From Card Boards to HD screens: A Short History of RPGs

Many consider Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) to be the forefather of the modern role-playing games. In 1974 Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson developed D&D and for the first time introduced players to characters that could gain experience and level up while crawling through dungeons and battling dragons.

The Dawn

After the success of D&D computer specialists turned their focus towards bringing a RPG to the world of computers. The first computer RPG was developed by a 19 year old named Richard Garriott, it was called “Akalabeth”. It was hugely successful at the time and for that day and age; selling thousands of copies. Garriott soon followed this game up with “Ultima I: The first age of darkness”. Ultima was mainly inspired by D&D and became more famous then Akalabeth. 

Garriott went on to develop two more Ultima games the second of which, “Ultima III: Exodus”, is considered to be the blue print on which modern RPGs are based on. Although these games gained popularity among the computer experts they didn’t gain any mainstream success because they were considered too hard for novice gamers.

The Evolution

The first commercially popular RPG was “Tales of the Unknown Volume 1: The Bard’s Tale”. It was launched in 1985 and it attracted amateur gamers with its easy gameplay, cutting edge graphics and superb storyline.

Moving towards the 90s the RPG genre became more and more popular with the launch of many new innovative and engaging games. In 1994 “The Elder Scrolls: Arena” was launched, it contained all the qualities of previous games in the genre and it seamlessly combined all of them in one mega RPG. It provided gamers with excellent 3D graphics and first-person gameplay. It offered gamers the choice of taking a break from the main quest and exploring the environment around them.

Modern Age

The last decade the RPG genre has evolved to become the most popular gaming genre. RPGs have become more entertaining than ever. Modern games like the “World of Warcraft” and “Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim” give gamers more control over the gameplay. The gamers are provided with a complete immersive experience with beautiful graphics, challenging gameplay and outstanding storylines. 

RPGs have evolved into MMORPGs (massively war games online no download free). The ease of access of strategy games no download has given another boost to the genres popularity. Now players have a choice between thousands of games, they can explore new worlds and experience new characters with just a few mouse clicks.