GameSpy: Gary Gygax Interview - Part I (original) (raw)
Interviews
By Allen Rausch | Aug 15, 2004
GameSpy sits down with the father of Dungeons & Dragons to discuss the creation of the game and his long gaming career.
Ernest Gary Gygax was born on July 27, 1938 in Chicago Illinois. The son of German Immigrants, he began playing games at the age five, starting with card games and then chess. First taught to play by his mother, his discovery of fantasy and science fiction through the works of pulp authors such as Jack Vance and Robert E. Howard would ignite in him twin obsessions that have defined his life from that point onward -- fantasy and gaming. Those loves would eventually combine in the creation of Dungeons & Dragons, the father of role-playing games.
Since creating D&D, Gygax's life has been a whirlwind of activity. In addition to his work with TSR where he was responsible for, among other things, a hit cartoon series on CBS, he's also launched two other gaming systems, Dangerous Journeys and Lejendary Adventures, as well as his latest project, Gygaxian World Builders.
Since suffering a mild stroke on May 4 of this year, Gygax has entered semi-retirement, although he plans at least one major project after his recovery is complete. On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the release of Dungeons & Dragons, GameSpy was privileged to sit down with him and discuss his remarkable career in the gaming industry.
In today's installment, Gary talks about his early days of gaming, developing Dungeons & Dragons, the game's initial success, and how he felt during the early '80s controversy when people accused the game of corrupting their children.
GameSpy: Gaming fans were upset a few months ago when we heard that you had had a stroke. How is your health now?
Gary Gygax: I feel pretty good now. I just can't exert myself too much. I'm still too overweight, though. I shouldn't even be smoking these cigars. I also quit smoking a pack of camels a day.
GameSpy: Well, that should help.
Gygax: After fifty years, it was a bummer. I love to smoke.
GameSpy: I'd bet you love to live even more.
Gygax: [Laughs] Probably so, probably so.
GameSpy: Have you been a gamer your entire life?
Gygax: Yeah, I started playing cards when I was five and chess when I was six. My mother showed me how to play because I was bored.
GameSpy: And you've been playing games of one sort or another ever since?
Gygax: Absolutely.