Richard Garriott, also known as Lord British, also known as the man behind Shroud of the Avatar and the Ultima franchise, has been upgraded to Robo-British. Or that’s how he works, anyhow; while Portalarium is still based in Austin, Texas, Garriott himself lives in New York City and thus telecommutes to the office via his robot Beam. A new article on Lifehacker has him mentioning specifically that he stays present through the workday in his robot body, meaning that he can converse and interact with Shroud of the Avatar developers at the office even as he’s all the way in New York.
Garriott talks a great deal about his personal workflow and setup, highlighting the way that he maintains a consistent workflow across both states and remains a presence in the office even when he’s not there. The robot allows him to even be present when he’s on the road via his iPhone, which means that he’s present even when he’s not present at his home office. Check out the whole article if you’d like to learn more about how work looks now for Garriott’s robotic telecommuting.
Well, that article may have been “new”, but this has been going on since at least 2014. Here’s a video from over 4 years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=1sICyevgBXw
Great Lifehacker article! It’s very, unintentionally revealing about Garriott. For example, I learned that:
1) He obviously owns stock in Beam.
2) He’s still resting on his laurels, flaunting his accomplishments from decades ago.
3) He seems to think that SotA is a finished game.
You know what that Article says to me, someone in the industry who can’t hire good game directors and has to micromanage everything. Nobody in the office is going to tell him he’s a passive aggressive weirdo for zipping around in his robot looking over the shoulder of everyone. I’d be the first one to tape something on the back of his robot.
While I like robots, for the sanity of his working force in the austin office, I hope he drops that idea. Imagine a world where bosses would control their employees with robots
Lol in case you’re wondering where your money is going…
Spoiler alert: It’s not the game!
So is he in NY because he makes no more money with SotA and his wife earns it all and is in NY or is he drawing so much money out of SotA that he can afford NY and that explains the ridiculous monthly costs they depict for SotA in these investment filings?
I think I’ve seen this movie… It doesn’t end well for the CEO.
I am going to start renaming myself Lord Pigtails to boost my brand and do more weird things… o.O
And I will follow you to the end of the earth my dear.
<3
Your OST:
Err…never really got into happy hardcore. :(
Beams are awesome. Best telepresence tech around, in my opinion. At least until someone figures out how to make quadcopters quieter, and their rotors safer.
Then, you’ll be able to sneak about, and slowly rise up over the edge of a divider…just like the Great Pumpkin…
Hmm. As an arrogant Austinite, why the hell would you live in New York and not in Austin? WTF? Heh.
I love it here. It is a strange confluence of high-tech, granola, libs, conservatives, music, and dogs.
The short version: To each their own.
The longer version: Because there’s no place on earth like New York City, if you can afford it. That doesn’t mean there aren’t other places most people would much rather live, but those that do love New York City can’t really find another place like it.
That and some of us aren’t really dog people :D
I’m not in NYC, I just can understand the choice to live there if that’s your vibe.
It’s more vertical than horizontal in its hugeness and is just unique. Yes, many places are, but when you find the one that fits you best (as you seem to have for yourself) then you don’t really want to live in another place if you can afford to choose.
You even get used to the Winters. I live in a place with much worse winters than NYC and where I am you still have to drive all over yourself during them. You get used to them and they become a part of you.
I know. I was just being an Austin butthead. Lol. It’s obligatory in these parts. :)
Sadly, Austin is fast becoming the most expensive place to live in Texas. Slowly squeezing out the cool, city-wide.
No comment. Heh.
If you read the article – the master of space, the man who invented video games, the one who is now a robot – does what all of us do – whatever our wives tell us.
The wife is from New York so rather than living in Austin he became a robot so his employees could never work in peace.
Yeah, I got that. Lol! But, I would transplant my wife. Err, easier said than done.
Like mewmew said – NYC can be an absolutely delightful place provided you have lots of money. I like Austin a lot too though. Both of them are great cities for very different reasons.
Last year I went to the Met and saw my first Opera – it was Les Contes D’Hoffmann (The Tales of Hoffman). I had never seen a production of that scale in anything. I had never seen acting/performing talent at that level in any stage production. It was extremely moving to me to where I became a lifetime Opera fan – I haven’t forgotten that Opera since and never will. The cities you can get that full non-travelling production real, visceral experience you can count on one hand. NYC being one of very few. Vienna. LA maybe. Berlin. Moscow. Tokyo. Not many more.
This begs the question though – why did he leave his homeland in the first place? Isnt the place he takes his name from magical in it’s own right?
Oh, wow. The Met. Yeah, it is on my bucket list. I’ve never been but the experience is something that I’ve heard about from friends and family.
Yup. I have visited NYC. And, there is never a dull moment. I enjoyed Broadway, off Broadaway, the tour of the UN, The Statue of Liberty, the restaurants (expensive but fantastic) and just the general hustle and bustle. I do like the crowded city that just goes up vertically feel. At the time, The Twin Towers were a sight to see…
Oh, I don’t know much about Hoffman. Heh. You got me there. I know only one Opera, tbh, Madam Butterfly which I attended in Houston’s version of the Met, The Wortham Center. Loved it.
The Met is surprisingly inexpensive compared to Broadway. You can get tickets centered on the stage on the bottom floor for about 1/3 of a broadway seat. the tourists are way into broadway right now – no doubt in part to the deserved success of Hamilton. So absolutely worth it and a very realizable dream if you can afford to get to/stay in NYC anyway.
I didn’t know a thing about Hoffman until I went. I just bought tickets on a whim. Not kidding – changed my outlook on the arts in general. way way WAY for the better.
On the one hand, ugh, that horrid warbling and highfalutin hollerin’ !
On the other hand, I’ve actually enjoyed every Opera performance I’ve been too.
It is in Texas. Nobody in their right mind wants to live in Texas.
Lol! Well played. Well played, indeed.
Howdy.
Conservatives seem to be every where where you least expect them though… o.O
Lol. Indeed.
Not all conservatives are animal beasts I assure you.
True, but i would say that the significant portion of those who pass laws, and have real power are pretty damn corrupt.
I mean, i’m from Brazil. I can’t for the life of me understand the concept of a country without healthcare, and the mental gymnastics of the republican party to make that a damaging issue to americans everywhere. And this comes from a third world country moron.
If you take off the SUS ( Sistema Único de Saúde – Universal Health Sytem ), people will go apeshit here. Even the riches, considering we have a medical crisis in Brazil and the best hospitals are the public ones.
I’m being honest here, we talked about Paul Ryan these days and whatever Ryan did in his time as a politician is literally what the corrupt politicians do in my country.
I am completely compliant with the fact that the average conservative american isn’t a rabid dog wanting to kill minorities. They’re just not exposed so they don’t think about it, because it is the way society is set up, so they don’t have to.
But denying that the conservative POWERS of how America is run are a huge problem, well, they are. Even McCain who was a pretty cool dude and had the interests of his people in mind, was someone who had terrible international policies and jumped headfirst on any possibility of waging war.
Since we’re on this topic…
Most are animal beasts though. Just that you get a few that do have their heads stuck in reality. We call ’em Red Tories where I live. And we have one of those running our city (that Toronto) currently. But they are usually are a rarity. Instead, we mostly end up with the said beasts that poisons and fucks everything, to put it mildly. /le sigh
Edit/Erratum: …and *Bleeps!* up* everything…proper.
(And yeah, I Don’t want pay into Mr. Schlag’s swear jar more than I have to for the correction. :( )