&sq=Google&lang=en&file=File:Question_book-new.svg){kind=small} | This article needs additional citations for verification. (October 2014) |
&sq=Google&lang=en&file=File:Theescapist-dot-com_logo.jpg){kind=logo} | |
| Available in | English |
|---|---|
| Owner | William J. Walton |
| Created by | William J. Walton |
| URL | www |
| Launched | 1995[1] |
The Escapist is a web resource site that advocates and supports role-playing games (RPGs) as a social and educational activity, and works to educate the public on the true nature of gaming and dispel myths and misunderstandings about the hobby. It is one of a handful of sites that promote RPGs as an activity rather than advocating or supporting any specific game systems.
The site was created in December 1995 by William J. Walton and has been regularly updated for more than a decade. Originally titled The Gaming Advocacy Website, it began as a research project for a technical writing class. In April 1996, the site was expanded into an online zine devoted to role-playing and collectible card games, and shortly after, the rest of the material was scrapped and the site focused entirely on gaming advocacy.
Other examples of independent RPG Advocacy sites which have been cited in the media include the Shakespearean Eclectic Archive and the GAMA "Gaming & Education" site. Such sites counter the efforts of anti-game advocates including Patricia Pulling.
Ed Healy was helping the owners of the website Gaming Outpost with business development, and he decided to create a network of role-playing games websites to feed into the Gaming Outpost; The Escapist was the first site to join but work on creating the network stalled soon after so Healy ultimately created the site Hephaestus' Forge instead.[2]
- ^ "Every Day Is Halloween" in the 2005 (Detroit) Metro Times.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
designerswas invoked but never defined (see the help page).