In 1822 an Englishman named Charles Babbage designed the very first computer, named 'The Difference Engine', designed to calculate equations and then print the results off. So not only did Babbage design the first computer, he also designed a modern day printer built into the computer, how convenient. Unfortunately Babbage never actually built within his lifetime, but was built in 2002 and now is kept inside the London Science Museum.
During the Second World War around 80 years after Babbage's death computers made the leap to becoming electric digital computers. At the size of a large room these computers were a great improvement from The Difference Engine, but far from your contemporary smartphone or PC. There was nothing 'personal' about these computers either, they were funded by large company's and built by large teams, and needed a team of people to use it. It wasn't until the 1960's that the 'personal' was put into 'Personal Computer'.
Now onto video games; The first interactive electronic game was named: Cathode Ray Tube Amusement Device. It was made in 1947 by an American named Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr and was playable on a Cathode Ray Tube. The game was a missile simulator by which Goldsmith was inspired by radar displays used in the Second World War.
Although the Cathode Ray Tube Amusement Device technically is the first video game, in my opinion I don't consider it as the first video game. What I mean by this is the reason I play video games is to enter another world, and become engaged in a situation I'm not going to be able to do in real life, which is why I don't play football games or bus simulators. The CRT Amusement Device is just a copy of what can already be done in real life, granted not everyone could fire missiles in real life, but my point is that it's concept is from something you can do in real life. The first handful of video games followed this pattern, 'Chess' was digital chess, 'Tennis for Two' was digital tennis, and so on you get the idea. I feel that the first video game that took the player somewhere the outside world won't be taking them any time soon was 'Spacewar!'
Spacewar! was made in 1961 and took it's players into space in spaceships to battle other players. Spacewar! did something new, today there's loads of 2D top down space shooting games, but back then it was a whole new idea, and most importantly it wasn't a direct copy of something that you can do in real life. Spacewar! was the first step towards what video games are today, we still have games that achieve to be carbon copies of real life today, but a lot of games now create new worlds and/or interesting narratives that take us away from reality as we play them.The way I see it, Spacewar! was the first video game.
During the Second World War around 80 years after Babbage's death computers made the leap to becoming electric digital computers. At the size of a large room these computers were a great improvement from The Difference Engine, but far from your contemporary smartphone or PC. There was nothing 'personal' about these computers either, they were funded by large company's and built by large teams, and needed a team of people to use it. It wasn't until the 1960's that the 'personal' was put into 'Personal Computer'.
Now onto video games; The first interactive electronic game was named: Cathode Ray Tube Amusement Device. It was made in 1947 by an American named Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr and was playable on a Cathode Ray Tube. The game was a missile simulator by which Goldsmith was inspired by radar displays used in the Second World War.
Although the Cathode Ray Tube Amusement Device technically is the first video game, in my opinion I don't consider it as the first video game. What I mean by this is the reason I play video games is to enter another world, and become engaged in a situation I'm not going to be able to do in real life, which is why I don't play football games or bus simulators. The CRT Amusement Device is just a copy of what can already be done in real life, granted not everyone could fire missiles in real life, but my point is that it's concept is from something you can do in real life. The first handful of video games followed this pattern, 'Chess' was digital chess, 'Tennis for Two' was digital tennis, and so on you get the idea. I feel that the first video game that took the player somewhere the outside world won't be taking them any time soon was 'Spacewar!'
Spacewar! was made in 1961 and took it's players into space in spaceships to battle other players. Spacewar! did something new, today there's loads of 2D top down space shooting games, but back then it was a whole new idea, and most importantly it wasn't a direct copy of something that you can do in real life. Spacewar! was the first step towards what video games are today, we still have games that achieve to be carbon copies of real life today, but a lot of games now create new worlds and/or interesting narratives that take us away from reality as we play them.The way I see it, Spacewar! was the first video game.
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