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<blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 8962365" data-attributes="member: 82106">As with many (most?) of the terms which arose in the '70s and '80s pretty much all evidence of their early use has vanished. There might have been uses in BBSes and such back in the '80s of some terms, but VERY little of that era survives today. Technically USENET started in 1980, but relatively few people had access before the mid-90s. In any case there are a lot of commonly used terms today which I am pretty certain were in circulation back then, but for which no documentation exists even in the '90s. Obviously 'GDS' dates things back that far, but I do not think those terms were pulled out of thin air. OTOH I don't think they were so much applied to GAMES in the early days as to ELEMENTS of games. Certainly at the very least it was understood that there was a game, and that making it playable was in contrast to a degree with making it realistic. In fact to quote from the 1e DMG:&quot; Of the two approaches tohobby games today, one is best defined as the realism-simulation schooland the other as the game school. AD&amp;D is assuredly on adherent of thelatter school. It does not stress any realism (in the author’s opinion anabsurd effort at best considering the topic!). It does little to attempt tosimulate anything either.&quot;--Page 9 AD&amp;D DMGSo, I guess that kinda clinches it really, c1978 Gygax was using these terms in essentially their modern form. BTW, I have always loved Gary's short sentences.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="AbdulAlhazred, post: 8962365, member: 82106"] As with many (most?) of the terms which arose in the '70s and '80s pretty much all evidence of their early use has vanished. There might have been uses in BBSes and such back in the '80s of some terms, but VERY little of that era survives today. Technically USENET started in 1980, but relatively few people had access before the mid-90s. In any case there are a lot of commonly used terms today which I am pretty certain were in circulation back then, but for which no documentation exists even in the '90s. Obviously 'GDS' dates things back that far, but I do not think those terms were pulled out of thin air. OTOH I don't think they were so much applied to GAMES in the early days as to ELEMENTS of games. Certainly at the very least it was understood that there was a game, and that making it playable was in contrast to a degree with making it realistic. In fact to quote from the 1e DMG: " Of the two approaches to hobby games today, one is best defined as the realism-simulation school and the other as the game school. [B]AD&D[/B] is assuredly on adherent of the latter school. It does not stress any realism (in the author’s opinion an absurd effort at best considering the topic!). It does little to attempt to simulate anything either." --Page 9 AD&D DMG So, I guess that kinda clinches it really, c1978 Gygax was using these terms in essentially their modern form. BTW, I have always loved Gary's short sentences. [/QUOTE]

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