Author MikeElliott

Entries 9 Total Bio

Mike Elliott is a game designer who worked with Richard, Skaff, and Javier at Wizards of the Coast. Some of the games he has designed include: Thunderstone, Duel Masters, Battle Spirits, and even a game on Club Penguin that Richard's kids love – Card Jitsu. 

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Chainmail Bikinis

Nov 5, ’09 9:12 AM

Even if you have not read any of my posts before and even if you have no idea who I am, there is no way that you visited this site, saw this title, and did not at least read a few lines to see what it was about. I mean, there could be pictures, right? Welcome and apologies to those of you who found this article through a Google search on “bikini”, because there are in fact no pictures and this is an article on gaming.

Fantasy is hands down the most popular IP for both RPGs and MMORPGs. It is not even close. An old tracking site mmogchart.com (sadly not updating these days) showed in 2008 that fantasy accounted for 94.2 percent of the market share by users. Even if you exclude the WOW juggernaut, which accounts for about two-thirds of the market share, fantasy still accounts for over 80 percent of the market share. EVE, which is a very good execution for a sci-fi game and a personal favorite, is one of the top non-fantasy games but had only a 1.5 percent market share in the data analysis. Even popular IPs such as Star Wars and the Matrix have not put a dent in the fantasy genre MMORPG armor. Comic book IPs, which are kind a modern fantasy genre, also account for only a fraction of the total MMO market.

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Who is “The Meepler”?

Sep 2, ’09 7:55 AM

I received a visit today from Agent Taupe of the FBI (Fictitious Bureau of Investigations). It seemed that a game designer, who went by the handle “Buttersleeves”, had been murdered and they suspected the perpetrator was another game designer since the weapon was, wait for it…, a MEEPLE! Agent Taupe wanted a quick psych profile on designers to help in the investigation. I was more than happy to oblige.

I would have to say that most designers share many common traits. Most designers have a fairly good grasp of mathematics. Reiner Knizia and Richard Garfield both have PhD’s in mathematics, and I and several of my colleagues here in Seattle have mastered both addition and subtraction. Of course, I would obviously rule out Richard as the “Meepler” since the use of meeples as the weapon of choice would typically indicate a Eurogame designer, unless Richard is being clever because he knows that everyone would assume that a killer that used a meeple was a Eurogame designer.

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The Kludge

Jul 7, ’09 9:14 PM

Have you ever been playing a game and your opponent does something that you did not expect? Not something brilliant, since you might have expected that depending on your friends, but rather something that you did not think could be done in the game. Your first reaction is typically to say, “Hey, you can’t do that!” to which they reply, “Yes I can. It states here in rule 7.05b that when this situation occurs and you have exactly this many pieces in play, you can do this.” Congratulations. You have just found a kludge.

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Chess Variants and Other Phantom Design Space

Jun 27, ’09 12:43 PM

Mike Elliott is a game designer I met working at Wizards of the Coast. He was among the best designers for Magic and has designed many games himself; trading card games which include Duel Masters and Battle Spirits, board and card games, and even a game on Club Penguin that my kids love – Card Jitsu. His designs are consistently elegant and original, and I hope to see a lot more of them in the future.  I also hope he can find time to contribute more articles like this.

Richard Garfield

Chess was one of the first games I learned when I was young, back in the dark ages before role playing games and MMO’s. I thought the differing movement of the pieces was interesting and simple, although the chess pieces were not as tasty as checkers. I was 4 at the time.

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