The Strong Museum of Play announced this week that Dungeons & Dragons will now be inducted National Toy Hall of Fame, due in no small part to its influence on the field of video game design.
The Strong Museum of Play announced this week that Dungeons & Dragons, that seminal tabletop role-playing game first published in 1974, will now be inducted its National Toy Hall of Fame.
That's important because game developers have long cited D&D as a heavy influence in their work, and now The Strong (which, incidentally, also maintains a Video Game Hall of Fame and a significant archive of video game ephemera) has formally recognized that influence.
"More than any other game, Dungeons & Dragons paved the way for older children and adults to experience imaginative play,” museum curator Nic Ricketts stated in a press release announcing the inductees. “It was groundbreaking. And it opened the door for other kinds of table games that borrow many of its unique mechanics. But most importantly, Dungeons & Dragons’ mechanics lent themselves to computer applications, and it had a direct impact on hugely successful electronic games like World of Warcraft.”
Now, Dungeons & Dragons will be put on permanent display at the museum in Rochester, New York alongside honored toys like alphabet blocks and the ball. D&D isn't the only 2016 National Toy Hall of Fame inductee, either; it shares the honor (see above image) with Fisher-Price's Little People toys and the perennially popular swing.
You May Also Like
