# Was there a Dark Age of computer gaming?...... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 6, 2004, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-a-dark-age-of-computer-gaming/258610 "2004-08-06T13:27:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![TheTyrant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thetyrant/32/19111_2.png) [@TheTyrant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheTyrant)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2004, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-a-dark-age-of-computer-gaming/258610/21 "2004-08-06T19:35:30Z")
I have to agree that those days were indeed a dark time in computer gaming. I grew up with an Atari 800, cutting my teeth on the old Infocom text adventure games and likely destroying my eyesight reading pages and pages of white-on-blue 40-column text. Later my friends and I graduated to the IBM PC, playing all the great RPGs like the Ultima, Wizardry, Bard’s Tale, and Might and Magic series, as well as the Sierra and LucasArts games. So one day (and I’m showing my age here because I was in my late teens) one of my friends gets a CD-ROM drive, and a few games. I think we fired up 7th Guest or something like that and OOOH full motion video! Needless to say, the novelty wore off quickly and probably half an hour in we simply turned to each other and said “this sucks.” Well, for what it’s worth, at least I wasn’t jealous anymore for being the one without the CD-ROM drive. Eventually, of course, game developers learned to use the new format more effectively… and good games WERE still coming out. I remember there were quite a few games that were available on floppy as well as CD, with the CD simply having voice audio or something additional like that. I always like reading the classic PC gaming threads. Brings back good memories. ---
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2004, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-a-dark-age-of-computer-gaming/258610/22 "2004-08-06T21:09:36Z")
> [@Small Clanger](#): > > You practically needed a separate boot disc for each bleeding game. I started as a PC newbie trying to get DOS games to run. You’d constantly get “not enough memory - BotKill requires 750K” (or somesuch) you’d be yelling at the f\*\*king PC > > “I’ve got eight f\*\*king Meg - how come you can’t find 750K you piece of sh\*t!” (8Meg was a lot of memory back then) > Ah, the joys^M^M^M^M HELL of CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT Ha, I still have the bootdisk for _X-WIng_ somewhere around here. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2004, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-a-dark-age-of-computer-gaming/258610/23 "2004-08-06T21:51:48Z")
I played the original Lode Runner back in 1983-84 on an Apple IIe with a green screen. That game rocked. Rudimentary graphics, but excellent gameplay. ---
**Author:** ![Murcielago](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@Murcielago](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Murcielago)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2004, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-a-dark-age-of-computer-gaming/258610/24 "2004-08-06T22:21:28Z")
Getting a bit of the OP here, but anyway… I have early childhood memories of my Dad’s Apple IIe, playing “Karateka” and “Larry Bird vs. Dr.J” basketball with the shattering backboards. That damn machine booted up last year and still managed to read those massive floppy discs. Cool video: [Hey, hey, 16K.](http://www2.b3ta.com/heyhey16k/) – I don’t get some of the UK references, still entertaining. ---
**Author:** ![slortar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@slortar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slortar)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2004, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-a-dark-age-of-computer-gaming/258610/25 "2004-08-06T23:31:25Z")
> [@Murcielago](#): > > playing “Karateka” I loved that game. I bow down before the might that is Jordan Mechner. Did you ever put in the disk upside down and see what happens when you booted side 2? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![beergeek279](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7ea924/32.png) [@beergeek279](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beergeek279)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2004, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-a-dark-age-of-computer-gaming/258610/26 "2004-08-06T23:43:29Z")
Does this mean we’re in for another Dark Age now that games are coming out on DVD?? ---
**Author:** ![Murcielago](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@Murcielago](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Murcielago)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2004, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-a-dark-age-of-computer-gaming/258610/27 "2004-08-07T00:18:40Z")
> [@slortar](#): > > I loved that game. I bow down before the might that is Jordan Mechner. Did you ever put in the disk upside down and see what happens when you booted side 2? 😃 Heh. It took me a few times to realise that the upside-down game was not a random joke, but rather Broderbund telling you “You put your disc in wrong side up, genius.” ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2004, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-a-dark-age-of-computer-gaming/258610/28 "2004-08-07T01:26:32Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > I would say that the Dark Ages of videogames occured in the late 80s to early 90s. Basically, it was the time after the classics like Spyhunter and Defender started to get old and dated, but before games like Doom, Starcraft and Command & Conquer introduced us to the “first person shooter” and “real time strategy” game. Except for people like me who dislike both “first person shooters” and RTS games, and can’t manage to find anything else on the shelves (well…I’m exagerating a bit). ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2004, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-a-dark-age-of-computer-gaming/258610/29 "2004-08-07T02:07:25Z")
Dark Ages? Try 10,000BC to 1944AD! And it’s all been downhill since Adventure came out. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-a-dark-age-of-computer-gaming/258610.md?page=1)