The Innovation Diaries

The March 4th death of Dungeon and Dragons co-inventor Gary Gygax divided the world into two groups: those who barely noticed, and those who found themselves awash in sentimentality.

I, personally, was teleported to late night Dorito-and-Coke-fueled battles in friend’s basements, rolling oddly shaped dice while hunching over the cryptic tomes upon which we burned every scrap of lawn mowing money. But the death of the father of role-playing gave me more than warm fuzzy elementary school memories. It’s given me a new perspective on why I like the game of innovation.

I’d once argued with my 5th grade teacher (who’d called us “escapists”) that playing D&D expanded our minds, taught us creativity, and built teamwork skills. OK, maybe I didn’t lay it out that directly, but it went something like that – and I realize now how right I was. After 25 years, I’ve retained more from my playing than a geeky sense of pride. My ability to visualize abstractions, suspend barriers of reality, and improvise off of a set of constraints were all developed through my exploits as a 20th level half-elf magic user. These are all crucial innovation skills that I use today.

Gygax himself was an innovation master – exhibiting many of the key behaviors that are the cornerstones of impactful creativity. He used the writings of Tolkien, world mythology, and medieval history as stimulus to propel his thinking. He exhibited bravery and curiosity in the breaking of the rules of what a ‘board game’ could look like (namely, boardless). And he and his partners designed the rules of the game as loose guidelines, encouraging building and improvisation by the players themselves. And the impact of this innovation? A billion dollar empire of role playing games. Not to mention a lasting influence on the literature, television, movies, and video gaming content of today.

And while Mr. Gygax’s death highlights the end of one innovation’s life cycle, it points to the high point of another’s. For while D&D is still played in clandestine gatherings, it’s the massively networked video games like World of Warcraft that are the D&D of today. And while the temptation is to blame these games for rotting the minds and fattening bodies of our youth, somewhere in a basement is a kid with an XBOX 360. And someday, he’ll credit his time spent with Master Chief with the expansion of his mind and the nurturing of his creative ability.