Rollin' A D40 For My Dead Homie

Soundtrack: "D'yer Mak'er" by Led Zeppelin

Last year I blogged about the death of Gary Gygax, one of the creators of the pen-and-paper role playing game Dungeons and Dragons.  A few days ago Dave Arneson, the other co-creator of the game, joined his buddy in the big dragon lair in the sky.  They leave a long legacy of gaming excellence.  In fact, after Gary's death last year Blizzard dedicated one of their World of Warcraft content patches to him.  I'd be surprised if they didn't do the same for Dave (conveniently, they have a big content patch shipping later this month).

Rest in piece, Dave.  And say hi to Gary for me!

Video Games Are Not For Nerds

First off, I am finally coming back to this blog because after a long time of hating a lot of things, I realized I miss it.  Burnout is a terrible thing for a creative person, and it has taken me some time to get back to where I am comfortable with doing this again.  After all, I am a geek.  A culture geek.  I belong here.

Speaking of geek culture, let's talk about video games.  They aren't for nerds any more.  They haven't been for a while.  As games have moved into the 21st century, game publishers always make sure that their biggest titles feature fun multiplayer action.  Because let's face it, even geeks like to get together with our friends.  Except instead of watching a game, we play it.  Video games have united people across the globe, people who under other circumstances may never have met each other.  And in the right situations, the outcome can be magical.

Face it: people you would never expect to be gamers are coming out of the closet so to speak.  And they aren't just playing the latest shooter game or Madden '09.  They're playing Massively Multiplayer Online games, or MMOs, those dirty, no-good games that according to many people are the cause of so many problems in the world.  That's a discussion for an entirely different conversation, so let's just leave it at this: despite the bad rap MMOs get, a lot of successful people are playing them.  From movie stars to families spread out across the world to soldiers and military wives separated by duty and service, these games offer a unique type of social interaction along with a long list of other great qualities.

Speaking of social interaction, MMOs aren't the only games to offer it.  I just mentioned how a game like World of Warcraft can bring people together.  But there are plenty of other games that offer the same thing.  Halo, Team Fortress 2, and Call of Duty are great first-person shooter games that have achievements, rankings, large team size, and fun gameplay.  The great thing is that they offer online play as well, so whether you have four people in your living room or you're playing against your old high school buddy that lives 1500 miles away, there is a palpable camaraderie that develops.

So here's the deal: it doesn't matter what kind of game you play.  Video games have evolved from simple one-player affairs into huge social networks.  And with the huge craze in social networking right now, no wonder they are so popular.  Just make sure that if you play, it's not the only thing you do.  Go out and goof around with friends or go hiking or snowboarding once in a while.  Everything in moderation.

Time to go.  I gotta go race cars... on a television screen.

Rest In Peace, Gary

Soundtrack: Pablo Honey by Radiohead

By now the news of Gary Gygax’ death has spread wide and far across the internet. If you do not know who Gary Gygax is, he is one of the original creators of the most popular pen and paper roleplaying game in the world, also known as Dungeons and Dragons. As a self-described geek I am more than familiar with D&D. My years in junior high and high school were spent crawling dungeons and killing monsters with my friends, and that has extended into my years in college. Lately I have been doing less pen-and-paper and more video-based dungeon raiding, but the concept is still the same. So I wanted to say some words in Gary’s honor.

The thing that appealed to me most about D&D was the imagination. Gary and Dave Arneson created something so simple yet so vast in it’s breadth. The concept is thus: you take on the persona of an adventurer in a medieval fantsy setting and join other adventurers in quests to find treasure or complete an objective or just kill monsters. Adventurers start with a specific set of skills and attributes and as you progress and gain experience your skills and attributes are augmented. Although it was not the first table-top roleplaying game; there had been table-top wargames for years when Dave and Gary introduced D&D in the 70’s, it was a new way of looking at wargames which has since spawned an entire gaming industry.

Gary had a great career that had ups and down like any career. He worked on game design all the way through to his death. He is definitely an inspiration to me, I hope to be so lucky to do what I love to do through my last days. Farewell Gary, I'm pouring out a 40 for you.