GAME DESIGNER

Dave Arneson

1947 - 2009

Photo of Dave Arneson

Icon of person Dave Arneson

David Lance Arneson (; October 1, 1947 – April 7, 2009) was an American game designer best known for co-developing the first published role-playing game (RPG), Dungeons & Dragons, with Gary Gygax, in the early 1970s. Arneson's early work was fundamental to the role-playing game (RPG) genre, pioneering devices now considered to be archetypical, such as cooperative play to develop a storyline instead of individual competitive play to "win" and adventuring in dungeon, town, and wilderness settings as presented by a neutral judge who doubles as the voice and consciousness of all characters aside from the player characters. Arneson discovered wargaming as a teenager in the 1960s, and he began combining these games with the concept of role-playing. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Dave Arneson has received more than 800,916 page views. His biography is available in 22 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 21 in 2019). Dave Arneson is the 23rd most popular game designer (up from 30th in 2019), the 6,768th most popular biography from United States (up from 9,152nd in 2019) and the 5th most popular American Game Designer.

Memorability Metrics

  • 800k

    Page Views (PV)

  • 47.90

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 22

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 2.94

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 3.44

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Among GAME DESIGNERS

Among game designers, Dave Arneson ranks 23 out of 77. Before him are Hironobu Sakaguchi, Toru Iwatani, Masayuki Uemura, Hidetaka Miyazaki, Peter Molyneux, and Reiner Knizia. After him are Yu Suzuki, Kazunori Yamauchi, Carol Shaw, Eiji Aonuma, Will Wright, and Scott Cawthon.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1947, Dave Arneson ranks 510. Before him are Mumtaz, Moses Nagamootoo, Sandy Denny, Sylvestre Ilunga, Randhir Kapoor, and Deanie Ip. After him are Roberto Mangabeira Unger, Rudolf Scharping, Kazuyoshi Hoshino, Saleh Kebzabo, Camille Keaton, and Alexander Tikhonov. Among people deceased in 2009, Dave Arneson ranks 246. Before him are Koko Taylor, Richard Todd, John Mayhew, Corín Tellado, Anna Yegorova, and Torsten Lindberg. After him are Veronika Dudarova, Miroslav Filip, Irving Kristol, Abel Goumba, Mamadou Dia, and Kim Manners.

Others Born in 1947

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Others Deceased in 2009

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In United States

Among people born in United States, Dave Arneson ranks 6,768 out of 20,380. Before him are James C. Scott (1936), Joe Rogan (1967), Tony Scott (1921), Chace Crawford (1985), Hannibal Goodwin (1822), and Marc Wright (1890). After him are John Getz (1946), Wilmer Allison (1904), Shirley Verrett (1931), Sheree J. Wilson (1958), Dick Van Patten (1928), and Phil Zimmermann (1954).

Others born in United States

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Among GAME DESIGNERS In United States

Among game designers born in United States, Dave Arneson ranks 5. Before him are Jeff Kinney (1971), Gabe Newell (1962), Lizzie Magie (1866), and Gary Gygax (1938). After him are Carol Shaw (1955), Will Wright (1960), Scott Cawthon (1971), John Carmack (1970), John Romero (1967), Steve Jackson (1953), and Ed Boon (1964).

American born Game Designers

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