I had a friend at MicroProse who'd formerly worked at Origin Systems. Now this friend loved loved loved Gauntlet, to the point that he often spoke in Gauntlet-speak. (Calling him Fred because it's not his name.)

For instance, at lunch time he'd come to your cubicle and announce, "Fred needs food badly." If a co-worker gave him something he needed, he might respond, "I've not seen such bravery. If a co-worker blundered, he'd say, "Exit the room please. If a deadline was close, he'd say, "Your life force is running out." and then make Gauntlet heartbeat noises. That sort of thing.

Anyway, one day a new worker, an experienced coder who'd been in the industry for years, was hired by Origin and got the cubicle next to Fred's. Nice guy, if a bit quiet. Anyway Fred continued his Gauntlet-speak for a few weeks.

Then, one day, Fred dropped his bagel or something and said, "Fred shot the food!" And the new guy cracked. He stood up in his cubicle and started to rant and rave about how much Fred mocked him and he wasn't sitting down for it any more and Fred better watch his back in the parking lot and...

During the rant, Fred's eyes bugged out as he realized the new guy was one of the ORIGINAL PROGRAMMERS of Gauntlet. And he had been assuming Fred knew this, and was making fun of him. Fred calmed him down and convinced him that he, Fred, worshiped his work and had no idea. If he had, he'd have been bringing him a bagel & coffee every morning!

So they became friends. This happened more often than you might think in the old gaming world of the 80s and 90s. There weren't that many professional developers, so we saw each other at conventions or when we switched jobs.

I only met Lord British himself one time, but I knew two men quite closely who worked for Origins systems (Fred, discussed above, and Andy Hollis, who went there after Microprose).

Ask me anything.