Jeff-20
01-20-2014, 12:43 PM
I haven't visited in a while. I'm anticipating flames with this post, but I hope Joe and the DP crew don't mind a bit of side trivia in honor of the day.
Today, I have a holiday from work for Martin Luther King Day giving me the rare opportunity to post on the forum again. For readers outside of the United States (or otherwise unaware), Dr. King (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King,_Jr.) was a civil rights activist. So, on a day like this, there's much talk about "firsts", the breaking of social barriers, and representations of minority groups. It has all started me thinking about minority pioneers in video and computer games. I hope you'll indulge me; I'd like to share this with you.
After a quick and lazy bit of online research, I present to you the Jackie Robinson (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_robinson) of the video game! First black guy in a video game, Atari Basketball (arcade 1979):
http://gamesdbase.com/Media/SYSTEM/Arcade/Title/Thumb/Thumb_Basketball_-_1979_-_Atari.jpg
(image courtesy of gamesdbase.com)
I salute this unnamed, pixelated pioneer for breaking the color barrier without a color monitor. :lol:
Oddly, the first playable female protagonist in a game would come about seven years later with Shamus of Metroid (NES 1986)! While technologically advanced, video games haven't always been socially progressive. Typical social ills like racism and sexism are easy to find in early works. So, these firsts are pretty novel considering the young age of the medium.
Of course, I should pay tribute to real-life contributors as well. The first black video game designer, Jerry Lawson (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Lawson_(engineer)) (1940 -2011). He created of the first cartridge based video game console, the Fairchild Channel F (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channel_F) (1976), a cool system that would quickly be succeeded by the cooler Atari 2600. He has a lot of interesting projects including TV Pow, "the first, and only video game played via broadcast television." I guess players phoned in and played during the broadcast. Fascinating.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e8/Jerry_Lawson_Software_Engineer.jpg/220px-Jerry_Lawson_Software_Engineer.jpghttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/34/Fairchild-Channel-F.jpg/300px-Fairchild-Channel-F.jpg
(images courtesy of wikipedia)
And with mentioning the first female playable character, I should also note the first female video game designer, Dona Bailey. She is responsible for the arcade classic Centipede (Atari 1981). She's now an English professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
http://ualr.edu/rhetoric/files/2013/05/Dona-Bailey-98x150.jpg
(images courtesy of University of Arkansas)
Well, like I said, I just wanted to share that. Happy MLK day, everyone! I didn't have has the chance to research it yet, but I wonder what other "firsts" could be identified? The first playable disabled character? Or non-heterosexual characters? etc.
Today, I have a holiday from work for Martin Luther King Day giving me the rare opportunity to post on the forum again. For readers outside of the United States (or otherwise unaware), Dr. King (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King,_Jr.) was a civil rights activist. So, on a day like this, there's much talk about "firsts", the breaking of social barriers, and representations of minority groups. It has all started me thinking about minority pioneers in video and computer games. I hope you'll indulge me; I'd like to share this with you.
After a quick and lazy bit of online research, I present to you the Jackie Robinson (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_robinson) of the video game! First black guy in a video game, Atari Basketball (arcade 1979):
http://gamesdbase.com/Media/SYSTEM/Arcade/Title/Thumb/Thumb_Basketball_-_1979_-_Atari.jpg
(image courtesy of gamesdbase.com)
I salute this unnamed, pixelated pioneer for breaking the color barrier without a color monitor. :lol:
Oddly, the first playable female protagonist in a game would come about seven years later with Shamus of Metroid (NES 1986)! While technologically advanced, video games haven't always been socially progressive. Typical social ills like racism and sexism are easy to find in early works. So, these firsts are pretty novel considering the young age of the medium.
Of course, I should pay tribute to real-life contributors as well. The first black video game designer, Jerry Lawson (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Lawson_(engineer)) (1940 -2011). He created of the first cartridge based video game console, the Fairchild Channel F (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channel_F) (1976), a cool system that would quickly be succeeded by the cooler Atari 2600. He has a lot of interesting projects including TV Pow, "the first, and only video game played via broadcast television." I guess players phoned in and played during the broadcast. Fascinating.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e8/Jerry_Lawson_Software_Engineer.jpg/220px-Jerry_Lawson_Software_Engineer.jpghttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/34/Fairchild-Channel-F.jpg/300px-Fairchild-Channel-F.jpg
(images courtesy of wikipedia)
And with mentioning the first female playable character, I should also note the first female video game designer, Dona Bailey. She is responsible for the arcade classic Centipede (Atari 1981). She's now an English professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
http://ualr.edu/rhetoric/files/2013/05/Dona-Bailey-98x150.jpg
(images courtesy of University of Arkansas)
Well, like I said, I just wanted to share that. Happy MLK day, everyone! I didn't have has the chance to research it yet, but I wonder what other "firsts" could be identified? The first playable disabled character? Or non-heterosexual characters? etc.