Interview Matt Chat 244: Robert Sirotek on the Origins of Sir-Tech

[Abelian]

Robert claims that Wizardry was the first boxed game ever. I wonder if that's really true.

He's joined by Richard Garriott, Joel Billing and half of the active developers at the time on that claim...

JudasIscariot Wow, now that's old. A relic from EA's early "rockstar age". What's next, M.U.L.E.?

Digital Antiquarian articles:
http://www.filfre.net/2013/08/seven-cities-of-gold/
http://www.filfre.net/2013/02/dan-bunten-and-m-u-l-e/

So I was reading the M.U.L.E. article you linked and found this:

Legend has it that Wheeler Dealers was the first computer game ever sold in a box, a move necessitated by the inclusion of the hardware gadget. However, such a claim is difficult to substantiate, as other games, such as Temple of Apshai and Microsoft Adventure, were also beginning to appear in boxes in the same time frame.

According to wiki, Wheeler Dealers was released in 1978, so it might have beat Origin and Sir-Tech.

 

[HobGoblin42]

According to wiki, Wheeler Dealers was released in 1978, so it might have beat Origin and Sir-Tech.

Yeah, Wheeler Dealers was released as cardboard box in 1978, but it sold extremely low numbers (<60). So, I am not sure if those boxes were handmade, I guess so. Difficult to say if sales at those low numbers really count here.

 

[Davaris]

OD&D did not call itself a "role playering game." The box cover says "rules for fantastic medieval wargames." The text itself refers to choosing a "role" as a combination of race and class: "players must decide what role they will play in the campaign, human or otherwise, fighter, cleric, or magic-user." What I can't figure out is who called this activity "role playing" first. It's misleading because it suggests that the player is an actor in a story, which is not what OD&D was actually about. It was just a game, and people played to win. Ron Edwards explained that the rules were revised and scattering among publications, so a lot of people made it up as they went, playing for make believe instead of to win. AD&D was Gary Gygax's response to this, which was not received well by those who were told they were playing it wrong.

First came the frustrated actors, now Vogel's doing romance. Thin end of the wedge, man. Thin end of the wedge.

War games did not call themselves war games they were simulations of war games.

So CRPGs as we know them should actually be called MICROCOMPUTER SIMLUATIONS OF SIMULATIONS or MSSes for short.

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