Impressions of a Discussion with David Allen, Co-Founder of Quest Online / QOL and Creator of Alganon: Part III

Read Part I of this series here.
Read Part II of this series here.

David Allen and Quest Online / QOL Part III

Author’s Note: This article is the final installment of this series as I continue my researching the online gaming industry with a specific focus on David Allen, Quest Online ( QOL ), and Alganon.

David Allen departed Quest Online in March 2010. This was after creating Alganon, releasing the game in December 2009, and building and running Quest Online for more than four years.

Whenever somebody creates a new company and raises capital from outside sources there are always risks involved. Obviously, investors always carry a fair amount of the risk. Risk is what brings reward. Understanding that investment is a risk, I wonder how important it is for those operating the company to really know the investors. What if the investors are good people? What if they’re bad people? What if they’re supportive? What if they have ulterior motives? Do they have any experience or background in their investment? What is their history of behavior? All of this plays a key part in the sustainability of a company, especially during the process of making it profitable.

After conducting my research, I firmly believe that everything Quest Online and Alganon is today directly relates to the original efforts and leadership of David Allen and his team, as they built the company so that anyone could come in and “run the show” with ease.

Curious as to what was put in place before his departure, I asked David about the future plans for Alganon and infrastructure of Quest Online and this is what he told me:

“There were roughly two years of expansions documented and planned for Alganon after the initial release including PvP, additional domains, races, classes, and new features such as domain control. As for the infrastructure, every aspect of Alganon was outlined on our shared collaborative workspace where every team member could provide feedback and comment, and the team worked solely in our task tracking system. Each project was well defined, the milestones clear, and the daily use of the tools and habits established to maximize the systems we had put in place, including source control with full revision tracking paired with automated builds and pushes to our distribution system. The infrastructure was so strong and efficient that Greg Wexler adopted the tools and a similar structure for his other company, SmartReply.”

What drives individuals such as David, who found companies and spend four years of their life building Commercial MMOGs from the ground up? I asked David about this, and he said:

“I’ve never been a money driven person. My passion is in creating worlds, building teams and companies, and producing products. As long as I can live a comfortable lifestyle while working on the products I love and to make them successful, I’m happy. But Quest Online turned into more than just building a MMOG; it became a monumental investment of time and money where I acted as President & CEO, CTO, and COO all wrapped into one. With nearly 50 people working at Quest Online at our height and all of the responsibilities, I worked on average of 70 or more hours a week for at least three of the four years and it became quite overwhelming. I definitely learned vacations are not only important, but necessary.”

David Allen shipped a commercial MMOG with a virtual company all through angel investment and without publisher support. This was a monumental accomplishment and I know of no independent game company or individual that has built and accomplished what Quest Online and David Allen did with the time and funds. The original Alganon team deserves much praise for such an accomplishment.

David wrapped up with:

“It was a privilege to found, build and run Quest Online, create, develop and launch Alganon, and to work with the outstanding team that was formed. I’ll remember what so many of our team members shared with me: Quest Online was the best job I ever had.”

What is David doing now? He is taking his expertise to the next level with his new company Mercois, LLC where he is focusing on business consulting and technology. I asked him if he had plans of continuing in the gaming industry and if he wanted to share with more specificity what he was doing now. His response was:

“While I have a passion for creating worlds and love what was created with Alganon, I’m focusing more on business and consulting now. When I first started Mercois, my intention was to provide services supporting Virtualization, but as people contacted me seeking help and advice, I found the needs focused more in the areas of structure and overall business planning and decision making. For this reason, I am now focusing on supporting other companies and businesses by helping with the review, decision making, and viability of business opportunities, plans, goals, and technologies.”

This concludes my research on David Allen, Quest Online and Alganon. A company that was ahead of its time, the first virtual company to ship a commercial MMOG, and something all of us can learn from.

Thank you to David Allen for spending the time with me.You can visit David Allen’s blog here.

Author’s Note:This article is Part III of a one-on-one discussion with David Allen.I am currently working on researching the origins of the online gaming industry and I found this information interesting and an important part of the overall story. I am not claiming David Allen created online gaming, but am sharing this article because it is a small piece of MMOG (Massively Multiplayer Online Game) history.In the future, I plan to compile all information I gather and share that with the gaming world.