Do You Want to Play?

Tabula Rasa's postapocalyptic story line clearly falls into the player-versus-environment camp--PvE in game lingo--but it also has the kind of player-versus-player elements that are hot in today's online world. "PvP is in the game now," says Richard. "It includes one-on-one duels, squad-versus-squad battles, and clan-versus-clan wars."

It didn't start out that way. Richard originally set out to create a game that would appeal to both Eastern and Western gaming tastes. The brothers assembled a star team of top game writers, artists, coders, and database wonks, including NCsoft's top Korean designer. But cultural differences--and compromises that satisfied no one--soon threatened to turn Tabula Rasa into the Ishtar of the online-gaming world.

"In the United States, if we're going to make the hero, he's going to be the tall, broad-shouldered, square-jawed, muscular kind of guy, the embodiment of that Captain America-style hero," Richard says. "In Korea, a person built that way is always the bad guy. The good guys are always skinny little computer nerds who succeed because of their inner strength." Two years in, the Garriotts removed the Korean half of the development team, the top Korean designer left the company, and about 75% of the code was junked.

Tensions arise in any business, especially, says business-guy Robert, "when things take longer and cost more than you might expect." Like Tabula Rasa? "Obviously." He says Richard "went down the wrong path."

Sibling rivalry is clearly an issue here. Coworkers recall hearing a screaming match between the brothers in Robert's office-Robert was using a No. 2 pencil that Richard claimed was his. They wrestled over the pencil until it snapped. "And then we realized how stupid that was, and started laughing," Richard says.

"In general, we've been able to work well together and enjoy working together," Robert says. Still, he gripes that his brother cheats when the two play test versions of Tabula Rasa over the company network on Friday afternoons. Not that Richard sees it that way. "Robert," he says, "is a wimpy player."

Now that Tabula Rasa is finally out, Richard can turn his attention back to the new, bigger house he's building to replace Britannia Manor. An entire room will elevate to the second floor at the touch of a button. And to accommodate his girlfriend Kelly's decorating style--he favors a look one might describe as medieval grotesque, while she prefers more conventional surroundings--he's creating a master-bedroom wall that rotates, à la the Magic Fridge in the Budweiser commercials, revealing either his or her side of the room.

What's to become of the current Britannia Manor? "I'll put it on the market," Garriott says, confident that there are buyers who have always yearned for a dungeon. He's already patched the bullet hole.

Peter Lewis is a freelance writer. This is his first article for Fast Company.