

Gary Gygax, ‘Father of D&D,’ Dies at 69 - bootload
http://blog.wired.com/underwire/2008/03/report-gary-gyg.html

======
anewaccountname
I wish we could manage to save things like this for reddit; this guy wasn't
even tangentially involved in SEOing anyones websites and he hardly had any
thoughts on improving click-through.

~~~
SwellJoe
You're joking, of course...but I can't help but point out that the Dungeons
and Dragons empire has been very successful, and has influenced many of the
biggest software makers in the world over the years (and I shouldn't need to
point out that the most profitable video game in history is a direct
descendant of D&D).

~~~
anewaccountname
World of Warcraft is a _direct_ descendant of D&D? Someone's going to want
some royalties.

~~~
SwellJoe
Perhaps we have a different definitions of "direct descendant" in this
context. I don't see how the similarities, and thus the philosophical lineage,
could be any more clear or direct than it is, without actually being made by
the folks who made Dungeons and Dragons. I don't really care to argue
semantics. The influence is obvious and inarguable, whether you wish to call
it descent or something else.

------
suboptimal
I guess D&D falls into the "do your own thing" category of entrepreneurship.
It may have been inspired by an existing product (war games), but ultimately
became a new type of game and had no guarantee of an eventual payoff.

BTW is anyone else a bit surprised by the light tone of the articles about
Gygax's death? All the headlines I see seem to be jokes, and I wonder if
that's because he was a geek and not, for example, an athlete or musician with
"devastated" fans. [Just a somewhat cynical observation.]

------
xirium
From the comments: I guess he failed his saving throw.

~~~
joeguilmette
this is what critical failure looks like.

