All I Really Needed to Know About Games I Learned from Dungeons & Dragons

Robert Fulghum's essay All I Really Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten has inspired people since the late '80s. With compliments to him, here is, in expanded title --

All I Really Needed to Know About Designing and Playing (Video) Games I Learned from Gary Gygax's Dungeons & Dragons.

As a designer:

• You don't need high-level technology to make an "immersive" game.
• For human/psychological games (as opposed to computer-mediated challenge games), players enjoy the journey, not the destination.
• Some people like to be told stories; others like to make their own.
• The objective is to make the players think their characters are going to die, not to kill them.
• We all like to improve.
• User-generated content enriches a game immensely. (In this case, adventures, monsters, classes, etc.)

As a player:

• It's more fun with more than one person.
• Cooperation is required for survival.
• Think before you leap.
• Get organized!
• Don't run headlong where you've never been.
• Keep track of the stuff you've got; otherwise you may forget something that could save your butt.
• Always have a viable "Plan B".
• Always have a way out.
• Don't depend on luck!

This makes a rather short article, so I'll break the poet's rule and explicate:

Many writers have pointed out how much video games owe to Dungeons & Dragons. I confess it didn't teach me all of these things, as I'd been playing games for many years before I encountered D&D, but the game nonetheless well illustrates these points.