Comments on: An eye on Trion http://www.raphkoster.com/2007/07/09/an-eye-on-trion/ Raph Koster's personal website: MMOs, gaming, writing, art, music, books Sun, 12 Feb 2012 06:02:55 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Trion World Network raises $30m « Only the Wisehttp://www.raphkoster.com/2007/07/09/an-eye-on-trion/comment-page-1/#comment-125354 Trion World Network raises $30m « Only the Wise Wed, 11 Jul 2007 07:11:37 +0000 http://www.raphkoster.com/2007/07/09/an-eye-on-trion/#comment-125354 [...] little of what Trion are actually doing. I am not sure I’d be so scathing as Raph Koster is here, because they do talk about opening the platform up to many third parties to develop content (so it [...]

[...] little of what Trion are actually doing. I am not sure I’d be so scathing as Raph Koster is here, because they do talk about opening the platform up to many third parties to develop content (so it [...]

]]> By: Tesshttp://www.raphkoster.com/2007/07/09/an-eye-on-trion/comment-page-1/#comment-125326 Tess Tue, 10 Jul 2007 03:56:05 +0000 http://www.raphkoster.com/2007/07/09/an-eye-on-trion/#comment-125326 While one may have the loftiest goals in mind, with respect to artistic integrity, no one starts a company thinking, "Gee, this garage is awfully comfortable. I think I'd like to stay here." You may call yourself "indie," or "alternative," or whatever, but unless you've already been so successful that you don't need money, or you haven't even quit your day job, you're kind of hoping for some economic success, somewhere along the line. Ambition is natural, and being corporate isn't good or bad; it's what you do with it that matters. I'm in favor of democratization of all media. But public access cable never put HBO out of business. There's room in the tent for all voices -- even professionals. ;) While one may have the loftiest goals in mind, with respect to artistic integrity, no one starts a company thinking, “Gee, this garage is awfully comfortable. I think I’d like to stay here.” You may call yourself “indie,” or “alternative,” or whatever, but unless you’ve already been so successful that you don’t need money, or you haven’t even quit your day job, you’re kind of hoping for some economic success, somewhere along the line. Ambition is natural, and being corporate isn’t good or bad; it’s what you do with it that matters.

I’m in favor of democratization of all media. But public access cable never put HBO out of business. There’s room in the tent for all voices — even professionals. ;)

]]> By: gdmikehttp://www.raphkoster.com/2007/07/09/an-eye-on-trion/comment-page-1/#comment-125322 gdmike Tue, 10 Jul 2007 00:02:02 +0000 http://www.raphkoster.com/2007/07/09/an-eye-on-trion/#comment-125322 Dr. Buttler spoke about Trion's platform at the Korean Games Conference last year. We chatted a bit after the session. He made it quite clear that they are targeting the bigger players. There's no SDK to license that you can then deploy on any old server farm (ala Sun's Project Darkstar). The impression I got is that this is an end-to-end solution that locks you in to Trion's platform, hardware and all. They aren't at all interested in indies or anything small-time. Dr. Buttler spoke about Trion’s platform at the Korean Games Conference last year. We chatted a bit after the session. He made it quite clear that they are targeting the bigger players. There’s no SDK to license that you can then deploy on any old server farm (ala Sun’s Project Darkstar). The impression I got is that this is an end-to-end solution that locks you in to Trion’s platform, hardware and all. They aren’t at all interested in indies or anything small-time.

]]> By: Darniaqhttp://www.raphkoster.com/2007/07/09/an-eye-on-trion/comment-page-1/#comment-125318 Darniaq Mon, 09 Jul 2007 21:13:20 +0000 http://www.raphkoster.com/2007/07/09/an-eye-on-trion/#comment-125318 There's rooms for both types of delivery methods. But the big money requires more guarantees than democratically-drive successes. They spend money based on a projected success they plan to manage throughout. This is very different from a passionate startup mortgaging their future on a surprise hit. This dichotomy speaks volumes for why so many communication methods of the last century and a half have ultimately gone corporate. When the innovation can become systemized, a lot more people hold their hand out for a piece of the pot. And that pot can only grow as large as the organizations behind it. :) There’s rooms for both types of delivery methods. But the big money requires more guarantees than democratically-drive successes. They spend money based on a projected success they plan to manage throughout. This is very different from a passionate startup mortgaging their future on a surprise hit. This dichotomy speaks volumes for why so many communication methods of the last century and a half have ultimately gone corporate. When the innovation can become systemized, a lot more people hold their hand out for a piece of the pot. And that pot can only grow as large as the organizations behind it. :)

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