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Brad McQuaid

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The creator of the EverQuest series, and known drug-user.

Brad mcquaid.png

 

Summary

Brad McQuaid is the creator of the EverQuest series, and one of the reasons games such as World of Warcraft exist. Now, he is known to be a drug addict, douchebag, dirtbike rider, and creator of the originally-failed MMORPG Vanguard. He could probably also be the Michael Jackson of MMORPGs. Except he's alive, was never accused of being a pedo, and was born white.

His creations were promoted by John Smedley, who is now Sony Online Entertainment's CEO. His character, Aradune Mithara, was immortalized in the game's lore. However, he flounced in 2002 because he wanted more control of the game, and decided to create what he titled "The Vision" - an epic MMORPG with high fantasy...

Vanguard

Vanguard: Saga of Heroes is a MMORPG which Brad McQuaid often referred to as "The Vision" after ditching SOE and EverQuest. He started the project in his new gaming company, Sigil. It basically is EQ with better graphics, except EQ was probably buggy and glitchy on release for a reason - the whole concept of MMORPGs was still fresh at the time. With Vanguard being released in early 2007, it had no excuse. The game was rushed and even had glitches where the user interface would disappear entirely, rendering you unable to play the game. Second to the much-more anticipated Age of Conan (and later still, FF14), it was considered the biggest disappointment in MMORPGs. In fact, GameSpy chose it as Biggest Disappointment of 2007.

Not long after release, SOE bought the game, laid off half of the developers, kept the rest, and reworked it into something half-decent and playable, almost making up for that whole Star Wars Galaxies fuckfest back in late 2005 when they made the game into a simple piece of shit. Of course, Sigil went the way of del.icio.us and became absorbed within SOE, no longer Sigil.

It is interesting to note that Microsoft was originally the publisher but told McQuaid off:

 
“ 		 
... there was a regime change at Microsoft where they reorganized a lot of their game studios. The people who were in charge of the Vanguard project on the Microsoft side went elsewhere and a completely new group of people were put in place. In that new group of people, the upper management side were also in charge of getting the Xbox 360 out the door. So, the PC games at the time were not receiving a lot of support and I don't blame Microsoft for this at all.
  		„
 

—McQuaid on Microsoft;

Drama

Vanguard's failure obviously cause drama with disgruntled developed. For example, Vincent Napoli, who spoke up about the development of the game soon after its flop:

 
“ 		 
Brad Mcquaid didn't do ****. (News Flash?) He's had an opiate addiction for years now, which only got progressively worse as the project failed. His cumulative face time with Sigil designers in the most crucial final years of development? Approx: 15 minutes. And some of the time was spent begging for legitimately acquired narcotics (Or in times of desperation, jacking them from people's desk).
  		„
 

—oh lol;

2009

On Sunday, June 14, 2009 he returned...

His site, bradmcquaid.com, was updated and the blog was started. He mentioned that Vanguard had a very rocky launch, and most people quit before they reached level 4. McQuaid then went on to mention the game's 14-day trial offered by SOE and how they did a lot of work on it.

Later that same day, he posted another blog entry. He mentioned how he shouldn't have ditched Sigil when Vanguard shipped and should have been present at the transition to SOE and the lay-offs.

More blogs were posted, mostly dealing with Dream Theater, Star Trek, and other nerd topics. Meanwhile, MMO fans were speculating what douche-move he'd pull next.

Unfortunately, he deleted all of this, and no mirrors have been found as of yet.

Origins

While he entered the gaming industry in 1989 when he co-founded MicroGenesis, his rise to fame came with EverQuest.

Rise to fame

His early game demos were noticed by John Smedley, a Sony employee, and McQuaid was soon a developer of a project which became EverQuest. Shortly after EQ's release, it toppled the subscription numbers that Ultima Online had. Many considered him a revolutionary god of the vidya gaymz.

He was later immortalized within the world of EverQuest as his Gary Stu, Aradune Mithara, a ranger who wears shining green armor.

Current status

Nobody knows what he's up to. While he did make an appearance on Jace Hall's 2009 documentary EverCracked!, not much else has surfaced from him.


Facts

  • He entered the gaming industry in 1989.
  • He is a devout Christian, and did not want angels and demons featured in EQ.
  • His Aradune Mithara character is immortalized in EQ's storylines.

Images

Vanguard screencap of a "beholder" monster.

Aradune Mithara, McQuaid's original character, do not steal!

Brad and a fan at Fanguard 2005 Vegas.

Brad at a table at Fanguard 2005 Vegas.

He likes motorbikes.

Vanguard was called "The Vision" for a reason...

Vanguard characters.

A Vanguard screencap of a turtle.





Videos

McQuaid is seen at 1:14!

Related Pages

Aeralik
EQ2Flames
EverQuest
Sony Online Entertainment

External Links


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