Game designer who created the Ultima RPG series (Ultima I through Ultima IX) and became one of the first private space tourists — spending 12 days on the International Space Station in 2008.
Ultima as RPG foundation: the Ultima series (1981-1999) established the template for story-driven role-playing video games — persistent worlds, player choice affecting narrative, moral systems (Ultima IV introduced the 'Avatar' system where the goal was moral development rather than monster-killing). Ultima Online (1997) was one of the first massively multiplayer online games. The moral philosophy embedded in Ultima IV (Eight Virtues derived from truth, love, and courage) is studied in game design as an early attempt at games as ethical exploration.
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