The essence of a role-playing game is that it is a group, cooperative experience.

Meaning of the quote

The quote means that role-playing games are meant to be played together with other people, not alone. In these games, everyone works as a team to complete the story or adventure. It's not just one person playing by themselves, but a whole group playing and experiencing the game together.

About Gary Gygax

Gary Gygax, the co-creator of the iconic tabletop game Dungeons & Dragons, led an incredible life as a game designer and author. From founding the Gen Con gaming convention to designing numerous role-playing systems, Gygax left an indelible mark on the world of gaming.

More about the author

More quotes from Gary Gygax

The essence of a role-playing game is that it is a group, cooperative experience.

Gary Gygax

American game designer and author (1938-2008)

There is no winning or losing, but rather the value is in the experience of imagining yourself as a character in whatever genre you’re involved in, whether it’s a fantasy game, the Wild West, secret agenst or whatever else. You get to sort of vicariously experience those things.

Gary Gygax

American game designer and author (1938-2008)

I wasn’t popular in the home office because I wasn’t chicken. I’m just a risk taker. I have gut instincts.

Gary Gygax

American game designer and author (1938-2008)

I foresee online gaming changing when there are good audio-visual links connecting the participants, thus approximating play in a face-to-face group.

Gary Gygax

American game designer and author (1938-2008)

The secret we should never let the gamemasters know is that they don’t need any rules.

Gary Gygax

American game designer and author (1938-2008)

Of course as children, we all, in all cultures and societies, learn behavior from observation, imitation, and encouragement of various kinds. So by the suggestion made, we all ‘pretend’ most of the time.

Gary Gygax

American game designer and author (1938-2008)

Outside of the mindless sitcoms that the networks thrive on, people able to think generally consider most entertainment is escape in one form or another.

Gary Gygax

American game designer and author (1938-2008)

Random chance plays a huge part in everybody’s life.

Gary Gygax

American game designer and author (1938-2008)

Somebody said they threw their copy of Dungeons and Dragons into the fire, and it screamed. It’s a game! The magic spells in it are as real as the gold. Try retiring on that stuff.

Gary Gygax

American game designer and author (1938-2008)

Gaming in general is a male thing. It isn’t that gaming is designed to exclude women. Everybody who’s tried to design a game to interest a large female audience has failed. And I think that has to do with the different thinking processes of men and women.

Gary Gygax

American game designer and author (1938-2008)

There’s a call to adventure. It’s something in the inner psyche of humanity, particularly males.

Gary Gygax

American game designer and author (1938-2008)

When AI approximates Machine Intelligence, then many online and computer-run RPGs will move towards actual RPG activity. Nonetheless, that will not replace the experience of ‘being there,’ any more than seeing a theatrical motion picture can replace the stage play.

Gary Gygax

American game designer and author (1938-2008)