We all know why NC decided to closed TR, there’s no deep mysteries there: not enough people. Too much money spent, too little reward, and embarrassment all around for what turned out to be a bad call on the Garriott brothers. Who could have known? Two years ago when I wrote about Richard’s ‘post-relaunch’ talk at GDC everyone was entirely optimistic, and I even though it had a chance as of the end of 2007. So, the reasons behind NC’s closing decision aren’t obscured.

What is obscured, or was for me at least, was the context. The conditions under which they made that decision. The realities of the rest of the world vs. our little bubble of online gaming here in the states. Within that bubble I float in a particularly small subpocket of like-minded, passionate gamers with a love for all things online. The context around me is frustration, annoyance, and generally surly attitudes about what we see as the abuse of a perfectly valid community.

Enter Rossignol. I’m reading through his book, This Gaming Life and loving every minute of it. It’s like he’s writing specifically to me, something I don’t tend to be ballsy enough to think. But his look into the industry I’m adjacent-to-but-not-a-part of is thrilling. More thrilling is his writing about the crafthouse I am a part of, Game Writers Local 304. His views of the medium, its potential, and the potential of writing about the medium are all – frankly – a little overwhelming. Anyway, go read it. Great book.

I bring up the eminent UK writer and his tome because they gave me crystal-clarity understanding of NCsoft’s decision, all thanks to a few throwaway sentences in the book’s second chapter. Entitled ‘A Gamers’ World’, it’s all about his time in South Korea. He wrestles with his time, trying to understand the differences between gaming culture here and the pervasive rule of PC gaming/PC cafes there.

“I took a few minutes to watch a show that pitted young gaming couples (who had met through playing Linage II) against each other in a virtual battle arena. The smiling young Koreans commanded their sword-toting magicians with enviable proficiency … The winning couple were rewarded with a holiday to a very real beach somewhere in Thailand, and the pair cooed with delight as their spoils were revealed.” (”This Gaming Life, pg. 60.)

So take this in: In Korea Lineage II (made by NCsoft) is so popular there is a dating show whose contestants are entirely drawn from the ranks of its playerbase. Millions of people play the game, and it has the cultural cachet to merit a mainstream television show.

Now, turn and regard Tabula Rasa. A sci-fi ’shooter’ with confused controls, a genre people just don’t respond to all that well, millions of dollars required for development, a figurehead that is widely regarded as distant and detached, and an increasingly-small playerbase. I’ve heard numbers like 30,000 player bandied about, though I have no way of knowing what the validity of those figures are.

Both of these games are made by the same company. If in one hand you’re holding a cultural icon with millions of players, and in the other you’re effectively holding a game with negative subscriptions … what would be your reaction?

I’m not saying it was right. I’m not saying I agree. But I think … I think … I understand. And that’s important too, regardless of what side you fall on.