5 video game legends and how their work changed the world

Ever since pixels learned to walk, video games have captivated people. But apart from some cult titles like ‘Pac Man’ or ‘Super Mario Bros.’ Even brilliant creations are forgotten relatively quickly. The appeal of the new is simply stronger. And so, sooner or later, most games end up in the proverbial mothballs before disappearing completely into oblivion.

This article tells the story of five men and women who, with great passion and courage, created something new, even revolutionary. Without their groundbreaking work, today’s multi-billion dollar gaming industry would be unthinkable.

The mother of all computer games was a teacher

Mabel Addis (†) 🇺🇸

The most influential computer game you’ve probably never heard of was created by an American elementary school teacher. In her free time.

That was in the sixties. And the New Yorker Mabel Addiswho died in 2004 at the age of 92, is therefore considered the very first female video game author in history.

Unfortunately, the game itself, i.e. the original program code, has been lost forever. But the pioneering work that Mabel did «The Sumarian Game» (1964) still has an impact. It was the first text-based economic simulator.

Her students were tasked with managing and governing the resources of the ancient city-state of Lagash. However, “The Sumarian Game” was not a title that could be played on your own device. Because they didn’t even exist back then. Instead, play was only possible on an early IBM mainframe or a printer:

At a time when computer games were still far from a mass phenomenon, Mabel’s innovations paved the way for other pioneers.

The gifted storyteller who became a legend himself

Shigeru Miyamoto🇯🇵

Okay, some gamers might still know this guy from Japan. He has been called ‘the Walt Disney of video games’ and is considered the most successful game developer of the 20th century.

His best-known creations include:

As a boy he wanted to become a mangaka, a cartoonist. But instead of manga, he devoted his life to video games. Albeit via a professional detour: When he got a job interview at Nintendo after completing his studies (crafts and industrial design) thanks to “Vitamin B”, he convinced people with a few simple toy ideas. And as we know from a later interview, one of these ideas was secretly patented by the company. Shigeru Miyamoto didn’t find out until three years later.

Although his ingenuity made him an absolute rock star in the gaming industry, the Japanese remained humble – and loyal to his employer. Apparently he was able to blow off some steam at Nintendo. He says, “I was looking for a company that would sponsor me so I could make the things I wanted.”

And the secret of his success? He realized early on that the gambling games launched in the 1970s had no real plot. And he believed there was untapped potential for compelling storytelling. Then a Nintendo title flopped and Shigeru Miyamoto saved the company with ‘Donkey Kong’ and became world famous.

The rest is the history of computer games. Exactly this: the father of two children would be anything but a gifted gamer. And he often forced the young people to take longer breaks from playing and sent them out into the fresh air.

The outsider who became rich with brutal indie games

Edmund McMillen🇺🇸

“Using Mom’s Bra as a Weapon to Become a Games Millionaire,” was the headline in the news magazine Spiegel about Edmund McMillen. In fact, the 43-year-old Californian, who spent his youth drawing monsters, is a fascinating personality. In the ‘soft’ part of the gaming industry, which makes billions in mass-produced products suitable for families, it is a pleasant foreign body. And that has to do with his dark sense of humor.

McMillen is considered one of the pioneers of the indie game revolution in the late 2000s. With titles like “Super Meat Boy” and “The Binding Of Isaac” he proved that without a powerful studio behind you you can be successful and become quite wealthy at the same time.

McMillen is not only infamous for his sexist depictions, but also for his outspoken criticism of religion. He justified this with his Catholic upbringing and reports of child abuse.

Because he grew up in poor circumstances, his father was addicted to drugs, he often felt like an outsider, he said in a Reddit AMA a few years ago. But he has long since become a star who brings “a touch of punk, underground and challenging subculture” to the entire industry, according to a “Spiegel” portrait.

The extraordinary multiplayer pioneer who died far too soon

Danielle Bunten Berry (†) 🇺🇸

She was one of the most influential pioneers of the billion-dollar video game industry: a designer from Little Rock, the capital of the US state of Arkansas. And she was ahead of her time in many ways.

As a child, Dan Bunten enjoyed family board games such as ‘Risk’ and ‘Monopoly’, which focused on the social aspect of gaming. And he was convinced that a human opponent would always provide more challenge and fun than the best computer brain. And so Bunten’s passion for multiplayer games was awakened – at a time when no one was talking about streaming.

In the 1980s he invented several computer games that are now considered innovative classics and have had a significant impact on game development, such as the multiplayer economic simulation ‘MULE’, the open-world strategy game ‘Seven Cities of Gold’ and the first commercial game. online strategy game “Modem Wars” (1988).

Even before that, he was the first to complete a professional computer game on an Apple II with the business simulator ‘Wheeler Dealers’ in 1978. It was the first PC game ever sold in a printed box instead of a case or plastic. bag.

However, a heavy shadow weighed on the gifted artist: he felt that he was born in the wrong body. After gender reassignment surgery at the age of 43, he added his mother’s surname and was called Danielle Bunten Berry.

During his lifetime, Bunten warned against taking this far-reaching step hastily without sufficient consultation. As we also know from various portraits of him, he became estranged from his own family. In 1998, six years after the serious procedure, the fatal diagnosis followed: lung cancer, caused by years of heavy smoking.

Bunten Berry’s creations lived on in cyberspace. Fans posted loving video accompaniments to “MULE” and “Seven Cities of Gold” on YouTube, and tributes and memorials were posted all over the Internet. Particularly moving: when game designer Will Wright completed the blockbuster “The Sims” in 2000, he dedicated it to Bunten.

Dani Bunten left behind her three children (from previous marriages as Daniel Bunten). They founded the company Ozark Softscape (the name of Bunten’s old development studio) to manage the digital legacy.

The Jewish television technician who invented the game console

Ralph Baer (†) 🇩🇪 🇺🇸

Ralph Baer grew up in Germany between the two world wars. At the age of 14 he had to leave school because he came from a Jewish family. Two months before Kristallnacht (November 9, 1938) he fled with his family to the United States, where he received correspondence training as a radio and television technician.

After joining the U.S. Army and participating in World War II, he immersed himself in mathematics in Great Britain, where he was stationed. After returning to the United States, he attended college and earned a bachelor’s degree in television engineering.

From 1955, Baer was employed by an American defense company, where he worked on military projects for fifteen years and also worked on microprocessors. As a television technician, he also thought about additional applications for the television sets. So in 1966 he came up with the idea of ​​developing a game console with games.

In 1968, the German-American, born in 1922, designed the prototype of the very first video game console. Their name: Magnavox Odyssey. And that makes Ralph Baer the father of all home consoles, whether Wii, PlayStation or Xbox.

And yet today, someone else is usually associated with them: Nolan Bushnell. That was the head of Atari at the time. In June 1972, the American company celebrated a great success with its coin game “Pong”.

In fact, the Atari game was very reminiscent of the ping-pong game that Baer had invented in 1967. What followed was a legal battle that Magnavox ultimately won.

But for inventor Baer, ​​the licensing fees Atari had to pay were no real satisfaction. He retired, quit his job and from then on worked in his basement on new creations, mainly children’s games that were electrically powered.

In 2006, Baer’s importance to the entire video game industry was finally officially recognized. For his achievements, US President George Bush presented him with the National Medal of Technology – the United States’ highest award in the field of science and technology.

Before his death in 2014, Baer had filed more than 150 patents. His greatest success: Simon/Senso. A toy that requires memorizing (increasingly faster) sequences of tones and colors and reproducing them correctly.

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