It’s time for the 4th episode of The GeekBits Podcast! We’re going to dive into how RPGs shaped computer games in the 1970s all the way into the 1990s!
How RPGs Shaped Computer Games
Many nerds who grew up in the 1970s or 1980s played a role-playing game called Dungeons & Dragons. A game that paved the way for many imitations and variants. When computers starting hitting the scene, people quickly began adapting these role playing games to these computer platforms. Games like Richard Garriotts’s Akalbeth and then his Ultima series of games were huge hits!
Many also remember the D&D scare pushed by Christian news outlets such as The 700 Club claiming these games were satanic and ultimately caused children to go mad and kill people. We were personally affected by this when our father wouldn’t let us play the copy of Ultima 4 we had just purchased hours earlier because we said the one simple word “character” which made him think the game was D&D (which it sorta was!!).
How RPGs shaped video games goes from the basic ASCII or text adventure, all the way to modern video games such as WoW or Skyrim.
We talk about visiting the Collector’s Corner at Forum 303 Mall in Arlington and looking at all of the cool tabletop games. Battletech of course being the one that appealed to Mike, while the more fantasy medieval worlds appealed to Craig. David quickly lets Craig know he thinks those games are b-o-r-i-n-g. David is now dead to Craig!
Mike took a break from gaming after High School and didn’t return to the fantasy RPGs until World of Warcraft.