In addition to being a modern-day astronaut, Richard Garriott (or "Lord British" as he is perhaps better known) is a bonafide legend of the games industry, being the creator of the hugely successful Ultima series of role-playing games.
Before Ultima, however, his first game was actually Akalabeth: World of Doom (or Ultima 0 as some fans have come to call it in the years since). Garriott created Akalabeth in the Summer of 1979 for the Apple II, while still a teenager, with the game later getting a wider release in 1980 with the help of California Pacific Computer Company.
Just like many of his later games, Akalabeth was Garriott's attempt to bring the world of pen-and-paper RPGs to computers and also featured a call to action that later reappeared across many future Ultima games. Upon successfully beating Akalabeth, a line of text would appear on the player's monitor, urging fans to "Report Thy Feat" to Garriott directly via a letter (a request that feels especially quaint today given the rise of social media and the internet).
This past Monday (May 8th), Garriott shared a photo of the first official "Report Thy Feat" that he ever received, on Twitter, and included a request for followers to help him find the letter's author, Paul Rogers (who sent the letter at the age of 13 in 1981).
In case you can't make it out from the image above, Rogers' full letter reads:
Dear California Pacific Computer Co,
I have succeeded in your excellent game of Akalabeth. I am a knight on levels 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10. When I become a knight on level ten I killed all of the monsters when I entered the castle it said I had to report this amazing feat to you. I’ve met all of the ten monsters, skeletons, giant rats, thief’s, carrion crawlers, mimics, gremlins, demons, vipers, orcs, Balrogs. I have had lots of fun out of the game. I would love another game.
Yours faithfully,
Paul Rogers (age 13)
After Garriott put out his request, fans quickly volunteered to help out, and now it appears that they have successfully managed to track Rogers down. The lifelong gamer and huge Ultima fan @DanteNDigitalis revealed below the tweet that they had managed to identify the correct "Rogers" online. Meanwhile, someone claiming to be the letter writer's niece also replied to the message stating that he is aware of the search and that she will pass Garriott's message along to him.
Interestingly, this isn't the first time Garriott has tried to track Rogers down. In 2015 and 2016, he put out separate tweets, with the hope of reconnecting with Rogers in order to catch up. These attempts were obviously unsuccessful, but now it appears the legendary developer's search is finally at an end!