![]() ![]() To play Spacewar one needed access to a research facility’s computer, which kept the game’s influence limited to the small computer technology sphere. The result, called “Spacewar,” caused a sensation on campus and variations on the game soon spread to other universities that had computer engineering programs.Īlthough Spacewar was fun to play, it was never destined for released to the general public, since computers were still too expensive for personal use. Inspired by the science fiction novels Russell and his friends enjoyed, these computers “hackers” decided to create a dueling game between two spaceships. Students Steve Russell and his friends were granted access to the school’s new PDP-1 computer providing they used it to create a demonstration program that (1) utilized as many of the computer’s resources as possible and “taxed those resources to the limit,” (2) remained interesting even after repeated viewings, which meant that each run needed to be slightly different and (3) was interactive. It was this mindset that led a group of MIT students during the 1960s to create one of the first and most groundbreaking computer games. As an added bonus, computer programmers were able to learn from the creation of games as well because it allowed them to break away from the usual subroutines and challenge the computer’s capabilities. Games like tic-tac-toe or William Higinbotham’s 1958 Tennis for Two were excellent ways to attract public interest and support. Most people had both a limited understanding of what these electronic behemoths were able to do and an unfamiliarity with the types of mathematical equations these machines were regularly programmed to compute. ![]() ![]() They had practical reasons to create games.ĭuring the 1940s and 1950s, computers took up entire rooms and were so expensive that only universities and large companies could afford them. These early computer programmers weren’t just wasting time or looking for new ways to goof off. Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, African Artįrom the earliest days of computers, people have found ways to play games on them. ![]()
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