The Golden Age of Gaming

[Wil]

As a formalized "hobby", tabletop roleplaying is still fairly new. And it emerged just ahead of the information revolution - had it been kick started 10 years later, tabletop roleplaying may have never advanced beyond the little staple-bound booklet phase because computer games would have supplanted it completely.

So I'd say that it may not be so much a golden age, but a turning point. If you look at the migration of game designers into the video game development field, as well as video game developers that are tabletop gamers, and then these migrated video game developers put their attention back to tabletop games, you can see that a circular pattern is developing between video and tabletop games. The influences have always been there, but now they're getting stronger.

The real "golden age" has yet to come, as more youngsters who are born in an age where video games are all they've known discover tabletop rpgs. I don't think that video games will supplant tabletop games, but the integration and exchange of ideas between the two will continue to get stronger. This will guarantee that tabletop games never really go away completely, expecially as new technologies become available to make the tabletop gaming experience better and in some ways it will be difficult to distinguish between the electronic version of a game and the regular pen-and-paper variety. To me, that would be a "golden age".

 

[freebfrost]

When I first started gaming back in 1980, I had a boxed set and a module. We made up slews of characters who got killed off in the Caves of Chaos, and we had a great time doing it. It was beyond fun!

As the 80s progressed, we were able to buy some more books, a few more modules, and heard about this Dragon Magazine thing. We adventured in the Halls of the Giants, killed Lolth, and survived the Tomb of Horrors. It was still hugely fun.

With the 90s, my group went off to college, where our funds went to beer and pizza instead of gaming, but a few of us still purchased some of the many settings during that time. We played, just not as often, but with the advent of 2nd edition and the proliferation of rules, it got bogged down and wasn't quite as much fun. And then TSR folded, and we entered the dark ages.

Now it's the 00s and we have had two cohesive rule sets by WotC. We have seen the release of the OGL and SRD, and numerous publishers making compliant D&D product.

We have books that TSR would not touch. Devils and demons returned, and now we have books dealing with extreme evil, extreme good, and even... *gasp* sex!

I can get settings based on american history, or set in future space, or in modern times. All using the same basic ruleset. I can easily take my superhero characters and have them adventure in the Forgotten Realms fighting Cthulhu.

I have mapping software, grids, spell effect templates, and can use DLP projectors to display my map.

There are tons of sites (EnWorld) where I can go for advice, skim ideas, and just gain better knowledge of the game.

I can get gem dice, solid dice, classic dice, big dice, stone dice, dice made from meteors, plush dice.

There is software to generate characters, make maps, track combat, keep my notes organized.

In the old days, I was happy to get my Dragon Magazine copy of the Deck of Many Things. Now I can buy a card game to use in my taverns.

Cheap plastic miniatures! How cool is that?

We can go to GenCon, or any of a hundred different cons and meet fellow gamers. Or just meet them online to form friendships or gaming groups.

I can go on eBay, or to Noble Knights or Dragontrove, and find old supplements that I missed to add to my collection.

You can play D&D games on your home console, or your PC, or soon with others online in a MMORPG.

If this isn't the Golden Age, I can't wait to see what comes next, because today gaming is certainly more accessible, more prolific, and more mainstream than before.

Oh, and it's more fun than ever before too!

 

[painandgreed]

I would say that right now, we're probably in what will be considered the Silver Age of gaming. It's a good time and gaming may be doing better than ever, but most of what is coming out is just a rehash of what was earlier, 3.x version of this, 4th edition of that, and System 2.0 for another.

 

[JamesDJarvis]

pretty much what i'd say too.
edit: we will foreverafter being living in the shadow of the real age of gaming. never again achieving even a small part of that former glory. we can only hope to come close.

I'd say mid seventies to early/mid 80's. There were host of new games on the market, different games. There were wargames, roleplaying, miniatures games, micro-games, mini-games, new forms of strategy games, handheld electronic games, video games, computer games and a lot of them were exploring new ground or introducing actual innovation in an area already explored by games.

We have seen CCGs, first person shooters and mmorpgs since that era and all of them really explore areas that had been covered time and again for decades in other gaming forms. Rpgs have seen attempts at innovation and aside from "storytelling games" nothing else has really stuck in the rpg field and we are exploring essentially the same ground again and again.

 

[The Shaman]

I would say that right now, we're probably in what will be considered the Silver Age of gaming. It's a good time and gaming may be doing better than ever, but most of what is coming out is just a rehash of what was earlier, 3.x version of this, 4th edition of that, and System 2.0 for another.

Spot on.

 

[loki44]

Late 70's - early 80's. Nothing else can even compare.

Agreed. To me a "Golden Age" hearkens back to a semi-romanticized earlier time. This is when the groundwork was laid, everything was fresh and exciting. There may be a larger number of RPGers now, but the game was definitely more in the public consciousness back then. The 2e era was more of a Gilded Age, with all of the wonderful and varied settings that came out. Not sure what "Age" we're in now. I think it is difficult to define a current time without the benefit of hindsight and reflection.

 

[diaglo]

Not sure what "Age" we're in now.

ask me Sunday. i'll tell you all you want to hear and more.

 

[gamecat]

IMO the Golden Age of roleplaying was the 1980's (the best decade ever anyway. ). The game may not have been as popular or populous as it is now but whenever I think back to the glory days of AD&D its that time that I think of.

Two good things came out of the eighties:

the 1984 300Zx

Brandon Westenberger

The rest, well, was a flock of seagulls.

 

[Altalazar]

The first golden age of gaming was the late 70s, early 80s.

There was a minor surge for me with 2nd Ed, though that may have been more personal than anything else, because then was when I was in college and finally got the chance to do a lot of regular, serious gaming.

The second golden age of gaming started, I think, with the buildup to and release of 3rd Edition.

But the thing is, we'll need more great people to sacrifice to create a third golden age.

 

[Teflon Billy]

After judging the Enies sumissions for two years running, Crothian and I began referring to this--about the last two year til now--as the "golden Age of Gaming"

What we were referring to of course was the quality of products being produced. I mean, I look back at the "ENnies: year one" and I remember being shocked and amazed at the sheer, unmitigated quality of Green Ronin's Legions of Hell. I thought it was maybe one of the best supplements I had ever read.

Compared to the stuff most of the 3rd party publishers (and Green Ronin in particular) have produced since, well, it doesn't hold a candle. I was looking it over last week and realized just how quaint it seems compared to, say, Mutants and Masterminds 2.0.

If, by golden age, you are talking about something other than the games being produced, well I couldn't really tell you if things are better or worse.

A few Brick and Mortar Game Stores closed locally, but the King Ass Grandaddy of them all (Imperial Hobbies) is not only still going strong, but has expanded, while one of the best gaming stores I've ever, ever seen (Drexoll Games) quietly opened their doors, worked hard at building a gaming community, and has by all accounts, been absolutely thriving ever since.

So I'd say that--in Vancouver at least--it's still a viable business to be in if you know what you're doing and treat it as a business.

As for gamers themselves, I almost literally couldn't tell you a thing. I've been gaming with about the same 30-ish people for years now. I don't really interact with "the community" at all, and--with the dissolution of CONspiracy--Gen Con is really the only convention I attend.

But I feel like its a good time to be a gamer. I'm certainly enjoying it more than ever.

I guess that sounds pretty much like a Golden Age to me