The Golden Age of Gaming

[Thornir Alekeg]

I would say that this is the Electrum Age of gaming, but electrum has been removed from the core rules.

The selection, sophistication and general quality of games available right now is a good reason to believe that it is in fact a golden age for gamers.

The fact that I don't have the time to devote to gaming (or currently a gaming group), that I once did leaves my pining for my personal golden age of gaming of the 1980s.

 

[painandgreed]

OK. So, um, what does "Golden Age" mean in this context?

The context that I'm putting it in is similar to that of comic books. the golden age of comic books was the period in which there was a large boom in growth of the industry as well as the laying down of the foundations for that industry. For comics, it started with the arrival of Superman and continued through the 30's and 40's as comics grew in popularity and branched out into various genres, one of the last being the horror comic which caused backlash against them and cripled the industry. Then came the silver age of comics where the industry cut back and went with what worked, the superhero.

In this context, and that gaming refers to tabletop RPGs and maybe some other games including wargames, I would say that the Golden Age would start with the release of one of the versions of D&D. Some would probably consider OD&D as it was the first but I'd probably go with the original blue box set as that seems to be what actually caught on. Some might consider AD&D as the start. It would continue through the various games and companies like Champions, Traveller, Palladium and their games, Steve Jackson with Illuminati and Car Wars. The list of classic games could go on and on and I would probably consider it to continue till the early 90's with the release of Vampire or perhaps even Magic considering how much you want to consider non-RPGs.

After that, you had the collapse of TSR as well as other game companies and those that are left largely have settled down to what works, namely d20 and D&D plus a few other major game systems like GURPS, Palladium and WoD. I would consider this the Silver Age of games. They have hit their plateau in growth and creativity but are formig a firm fondation for what will follow. Eventually, things will change enough to make an arguement for the end of the Silver Age and the begining of Bronze or some other age and so forth until the entire period of time is far bac enough to all be grouped into one large period and only people who study the subject will argue such things as when the Golden Age was.

 

[Bullgrit]

the period in which there was a large boom in growth of the industry as well as the laying down of the foundations for that industry

This would be early 80s. ~1981.

We're probably now in a Renaissance: A revival of intellectual or artistic achievement and vigor.

Bullgrit

 

[diaglo]

Might I suggest sacrificing Rel?

nah, we need to sacrifice DM_whateverhisnamewas whose girlfriend was into Golden events.

 

[Teflon Billy]

nah, we need to sacrifice DM_whateverhisnamewas whose girlfriend was into Golden events.

Doesn't meet the requirements (emphasis mine)...

[bq]...we'll need more great people to sacrifice to create a third golden age...[/bq]

 

[Glyfair]

When was it? Or is it right now? Or yet to come?

The Golden Age was definitely the late 70's, early 80's. Roleplaying was still new and there were many, many choices available for those who wanted to play. You could go to any gaming store and find roleplaying games going on, often with openings where you could drop in.

I'd argue this is the silver age, but I could see an argument for the bronze age (it's definitely the silver age for D&D). The innocence is gone, and people spend more time discussing and arguing over technical issues, rather than just having fun.

Also, it's much less in the public eye than it was in the 80's. Perhaps as many people are playing (I can see it being lower or higher than the 80's), but they are mostly playing in private areas, away from the public view.

 

[Glyfair]

After that, you had the collapse of TSR as well as other game companies and those that are left largely have settled down to what works, namely d20 and D&D plus a few other major game systems like GURPS, Palladium and WoD.

Thinking about it, I'd say the last days of TSR up to the first products WotC produced for D&D could probably be considered the Dark Age of roleplaying.

 

[painandgreed]

Thinking about it, I'd say the last days of TSR up to the first products WotC produced for D&D could probably be considered the Dark Age of roleplaying.

It seems that many would consider the "last days" of TSR to be a period of several years.

 

[Glyfair]

It seems that many would consider the "last days" of TSR to be a period of several years.

I was long gone from D&D at that point, so I personally couldn't point to any specific time I'd consider it. Indeed, at the end of TSR I was almost completely out of roleplaying, only dropping into the occasional LARP or one-off scenario. It took the combination of Hero Wars and D&D 3E to get me back to roleplaying.

 

[gamecat]

I gather the "golden age" to be the initial explosion of d20 publishers when the OGL/D20 System License first came to light.