[gameprogrammer] Re: (long) Learning from the past?
- From: Bob Pendleton <bob@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: Gameprogrammer Mailing List <gameprogrammer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 03 Mar 2005 11:06:07 -0600
On Wed, 2005-03-02 at 23:22 +0000, Chris Schnurr wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> During a clear out recently, I came across this article, and thought I
> would share it. Although not written for the games programming market
> (there was none at the time, IIRC), I shall let its relevance speak for
> itself.
>
> Resist the temptation of looking for the cited date until you have read the
> quote...!
>
> "Two or three years ago the games market hit its first saturation level.
> The level at which of frequency of games production exceeds the digestive
> capacity of the buyer. Since buying has not itself abated, there must be
> many collections containing games which have been given no more than a
> cursory examination (if the boxes have been opened at all); in-depth study
> of a particular game is a thing of the past except for those self
> disciplined enough to resist the temptation of the bewildering array of new
> games in favour of advancing their knowledge and experience of a
> well-played favourite. Some would argue that games manufacturers have an
> obligation to limit their outputs and to ensure that each new product has
> been subjected to careful evaluation, otherwise there is a good chance that
> the market will be flooded with mediocrity and the chance of the isolated
> classic gaining deserved recognition will be small - not a good
> combination of circumstances for manufacturers and buyers alike. To those
> who argue in this way, games manufacturers should be dedicated, purposeful
> people who perceive the needs of the hobby as transcending their own need
> to survive, who resolutely ignore the bandwagon in the interests of the
> art. Unfortunately, an unrealistic expectation."
>
> Don Turnbull, reviewing role playing game (remember those? with real dice
> and paper?) 'Traveller', White Dwarf Issue 6, Apr/May 1978
>
> Does it still hold true?
>
> C
>
>
Good question. My first, rather startled reaction, was to remember that
it was right around '78 when I stopped playing pencil&paper games. I
still have a copy of the original Traveller, copyright 1977, on my book
shelf. I bought the game, read the manuals, and never even considered
playing it. The pencil and paper games just got to the level where the
amount of time needed to set up a game, and play it, was just too much.
Playing an RPG started out as a fun diversion, became a hobby, and then
turned into a full time life style.
One of my kids is an avid pencil&paper RPG player. He and his friends
were strict white wolf gamers until my son started dating a woman whose
family are D&D players. So it took a relationship to get him to make the
time and effort commitment needed to learn a new gaming system.
Bob Pendleton
>
>
>
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