Will the Ultima maker's new social game appeal to all forms of gamer?

That's sounds pretty ... ambitious (to say the least), but that seems to be what game designer Richard Garriott is going for. During a recent interview with IndustryGamers, Ultima creator Garriott somehow revealed his master plan for how he's going to change social gaming without revealing anything specific, really. While it's too early to make serious judgment calls, his idea sounds downright awesome.

At least on paper, it sounds as if players will be able to carve out their own role in a fantasy world that rewards several different types of play. Basically, members of a group of friends can each take on different roles--be it farmer, shop owner or even adventurer--and somehow contribute to the overall world both in real time and asynchronously.

"And allowing it to be asynchronous interaction as well as synchronous interaction," Garriott told IndustryGamers. "So if you're the farmer, and you're playing your FarmVille style of gameplay, and that's what you like, that's fine, and you can either sell it on your produce stand or come over to my cafe and sell it to me directly, but either way, if you're offline, me or my chef can come over to your farm stand or to you personally if you're online, and buy the produce we need, and in either case we're gonna sell meals to the adventurer that just came through and might be bringing back the special dragon egg to make the greatest omelet that's ever been made in the history of the world! I can now make it in my cafe based on the stuff the adventurer brought back."

In essence, Garriott's Lord British's New Britannia (working title) will somehow allow the FarmVille player, the Cafe World fan and the Skyrim fanatic to all play the same game in their own way and help one another. If developer Portalarium can live up to these ambitions, then count us in.

[Image Credit: CollectSpace]

Does this make you excited for the designer's first full social game? More importantly, can a game like this be what it takes to usurp the Zynga throne?