Gamertell Review: Dungeons & Desktops by Matt Barton
by at April 6, 2008 8:48 pm
Sections: Books, Features, Gear, Genres, Opinions, Reviews, Role-Playing
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Role playing can take many forms. Sometimes people put on elaborate costumes, others roll dice on a table and move around miniature figurines. As for videogames, the role-playing genre has evolved along with the technology, starting with secret programs on school mainframes and secretly distributed floppy discs, later moving to consoles and finally coming almost full circle as massively multiplayer online RPGs (MMORPGs).
In the recently published book, Dungeons & Desktops (2008, A.K. Peters), author Matt Barton defines the computer role-playing game (CRPG), looking at the game’s evolution and putting into perspective nearly every RPG released since the early 1970s.
In the Beginning, There Were Mainframes…
To begin the book, Barton defines role-playing games as being games where the players can (usually) choose their own character, the character will acquire new abilities, weapons and skills over time and tasks can usually be solved in more than one way. Classic computer games including Zork are not, according to Barton, technically RPGs since each of the game’s puzzles has only one solution. He also distinguishes these games with the label of computer role-playing games (CRPG), later tagging console games as Japanese RPGs (JRPG) since the majority come from – or are highly patterned after game from – Japan.
Although I’m not quite certain I like CRPG as an abbreviation or the overarching use of JRPG, Barton’s parameters do help to limit the scope of the genre and keep the book’s focus manageable.
The book is split into six pseudo-chronological evolutionary phases of role-playing videogames, appropriately borrowing terms from historical Ages: Dark Age Bronze Age; Silver Age; Early Golden Age; the Golden Age which is subdivided into Early, Part I and Part II; Platinum Age and Modern Age. In many instances, he points out where the major inspiration for most RPGs – J.R.R. Tolkein and the Dungeons & Dragons game – play an important role.
Each Age-based section is divided into a small historical introduction followed by a series of synopses of games of that era, with each getting a 1-3 page writeup depending on its complexity and importance to the rest of the Age. At 430+ pages, that translates into a lot of games summaries .
Let There be Enlightenment
The synopses are accurate, insightful and fairly dense including a description of game play, story and key characteristics that either liken or set them apart from other games. Barton obviously put a lot of time into researching this book, demonstrating decent insight into every game (even those he likely didn’t play).
Although I refer to this as a resource guide, the book is actually meant to be read straight through since the sections refer to previous games and earlier passages. This read-me-through style keeps the tone casual and surprisingly readable, putting games into perspective and giving them importance for each Age that most gamers would never notice.
My two negative comments are quite small in terms of the overall content of the book. First, the black-and-white screenshots used in the book are tiny, unrecognizable blurs that usually lack any discernible details. I would have liked the year, publisher and system noted in each screenshot’s cutline, but that’s more of a personal preference that fault of the book since you can always read that game’s section to the information. Second, there are many web sites used as sources early in the book. Although the web can offer useful information, I’m still very hesitant to sites as exclusive sources since they are uncontrollably malleable. Barton redeems himself here by backing up information using interviews he conducted with early developers.
And it Was Good
The massive amount of information and insight in this book makes it an unexpectedly enjoyable history book rather than a bland, exhaustive catalog of fan favorites. Barton wisely avoids excessive jargon and maintains a rather casual writing style, allowing Dungeons & Desktops to be enjoyed by any gamer, even non-CRPG fans.
Don’t let the old-school Knight on a dragon art cover fool you. This is not a nerd’s incomprehensible babblings. Dungeons & Desktops is an educational, insightful and enjoyable book that will certainly inspire a new appreciation for a long-lived and much-loved genre.
Product Page [Dungeons & Desktops: A History of Computer Role-Playing Games] Read [Armchair Arcade] Also Read [Kairos News] Also Read [Matt's Blog at Armchair Arcade]
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