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March 12th, 2008
10:44 am - Gygax's Passing
A little more about D&D and Gary Gygax is in order, I think.
There has been a surprising outpouring of mainstream media attention to Gygax's death -- far more coverage of tabletop RPGs than I've seen in a while. In the New York Times article "Herald of a Global Imagination Revolution", Seth Schiesel wrote: "Without Mr. Gygax, there would have been no Ultima, no Wizardry, no Bard's Tale, no Zelda, no Final Fantasy, no Baldur's Gate, no EverQuest, no Lineage and certainly no World of Warcraft. But most important, without Mr. Gygax (pronounced GUY-gax) millions of people - mostly young men, but also some women - would never have discovered the liberating strength of their own imagination." On Wired, David Kushner wrote an extended article, "Dungeon Master: The Life and Legacy of Gary Gygax". NPR had a number of mentions of the event, most amusingly getting U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spelling to answer D&D trivia questions as part of "Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!". There were a few critical pieces -- such as Slate Magazine's article, "With Dungeons & Dragons, Gary Gygax created a monster", by Erik Sofge -- in which he attacked D&D for its experience rewards for killing. But that was a rare exception.
Unsurprisingly, there have been many reactions within the RPG blog community -- almost all positive. For a while, Story Games had the title line "Thanks, Gary, For Our Hobby. You Will Be Missed." There wasn't a whole lot of substance to most of the threads, though, so I'm not including a lot of links.
I do find it sad -- Gygax pioneered the field, and added a fun, whimsical spin on fantasy. I didn't generally enjoy his writing, and his mechanics were clunky, but the larger structure of dungeon design was inspired and remains so. Other designers have created much superior rules, in my opinion, but the D&D style of dungeon design remains a key concept in structuring adventures.
As a rare exception, Matt Snyder posted "A guy who made a game. The end." -- saying "Clinging to Gary so you, the self-conscious gamer, can avoid feeling alone and awkward in your nerd shame is giving Gary a lot more credit than he deserves. You and your friends earned that by what you did." I don't see how credit can't be shared. If a writer credits an earlier author as their inspiration, eulogizing them on their death, it isn't generally taken as self-deprecating shame. Instead, it is considered respectful and appropriate.
However, it seems to me that game designers and gamers are often considered lesser than writers. A writer who mourns an influential predecessor is given more credit than a gamer who mourns a designer. In the media coverage, there is often good-humored mocking mixed with nostalgia. Though, to be fair, Gygax's D&D is not the most serious of works -- and should be compared perhaps to a popular pulp writer, who would also likely get some jokes.
Even though I've rarely played D&D since grade school, the game has still been a huge influence on me. I think Gygax has had more influence on me than any of my favorite novel authors, whose passings I would also mourn.
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