Gary Gygax, co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons, passed away recently at age 69. This has been generally regarded as a fairly tragic event, except for this guy, who pretty much goes off on Gygax and D&D in general.
I don't have much of significance to say that hasn't already been said, but it has been such an integral part of my life that I do feel it bears comment.
I don't personally lionize Gygax as the creator of all fantasy or the perfector of role-playing as a genre. I have never really believed that the "first guy" to make a concept successful is necessarily either the true innovator, nor irreplacable. Look at the history of people like the Wright Brothers or Henry Ford and you'll see what I mean. Sometimes it's just a matter of hitting the timing right, or sometimes its inventing or implementing something else; something seemingly secondary; that makes the new concept or idea the real success.
I also certainly do not make Gygax out to be some kind of moral poison. Saying that Gygax is somehow to blame for the moral failures of our world because its fun to throw our usual morals to the wind and hack up a bunch of orcs and steal their juicy booty is just silly. It's a game, people. If I've said it once, I've said it a million times... it's a game. If you cannot see that doing that in real life would be a problem, than you have no business walking free on this planet, let alone being allowed to play potentially violent games. Gygax has spent his life being blamed for people's foolish actions and activities, though, so I see no real reason why this would stop now.
I really can't see making Gygax out to be some kind of pariah to role playing games and fantasy either. Some would harken him and his creation to a Microsoft of the RPG world. This gigantic juggernaught that crushed everything that would dare compete. This is patently foolish. If anything, D&D was crushed under its own issues and was well into its death throes before Wizards of the Coast saw fit to pick up TSR in a sort of "Child saves the grandfather from death" kind of arrangement. Since Wizards is a fine example of a company that likely was spawned directly from inspirations of D&D, and in the end was all that saved D&D's ass... well, you figure it out. I shouldn't have to draw you a picture.
Still, there it is and there it remains. Gary's creation (co-creator, yes, but for the sake of simplicity, we'll call it his). Since being revitalized and essentially re-written from scratch, D&D continues to be a significant player in the RPG world and remains a significant influence in so many things that we deal with today.
For my part, and I believe for most people who consider Gary's passing a sad event, that is where the loss is truly felt.
