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“3. John Smedley, CEO, Sony Online Entertainment”

I agree he belongs on the list. But only because influential doesn’t necessarily mean POSITIVE influence. The Smed has earned his reputation as the most hated man in the MMO industry (by players). From destroying Star Wars Galaxies, to halving SOE’s subscribers in the last couple years, Smed’s leadership of SOE has been nothing less than spectacular… Spectacularly BAD.

Why he still has his job is the greatest mystery in the industry. All he’s done is turn SOE from industry leader to reviled company that isn’t even a contender anymore, who’s reputation is so bad that slapping the letters “SOE” to a box is in and of itself enough reason for people to not want to play the game. Platform Publishing, which is a SOE arm that publishes other people’s games also has an incredibly bad record. Vanguard didn’t last 3 months before having to be bailed out by SOE. Gods and Heroes never made it to release. Pirates of the Burning Sea set the record for fastest MMO ever from launch to server merges (less than 2 months was it?).

So yes, Smed belongs on this list. Just remember WHY he belongs.

Excellent list!

Turbine’s EP, sitting at #2, usually gets a lot less credit than he deserves. Although I don’t play Lord of the Rings Online anymore, I have to admit that Turbine always met or exceeded my expectations of quality. For instance, the game was released virtually flawless - in stark contrast to Vanguard, which was released unplayable.

Turbine also managed to produce large, workable patches (called ‘books’) that always added something to the game. Although plagued with a balancing act similar to WoW, the patches nevertheless convinced me that LotRO could do nothing but improve, albeit slowly.

The atmosphere in LotRO, however, is his greatest achievement. No other MMO compares to the feeling of awe and wonder I had when first laying eyes on Rivendell, the feeling of fear and excitement when I lost myself (minimap and all) in the foggy Old Forest or even the helplessness in beeing rooted amidst an epic, 50v50 pvp battle.

But then again, I quit. Why? Mainly because LotRO has a serious lack of content in nearly every aspect. In terms of design, the game is flawed, but in terms of production, Turbine could hardly have done a more perfect job.

Grats to Jeffrey Steefel for making #2!

P.S. Grats to Pétursson for making #4!
EVE Online is possibly the best MMO ever conceived. I look forward to trying out their latest expansion, Empyrean Age. Thanks again CCP for making always amazing, always free expansions.

I really want to see hard data on AoC’s subscription numbers.

Unfortunately, it looks like we’re not going to be hearing solid numbers from them for a while. I have a feeling it won’t be as pretty as it’s graphics.