Gary Gygax died today

For those who may not know, Gary Gygax was one of the creators the the Role Playing Game (RPG) “Dungeons & Dragons”.

If you play any sort of video game that involves people fighting each other, the villains taunting you, attacks by minions that lead up to a “Boss fight”, please give a moment of silent respect for this man. These concepts evolved from tabletop, paper and pencil, polyhedral dice rolling RPG’s of which D&D was the first.

The man may not have been a world leader, or a spiritual icon, but he created a way for us to share our imaginations, our dreams, each other’s company and chance to behave as the hero’s that we always hoped that we’d be. If only for a few hours at a time.

I’ve spent many hours in the last 27 years engaged in that form or ‘recreation’. A form of play that teaches teamwork, cooperation, communication, standing up for what you believe and self worth. All of the ideals that we claim, as a society, to hold in high esteem. Yes, you learn the same things if you play team sports, but not all of us have the talent for that endeavor. Most of us, however, have an imagination.

I remember when a friend of mine asked me to join a game (1st Edition D&D) about seven years ago that she was running for her daughter (Kat) and nephew (Kacy) who were around 10 years old at the time. They were confronted by a town guard who was questioning them. Their first reaction, being children of the Poke’mon age was “We attack and chop off his head!”. So we explained that the guard was a higher level and that they would probably lose a confrontation. They determined that since there was two of them and only one of him, that they could succeed. We then mentioned that he was the town guard and that his job was like that of a modern policeman. We asked what would happen if someone attacked a policeman. I remember Kat’s response. Her eyes got wide and she exclaimed “That would be bad!”. They decided to talk to him, instead. I’ve been privileged to watch them grow into caring, creative, expressive young people over the years, both at and away from the gaming table.

So, from this old gamer, nerd and professional geek, thank you, Mr, Gygax.