Shroud of the Avatar was an apt title. This game killed & buried the Avatar dead as a door nail, may he RIP...;) I used to just peruse the site for fun to see if I could figure out the actual game--between the "fishing contests" and "dance contests" and the rest of the absolute pre-teen silliness the only conclusion I could reach is that the game was built by people in search of a computer game because none of them had the foggiest. I actually felt bad when I laughed at this game, it was like a reflex action with someone tickling the bottom of my feet--much as I would never make fun of someone with a physical handicap. Nothing about the game or the presentation of the game or Garriott's part in the game made any sense whatsoever. All I could grasp from the written documentation is that Garriott and company were shooting for some sort of perpetual monthly income (a la Star Citizen) which they had projected out into infinity--$5k+ a month, or something close--it was the strangest fiscal document I think I've ever seen. Between all of the PG-10 "events" online customers could participate in, as a part of the "game"--if you have never fished in a "fishing contest" for virtual fish, to see who could catch the "biggest virtual fish" with virtual fishin' poles in virtual water, all to win a juicy virtual fish as the prize for landing the "big one"--well, you've never tasted virtual fish so tasty, I guarantee it. I recall that when I'd check in on the site to see how the game was going early on that I would just stare at the screen not quite believing what I was seeing and hearing. The Shroud was in there somewhere, I just know it was. And if you wanted to get in on the Shroud forums all you had to do was to spend $5 in the Shroud store online, and you could post in the forum. Delightful.

I downloaded the free demo of the game when it was first published and thought that I might be interested if the game turned out to be something good. Later, when it looked to be worse than awful, Garriott and pals announced that it wasn't going to be "a game" as originally hyped and advertised--nope, they decided to release it in "episodic" form at ~$59.99 an episode, with an unlimited number of possible episodes, Garriott said. How thrilling. Not even close to getting the first game finished--and already we hear there will be a lot more of whatever Shroud turns out to be. And Garriott and pals were on the ball, figuring out how much it would cost a customer in advance. What amazing efficiency!

I bought Garriott's Ultima 9 when it shipped in the late 90's (pardon me if I goofed up the dates) and it was so full of bugs that Garriott and publisher--was it EA?--sent out a brand new CD for the game--for free--if you had registered the first version. I got one, years later. I think Ultima 9 finally became fairly playable about a decade after it shipped, and most of the reason for that was the Ultima community--that spent so much time doing bug fixing and improving the game gratis.

I'm just about done, but the weirdest part of the Shroud thing, imo, were the bizarre photos of Garriott with a king's crown on his head that must have been brass but of course it did sort of look like gold festooned with "precious stones," etc. There were weird pictures of a crowd of maybe a dozen or so people who appeared to have just met for the first time around a sumptuous dinner table, with Garriott at the head of the table wearing his authentic Lord British crown, surrounded by adoring sycophants like his wife and some people working on the game--or whatever it was becoming at the time. And the great thing about that was that as a contributor you could get in on that and "join in the fun" listening to Garriott spin yarns about his days in Britannica while you ate delicious food catered in by Golden Coral (it looked like)--but there appeared no shortage of wine and other intoxicants to lubricate the evening and make it all palatable, I would imagine. Yes, you, too, could get in on the fun and games behind the game(s) for only $10k or so, if memory serves. Have your picture taken with the authentic King of Britannica, who would autograph a bunch of them for you to amaze your family and friends with, and etc. What's not to like?

So that's how Shroud looked to me, in a nutshell, and no I didn't feel like buying episode 1 since there was no guarantee of anything else later on, and so on. And now Garriott's trying to do it all again? Do tell. You don't say...Hmmmm....:) I feel my funny bone tingling again!...;)