Game developers are usually a modest lot, content with creating their magic behind thick walls, away from the limelight, away from the attention of the media. There, they toil on, night and day, emerging only when their work is done. They shy away from credit and acclaim, and speak only when spoken to.

And then there are people like me, who spend most of their time yakkin' to the media and pretending to be "designer gurus" and "gaming gods". Managers and leads and "directors" who take the credit for everything, leaving only scraps for the programmers and artists and designers who do all the hard work.

True or not - it sure looks that way sometimes. I like the spotlight, and I love talking about the work we do and the games we make. But it might be (mis)interpreted as self-obsession and -glorification. Until I have a body of work that warrants the attention, it's easy to get shot down, criticised and ridiculed for the way I "sell" myself. Even though, most of the time, I'm not the one instigating the attention.

Take this article, for example. I was asked by our US PR manager to send in a little blurb about what I'll be doing at E3, for IGN's RPG Vault. Turns out I'm the only one from Funcom who's included in the article, and I'm at the top of the list. I didn't put together the article, and I thought it was a fun question to answer, but I know that it's still going to piss some people off, especially since I end up representing the entire Anarchy Online team. And on that team, I'm just a writer and designer, and that's it.

Still, I won't beat myself up about it. Yup, I do sell myself somewhat (after all, I have a website called RagnarTornquist.com!), and yup, I tend to get mentioned, and contacted, by the media because of that. I want to keep making games for a long, long time, and the only way to ensure that is to take some control over my future. Not to become "famous" (something that's a bit hard in this mostly faceless industry, Peter Molyneux and Shigeru Miyamoto excepted), but to be able to put together and produce the games that I want to make and play. There is a bit of selfishness in that, true. But if you want your vision to be seen, heard, and felt by an audience, you have to push a little.

Hopefully, the games that you, the audience, get to play, and the stories I'll be able to tell you will live up to the image of myself I've helped create. Keep your fingers crossed. We've got a long, long way to go.  ¶ 19:39