Caught this link over at Akratic Wizardry: "How Dungeons & Dragons Changed My Life".
Its a pretty insightful article by a writer who played voraciously in the early 80's, abandoned it, then rediscovered it when life settled down again, a story I suspect mirrors those of a lot of folks.
As the author puts it:
"Pure and simple, for many, D&D represents a lost age: It was an individualized, user-driven, DIY, human-scaled creative space separate from the world of adults and the intrusion of corporate forces. As Allison rightly noted, D&D recalls that day "before orcs and wookiees were the intellectual property of vast transmedia corporations." Back when you had lots more free time than money --- before girlfriends, job, kids. Life. But it also reminds me of a part of my creative imagination that I lost touch with as well."
Read the rest here.
Fun article. I read his book a while back and enjoyed it. It is, indeed, a generational revival.
ReplyDeleteI read it as well and you pulled key quote.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link. Great article.
ReplyDeleteI just finished reading Ethan Gilsdorf's book "Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks." It's a good look at geek culture around the world: from playing D&D in Lake Geneva and meeting some of the old TSR warhorses, to attending an SCA war, seeing a Harry Potter-inspired punk rock band, LARPing, touring New Zealand in a quest to discover Middle Earth, and more.
ReplyDeleteAnnoyingly, the author always feels too self conscious to let himself really enjoy these activities. He remains too tied up in the fear of being branded a "geek" and that always felt like a divide between him and the folks he interviewed, gamed, adventured, and partied with. He readily admits this is a fault with himself, not with geeks at large.