Regardless of delay and [...]]]> The more we do this, the more I think we sound like Axl Rose…but for the first time in a long time, I’ve blocked out 1/2 a month work exclusively on the Second Edition of Dungeons and Dreamers, which now also makes it likely the Tenth Anniversary Edition of the book.

Regardless of delay and such, writing has actually started this time. If all goes well, sometime in the next year you’ll have an updated version of the book that finally finishes the story.

His original gaming dice. His original Dungeons & Dragons and Blackmoor campaign manuscripts. His first printing, woodgrain boxed set play copy of D&D. Letters from Gary Gygax. Other letters, notes, [...]]]> I just saw this interesting tidbit about the lost treasures of Dave Arneson thanks to this piece by GeekDad over at Wired News.

His original gaming dice. His original Dungeons & Dragons and Blackmoor campaign manuscripts. His first printing, woodgrain boxed set play copy of D&D. Letters from Gary Gygax. Other letters, notes, documents, artwork, photos, cartography, rare wargames and hand-made models and miniatures. And more.

All these items were once written, crafted or owned by Dave Arneson, gaming legend and co-creator of D&D. But when Arneson died in 2009, his personal archives and game collection become lost. In 2011, they were found, in an abandoned storage locker in Minnesota.

Gygax, one of the co-creators of the game Dungeons & Dragons, inadvertently helped create the massive computer game industry that exists by inspiring three decades of future game designers. There’s been much written on the subject [you can read our chapter on the D&D [...]]]> Today would have been Gary Gygax’s birthday.

Gygax, one of the co-creators of the game Dungeons & Dragons, inadvertently helped create the massive computer game industry that exists by inspiring three decades of future game designers. There’s been much written on the subject [you can read our chapter on the D&D Creation Myth], and there’s currently a documentary being filmed about the impact of the game. He’s become such a geek cultural icon that there is a movement to have a statute of him built in his hometown of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.

Take a moment to soak that in: the creator of a paper game that inspired the computer games industry getting a statue.

The techno-geeks have come quite a long way.

When John and I originally conceived Dungeons & Dreamers, we were adamant that we’d treat the subjects with the kind of importance that others use when talking about great literature or film. These games, oftentimes dismissed as simplistic, not so easily defined.

Eight years later as we rework Dreamers into its Second Edition, I stumbled upon Fantasy Freaks & Gaming Geeks, a book that traces the real-life communities that spawned from D&D and the games industry. I have no idea who Ethan Gilsdorf is but the book certainly feels like a sibling to ours.

I can’t wait to get my hands on it. While it covers some of the same ground (Richard was part of the Society for Creative Anachronism, for instance), his exploration feels very much different than our treatment. His is a first-hand experience moving through the extended game culture, and my sense is that he treats these subjects with the same kind of light-hearted reverence.

The emergent digital culture that exists today owes much to game communities that in turn own much to Gygax and Dungeons & Dragons. Some may find that connection strange, but for those of us who have studied the history and spread of digital culture, the connections become real.

So: happy birthday, Gary, and thanks for everything.

When we were working on the book, Richard [...]]]> I had a chance to visit the Origin Systems building in 1997 when I first moved to Austin, at the time the only THX-certified game studio in the country. Starr Long even gave me a demo of naked Ultima players running around a rather barren virtual landscape.

When we were working on the book, Richard and his team provided us with some pictures from that time. Here’s a picture of one of the Ultima Online server racks.

As I dug through the Dungeons & Dreamers yesterday constructing a draft of the Second Edition introduction, I was [...]]]> The Space Shuttle Atlantis touched down just a bit ago, marking the end of the Shuttle Space Age in America. Throughout my life, Americans have gone to space regularly. Now that is over.

As I dug through the Dungeons & Dreamers yesterday constructing a draft of the Second Edition introduction, I was struck by how intertwined space was with the computer game world.

SpaceWar!, the first computer game, was a recreation of sci-fi writer E.E. “Doc” Smith’s novels. The M.I.T. students, as described by Steven Levy in Hackers, went to great pains to create realistic physics reactions within the game. (Years later, id Software’s John Carmack would expend a tremendous amount of energy creating a real-time physics engine for Doom III.)

