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Secrets Of Dungeons And Dreamers

Posted by simoniker on from the more-cash-please-i'm-british dept.

Thanks to Wired News for their story discussing the forthcoming book, Dungeons And Dreamers, which is subtitled 'The Rise of Computer Game Culture From Geek to Chic', and "..documents the manically creative lives of gamers by tracing the career of eccentric 'Lord British,' as [Richard] Garriott is known to millions of fans, and panning out to explore the social anthropology of computer game culture." The article points to the book's official website, where you can also find a copy of the book's first chapter, and, as for the wider implications of success stories like Ultima creator Garriott's, co-author John Borland says: "..history matters, and we want people to realize that Quake isn't an isolated phenomenon. Games back in the 1870s had similar themes, so did mid-century toy soldiers and H.G. Wells novels."

4 of 15 comments (clear)

  1. Out of left field... by spumoni_fettuccini · · Score: 5, Interesting

    One of the first thoughts I had when I read the [/.] article was back to when I played pen and paper D&D [early 80's]and how the Christian faith denounced it as Satan worship and occult. I had my own relatives confiscating and burning [yes burning] my manuals. Man that cheezed me off 'cuase now I had to go out and buy new stuff until they found the next stash. In the first chapter sample his experience was completely different, parental support [yeah it was still nerdy to play but he didn't have to hide the stuff]. That got me thinking we now have objections to the violence and gore, but I've never really seen/heard anything about PC or console games being EVIL. Did they move on to better things or are they still decrying D&D type [paper or electronic]? Last thing I know they were harping about was Disney putting obscene material in posters and movies. Anybody know or was that just a fanatical fad?

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    -- Some days you're the dog; some days you're the hydrant.
    1. Re:Out of left field... by falcon5768 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      You do though, people dont give them any credence anymore. Just look at how often Harry Potter is put on the Banned book list by christian groups for promoting magik, or the fact that future versions of Mortal Kombat after the first one used motion capture, used animation instead not cause it was cheaper, but cause a ton of people created a controversy over how morally wrong it was to beat the living crap out of what looked like a real human. Its the same for any religion really, anything that threatens the mythos and mystisism they create will be banned to prevent people from seeing other sides of things or thinking maybe said religion is not the only option

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      "Slashdot, where telling the truth is overrated but lying is insightful."

  2. This is great news! by Daetrin · · Score: 2, Funny
    I've always known that i wasn't going to amount to much because i wasn't taking college level courses in elementary school or planing the conquest of the known world at age eight or whatever it is that those destined for greater things are doing nowdays.

    But after reading this article, i have new hope! I just need to be weird and whacky! I can do that! I can do weird and whacky! I always have been somewhat, but now i know that i just need to try harder! To be weirder and whackier than i ever have been before!

    Oh, and design world famous video games. Um. Well, i'll worry about that bridge when i come to it, i'll just go get started on the weird and whacky bit now.

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  3. missing chapter 1 by kurosawdust · · Score: 3, Informative

    if you cant see chapter 1 (this page is blank for me), just go to the "printer-friendly version" here.