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Old Man Murray
Available inEnglish
OwnerUGO Networks
Created byChet Faliszek and Erik Wolpaw
URLhttp://www.oldmanmurray.com/

Old Man Murray (aka OMM) was a UGO Networks[1][2] computer game commentary and reviews site, well-known for its highly irreverent and satiric tone. It was written and edited by Chet Faliszek and Erik Wolpaw. Old Man Murray was perhaps the most critical of game criticism sites, and was harsh on games that were overhyped or received strong reviews elsewhere, most notably Trespasser and the King's Quest series. Common targets of OMM news updates included John Romero[3] and American McGee.[4] Old Man Murray was a significant early influence in both the world of game development and Internet comedy.[5][6][7][8][9]

Themes

A major theme in Old Man Murray criticism was the accusation that many new games failed to add any original ideas to the medium. Gabe Newell cited the opinion of Old Man Murray as a factor when designing the popular and iconoclastic Half-Life. Old Man Murray often took aim at the conventions embedded within game genres, such as the "bizarre dream logic" required to solve puzzles in various adventure games (most notably Sierra Entertainment titles), or the ubiquity of crates and cowardly scientists as a design element in first-person shooter titles. For example, Old Man Murray's writers devised the tongue-in-cheek review system, dubbed "Start to Crate",[10] an "objective" way of determining the quality of a game by determining the time an average player must play until seeing a packing crate. In Half-Life 2: Raising The Bar, a making-of documentary, Gabe Newell mentions that there was such a worry about the crate cliché that eventually the team gave up and made a crate one of the first things the player sees and manipulates, figuring that this "was the Old Man Murray equivalent of throwing yourself to the mercy of the court". A decade after the original "Start to Crate" article, it can still be found as a tongue-in-cheek metric for game quality.[11][12]

Another such theme was related to the numerous 'red herring' objects in adventure games of the time, in which players would gather objects and try to solve puzzles with. In the article "Death of Adventure Games",[13] Wolpaw uses one of Gabriel Knight 3's puzzles as an example. In order to rent a motorcycle, the game requires the player to fashion a false moustache out of syrup, tape and cat hair.[14][15] This twisted logic has been referenced years later as a contributing factor toward the demise of the Adventure Game genre.[16][17]

The Old Man Murray forums were a hotbed of discussion on games and other topics. When updates began to slow on the main website the forums remained active. When Faliszek removed the forums, many of the regular posters migrated to a new site called Caltrops.[18][19][20]

The Old Man Murray website is still up as of 2011, but for archival purposes only; the site is no longer updated. Faliszek continued to run Portal of Evil and its affiliate website system until February 6, 2011.[21]

Other site content

Faliszek and Wolpaw created HTML games as features within the website itself, such as Alien vs. Child Predator[2] and Virtua Seaman.[22]

Wolpaw conducted "straight" interviews with both Ralph Bagley, of N'Lightning Software Development and two interviews about the first person shooter Serious Sam with Roman Ribaric, CEO of Croteam.[23][24]

Legacy

Though the site has been mostly defunct for several years, many leaders in the video game industry consider the site fundamental to both game design and video game journalism today. Gabe Newell, the CEO of Valve Corporation, likened the site to "the Velvet Underground of post-print journalism".[25] Bryan Lee O’Malley, creator of the Scott Pilgrim series, attributes his inspiration and success of the series on the Old Man Murray's comedic treatment of video games.[25] Both Mike Wilson of Gathering of Developers and Roman Ribaric of Croteam believed that without the strong interest from Old Man Murray towards the Serious Sam demo, ultimately leading to the founding of Croteam, the game "would likely have died in the hands of whatever internal team the property was handed to".[25]

Id Software's Matthew Breit considered the "Start to Crate Time" system the "first actual critical look at a level design trend", making him self-conscious of the off-handed use of crates in his level designs to fill an otherwise empty room.[25] Eric Church of Electronic Arts also called these criticisms "satire at its most effective", as it spurred "serious thought and discussions about the assumptions of game design".[25] Dean O'Donnell, a professor at Worcester Polytechnic Institute's Interactive Media and Game Design school, includes the "Death of Adventure Games" as required reading in the student courses, considered it both a strong example of game journalism and game design considerations.[25] Kieron Gillen, former deputy editor at PC Gamer, praised Old Man Murray for taking advantage of the then-nanscent Internet culture in their writing and presentation, and attested that "they had a genuine impact in how people thought about games".[25]


