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Dungeons & Dragons Inducted Into Toy Hall of Fame (npr.org)
Snowgen writes: NPR reports that Dungeons and Dragons has been inducted into the Toy Hall of Fame at the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, NY: "The nomination process for the Toy Hall of Fame is open to the public -- but to get in, a toy has to be approved by 'historians, educators, and other individuals who exemplify learning, creativity, and discovery through their lives and careers.'" "More than any other game, Dungeons and Dragons paved the way for older children and adults to experience imaginative play," says Curator Nic Ricketts. "It was groundbreaking. And it opened the door for other kinds of table games that borrow many of its unique mechanics. But most importantly, Dungeons and Dragons' mechanics lent themselves to computer applications, and it had a direct impact on hugely successful electronic games like World of Warcraft." The report adds: "The list of 12 finalists for this year's honors had included bubble wrap, Care Bears, Clue, the coloring book, Nerf ball, pinball, Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots, Transformers and Uno. When it emerged in 1974, Dungeons and Dragons was groundbreaking, says curator Nic Ricketts of The Strong. In addition to its own merits, the game created by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson established a pattern for how similar role-playing games might work -- both on table-tops and, eventually, on computers and other devices."
Most, if not all, of the toys I played with growing up are already in the hall including erector set, tinker toys, lincoln logs, lego and plenty of other examples. A positive story in a week of tension is appreciated even if not purely tech related.
So you're saying that toys that neither require nor inspire "learning, creativity, and discovery" should get an award that is specifically linked to "learning, creativity, and discovery". I'm not saying that creativity wasn't required to invent, say, Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots, but exactly what do you learn playing it? "Hit faster than the other guy and you'll win!" Isn't really that difficult to understand, I'm pretty sure you know that halfway through the commercial.
Clue and Uno at least exercise memory and logic skills, but you do more of that in a single tabletop RPG session (even pure Hack 'n Slash) than is any reasonable time frame of playing either.
"most importantly, Dungeons and Dragons' mechanics lent themselves to computer applications, and it had a direct impact on hugely successful electronic games like World of Warcraft"
That might be the most popular thing in the past few years but these games definitely lack the imaginative qualities being praised, they just borrow mechanics to create hallow shells that are themed interactive TV. The old tabletop dungeons and dragons games were not a hack and slash run through of canned content with miniatures, they were imaginative journey's authored by the DM and players in collaborative fashion.
Of course, eventually the DM gets writers block and nobody else steps up and the game falls apart. Hack and slash adventures/box modules were the less interesting cruft DM's tossed out for filler between good ideas. Games like World of Warcraft are nothing but the lowest of D&D content, pure hack and slash with no real imaginative content from players and the editions of the table top after WoTC took over were pretty much the same where min/maxing made sense because combat success was overplayed.