Tom Chilton (game developer)

Tom Chilton is the lead game designer (specifically over game systems, game balance, character classes, combat, items, pvp, auctions, mail system, and world events ) for the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) World of Warcraft under the nickname "Kalgan".

He also was the Lead Designer for an Add-on for the MMORPG Ultima Online called Age of Shadows under the nickname "Evocare".

Games

• World of Warcraft
• World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade
• Ultima Online: Age of Shadows
• Ultima Online: Lord Blackthorn's Revenge
• Ultima Online: Third Dawn

Personal

Tom Chilton is a respected Game Designer, who has been a key part of the development of World of Warcraft. Along with Co-Lead Jeffrey Kaplan, he has worked at Blizzard Entertainment for five years. He is married and lives with his family in California.

Criticism

The months following the release of Age of Shadows saw a significant exodus of veteran players from Ultima Online. Many players insisted that the new item system broke Ultima Online's long-standing tradition of being skill-based in favor of an item-based system. This criticism was stated again for World Of Warcraft with the introduction of the honor system rewards and some raid tier armor sets that many players felt made the PvP mainly item-based instead of skill-based.

Some players who had played both UO and WoW suggested on the World of Warcraft Forums that Tom Chilton, being lead designer for both games, could be the man responsible for the two shifts from skill-based to item-based system. In addition, many players claim that Tom Chilton is also to blame for the great misbalance considering the different types of classes in World of Warcraft.

External links

• Developer Bio at MobyGames
• Age Of Shadow interview
• World Of Warcraft interview about PvP Honor System and Rewards