In March 2006, Wolpaw won a Game Developers Choice Award for Best Writing for his contributions to the game Psychonauts. During his work on that game, Double Fine studio head and Psychonauts co-writer Tim Schafer referenced Wolpaw's work with Old Man Murray on the official Double Fine blog, as a way of drumming up attention for the game.[26][27]

Faliszek and Wolpaw were hired as writers for video game developer Valve in 2005.[28] Faliszek has spoken numerous times to his work as a designer for Left4Dead,[29] while Wolpaw has done the same for both Portal[30] and Portal 2[31][32] The connection between the quality of writing in these games and the authors' previous work on Old Man Murray has also been noted by various reviewers.[33] In May of 2009, Wolpaw introduced Everyday Shooter creator Jonathan Mak to the concept of internal team conflicts in video game development.[34]

Appearances in other media

  • On the Quake 3: Arena map Q3DM19, the OMM logo is on the back of the antenna lift.[35]
  • The Old Man Murray website appears on all the monitors within the game Postal 2.[36]
  • Old Man Murray is thanked in the first level of Serious Sam by avatars of the game's programmers. Old Man Murray had been one of the game's few media champions during its development cycle, thanks to its uncomplicated, Smash TV-esque gameplay.[37][38][39]
  • Delarion Yar, of the XYZZY Award-winning graphical text adventure Fallacy of Dawn is depicted throughout wearing an Old Man Murray shirt.[40]
  • In the game Oni on the first crate you see in the Warehouse, there's a label saying "-OMM- TTC 1.1". this is a reference to the site's tongue in cheek Crate Review System.[10][41]
  • Old Man Murray is referenced on multiple occasions by various authors on the humour web site Something Awful,[42][43] with which it shares some aspects of its humour. Among the frequent references is the quote "If anything this has been the worst year for gaming journalism since Old Man Murray stopped updating roughly three weeks after they started the site."[44]
  • In the textbook Level Up!: The Guide to Great Video Game Design by Scott Rogers, the author references Old Man Murray's "Start to Crate" review system as being "a good gauge to determine just how creative your game is." [45]
  • In his article "Critical Education in an Interactive Age" in the textbook Mirror Images: Popular Culture and Education, Dr. Kurt Squire calls Old Man Murray "among the most respected commentators and journalists" on the topic of gaming.[46]

