John: In my opinion, online gaming is going to be the single biggest thing to hit interactive entertainment in the early 21st century. It's really starting to take off now, and games like EverQuest are really making people see how much fun interacting with other people is.

3. If there's one thing wrong with the gaming industry you'd want to change in the new millennium, what would it be and why?

John: Stop rushing games! Great games take time and must be refined. To me, the best people in the business at realizing this are at Blizzard. Let's all learn a lesson from them.

4. There is a lot of talk about interactive entertainment becoming the dominant form of entertainment in the 21st century. Although it's a broad question, dream a little and tell us how far your vision stretches for what interactive entertainment can eventually represent and become?

John: Somewhere in the future is the holo deck. It's what we all want and hope for, and I think things will evolve more and more into the direction of some sort of virtual reality. It may take a while to get past the crude stuff we have now, but it's going to happen sooner or later.

Next: John Smedley (cont.)