AskHistorians Podcast Episode 173 is live!
The AskHistorians Podcast is a project that highlights the users and answers that have helped make r/AskHistorians one of the largest history discussion forums on the internet. You can subscribe to us via Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or RSS, and now on YouTube and Google Play. If there is another index you'd like the podcast listed on, let us know!
This Episode:
I talked with fellow mod Jason Dyer about the public computing movement and early computer games, including the seminal "Hunt the Wumpus." Also discussed is a shaman who get cryogenically frozen and a possible link to the political supporters of Grover Cleveland! 64 mins.
Some sources for you!
First, my own research is at my blog; the series you'll want is Before Adventure. You can play The Public Caves (a game I mention in the podcast) online at this link.
Second, a week before recording, Aaron Reed posted an article on Wumpus with some new research, so I got to use a little of that; it's part of his 50 Years of Text Games series. His Hunt the Wumpus article is here. He also collaborated recently on an academic book about adventure games although it is fairly pricy.
Third, I referred a little to Alex Smith's magnum opus They Create Worlds; this one is also a little pricy, but worth it for anyone who wants to study videogames seriously.
Finally, while it is somewhat older an a work of journalism (so has been outdated by more recent research) I still can recommend Steven Levy's Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution to give you a good sense of computing in the 70s era.