History Trivia / TabulaRasa

* ScrewedByTheNetwork: While the game's shutdown in 2009 seemed to have been brought on by naturally low player interest, low returns, and limited future plans, Creator/NCsoft really went out of its way to screw over Richard Garriott on the way out. In November 2008, a series of announcements by [=NCsoft=] claimed that Garriott had parted from the company for other ventures, and that the game would be shuttering... except during that time, Garriott was in mandatory quarantine for an upcoming space flight, which was in part a publicity stunt to promote the game. In 2009, he filed a lawsuit against [=NCsoft=] for wrongfully terminating his employment, alleging that they ''forged his letter of resignation'' to deprive him of company stock under the basis of a "willful resignation" as part of his contract, shortchanging him millions out of the profits. Garriott ended up winning the lawsuit in 2010 and was awarded $28 million in damages, and even after [=NCsoft=] attempted to appeal, the courts continued to side with him that they greatly mishandled his departure.

!! For the video game
* {{Cancellation}}: The game's servers are offline and the game is no longer playable.
* DevelopmentHell: Destination Games actually created '''''two''''' [=MMOs=] during Tabula Rasa's development. The first iteration of Tabula Rasa was fairly complete by 2004, but was canned. The final version of Tabula Rasa is ''nothing'' like the Tabula Rasa of 2004. Just take a look at the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBKekAjoLdI 2004 trailer]], and the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uB9dHVUX2KY walkthrough]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjE9ZfUSPbs from E3]] during the same year.\\
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In a December 2011 interview with Eurogamer, [[http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-12-12-garriott-what-went-wrong-with-tabula-rasa Richard Garriott explained why the original 2004 build was scrapped]]--they were initially attempting to design a game that would appeal to Asian markets, as ''VideoGame/{{Lineage 2}}'' does. After two years of development, however, feedback during the development process indicated that the game just wouldn't take. Destination Games decided to focus more on what they were familiar with doing, leading to the final product. However, having spent two years and millions of dollars ''already'' on a what was practically an entirely different MMO, [=NCSoft=] was very impatient and pushed Destination Games to get ''Tabula Rasa'' out the door.

* '''ScrewedByTheNetwork''': Of the ''worst'' kind. There's really no way to describe [=NCSoft's=] actions (forging Garriot's resignation letter in particular) in any sort of generous light.

** The 2004 version emphasized the VirtualPaperDoll mechanic more; similar to ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes'', ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarUniverse'', and ''VideoGame/ChampionsOnline'', players had the freedom to wear what clothes they wanted. Actual armor bonuses came from accessories that hovered around the player, like Mags in ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarOnline''. These pieces of armor changed the silhouette of a player, which was what would have denoted the player's class (one featured player had halo and wing-like accessories).

** Similar to the PhantasyStar [=MMOs=], players would access multiplayer "hubs" within the Sanctuary through a Waypoint in their home island. Within the multiplayer hub, players could teleport directly to their friends or areas of interest at any time. From the Hub, players and parties would use a Wormhole Generator to depart on missions, to the various planets under threat by the Bane. All missions had a text briefing explaining their objectives, risks, and rewards before departing.

* ExecutiveMeddling: Of the ''worst'' kind. There's really no way to describe [=NCSoft's=] actions (forging Garriot's resignation letter in particular) in any sort of generous light.

** The 2004 version emphasized the VirtualPaperDoll mechanic more; similar to ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes'', PhantasyStarUniverse, and ''VideoGame/ChampionsOnline'', players had the freedom to wear what clothes they wanted. Actual armor bonuses came from accessories that hovered around the player, like Mags in PhantasyStarOnline. These pieces of armor changed the silhouette of a player, which was what would have denoted the player's class (one featured player had halo and wing-like accessories).

In a December 2011 interview with Eurogamer, [[http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-12-12-garriott-what-went-wrong-with-tabula-rasa Richard Garriott explained why the original 2004 build was scrapped]]--they were initially attempting to design a game that would appeal to Asian markets, as ''{{Lineage 2}}'' does. After two years of development, however, feedback during the development process indicated that the game just wouldn't take. Destination Games decided to focus more on what they were familiar with doing, leading to the final product. However, having spent two years and millions of dollars ''already'' on a what was practically an entirely different MMO, [=NCSoft=] was very impatient and pushed Destination Games to get ''Tabula Rasa'' out the door.

** Similar to the PhantasyStar [=MMOs=], players would access multiplayer "hubs" within the Sanctuary they accessed through a Waypoint in their home island. Within the multiplayer hub of Sanctuary, players could teleport directly to their friends or areas of interest at any time. From the Hub, players and parties would use a Wormhole Generator to depart on missions, to the various planets under threat by the Bane. All missions had a text briefing explaining their objectives, risks, and rewards before departing.

** The 2004 version emphasized the VirtualPaperDoll mechanic more; similar to CityOfHeroes, PhantasyStarUniverse, and ChampionsOnline, players had the freedom to wear what clothes they wanted. Actual armor bonuses came from accessories that hovered around the player, like Mags in PhantasyStarOnline. These pieces of armor changed the silhouette of a player, which was what would have denoted the player's class (one featured player had halo and wing-like accessories).

In a December 2011 interview with Eurogamer, [[http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-12-12-garriott-what-went-wrong-with-tabula-rasa Richard Garriott explained why the original 2004 build was scrapped]]--they were initially attempting to design a game that would appeal to Asian markets, as ''Lineage2'' does. After two years of development, however, feedback during the development process indicated that the game just wouldn't take. Destination Games decided to focus more on what they were familiar with doing, leading to the final product. However, having spent two years and millions of dollars ''already'' on a what was practically an entirely different MMO, [=NCSoft=] was very impatient and pushed Destination Games to get ''Tabula Rasa'' out the door.

In an interview with Eurogamer, [[http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-12-12-garriott-what-went-wrong-with-tabula-rasa Richard Garriott explained why the original 2004 build was scrapped]]--they were initially attempting to design a game that would appeal to Asian markets, as ''Lineage2'' does. After two years of development, however, feedback during the development process indicated that the game just wouldn't take. Destination Games decided to focus more on what they were familiar with doing, leading to the final product. However, having spent two years and millions of dollars ''already'' on a what was practically an entirely different MMO, [=NCSoft=] was very impatient and pushed Destination Games to get ''Tabula Rasa'' out the door.

* DevelopmentHell: Destination Games actually created '''''two''''' [=MMOs=] during Tabula Rasa's development. The first iteration of Tabula Rasa was fairly complete by 2004, but was canned. The final version of Tabula Rasa is ''nothing'' like the Tabula Rasa of 2004. Just take a look at the [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBKekAjoLdI 2004 trailer]], and the [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uB9dHVUX2KY walkthrough]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjE9ZfUSPbs from E3]] during the same year.