Interviews// Codemasters Online's Ed Relf

SPOnG: OK. What’s your personal favourite to play?

Ed Relf: That’s an interesting question… erm… Actually, you know what? I would say Dungeons and Dragons Online, to be honest. I mean, probably much like yourself, I don’t get much time these days to play MMOs, much as I love them. I feel like Dungeons & Dragons Online is a really nice game because you can get in there and have a bite-sized chunk. You can spend of a couple of hours, do a quest, meet with some friends online. Dungeons and Dragons Online, for me, gives you that flexibility to jump in and jump out.

Whereas, other games, traditional MMOs like LOTRO, World of Warcraft, or any of the other games in the market, they require you to invest a lot of time, which unfortunately is something I don’t really have much of these days.

But, obviously, I like playing all our games!


SPOnG: Of course (grins). So, what existing Codemasters property are we going to see made into an MMO?

Ed Relf: (Pauses) No comment. (Grins) We are looking at a number of different opportunities in development right now, but there’s nothing we can comment on, unfortunately. Of course, you guys will be the first to hear when we have something. For now we’re going to firmly concentrate on Jumpgate and Mines of Moria, then we’ll see what happens.


SPOnG: Are there any that you’d personally like to see turned into an MMO?

Ed Relf: There’s a number of Codemasters games, right? You know, I think Operation Flashpoint would make a fantastic MMO. Of course I do. Are there any plans? No. We'll need to see. We have a roadmap of where our business is going, and we're following that. Mines of Moria and Jumpgate are the next games on that map. Once we get those out of the way we'll be in a position to start talking about some other stuff.


SPOnG: So, moving on to the wider industry, how do you feel about Manhunt 2 getting an 18 rating?

Ed Relf: What's my personal opinion on it? To be honest, it's difficult to give an opinion because I've never played Manhunt. Sure, I've played violent games, and it's like the movie industry – there's a place for those kinds of games. I think the whole conversation that's been raging for the last five or so years now about mature content video games is something that will need to be addressed. I'm not a parent myself, so I can't comment from the perspective of being a parent that if I had a child I'd be concerned about some of the games that I play, and having my children interact with those. Manhunt specifically? I have never played it, so I couldn't comment – but I'll enjoy playing it when it comes out.