Gaming on the Go

The Escapist on Greg Gorden

We asked a few personal questions of Greg Gorden and he obliged. Read on to learn more about what makes him tick - or at least busy.

Q: Where are you from?

A: The village of Yellow Springs, Ohio, which had within walking distance people who had worked on the V-2 program, edited fiction for a living, wrote episodes of Bonanza, became members of the Swiss National Quartet, or raised Dave Chappelle. I was pretty much doomed to lead an interesting life from an early age.

Q: Age?

A: Soon to be 47. Insert joke about "prime of his life" here.

Q: Do you have family?

A: One son, Spencer, who inherited my love of games, and apparently got his athletic ability as a result of cosmic ray exposure.

Q: What's your favorite game to play?

A: Currently playing Savage Worlds on table top, a smattering of Guild Wars, and Rise of Nations: Thrones and Patriots when I think, "Gosh, I would love to play Civ III, but I just don't have the time."

Q: What's the last movie you went to see?

A: My son thought Bewitched would be hysterically funny. Payback will be a ___, but I digress...

Q: What's your alcoholic beverage of choice, if any?

A: Local Microbrew product, MacTarnahans.

Q: What's your favorite flavor of ice cream?

A: Whatever I can steal from my son. See "Movie," above.

Q: What is your favorite vacation spot?

A: Last vacation ended with an emergency room visit, which culminated in an infection from an improper IV which lasted better than five months. I think work is just peachy at the moment.

Q: Who is the person you most respect in the industry?

A: When I started seriously considering becoming a game designer I drew up a list of names of people whose work had expanded the horizons of games in ways that excited me. That first list was Gary Gygax, Redmond Simonsen, Sid Sackson, and Toru Iwatani. My informal list is now considerably larger, and I expect it to keep growing. Good work is being done, right now, and someone somewhere is creating something which will make me mutter, "That is just freakin' brilliant." I live for that.