Visionary Realms marked Brad McQuaid's birthday on April 25 with a tribute to the Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen founder, introducing Aradune Mithara in Terminus and publishing a collection of remembrances from members of the studio's staff.
The introduction was written by Benjamin Dean, who said he was overwhelmed by the request and unsure how to do the memory justice. McQuaid, he wrote, was one of the creators of EverQuest, a game widely credited with shaping the development of online gaming, and is regarded by many as one of the earliest pioneers of the MMORPG genre. Dean concluded that the story belongs less to McQuaid alone than to a community spanning generations and an industry he helped build.
Dean described a self-described introvert who found crowds draining but rewarding. In Pantheon's early development, he wrote, McQuaid wanted the team physically together whenever possible. At conventions he asked Dean to watch for signs of fatigue and to supply caffeine and a short break so he could return to the people waiting for him. Evenings ran to shared dinners or playing games together back at the team's accommodations, where he sometimes fell asleep among the group.
Remembrances from the team
The post collected short pieces from staff across design, programming, community, customer service and human resources. Artois, in customer service, recalled McQuaid inventing rulesets with paper cutouts, matchbox cars and Lego before he found video games, and traced that instinct through EverQuest, Vanguard and Pantheon.
Steve, a programmer who knew McQuaid from their mid-teens, said the same impulse drove EverQuest's design. McQuaid pushed for systems that required players to work together, on the theory that shared challenges formed lasting bonds. Steve said he sees that inheritance in Pantheon when groups gather in the goblin caves or Halnir.
Chris Perkins, who goes by Joppa in the community, wrote about being collected from the airport in San Diego for the team's first in-person meeting and spending the trip in disbelief at working alongside someone he had regarded as a celebrity. That awe, he wrote, became a working friendship, complete with the creative frictions of two people invested in the same thing.
This project exists because of Brad McQuaid. Each of us here have this opportunity of a lifetime because of that man and his ability to impart vision and passion into those around him.
Jeanna, in human resources, offered the phrase the team quotes most often: "Rock On!" Roenick, a designer who first made contact during Pantheon's Kickstarter campaign, recalled McQuaid pushing him past graphic design work toward the larger question of the world being built, and remembered an impromptu lesson on the correct pronunciation of EverQuest place names during the drive to PAX East in 2018.
Several contributors said they never met him. Nephele, in design, pointed to two things that stood out from a distance: McQuaid's habit of talking about MMORPGs as inhabited worlds rather than games to be finished, and his practice of anchoring a project in principles rather than a feature list. Savanja, in community, wrote that he worked from a question of what might be possible rather than an assumption of what could not be done. Others, including Tim, JN, Fusoya, Cody and Jim, described careers and directions that changed because of his work or his willingness to answer a message from a stranger.
Dean closed the post by writing that McQuaid is greatly missed but that his legacy continues in the worlds still bringing people together and the friendships formed inside them.
Join the conversation — sign in to comment.
Sign in