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In my post of last week about history students not knowing the words 'despotic' or tyrant', one thing that came out in the comments was the number of people who'd first encountered governmental types in the first edition AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide. Concepts like Theocracy, Gerontocracy, and Oligarchy were covered and I certainly learned what they were from obsessively reading it.
The first edition of AD&D was crammed with ideas and facts which weren't really relevant to the game itself but which Gary Gygax plainly thought were interesting and stuck in simply because he could, and I learned a lot from it. From the DMG I learned governmental types and aristocratic titles from around the world, nautical terms and ships rigging, and the names and purposes of different bits of castles. From the Monster Manual and Dieties and Demigods I learned enough about mythology and pantheons from around the world (and even the word pantheon itself) to get me an A in General Studies A-Level. From the Players Handbook I learned basic psychiatric terms like Id and Ego and Nietzschean concepts like the Will to Power, plus more about polearms than I've ever really needed to know. I learned the names of the polyhedra, and from our home-brewed combat systems I learned to multiply fractions in my head.
It wasn't just D&D; from Call of Cthulhu I learned 1920's technology and US social history, plus a heck of a lot of geography (the Andaman islands and Nan Madol on Pohnpei were common hangouts for villainous beasties from beyond). From Traveller and Space Opera I got sun and planet classifications and more social groupings and geographic terms. From Vampire: The Masquerade, I learned the astonishing power of a British accent in the USA.
From all of these sources I learned problem solving and how to think my way through obstacles.
And my parents used to think I was just wasting my time. Tchah!
So, question for the day to all you gamers out there: What have you learned from gaming?
The first edition of AD&D was crammed with ideas and facts which weren't really relevant to the game itself but which Gary Gygax plainly thought were interesting and stuck in simply because he could, and I learned a lot from it. From the DMG I learned governmental types and aristocratic titles from around the world, nautical terms and ships rigging, and the names and purposes of different bits of castles. From the Monster Manual and Dieties and Demigods I learned enough about mythology and pantheons from around the world (and even the word pantheon itself) to get me an A in General Studies A-Level. From the Players Handbook I learned basic psychiatric terms like Id and Ego and Nietzschean concepts like the Will to Power, plus more about polearms than I've ever really needed to know. I learned the names of the polyhedra, and from our home-brewed combat systems I learned to multiply fractions in my head.
It wasn't just D&D; from Call of Cthulhu I learned 1920's technology and US social history, plus a heck of a lot of geography (the Andaman islands and Nan Madol on Pohnpei were common hangouts for villainous beasties from beyond). From Traveller and Space Opera I got sun and planet classifications and more social groupings and geographic terms. From Vampire: The Masquerade, I learned the astonishing power of a British accent in the USA.
From all of these sources I learned problem solving and how to think my way through obstacles.
And my parents used to think I was just wasting my time. Tchah!
So, question for the day to all you gamers out there: What have you learned from gaming?
