Michael Cranford

Michael Cranford is a former game programmer and software engineer. He is currently Chief Technology Officer of Ninth Degree, Inc. in Dana Point, California, a website design firm.

He was a Professor of Biblical Studies for eight years at Biola University and Talbot School of Theology in La Mirada, California, gaining his Master of Divinity Degree from Biola and a Masters Degree in Religion from the University of Southern California. He studied architecture at the University of California at Berkeley and he holds a degree in philosophy from the University of California, and has completed a Ph.D. in Social Ethics from the University of Southern California, with a focus on ethics and technology.

Michael was also a game designer and game programmer. He is most well known as the designer and programmer of 1985's The Bard's Tale and 1986's The Bard's Tale II: The Destiny Knight computer role-playing games published by Interplay Productions. He also programmed the Apple version of Donkey Kong, the Commodore 64 version of Super Zaxxon, as well as Maze Master (a spiritual predecessor of The Bard's Tale). His last computer game was Centauri Alliance for Brøderbund in 1990. He left the video game industry to pursue graduate studies, and thus was not involved in the creation of 1988's The Bard's Tale III.

His publications include:

• “Drug Testing and the Obligation to Prevent Harm,” in Laura P. Hartman and Joe DesJardines (eds.), Business Ethics: Decision-Making for Personal Integrity and Social Responsibility (Boston: McGraw Hill, 2007), 301-307.
• “Drug Testing and the Right to Privacy: Arguing the Ethics of Workplace Drug Testing,” Journal of Business Ethics 17 (December 1998): 1805-1815. (Reprinted in Beauchamp & Bowie, eds., Ethical Theory and Business [6th & 7th editions.; New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2001], 294-302.)
• “The Social Trajectory of Virtual Reality: Substantive Ethics in a World Without Constraints,” Technology in Society 18 (1996): 79-92.

External links

• Ninth Degree, Cranford's web site design firm
• Michael Cranford's profile at MobyGames
• The Bard's Tale Compendium - more information about Michael Cranford's popular game series

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