Starr Long

Starr McAuley Long
Starr McAuley Long
Born	March 12, 1970 (age 56); Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States
Occupation(s)	Video game developer, executive producer
Years active	1992–present
Known for	Director of Ultima Online, executive producer at The Walt Disney Company, co-founder of Destination Games, executive producer of Shroud of the Avatar

Starr McAuley Long (born March 12, 1970) is an American video game developer recognized for his extensive partnership with Richard Garriott at Origin Systems (1992–2000), Destination Games (2000–2008), and Portalarium (2013–present). He was the inaugural director of the groundbreaking graphical multiplayer title Ultima Online released in 1997. Between 2008 and 2013, Long held the position of executive producer at The Walt Disney Company, where he oversaw educational gaming content and applications for Club Penguin and the Disney Connected Learning initiative. In 2008, he was honored as one of the Top 20 Most Influential Figures in the MMO sector. He rejoined Garriott at Portalarium in 2013 to work on Shroud of the Avatar.

Career

Raised in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Long graduated from Louisiana State University in 1992 with a degree in Theatre. Initially pursuing a career in theater, he transitioned into the gaming industry later that year. In September 1992, shortly after Electronic Arts acquired Origin Systems, he began as a game tester. He swiftly progressed from quality assurance roles on titles such as Ultima VII: The Black Gate and Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger to becoming QA Lead on BioForge, then associate producer on Ultima IX, and ultimately served as director for Ultima Online. Launched in 1997, the game drew an audience of 250,000 players, earned multiple accolades including induction into the GDC Online Awards Hall of Fame, and was recognized by TIME among the top 100 video games ever made.

In 2000, Long and the Garriott brothers departed Origin to establish Destination Games, which was acquired by South Korea’s NCsoft in 2001. Destination Games released Tabula Rasa in 2007; however, due to its commercial struggles, both Garriott and Long exited in 2008, with the game shutting down early the following year.

Following this, Long relocated to Los Angeles to take on an executive producer role at The Walt Disney Company. Over four years, he directed development for social and mobile games at Disney Interactive, including educational projects like Pufflescape, Jelly Bean Counter, as well as licensed titles such as Cinderella Shapes & Patterns and Toy Story Letters & Letter Sounds. He also oversaw Disney’s online virtual worlds including Toontown Online, Pirates of the Caribbean Online, and Pixie Hollow, all of which were closed by late 2013.

In 2013, Long departed Disney to launch his consulting firm "Stellar Effect" before reuniting with Garriott at Portalarium. Together they initiated a crowdfunding campaign for Shroud of the Avatar, successfully raising $2 million through Kickstarter in April 2013, with Long serving as executive producer. The game officially released in March 2018.

Since 2018, Long has been engaged with The Acceleration Agency on various projects including Princess Cruises Medallion, OPTICS Active Digital Twin, INVI Mental Health, and Secret Cinema Gates of Gozer. Notably, his OPTICS Digital Twin initiative for the Port of Corpus Christi received an Esri innovation award in 2025.

Recognition

In 2007, listed as number 12 among the Top 20 Most Influential Figures in MMOs by Beckett Massive Online Gamer magazine
In 2010, Ultima Online was honored as the inaugural inductee into the GDC Online Awards Hall of Fame

External links