Editing Richard Garriott (section)

== Early life ==
Richard Allen Garriott was born in [[Cambridge]], England on 4 July 1961,{{r|durkee19831112}}<ref name="CGW">{{cite news |date=March 1986 |magazine=[[Computer Gaming World]] |title=Inside Ultima IV |pages=18–21 |url=http://cgw.vintagegaming.org/galleries/index.php?year=1986&pub=2&id=26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081227054521/http://cgw.vintagegaming.org/galleries/index.php?year=1986&pub=2&id=26 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2008-12-27  }}</ref> to Helen Mary ({{Nee|Walker}}) Garriott (1930–2017<ref name="helenobit">Garriott Family (2017-09-05). Helen Mary Walker Garriott. Enid News, 5 September 2017. Retrieved on 2020-07-04 from https://obituaries.enidnews.com/obituary/helen-mary-garriott-972976051.</ref>) and [[Owen Garriott]], one of [[NASA]]'s first scientist-astronauts (selected in [[NASA Astronaut Group 4]]), who flew on [[Skylab 3]] and [[Space Shuttle]] mission [[STS-9]].<ref name="biography of Garriott">{{cite web|title=International Space Station|url=http://www.energia.ru/eng/iss/iss18/garriott.html|access-date=2014-05-27}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Former Astronaut's Son Signs on as Next Space Tourist|url=http://www.space.com/4410-astronaut-son-signs-space-tourist.html|publisher=space.com|access-date=2014-05-27|author=Tariq Malik|date=28 September 2007}}</ref> His parents had been high school [[childhood sweetheart|sweethearts]] growing up in [[Enid, Oklahoma]].<ref name="sa">{{cite book|title=NASA's Scientist Astronauts|last1=Shayler|first1=David J.|last2=Burgess|first2=Colin|publisher=Praxis Publishing|lccn=2006930295|isbn=978-0387218977|year=2007}}</ref>{{rp|61}} Although both his parents were Americans, Garriott claims dual citizenship for both the [[United States]] and the [[United Kingdom]] by birth.<ref name=pcgcitizen/>

Garriott was raised in [[Nassau Bay, Texas]] from the age of about two months.<ref name=pcgcitizen/><ref name="biography of Garriott"/> Since his childhood, he had dreamed of becoming a NASA astronaut like his father. Eyesight problems discovered at the age of 13 blocked his ambition, however, so he instead came to focus on computer game development.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/science/nasa-said-no-my-astronaut-dream-so-i-found-another-ncna776056|title=NASA said no to my astronaut dream, so I found another way|website=NBC News|date=18 July 2017 |language=en|access-date=2020-03-16}}</ref>

Garriott's "first real exposure to computers" occurred in 1975, during his freshman year at [[Clear Creek High School (League City, Texas)|Clear Creek High School]]. In search of more experience than the single one-semester [[BASIC]] class the school offered, and as a fan of ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' and ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'', Garriott convinced the school to let him create a self-directed course in [[computer programming|programming]]. He used the course to create fantasy computer games on the school's [[Teleprinter|teletype]] machine.<ref>Official Book of Ultima by Shay Addams, pp. 3–5</ref><ref name="garriott198807">{{cite magazine | title=Lord British Kisses and Tells All / as told by His Royal Highness, High King of Britannia | magazine=Computer Gaming World | date=July 1988 | url=http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/index.php?year=1986&pub=2&id=26 | access-date=3 November 2013 | author=Garriott, Richard | page=28}}</ref> Garriott later estimated that he wrote 28 computer fantasy games during high school.{{r|CGW}}

One of Garriott's game pseudonyms is "British", a name he still uses for various gaming characters, including Ultima character [[Lord British]] and ''Tabula Rasa'' character General British.<ref>{{cite book|title=Dungeons and Dreamers: The Rise of Computer Game Culture from Geek to Chic|last=King|first=Brad|author2=John Borland|publisher=McGraw-Hill|year=2003|isbn=0072228881|pages=11–12}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7507052.stm|title=Private mission set for ISS|date=2008-07-15|work=BBC News|access-date=2008-11-11}}</ref> The name was given to him by his first Dungeons and Dragons friends because he was born in the UK.<ref>"Richard Garriott's Ultima Story –Retro Tea Break," https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU90N4Cbj10</ref>