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Looking Back At Dungeons & Dragons

Posted by Soulskill on from the lightning-bolt dept.

An anonymous reader sends in a nostalgic piece about Dungeons & Dragons and the influence it's had on games and gamers for the past 36 years. Quoting: "Maybe there was something in the air during the early '70s. Maybe it was historically inevitable. But it seems way more than convenient coincidence that Gygax and Arneson got their first packet of rules for D&D out the door in 1974, the same year Nolan Bushnell managed to cobble together a little arcade machine called Pong. We've never had fun quite the same way since. Looking back, these two events set today's world of gaming into motion — the Romulus and Remus of modern game civilization. For the rest of forever, we would sit around and argue whether games should let us do more or tell us better stories."

10 of 189 comments (clear)

  1. But unfortunately... by dushkin · · Score: 4, Funny

    ... nobody wants to play D&D with me now that we have video games (THANKS FOR NOTHING, PONG). :( does /. want to play?

    --
    o hai
    1. Re:But unfortunately... by nkh · · Score: 4, Funny

      I click on "Reply to This" and type my answer. I eagerly await your next command while sipping some coffee. My program compiled with 5 errors and 12 warnings that I fix as fast as possible. I commit my changes with a quote from Edgar Allan Poe, and click on the Submit button to finish.

    2. Re:But unfortunately... by derGoldstein · · Score: 5, Funny

      A troll appears on the discussion thread. He has not noticed you yet, but he's causing some damage to the surrounding environment. Remember that you'll need fire or acid to cause him permanent damage -- just modding him down won't work.

      --
      Entomologically speaking, the spider is not a bug, it's a feature.
    3. Re:But unfortunately... by mr_gorkajuice · · Score: 3, Funny

      I cast... Magic Missile!

    4. Re:But unfortunately... by Aethedor · · Score: 2, Funny

      No no no, you say that you want to compile your program. The DM decides how many errors you get. You have to roll a save check vs intelligence. Roll D20 and add 1 point for every year of programming experience.

      --
      It doesn't have to be like this. All we need to do is make sure we keep talking.
    5. Re:But unfortunately... by derGoldstein · · Score: 2, Funny

      I think wisdom has to factor into this somehow. Intelligence will effect how fast he'll resolve the errors, but if he were *wiser* in the first place, he'd make less mistakes.
      Also, if you roll 1 you caused a memory leak.

      --
      Entomologically speaking, the spider is not a bug, it's a feature.
    6. Re:But unfortunately... by MadKeithV · · Score: 2, Funny

      Although our assistant minister joined us for one game as a cleric of atheism.

      I don't believe you. Or should that be "I disbelieve you" ?

    7. Re:But unfortunately... by spitzig · · Score: 2, Funny

      Well, the only friend I've ever lost for specific "belief" reasons was a Jehovah's Witness(we were kids). I'm pretty sure it was because I got this crappy little D&D handheld video game. About the same time I got one of those "Jack Chick" D&D pamplets, he stopped hanging out with me.

  2. Re:Nothing more fun? by imakemusic · · Score: 4, Funny

    Just as the players themselves paled in comparison to their peers.

    --
    Brain surgery - it's not rocket science!
  3. Re:Well, Pong is earlier then 1974 by Ihmhi · · Score: 4, Funny

    And all of these are predated by the 0.27.452a Alpha version of D&D, commonly known as Chess.

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    Random Thoughts From A Diseased Mind (Not For Dummies)