A few months ago, I got a nice email from the folks at Vice Magazine/VBS.tv pointing me to a video interview they did with Richard Garriot (aka “Lord British”), the fabulously wealthy fantasy computer-gaming guru responsible for the Ultima series of games.
I was distracted by other things at the time (did I mention I’m trying to get my tenure package together and finish a book?), but I was reminded of Garriot by another email advertising a written interview with Lyn Evans, one of the project managers at CERN.
The Evans interview (which can be read here) is a nice discussion of the basic goals of the collider project and last year’s startup problems.
The 20-minute Garriot interview (which can be viewed here) is absolutely fantastic! Not only does he share the story of his development of his line of fantasy games and his experiences in space, but he gives a tour of his really cool mansion. This mansion includes a dungeon, secret passageways, pre-first-editions of the Lord of the Rings novels, and cool science toys like an observatory and ferrofluid manipulator. The interview contains lots of fascinating tidbits about Garriot’s life and views.
(We need more wealthy people like Garriot, who put their wealth towards fun and creative projects!)