Just a few years later, Richard Garriott’s father – Owen Garriott – would briefly hold the record for longest time in orbit when he circled the earth for 60 days. Young Garriott, who came of age as his father rocketed into outer space and computers came into the nation’s consciousness, was changed forever by those experiences.

(Aside: Richard told us he’d always been annoyed when he asked his father what space was like. “It’s like being underwater,” he said. Years later, Richard would venture into space as part of the Russian space program. This past year, Richard and I met at the South by Southwest Interactive conference in Austin where he was launching his latest game company. I was hosting the event where he was competing. I asked him: “Was it like being underwater?” He looked at me, and laughed: “No.”)

In 2000, Carmack founded Armadillo Aerospace, a company competing in the Space X Prize competition. Since its inception, Carmack has spent $3.5 million pursuing the dream of building a low-orbit space craft.

***

I’ve long been a proponent of NASA and the manned-flight missions we’ve undertaken as a country. The feats of science and engineering are astounding. The research we’ve accumulated about the planet, the solar system, the galaxy, and the universe are immeasurable.

Most importantly, though, space is about what’s next? It’s the great unknown, the idea that keeps us on our toes, dreaming, and striving for something bigger than ourselves, and answers we may never find.

Space has inspired three generations of computer programmers (and countless others). Until today.

Now we must ask what’s next? for entirely different reasons.

That said, this particular version of the cover came out infinitely better than the first draft [...]]]> I was never much sold on the cover for our book. It looked too much like a business book (which it wasn’t) without any of the modern flair of say Tron. It seemed to be designed by committee.

That said, this particular version of the cover came out infinitely better than the first draft we received with our galley copies. Somewhere, buried in my dwindling stacks of books at home (I’m going digital), I have about 20 copies of “The Science Textbook” as I came to call the first cover.

Of course, The Science Textbook cover was a surprise when I received it. Imagine my horror when I tore open the box from Osborne/McGraw-Hill to see our labor of love packaged up as this instead.

I was on the phone with John within seconds,  screaming bloody murder. I was ready to walk away from the project right then and there. Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed and we made some progress.

Needless to say, I’m looking forward to having more control over the packaging for the Second Edition.

We spent a good deal of time traveling to QuakeCon and the The idea of professional computer gamer was in its nascent phase when John and I started writing the book.  Jonathan Wendall, better known as Fatal1ty, was making headlines, and Stevie Case was the new nerd pinup girl.

We spent a good deal of time traveling to QuakeCon and the Cyberathlete Professional League events to understand exactly how far computer game culture had come in just a few short decades. When the CPL received $45 million in sponsorship money from computer makers, it appeared as if Game Leagues would become big business.

They did not. But no matter. The culture of computer game worlds spread far and wide beyond the sponsored events of the early aughts.

However, this is the first game produced by Richard Garriott, the man who built the first commercially successful massively multi-player game.

Akalabeth would eventually morph into Ultima, launching a franchise of games that built — and then changed — the gaming landscape.

This is [...]]]> The first computer game was SpaceWar!, we all know that.

However, this is the first game produced by Richard Garriott, the man who built the first commercially successful massively multi-player game.

Akalabeth would eventually morph into Ultima, launching a franchise of games that built — and then changed — the gaming landscape.

This is the original packing. Long before the days of fancy boxes, high-tech graphics, and massive marketing budgets, computer game makers did this all by hand. The games were as much about your imagination (and the story conceptualized by the basic artwork) as they were about what happened in game.

In other words: it was a lot like Dungeons & Dragons.

As I was digging through my files, I came across this little gem, the map of some of the early Ultima games.

It’s been almost 10 years since we first started working on Dungeons & Dreamers, a fact that I hadn’t thought about until just now. Time flies. In the game world, not much has changed…and everything has changed.

The timing is right, and John + I decided upon a basic framework for the Second Edition [...]]]>

It’s been almost 10 years since we first started working on Dungeons & Dreamers, a fact that I hadn’t thought about until just now. Time flies. In the game world, not much has changed…and everything has changed.

The timing is right, and John + I decided upon a basic framework for the Second Edition of the book: a (Doughlas Adams’ inspired) Introduction, a New Chapter on the developments outside of the computer game industry, and a New Coda on what’s next in game communities.

Nothing too serious. Just some light fun, and a new eye on the history of games.

(And when I’m back in Muncie: I’ll finish recording the audio version of the book!)