Ray Muzyka Interview
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There's an excellent interview with BioWare founder Ray Muzyka up on the University of Alberta website, which covers topics related to both Ray and Greg's illustrious careers in medicine and game development, as well as some of the history surrounding pre- and post-BioWare events that the two of them have been involved with. A little something to whet your appetite:
He and Zeschuk didn't know it then, but years of balancing eye-reddening hospital shifts during their residencies with a few stolen hours for game development was preparing them for the realities of entrepreneurship. (We were used to that lifestyle of working 100 hours a week. It was ingrained in the medical training, like boot camp. You did your call, and it's just what you did. There was no time to reflect,) says Muzyka.
Before and after hospital shifts, they'd burrow into Zeschuk's basement to work on new software. As their coding and products got better, they incorporated a company for their inventions. (We didn't put a lot of thought into it,) says Muzyka. (It didn't occur to us that it would be hard or that we'd fail. We just did it.) They foresaw little impediment, other than capital. They needed enough to get their first game, Shattered Steel, a futuristic simulation on CD-ROM, to market. And the extra resources needed to build BioWare would no longer fit in a basement, so they each pitched in more than $100,000 to get the business off the ground.
Yip exited BioWare early on, to practise medicine full time. Muzyka and Zeschuk both sustained dual careers because they enjoyed medicine, especially emergency medicine for Ray and geriatric care for Greg. Muzyka continued working as a general practitioner and filling in at emergency rooms in northern Alberta part time, usually on weekends, and dedicated the rest of his life to BioWare. Somehow, he and Zeschuk also both squeezed in executive MBAs at the Ivey School of Business at Western University (Muzyka, 2001) and Queen's University in Ontario (Zeschuk, 2004). (It was like my career became my hobby,) Muzyka says.
While Muzyka says his career changes have been largely (gut decisions,) he also prides himself on knowing when it's time to make the leap and not look back. By 1998, when BioWare released Baldur's Gate, which PC Gamer magazine called (every role-playing gamer's dream,) Muzyka was beginning to realize he could no longer sustain dual careers. (I couldn't give full-time medical practice the attention it was due.) He stopped practising entirely in 2001 during his MBA to focus fully on BioWare, though he continues to maintain his medical licence to this day.
In many ways, Muzyka and Zeschuk were the general practitioners of BioWare. They knew enough about programming, story narrative and ludology (game studies) to help navigate each product to the shelf. Medicine also prepared Muzyka to cope with things that went wrong in the boardroom: as a doctor, he roved around northern Alberta hospitals usually when the local doctor was on vacation and dealt with matters both urgent and mundane. (Nothing fazes him,) says his wife, De Boer. (Unless our cats get sick. Then I have to take the lead.)
De Boer met Muzyka in 1998. She was a senior banker with TD Waterhouse, in charge of a wide array of commercial accounts, which, thanks to Baldur's Gate, now included BioWare. She remembers Muzyka then, as he is now, as exceptionally smart and very serious. Well over six feet tall, he has a broad frame, an analytical mind and a professional poker face. (He can be intimidating,) she says, (but I don't think all people realize how incredibly soft-hearted he is.) Especially when it comes to both human social issues and environmental issues, including animal rights.
Muzyka, a pescetarian, once stopped a BioWare employee from flushing loaches earthworm-like fish down the toilet. After saving them, he kept them alive in his office for 15 years, well past their normal lifespan of five years. He and De Boer have quietly supported various animal-related charities, including recently adopting a black rhino in Botswana, leading the purchase of 100 hectares of orangutan rainforest sanctuary in Borneo, and funding the development of the Sapphire & Webster Muzyka Cat Wing at the Edmonton Humane Society, named after two of their deceased cats. They also focus on philanthropy in health and education, and have donated repeatedly to multiple health and educational organizations over the years, including the Royal Alexandra Hospital, the Stollery Children's Health Foundation, the University of Alberta and the Red Cross.
