Gamasutra - CRPG Book & Gaming History
Felipe from the RPG Codex posted a guest blog on Gamasutra about his free CRPG Book, and asks the readers about, "Why are we abandoning gaming history?".
A few months ago we had the celebration of the 40th anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons. This date was widely celebrated in the circles devoted to tabletop role-playing games, but barely mentioned in those focused on video-games. Which is a sad thing, not only due the undebatable impact of Dungeons & Dragons in video games, but more importantly, because 2014 also marks 40 years since D&D players sat in front of their PLATO mainframes and started to program virtual adaptations of tabletop RPGs, such as pedit5, m199h and dnd.
Yes, it has now been 40 years since the first Computer RPGs were created. But it doesn't feel that way, does it? How often do you hear about RPGs older than 20, or even 15 years?
But I’m getting ahead of myself.
And here is his conclusion.
Fellow critic, learn about the roots of gaming, about the purpose of mechanics. Abandon pre-made sentences such as "games were only turn-based due to technological limitations" and research into the subject yourself. There's too much misinformation floating around, and that will only be solved by informed individuals.
Fellow gamer, be curious. Look beyond prejudices and try, wholeheartedly, to play older games. There's a reason why those games are considered classics and people still play them today. I promise that it will be a much more interesting (and cheap) experience than buying the latest AAA release, playing it for 15 hours and never looking back.
And to all that made this far into the text without thinking something like “ugh, such rose-colored nostalgia glasses” and closing the tab, thank you. I'm doing my part and trying to compile the history of CRPGs into a free, accessible and passionate book. And I could use some help!