New Oldest RPG in History Discovered

Gaming historians have dug up facts that put the origins of computer role playing games genre in a slightly different light. Until now, it was assumed that the oldest documented RPG was "m199h" from 1976. An investigation, however, has shown that there is evidence pointing to the existence of an even older program - The Dungeon, dating back to 1975.

Gaming prehistory

The discovery was published on CRPGAddict.com - in the article, the author briefly introduces the history of the genre, and presents evidence of a program older than previously assumed.

The first RPGs were said to have been created as the work of students at the University of Illinois, who used the PLATO educational platform for this purpose. Most of the games from that period have not survived to this day, such as The Game of Dungeons or the aforementioned m199h, which was considered to be the first ever, now long-lost, RPG.

Screenshot of the fight in The Dungeon.Source: crpgaddict.blogspot.com

The evidence that it is The Dungeon from 1975 that is the leader of this list, began to come to light this summer through Don Gilles, whose father was a professor at the University of Illinois, giving the then young Don Gilles access to PLATO. He handed over his old notes, on which he detailed the details of the game (link to the full album of photos of the notes).

A handwritten note with a list of spells.Source: crpgaddict.blogspot.com

The notes are meant to duplicate images from two games - the aforementioned m199h, but also The Dungeon, and the notes are supposed to show that m199h was in fact made based on The Dungeon a whole year later.

The gameplay in the first known RPG ever was to clear the title dungeon from monsters of all sorts.

• Our character would enter the dungeon, fight the monsters with weapons and magic, and then collect treasures.
• The bestiary was rich and included griffins, harpies, dragons, demons, sorcerers, werewolves, dwarves and many, many others.
• Our character was to be a combination of warrior, mage, cleric and thief.

A description of the plot in The Dungeon.Source: crpgaddict.blogspot.com

As the author of the text, CRPG Addict, admits, the similarities between m199h and The Dungeon are massive, and for years it has been claimed that they are one and the same game, but the evidence submitted seems to strongly point to the fact that it is in fact The Dungeon which deserves the title of the oldest RPG.

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