D&D Co-Creator Gary Gygax Has Passed Away

Mearlus writes "In the recent past co-creator of Dungeons and Dragons Gary Gygax has worked with Troll Lord Games, a small tabletop RPG publisher. Their forums have up a post noting that Mr. Gygax has apparently passed away. Gygax was known, along with Dave Arneson, as the Father of Roleplaying." Saddened reactions from well-known designers have already begun to appear online. Consider this is an in-memoriam Ask Slashdot question: How has D&D (and tabletop roleplaying) touched/improved your life? Update: 03/04 23:16 GMT by Z : With more time, official announcements have had time to appear. Many sites are featuring posts on Gygax's impact on gaming, including touching entries on Salon and CNet.

Comments

How has it improved my life?

[murrdpirate]

By letting me know I'm not quite the biggest nerd in the world by not playing it. It's always been the last frontier to me....

RPG didn't improve my life

[Ralph Spoilsport]

It wasted a lot of time, and I'll never get it back.

RS

He didn't really die

[Anonymous Coward]

Hasbro killed him... Or at least his legacy

DnD has not improved the life of anyone I know.

[CubeRootOf]

As a matter of fact, I have watched many people piss away thier money, education and future while playing these games.

I have even watched someone that I know and love take on the characteristics of the character she was playing, hide from the real world, and allow people to completely take advantage of her, and by extension me.

Not having seen her in almost a year, I hope and wish that she is doing well, but I know she would be have done better if she could have faced the world without a d10 in her hand.

My life is far better since then, so I suppose you could say that DnD has improved my life: mostly by subtraction.

Not taking anything away from Gary Gygax: It is always sad when someone dies, and I enjoyed his books when I was young, but don't go putting him up on a pedistal, or saying DnD is great. It is what you make of it, but its mostly a trap for the mind, and an escape from the real world, just like video games, drugs, and alcahol. Certainly all of the above have helped someone somewhere in some circumstance: but that is the exception, not the rule.

Re:DnD has not improved the life of anyone I know.

[CubeRootOf]

Anectodal evidence is not what I used in the case. I used personal experience. The difference is huge.

DnD caused me problems, but I didn't play. It caused problems for those around me, and thus for me. I didn't need to quit because I didn't play.

Gygax created something that was a game. So long as it is a game it is fine. When it becomes something you need to function, it stops being a game, and starts being an addiction. Yes, lots of people have addictions. I have an Oxygen addiction. You are probably addicted to H20, I hear many people are addicted to sleep, However, when you become addicted to something that takes you away from reality, rather than keeping you in it, it becomes destructive.

DnD, when taken to an extreme, is destructive. Yes, yes, some people don't take it to an extreme. blahdy blah. some people do.

And it is not something that I have seen ever improve someones life. I'm not trying to blast the man, or the game. I'm just saying don't put him, or his game up on a pedistal. Don't give him a +10 charisma bonus that he never had in life now that he is dead.

Mourn him, take this as a reason to look up his old books, read a few and remember those times you had as a kid that were so good.... but don't put him on a pedistal.

Hmm

[Quantam]

If homosexuality is genetic... and RPGs have two fathers... wouldn't that make RPGs gay?

Re:Quick.

[Goldberg's Pants]

Believe me, spending eternity burning in damnation is better than spending eternity with sanctimonious pious assholes.