The new sci-fi game Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa ditches the traditional template for massively multiplayer online games, aiming to hook casual gamers who just want to enjoy a little escapism between dinner and helping the kids with homework.
"Instead of investing hours learning the ins and outs of a complicated MMO, Tabula Rasa lets gamers get right to blasting aliens with laser pistols".
He created the long-running Ultima series of role-playing games; Ultima Online laid the foundation for games like EverQuest and World of Warcraft that have attracted millions of players and become huge financial successes.
While many MMOs require players to learn complex sets of statistics and rules to understand the on-screen combat, Tabula Rasa takes a more commonsense approach to fighting.The actual combat is similarly intuitive -- just point at the bad guys and shoot.
a PC game that will be released Nov. 2, was designed to appeal to the average Joe who's probably not interested in learning what "gold farming" or "damage over time" means and just wants to amuse himself by saving the universe.

[Wire]