comments and point of view.
DAoC was my first MMO and also my favorite. I’m playing WAR now but, my 17 year old son has gone back to DAoC and has been having a blast with it for the past six months.
I wanted to ask if you’re still involved with the MMO gaming industry in some way and do you still have any rights to the DAoC name/franchise? In other words, could you create a DAoC 2 or have you thought about working on some other MMO project in the future?
Dec 22, 2010 @ 06:27:41
When does you embargo with EA end and you are free to move on new things?
Feb 16, 2011 @ 13:52:03
Mark, please, for the love of whatever you deem sacred, please come back and rescue the MMORPG scene!
/em reaches into his pocket and gives Mark a sawbuck to help fund his next great MMORPG
Feb 18, 2011 @ 17:14:23
I’m hoping that the lack of posting is due to you’re being too busy setting up a new gaming venture! Crossing fingers. . .
Aug 24, 2011 @ 19:24:19
Man, if you could bring the “feel” and cohesive social interaction that was 2001 DAoC back to online gaming…..You would trump the Pope
Sep 15, 2011 @ 18:20:31
Hey Mark,
Your blog has been quiet for too long! We miss your words of insight! Please blog again!
Sincerely,
We the People