Cocks: D&D mechanics like hit points established the foundation for modern gaming
Chris Cocks · What Dungeons & Dragons can teach entrepreneurs (Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks) | Masters of Scale · Dec 20, 2024 · at 4:05
Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks discusses the historical origins of Dungeons & Dragons with Reid Hoffman, explaining how TSR's 1974 game mechanics shaped contemporary gaming.
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“And really, what the team at TSR did, which is Gary's company that he founded in Wisconsin, is they came up with all of these kind of basic game mechanics that today feels like they've always existed, but prior to 1974, no one had ever heard of a hit point before. No one had ever heard of like levels before. No one had ever heard of like classes before. And it really founded, you know, I think a lot of the basics of both modern tabletop games, but even more importantly, you know, the basis for almost every hit video game that exists today, whether that's you know, like an epic kind of action adventure game, like a God of War and Assassin's Creed. Or even kind of modern day shooters that have any kind of leveling system or skill tree associated with them.”
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