A legendary MMO designer is trying to revive the magic World of Warcraft left behind

The designer behind Ultima Online and Star Wars Galaxies wants you to govern, exploit, protect, and transform your own planet While my guided tour of the new MMO Stars Reach began in the stars, Raph Koster, the veteran behind Ultima Online and Star Wars Galaxies, wanted to quickly get to the surface of a planet. Not to show me combat. He wanted me to see the weather. "This is the game I have wanted to make for 30 years," Koster told Polygon. In Stars Reach, rain falls. Water pools. Rivers carve paths through terrain. Lakes freeze in winter. Trees propagate. Forests burn. Cave ceilings collapse due to overmining. Every cubic meter of every planet has temperature, humidity, geology, and hundreds of material properties. Koster proudly explained how players can melt stone into lava, cool it into new rock formations, or accidentally create ecological disasters. I had a pretty simple question, devoid of judgment: Why? "We are about bringing back that dream of an alternate world where you can be someone you aren't in a place that's impossible with your friends and have adventures and discover unreality," Koster said. It's a line that sounds almost quaint in 2026, when online games are inc