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zonewombatI'm glad for one thing: D&D managed to escape from the stigma that seems to always have surrounded it, and Gary Gygax got to see that before he died.
I don't know when it happened, exactly, or why, exactly. I think it was when those of use who started gaming as kids finally achieved a level of economic stability and said, "Wait, I'm not an acne-riddled loser who will never amount to anything! I'm a movie star (Vin Diesel), a major league pitcher (Curt Schilling), a happily married successful professional (me), and I love D&D. So screw you all."
The fact that I met the guy I'm happily married to via gaming is a plus.
The internet helped - we could talk about it with like-minded others, those of us who don't look like gamers. After years of doing the subtle social dance ("I bet he games...I wonder if I should invite him to game...what if he doesn't game...what if my colleagues find out I game?") it's okay to say I'm a gamer. Of course, most people will assume I mean Xbox or computer games when I say I game, but I know the truth...and I know that the insanely huge computer-gaming industry wouldn't exist without D&D either.
The fact that it's okay for 14 million people worldwide to play WoW is due to Gygax (and Arneson and that whole group).
The fact that it's okay for me to say I game and not get called a satanist or a freak is a nice bonus.
Thanks, Gary. I didn't always agree with you, but I owe you.
I don't know when it happened, exactly, or why, exactly. I think it was when those of use who started gaming as kids finally achieved a level of economic stability and said, "Wait, I'm not an acne-riddled loser who will never amount to anything! I'm a movie star (Vin Diesel), a major league pitcher (Curt Schilling), a happily married successful professional (me), and I love D&D. So screw you all."
The fact that I met the guy I'm happily married to via gaming is a plus.
The internet helped - we could talk about it with like-minded others, those of us who don't look like gamers. After years of doing the subtle social dance ("I bet he games...I wonder if I should invite him to game...what if he doesn't game...what if my colleagues find out I game?") it's okay to say I'm a gamer. Of course, most people will assume I mean Xbox or computer games when I say I game, but I know the truth...and I know that the insanely huge computer-gaming industry wouldn't exist without D&D either.
The fact that it's okay for 14 million people worldwide to play WoW is due to Gygax (and Arneson and that whole group).
The fact that it's okay for me to say I game and not get called a satanist or a freak is a nice bonus.
Thanks, Gary. I didn't always agree with you, but I owe you.
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Date: 2008-03-06 03:15 am (UTC)I only played D&D sporadically, but retained a great fondness for the pencil-and-paper version, because computerized (console or PC, either way) RPGs always seemed to leave out the whole communal world-making, story-making aspect that completely made the whole thing. Stuff with chips in is just now catching up (and I'm years behind...)
We'd all be nothing without him, and without D&D. (Freak.)