References

  1. ^ "Interview: Erik Wolpaw". The Armchair Empire. {{cite web}}: |first= missing |last= (help)
  2. ^ a b Swiderski, Adam. "Ready to Rumble". UGO.COM.
  3. ^ "Romero vs Erik". Oldmanmurray.com. 1999-02-13. Retrieved 2009-09-15.
  4. ^ "American McGee's Alice Review". Oldmanmurray.com. 2000-12-12. Retrieved 2009-09-15.
  5. ^ Carless, Simon. "Old Man Murray - Making Portal Hilaaarious". Game Set Watch. Retrieved 2 March 2011.
  6. ^ "tvtropes: Old Man Murray". tvtropes.
  7. ^ Atwood, Jeff. "Podcast 029". The Stack Overflow Podcast. Stack Overflow.
  8. ^ O'Brien, Danny (2005). Foreword to The Best of Verity Stob. New York, NY: Apress. pp. xi. ISBN 1590594428.
  9. ^ Walker, John. "The Remarkable Notability Of Old Man Murray". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved 4 March 2011.
  10. ^ a b "Crate Review System". Oldmanmurray.com. 2000-04-26. Retrieved 2009-09-15.
  11. ^ "Review: Stand, Shoot and Slash in Red Steel 2 Wii | GameLife". Wired.com. Retrieved 2011-03-04.
  12. ^ http://blog.xoduz.org/2009/12/07/start-to-crate-times-in-mmorpgs/
  13. ^ "Death of Adventure Games". Oldmanmurray.com. 2000-09-11. Retrieved 2011-03-04.
  14. ^ Wolpaw, Erik. "Death of Adventure Games". Old Man Murray: Features.
  15. ^ Hayes, T. "Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned (PC) FAQ/Walkthrough by TH".
  16. ^ Young, Shamus. "The Rise, Fall and Rise of Adventure Games". Experienced Points. The Escapist.
  17. ^ Bronstring, Marek. "The Future of Adventure Games". Adventure Gamers.
  18. ^ http://www.sqaforums.com/printthread.php?Board=UBB33&main=441669&type=post
  19. ^ "ACWraith's Fooldom Come - In Memory of Old Man Murray". Byond.com. 2005-07-07. Retrieved 2009-09-15.
  20. ^ "View topic - How did you find Apezone? - Explaination, [sic] stories, etc". ApeZone.com. Retrieved 2009-09-15.
  21. ^ Faliszek, Chet. "RE: So Poral(sic) of Evil is officially dead now?". In House Stories. POE News.
  22. ^ Wolpaw, Erik. "Virtua Seaman". Old Man Murray.
  23. ^ Wolpaw, Erik. "Serious Sam: The Interview".
  24. ^ Wolpaw, Erik. "Serious Sam: The Second Interview".
  25. ^ a b c d e f g Walker, John (2011-03-04). "The Remarkable Notability Of Old Man Murray". Rock Paper Shotgun. Retrieved 2011-03-04.
  26. ^ Schafer, Tim. "Double Fine Action News". Retrieved 3 March 2011.
  27. ^ Schafer, Tim. "Double Fine Action News". Retrieved 3 March 2011.
  28. ^ [1] Chet Faliszek's Steam forums account, created in Jan 2005
  29. ^ Crecente, Brian. "Chet Faliszek Talks Left 4 Dead's Future". Kotaku.
  30. ^ Walker, John. "RPS Interview: Valve's Erik Wolpaw". Rock, Paper, Shotgun.
  31. ^ Remo, Chris. "Portal 2's Wolpaw: 'I Do Not Want To Resurrect A Three-Year-Old Meme'". Gamasutra.
  32. ^ Yoon, Andrew. "Video Interview: Portal 2's Erik Wolpaw". Joystiq.
  33. ^ Staff (2007). "Review: The Orange Box". GameAxis Unwired (51). SPH Magazines: 39. ISSN 0219-872X. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  34. ^ MacDonald, Mark. "1UP Specials: RSVP 05/30/08". 1UP.
  35. ^ "Quake Level Q3DM19".
  36. ^ Jonsey, Ice Cream. "Review: Postal 2". Reviews. Caltrops.
  37. ^ "Seriously, What The Fuck Is Going On?". Oldmanmurray.com. 2000-06-04. Retrieved 2009-09-15.
  38. ^ "Serious Sam: The Interview". Oldman murray.com. 2000-06-09. Retrieved 2009-09-15.
  39. ^ McDonald, T. Liam. "Random Thoughts", "Maximum PC", August 2000, accessed March 3, 2010.
  40. ^ "Actors In Text Games: Part On e". Jolt Country.
  41. ^ "Easter Eggs". Oni Galore, a wiki dedicated to the video game Oni. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help) Retrieved 2011-03-03.
  42. ^ Gutierrez, Zachary "Spokker Jones" (2004-08-01). "No, We Are Not Selling Doom 3 Today". Something Awful. Retrieved 2011-03-03.
  43. ^ Mikal, Hassan "Acetone" (2008-01-10). "Have I Got A Deal For You". Something Awful. Retrieved 2011-03-03.
  44. ^ Parsons, Zack "Geist Editor" (2005-12-30). "The Five Worst Gaming Articles of 2005". Something Awful. {{cite web}}: |first= has generic name (help) Retrieved 2011-03-03.
  45. ^ Rogers, Scott. Level Up!: The Guide to Great Video Game Design, Wiley, 2010 p. 341. Accessed March 3, 2010.
  46. ^ Squire, Kurt (2008). Silberman-Keller, Bekerman, Giroux, Burbules (ed.). Mirror Images: Popular Culture and Education. Peter Lang. p. 115. ISBN 1433102307. Retrieved 3 March 2011. {{cite book}}: More than one of |author= and |last= specified (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: editors list (link)
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