Richard Garfield: Difference between revisions
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==Biography== | ==Biography== | ||
===Early life=== | |||
Garfield designed his first game as a teenager. He had a wide range of interests, including mathematics and language. In 1985, he received a bachelor of science degree in computer mathematics. He joined Bell Laboratories and worked there for a couple of years, but then decided to continue his education by attending the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. | Garfield designed his first game as a teenager. He had a wide range of interests, including mathematics and language. In 1985, he received a bachelor of science degree in computer mathematics. He joined Bell Laboratories and worked there for a couple of years, but then decided to continue his education by attending the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. | ||
===Magic: The Gathering=== | |||
He began designing a game called Magic: The Gathering as a student in the late 1980s. An "East Coast" group of play-testers, comprising mostly fellow Penn students, formed around the developing game. While searching for a publisher for RoboRally, he found Peter Adkison of newly founded [[Wizards of the Coast]]. Adkison agreed to publish his board game and expressed an interest in a game like Magic that would have little set-up and short games. | He began designing a game called Magic: The Gathering as a student in the late 1980s. An "East Coast" group of play-testers, comprising mostly fellow Penn students, formed around the developing game. While searching for a publisher for RoboRally, he found Peter Adkison of newly founded [[Wizards of the Coast]]. Adkison agreed to publish his board game and expressed an interest in a game like Magic that would have little set-up and short games. | ||
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He still sporadically contributes to [[Magic: The Gathering]], most recently (as of 2006) as part of the design team for the 2005 expansion, [[Ravnica]].<ref>http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=magic/expansion/rav</ref> | He still sporadically contributes to [[Magic: The Gathering]], most recently (as of 2006) as part of the design team for the 2005 expansion, [[Ravnica]].<ref>http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=magic/expansion/rav</ref> | ||
===Personal life=== | |||
Garfield has personally created three Magic cards celebrating events in his life: one for his marriage proposal [http://www.portalemagic.it/public/immagini/curiosita/proposal.jpg "Proposal"] (this was done by pasting a colour photocopy onto another card), and one for the birth of each of his two children ([[Splendid Genesis]] and <c>Fraternal Exaltation</c>, both professionally printed; for Terry and Schuyler).<ref>http://mtgarchive.net/wiki/Richard_Garfield</ref> Several of each card were given out to friends and associates, and they are considered extreme rarities by collectors.<ref>http://www.magiclibrary.net/rarities-garfield.html</ref> | |||
His wife is Lily Wu, who is alluded to by <c>Wyluli Wolf</c>.<ref>http://mtg.look-in.net/2003/11/28/wyluli-wolf/</ref><ref>http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgcom/feature/80</ref><ref>http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgevent/usnat05/blog</ref><ref>http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgevent/usnat05/blog</ref> | |||
==Magic references== | ==Magic references== | ||
There is a commonly-accepted rule among the fan-base of Magic: The Gathering that if Richard Garfield personally alters a Magic card by hand, the change is permanent for that particular card. This has spawned many urban legends.{{fact}} The subject of Garfield possessing godlike powers within the ''Magic'' universe is immortalized in his eponymous card, <c>Richard Garfield, Ph.D.</c>, from the joke Magic: The Gathering set [[Unhinged]]. | |||
Garfield | |||
Garfield has also been immortalized in the card <c>Phelddagrif</c>, the name being an anagram of "Garfield, Ph.D.". | |||
==References== | ==References== | ||
Revision as of 12:59, 20 August 2008
Richard Channing Garfield, Jr. (born 1966) is a mathematics professor and a (former) game designer who created the card games Magic: The Gathering, Netrunner, BattleTech, Vampire: The Eternal Struggle (originally known as Jyhad), The Great Dalmuti, Star Wars Trading Card Game, and the board game RoboRally. Magic: The Gathering is his most successful game and its development is credited with creating the collectible card game genre.[1]
Biography
Early life
Garfield designed his first game as a teenager. He had a wide range of interests, including mathematics and language. In 1985, he received a bachelor of science degree in computer mathematics. He joined Bell Laboratories and worked there for a couple of years, but then decided to continue his education by attending the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Magic: The Gathering
He began designing a game called Magic: The Gathering as a student in the late 1980s. An "East Coast" group of play-testers, comprising mostly fellow Penn students, formed around the developing game. While searching for a publisher for RoboRally, he found Peter Adkison of newly founded Wizards of the Coast. Adkison agreed to publish his board game and expressed an interest in a game like Magic that would have little set-up and short games.
Garfield studied under Herbert Wilf and earned a Ph.D. in combinatorial mathematics from Penn in 1993. His dissertation was entitled "On the Residue Classes of Combinatorial Families of Numbers." But Garfield believed that game design would not offer a steady living and became a professor of mathematics at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington. He had previously been in contact with Magic play-testers from the west coast and his move brought him closer to them and Wizards of the Coast.
Magic: The Gathering became incredibly popular after its commercial launch in 1993. Garfield left academia to join Wizards of the Coast as a full-time game designer in June 1994. After the game took off, Richard Garfield moved to Kennewick, Washington. There he was known to play Magic: The Gathering with some friends and others from around there.
Garfield was also a primary play tester for the Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition bookset.
He still sporadically contributes to Magic: The Gathering, most recently (as of 2006) as part of the design team for the 2005 expansion, Ravnica.[2]
Personal life
Garfield has personally created three Magic cards celebrating events in his life: one for his marriage proposal "Proposal" (this was done by pasting a colour photocopy onto another card), and one for the birth of each of his two children (Splendid Genesis and Fraternal Exaltation, both professionally printed; for Terry and Schuyler).[3] Several of each card were given out to friends and associates, and they are considered extreme rarities by collectors.[4]
His wife is Lily Wu, who is alluded to by Wyluli Wolf.[5][6][7][8]
Magic references
There is a commonly-accepted rule among the fan-base of Magic: The Gathering that if Richard Garfield personally alters a Magic card by hand, the change is permanent for that particular card. This has spawned many urban legends.[citation needed] The subject of Garfield possessing godlike powers within the Magic universe is immortalized in his eponymous card, Richard Garfield, Ph.D., from the joke Magic: The Gathering set Unhinged.
Garfield has also been immortalized in the card Phelddagrif, the name being an anagram of "Garfield, Ph.D.".
References
- ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Garfield
- ↑ http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=magic/expansion/rav
- ↑ http://mtgarchive.net/wiki/Richard_Garfield
- ↑ http://www.magiclibrary.net/rarities-garfield.html
- ↑ http://mtg.look-in.net/2003/11/28/wyluli-wolf/
- ↑ http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgcom/feature/80
- ↑ http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgevent/usnat05/blog
- ↑ http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgevent/usnat05/blog
External links
- "Just like magic". December 27, 1998. PolkOnline.
- Template:MTGref
- "Immer für eine Überraschung gut: Richard Garfield: Der Mann hinter Magic" (PDF). January 30, 2004. Amigo Spiele