Written by Kanyon Pierce
With the video-gaming industry having a net worth of $92 billion there is no doubt that video games are a very important part of our modern history. If we go back further than that, we find tabletop roleplaying games and even before that, simple board games. The real question is “What games contributed the most to the rise of this gaming empire?” I am here to answer that, without further ado, I present, Games That Changed the World.
Dungeons and Dragons
I know I talk about this a lot and you are probably not surprised at all to see this in the list, but I promise you that I am not just including this because I love it. Dungeons and Dragons has most likely contributed to both tabletop and video gaming more than any other game in history. Here is why:
- Dungeons and Dragons essentially created the concept of RPG.
I know it seems crazy but anything that has you taking the role of another person, fictional or not, has some tribute to pay to D&D. Of course, people were role-playing before the creation of D&D but without the legendary game, I, and many others, guarantee you that the gaming culture we know would be lightyears away from what it is today. Many several groups of people go as far as saying that Dungeons and Dragons were the cornerstones that started the construction of the gaming world. In a sense this is right D&D warmed people up to the idea of gaming and essentially primed the market for huge games such as Super Mario Bros.
- Dungeons and Dragons was made by two teenagers.
You might not even believe it, but the world-renowned RPG was made by two teenagers. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson printed out 3 little yellow pamphlets and put them in a hand-constructed cardboard box until they had 100 of these boxes. They then mailed them to all sorts of people and that is where the legend started. This proved to the world that amazing, even unbelievable things can happen with a bit of effort and a lot of devotion.
- Dungeons and Dragons showed the world that small things beacon huge results.
Of course, this isn’t true in all situations, but D&D (as well as so many other influential games) gave all future and current game designers the glimmer of hope that someday, somehow, their game would become a huge success.
- Dungeons and Dragons has been played in some form by everyone.
Yes, you read that correctly D&D has been played by almost everyone. Why? Do you ask? Remember reason 1? It explained how almost every game today has been affected by D&D. This means almost any video game or board game you have played is or was affected by D&D. This could mean it wouldn’t have been made if D&D wasn’t
For these reasons and many others, Dungeons and Dragons is most definitely a game that changed the world.
Super Mario World
Many people would say that the original Super Mario Bros. was easily the most influential video game in history. I disagree, with this statement entirely. The original Super Mario Bros. was not played by as many people as you would think. The whole Super Mario Craze started to skyrocket when the amazing Super Mario World came out. Believe it or not, a lot of people hadn’t even heard of Mario until this game came out on the SNES*. It is 100% safe to say that without Super Mario World, Mario would be much like any other indie series. If you don’t believe me go and play it. Not only said to be the greatest Mario game but also world renown as one of the greatest games of all time, Super Mario World changed the world. The point is you wouldn’t hear about Mario almost ever if it weren’t for the one and only Super Mario World.
Doom
I have done a whole blog post on this game before so I am not going to talk too much about it, but DOOM is worth noting on this list. DOOM Showed the world that 3D Games were not only possible but plausible. DOOM was an essential part of the uprising of 3D games and shooters.
World of Warcraft
I’m sure almost all of you have heard of this game before. It is kind of sad how much of a bad connotation this game has built up though, considering how amazing the game is. I added this to the list because it was a humongous revenue maker for the MMORPG industry. Of course, there were many before it, such as Everquest. But WoW is undoubtedly one of the greatest MMOs out there. I am a sucker for great RPGs’s so I am not the one to talk but WoW is a game everyone should try.
Super Metroid
Super Metroid, aside from being one of the greatest Platformers and Sidescrollers, is very important to the gaming community because it was one of the first games that was world-renowned to feature a woman as the main character. This was a huge leap forward for gaming giving birth to new classics such as Tomb Raider. Not to mention the fact that it was one of the coolest games at the time being a Sci-fi Shooter.
Goldeneye 007
Goldeneye was a huge advancement for first-person shooters because it showed that the genre could work on consoles as well. Before this FPS games were almost exclusively on the PC. Then came Goldeneye and it blew that out of the water. Especially because it was on a Nintendo console, which was usually far less advanced and/or powerful as the PC but so was almost any home console.
There you go, those are some of the most world-changing games of all time. I know I missed many great ones, but if I added them all to this post it would take you an hour and a half to read. Therefore, I decided to split this into two posts. If you liked this one look forward to part-two in the future!
