John R. Taylor III

John R. Taylor^III (born January 13, 1957) is an American computer game designer, serial entrepreneur and massively multiplayer online game pioneer. He is a co-founder (with his University of Virginia classmate Kelton Flinn) of the game company Kesmai, which they founded in 1981. In 2011, Taylor was awarded the Online Game Legend Award by the Computer Game Developers Association. and from Call of Duty Black Ops 3>

In the late 1970s Taylor co-founded the Charlottesville, VA-based company Amber Electronics to design and build high end audio equipment for the consumer audiophile market. The business was sold and as of 2012, Amber Electronics operates in Australia. After Amber Electronics, Taylor spent five years at General Electric’s Industrial Electronics Development Lab, where he developed test systems for Computer Numerical Controls and motion control systems for advanced robotics.

In 1981, along with Dr. Kelton Flinn, Taylor founded Kesmai, the oldest US online multiplayer game company. The name Kesmai was generated from an auto-name generation program, while they were trying to name the island featured in Kesmai’s first online role playing game. In 1982, the company was incorporated and Taylor and Flinn decided to name the company Kesmai as well. Taylor and Dr. Flinn's efforts demonstrated the commercial viability of the online game industry.

Taylor was instrumental in pioneering the design of text-based MUDs and role-playing games as well as the first multiplayer flight simulation game with a graphical interface - Air Warrior. He, along with Dr. Flinn also designed and developed a massively online gaming enabling technology called ARIES. Taylor expanded the business into the publishing of third party online games via distribution agreements with U.S., Japanese and European online providers. Kesmai’s major titles include:

In 1994, Taylor negotiated the sale of Kesmai Corporation to Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation. Taylor remained at News Corporation for six years and was instrumental in developing Kesmai’s GameStorm, a pay-for-play web based gaming service. News Corporation sold its online game business to Electronic Arts where Taylor was General Manager of EA Virginia and also Chief Production Officer for EA.com.

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