The Evolution of Fantasy Role-Playing Games - Michael J. Tresca [10]
As Ryan Dancey indicated in the survey, “It is clear that female gamers constitute a significant portion of the hobby gaming audience; essentially a fifth of the total market. This represents a total population of several million active female hobby gamers. However, females, as a group, spend less than males on the hobby” (2000).
The term “girl gamer” is slowly being taken back by women as a badge of pride. As other forms of fantasy gaming developed, many of the barriers that discouraged females from playing have fallen away. Online games are the most promising change of the gamer landscape. We can only hope that a more equally balanced gaming population will continue to transform the pen-andpaper role-playing culture as well.
Evolution of My Fantasy Gaming Experience
The evolution of fantasy gaming took a huge leap forward in 1971, when Gary Gygax translated the epic warfare that took place in The Lord of the Rings into wargame rules through Chainmail. The medieval miniatures wargame had it all: hobbits and elves, wizards and warriors. As befitting the racial preferences of The Lord of the Rings, troop types were identified primarily by race. There was no suggestion that the players inhabit the role of their characters, however (Mona 2007:26).
It wasn’t until 1974 that the real details of each squad were fleshed out. With the advent of the pen-and-paper role-playing game Dungeons &Dragons, players could take the role of individuals. No longer were they a faceless army of elves— they were members of Fellowships on their own quests, just like Legolas, Gimli, and Frodo. Their quests were primarily focused on dungeon delving, a nod to the journey through the Mines of Moria, the first adventuring dungeon filled with monsters to slay, such as cave trolls, orcs, goblins, and Balrogs. It was only fitting that the person who played all of the opponents was the Dungeon Master (DM). This role required quite a bit of responsibility and organization, since the DM handled all the other roles that weren’t performed by other players.
I was introduced to Dungeons & Dragons in elementary school and had been playing it for some time before I became acquainted with The Lord of the Rings. Much to my surprise, all the fantasy tropes were there. Further research unearthed that they were officially present in Dungeons & Dragons until the Tolkien estate asked TSR to remove the copyrighted names of Balrogs and hobbits. The Lord of the Rings series helped me write three book reports in junior high. (Of course, The Lord of the Rings isn’t technically a trilogy—it’s actually six volumes spread amongst three books.)
I started playing Dungeons & Dragons with the “red box” basic set. My mother helped me play the very first game. Once I got the hang of it, I gathered up my neighbors (Kenny, Kevin, and George), and with me in the role of Dungeon Master, we were off.
My aunt Vickie, not understanding the difference between Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and Basic Dungeons & Dragons, bought me all the hardcover books. I read them in wonder, hoping one day to be able to advance to, well, advanced.
By the time I graduated from elementary school, I had access to a larger pool of players. The group increased to four: two Jasons, Doug, and Oren. By the time I reached high school, the group grew larger: Rob, Jeremy, Kurt, Bill, Joe and others who came and went. We played every weekend for hours, sometimes twice a weekend, ignorant that Dungeons & Dragons was primarily popular with college kids. We played two entire campaigns, one using the basic edition rules and one using the first edition rules, before I graduated high school.
With the advent of computers, text-based games like ADVENT and