One of the greatly under-rated creative thinkers of these past few decades - especially as his creation became buried and sullied by heaps of commercialism, Gary Gygax has left us.
Gygax started what would become a fundamental shift in youth-culture, one that resounds to this day in the now mainsteam world of the console wars.
The man who, with Dave Arneson, made Dungeons and Dragons gave something to us all that profoundly changed entertainment. Fun things were to be interactive, creative even, and that act of creation was the source of fun - not merely the means to it. Players lived in an imaginary place, committing imaginary acts of heroism - it was almost never committed to paper.
More for others than myself, Gygax defined youth - particularly male youth. He, more than any other figure, is responsible for the creation of an entire profession - game design. The idea that fun could be something designed, that having rules involved made things more fun not less fun is something so fundamental it’s hard to appreciate the shift in thinking D&D brought about.
Roleplaying games, as an entire genre are defined by D&D - it is the gold standard of rule systems to this day, countless of others since. The enduring success of D&D, let alone the explosion of the hobby gaming industry speaks to the power of this mans humble home entertainment.
Having attended Penny Arcade Expo, and been to countless local gaming, comic and sci-fi conventions one can’t deny the pervasiveness of Gygax creation - he holds the same power over the imaginations of nerds everywhere as Tolkein or (I’m sad to say) Rowling.
Many snobs and such will denigrate D&D as quaint derivative schlock made into a board game for pubescent males - and they might be right, but that is something that had never been done right before or better since.
I hope to see a great many industry leaders paying their respects - Blizzard, BioWare, WotC,Bethesda, White Wolf, Square, heck just about the entire gaming industry owes this guy.
It’s hard to think of the 70’s as history - but for an industry that regenerates every seven years - that’s eons ago.
May Pelor smile upon you Gary!