Brad McQuaid
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Brad McQuaid is a computer game designer who was one of the original designers of EverQuest (1999), making him a major name in the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) industry. He later co-founded Sigil Games Online where he is currently president.
Biography
Brad McQuaid's start in the video game industry came in 1989 when he co-founded MicroGenesis with Steve Clover. In their free time they created WarWizard, a shareware computer role-playing game that they released in 1993. McQuaid and Clover then developed a WarWizard 2 demo in 1995, which caught the attention of John Smedley of Sony Interactive Studios of America. Smedley hired McQuaid and Clover in 1996 to work on an online role-playing game, later named EverQuest.
McQuaid started as the project's lead programmer but was made the producer and one of the lead designers. While developing EQ, Origin Systems launched Ultima Online in 1997 and became the top MMORPG. EverQuest became a huge hit, surpassing the subscription numbers held by Ultima Online within months of its March 1999 release. PC Gamer called him one of the "Next Game Gods" in October 2000, believing that he would eventually become one of the industry's most influential game developers.
After Sony Online Entertainment acquired Verant Interactive, Brad McQuaid was promoted to Vice President of Premium Games and Chief Creative Officer. He found the lack of hands-on influence over the game upsetting. He set aside his place upon Norrath, and created Sigil Games with Jeff Butler in January 2002. McQuaid and Sigil later announced development on Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, an MMORPG to be published by Microsoft Game Studios. Many former EverQuest fans support Brad McQuaid and eagerly wait to see how Vanguard turns out.
Aradune Mithara
Aradune Mithara is the alias McQuaid uses for his player characters in MUDs and MMORPGs and it is also the name of a fictional character in the MMORPGs he has designed.
In an IRC interview, McQuaid revealed that Aradune was a character from a series of books he started writing in his teens. He first used the name as his pseudonym in MUDs and then later for his test character in the development of EverQuest. Early screenshots often featured Aradune and players began to associate the name with him.
In the lore of EverQuest, the various deities of the Norrathian pantheon often choose a mortal being as their avatar. Aradune Mithara was a Human Ranger chosen to be the Avatar of Storms, under the god Karana. He was noted to wear shining green armor, and wielding a legendary two handed sword known as the Fiery Avenger. Despite McQuaid having left Sony Online Entertainment, the memory of his character remains, as does the jestful graffiti of the sewers of the city of Qeynos, stating simply, "Aradune is stinky".
Now the president of Sigil Games, McQuaid continues to use the name Aradune Mithara as his character's name and in the fiction of his new MMORPG, Vanguard: Saga of Heroes.
External link
- Sigil Games: Brad McQuaid (http://www.sigilgames.com/000003.php)
- Sigil Chat (http://www.sigilgames.com/Sigil_Chat.html) in which McQuaid explains the origin of the name "Aradune Mithara"