Beckett Massive Online Gamer magazine has announced the top influential people in massively multiplayer video games for 2007 in the July-August #13 Issue.

World of Warcraft's Rob Pardo, GuildCafe.com's community mastermind, Sanya Weathers, and Richard Garriott himself are listed as three of the twenty names in the feature, The Top 20 Most Influential People in the MMO Industry.

Beckett's Massive Online Gamer highlights the most talented people in massively multiplayer video games and gives details on how they've influenced the future of the industry in this latest issue that hits newsstands May 28, 2008. Jess Lebow, now working at Carbine Studios, shares, "I've played the games these people have made for years, so to be listed alongside such industry luminaries is a tremendous honor."

The complete list of the Top 20 Most Influential People in the MMO Industry:

1. Rob Pardo, Senior VP of Game Design, Blizzard Entertainment Rob Pardo is vice president of game design at Blizzard Entertainment. Previously he was the lead designer of World of Warcraft. In 2006, he was named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. 2. Jeffrey Steefel, Executive Producer, Turbine Jeffrey Steefel started his career working as an actor and singer, performing in 1988 off-Broadway in New York, In early 2004, Jeffrey joined Turbine and oversaw production of The Lord of The Rings Online. Before this he worked on Programming & Production for Sony Online Entertainment and headed their digital studios in Los Angeles and New York. 3. John Smedley, CEO, Sony Online Entertainment John Smedley is a computer game programmer, now President of Sony Online Entertainment as of 2007. Smedley was involved with the creation and development of the original EverQuest and was co-founder of Verant Interactive, Inc., which became Sony Online Entertainment Inc. (SOE) after it was purchased by Sony Pictures Entertainment in 2000

4. Hilmar Petursson, CEO, CCP

5. Jack Emmert, CCO, Cryptic Studios

6. Rob Seaver, CEO, Vivox

7. Min Kim, Director of Game Operations, Nexon America

8. Scott Hartsman, Formerly Senior Producer, SOE

9. Raph Koster, President, Areae

10. James Phinney, Lead Designer, ArenaNet

11. Richard Garriott, Creative Director, NCSoft

12. Starr Long, Producer, NCSoft

13. Cory Ondrejka, Formerly CTO, Linden Labs

14. Mark Jacobs, GM and VP, EA Mythic

15. Sulka Haro, Lead Concept Designer, Sulake

16. Sage Sundi, Global Online Producer, Square-Enix

17. Jess Lebow, Lead Quest Designer, Carbine Studios

18. David Perry, CCO, Acclaim

19. Sanya Weathers, Director of Community, Guildcafe.com

20. Daniel James, CEO, Three Rings Design