Richard Garfield vs. Gary Gygax

[Caspian Moon Prince]

I think "lurk more" is a legitimate reply when the answers to all your questions can be found by paying attention to the message boards.

Nah, actually it was fairly rude. That is a great way to keep posters around. When I first started (in 2ed days) I had no idea who Gary Gygax was beyond the fact he pretty much the creator of D&D (or at least the main person beyond it all). It took a while before I found out the full spectrum of what Gary has done when he set about creating D&D and sharing it with the world.

I re-read the orignal post and could find nothing beyond Sparxmith not having all the details right, and that is far from something to get rude over. People explained what occured in a very civil way, yet you rudely tell him to lurk. If people went through the trouble of thoroughly searching for an answer before posting, well..there wouldn't be that many posts.

 

[derverdammte]

If people went through the trouble of thoroughly searching for an answer before posting, well..there wouldn't be that many posts.

...or maybe there'd be a better signal-to-noise ratio in the posts that were left.

C'mon, "thoroughly searching"? You pop three words into Google, and there's the answer he was looking for. Besides that, I'm not even talking about going through old threads to see whether information's already covered. Searching is a pay only function, and these boards are too slow to do much digging. What I am saying is, if he's been regularly reading this board for a while, he should know better than to ask a question like that.

Edit: now with more carriage returns!

 

[Impeesa]

...some kid's card game?

Eh, the little kids play Yu-Gi-Oh. Magic caters to many crowds, but most of them are in a slightly higher age bracket. For example, the guy at this table, opposite the camera, is 22 and has earned a grand total of $330,000 in prizes playing Magic competitively.

--Impeesa--

 

[ecliptic]

I can't stand Gygax, hes arrogant and self-righteous.

 

[Dogbrain]

Wow, someone should lurk more.

Gary Gygax is most likely "revered" because he co-created an amazingly influential game--the RPG that basically every RPG since has been based on.

Wow, someone should read a question before answering it. Answer his second query: Why isn't R. Garfield idolized like E.G.G. Gygax?

 

[Caspian Moon Prince]

...or maybe there'd be a better signal-to-noise ratio in the posts that were left.

C'mon, "thoroughly searching"? You pop three words into Google, and there's the answer he was looking for. Besides that, I'm not even talking about going through old threads to see whether information's already covered. Searching is a pay only function, and these boards are too slow to do much digging. What I am saying is, if he's been regularly reading this board for a while, he should know better than to ask a question like that.

If it was that easy, I would never have to worry about another essay every again. Just to see how correct your google was. I've just gone to google and typed in Gary Gygax. The first link had nothing, nor did the second, nor the first few. Actually the first full page of links had very little that corresponded to anything sparxmith was referring to. So please next time, instead of being rude, have something that is beneficial to the topic at hand.

Now to answer the question at hand. Garfield is not as idolized as Gary mostly because of what people here have said. Besides a few conventions and the occasional interview or article, Richard Garfield has spent most of his time away from Magic and on other games. Gary pretty much was D&D in its early days and helped form much of what it has become.

 

[Dogbrain]

Lorraine is the former Mrs Gygax... 'nuff said?

Urh?

Not in the least. Lorraine is the heir to the Buck Rogers properties. She bought into the company after Gygax was shouldered out. Her basic attitude, which she explicitly stated, is that creativity and good design were irrelevant to game manufacture--it was just like making cheap knock-off T-shirts. Likewise, she made it quite plain that gamers and game designers were not her "social equals"--her own term.

She only saw TSR as a way to grind out lots of product at as low a margin and as fast as possible, to con stupid gamers (who were her inferiors) out of their money. Love or hate WoTC, at least the folks running that particular Hasbro division actually PLAY the game.

 

[Acid_crash]

I don't understand the idol worshipping that Gary gets either. So, he wrote some books, big deal. And yes, he did put rpg on the map, but if not him then somebody else probably would have.

 

[sparxmith]

My notions

A quick response to something:

Every impression I got about GG and the history of D&D, I got from the boards here at enworld. I post nowhere else, in fact LURK nowhere else. All of what I stated, I took, or rather mistook, from somebody's post here on enworld. As far as libeling GG, my apologies. I had not intentions of it. (Though, I wonder how asking a question can be construed as libel.)

To those who came to my defense, Thanks.

Oh, and in combat, I believe that the power scale of Magic trumps the power scale of D&D, so even if GG were the most high deity in D&D, Richard Garfield would probably be more powerful. But that just my opinion, I could be wrong.

In the words of Merric,

Cheers!

 

[Henry]

FIRST THINGS FIRST: Der Verdammte, It's a pleasure to see you on the boards! I haven't seen my favorite 3E scooper for quite a while until recently. I hope you're well!

Second, That did come off a little rude, whether intentional or not.

Sparx, you asked an honest question, and it deserved an honest answer. Everybody's got the history part covered, but your question, "Why is Gary so respected by lots of loder gamers," deserves further attention.

Finally, if ANYONE needs a moderator for the time being, we've got all our E-mail addresses placed in a sticky thread at the top of the Meta forum. Anyone needing a mod please feel free to e-mail us!