Statesman (Developer)

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Overview

Statesman aka Jack Emmert is a developer for Cryptic Studios. He was the lead designer for City of Heroes, but has moved on to become the Chief Creative Officer for Cryptic. He uses the posting name "Statesman" on the City of Heroes and Villains boards, and "Jackalope" on the CrypticStudio's boards.

Background

Jack Emmert is a long time gamer and comic book aficionado. His first foray into gaming was, of course, Dungeons & Dragons®. His professional career in the hobby game industry started at a local comic book store in the outskirts of Philadelphia, Showcase Comics. He earned his first Master's degree (ancient history) from the University of Chicago, and his second Master's degree from Ohio State University. During this period Jack also wrote supplements for a variety of gaming lines, including Deadlands, Hell on Earth, DC Universe, and Marvel Superheroes. He left academia in July 2000 to co-found Cryptic Studios, and design the hit MMO games, City of Heroes® and City of Villains™. Jack is currently working on the much anticipated Marvel Universe Online. [1]

With the sale of the City of Franchise's Intellectual Property rights to NCsoft, Mr. Emmert was fully removed from any involvement in the games direction, and his signature character reassigned to another developer to role play as.

Jack Emmert and David "Zeb" Cook

External Links

• Official Forums Profile
• Official Cryptic's Forums Profile
• Gamespy Interview (October 2001)
• The Armchair Empire Interview (August 2004)
• Gamespy Interview (August 2004)
• Jive Magazine Interview (September 2004)
• Gamespot Interview (June 2005)
• Boomtown Interview (September 2005)
• Firing Squad Interview (September 2006)
• To Reward or Not to Reward? How to Create a Positive Community in an MMO. Summary of Jack Emmert's speech at the Game Developers Conference (March 2007)
• WarCry Interview at the GDC (March 2007)