Entrevista a Gary Gygax:

Gary Gygax

Warrior talks violent video games, books, and D&D with the fabled Gary Gygax, co-creator and mastermind behind Dungeons & Dragons.

By - John Keefer (gamespy)

GameSpy: What do you think about computer games in general and what they've done to role-playing?

Gary Gygax: Remember I am a gamer, not just the guy who authored the first RPG. I really love almost all games, and that included computer games. As I have mentioned before, I stay well away from computer games these days for that very reason. With so much creative work before me, I must. Should I begin playing a computer game, likely it will captivate me, and there goes a week or maybe a month of productivity down the drain...

As to what computer games have done to role-playing, virtually nothing. The so-called CRPG isn't role-playing. To whom does one role-play in such an exercise? However, I like what is now offered as a CRPG, and know that as AI improves, these games *will* involve actual role-play.

Do I think that they have caused any "harm" to the paper RPG? Only in a very minor way--competition for dollars and playing time. In my opinion the CRPGs have more than made up for this by exposing the RPG form to more people, and kept the interest in the RPG alive by providing a vehicle for play to those not able to get together with others for group play.

GameSpy: Anyone who makes CRPGs who doesn't acknowledge a debt -- personal or professional -- to you and Dave Arneson is fooling himself. What do you think about having created this multi-billion dollar business?

Gary Gygax: What an honor to have had a part in the creation of a new game form! It is very difficult for me to put into words, but of course it is a great feeling to see what has happened because of what I did ... out of love of games. When I see all that has developed over the quarter-century, since the original D&D game was published, I just have to smile. So many people having so much enjoyment, and so many earning their livelihood doing what they love.

Back in 1970 when I left my insurance job to become a game designer and author, it was because of a resolve to make a career out of what I wanted to do. So, having started an industry, it is really wonderful to me to see so many others able to realize the same dream I had way back then.

GameSpy: When I interviewed you some years back at a fantasy fair in Atlanta in the early '90s, violence in games was big topic then, with role-playing getting bashed as usual. Well, the topic is back in the news again. What do you think of violence in games today and its effect on society?

Gary Gygax: The interview was at DragonCon, I believe. I say now pretty much what I said then: The flap about "violence" in games is utter rubbish. First, the so-called violence is imaginary, not real. Second, mankind's entire history is one of extreme violence, being no worse now than it was long before the vehicles accused of promoting violence were dreamed of. Third, studies done in regards to violent anti-social behavior comparing game players to the average population seem to prove rather decisively that gamers are far less likely to commit crimes than are those who do not play such games.

It seems unquestionable that humans are by nature a violent and aggressive species. So, if those tendencies are sublimated, acted out in games, it is beneficial, not harmful, no?

While I am not a mental health professional, from what I have seen published from such persons, the vast majority seem to hold that the young people of normal sort who play RPGs are not harmed in any way, are likely to benefit from the activity.

In this same vein, I must say that I get several e-mails each week from people thanking me for creating the D&D game. In general, these communications note how much fun play was brought to the writer's early years, how friendships of the lasting sort were thus formed, how the game encouraged reading and thinking, assisted in scholastic excellence, overcame various personal impediments (from shyness to dyslexia), and in all helped the individual to attain creative and/or career goals. You bet these missives make me feel good!

On the negative side I have received perhaps a half-dozen communications over the past 20 years from persons blaming the game, and me, for some difficulties they experiences. Usually, though, such letters end by informing me that religion has saved them. That too is heartening.