Chester Bolingbroke has set himself a high goal: to play each and every computer role-playing game ever made, in order of publication. His page CRPGaddict chronicles this massive task, and is increasingly becoming a valuable resource for games history as well as starry-eyed nostalgic gamers, hungry for the game experiences of their youth.
Since his project's inception in 2010, Chester (who, by the way, keeps his real name a secret) has documented 75 games, starting with Akalabeth (1979). The rules he has set for himself are strict, and his schedule is full: After more than two years, his gargantuan task has led him up to the year 1989. I interviewed Chester for an article I wrote for Austrian online paper DerStandard; here's the full interview.
VGT: One could half-jokingly call you one of the few living "game archeologists", documenting these half-forgotten game-experiences for later generations. Would you see yourself as that: a games historian?
Chet: I see myself as an "accidental" game historian. My primary goal is to have fun playing these games, and I would contend that you can have just as much fun playing a 1989 game as you can a 2012 game. The only reason I appear to be a "historian" is because my blog goes in chronological order. If I had decided to completely randomize the order, I don't think most people would see my blog as primarily about history. Nonetheless, I'm happy to uncover historical tidbits--particularly CRPG "firsts"--as I go along.