The term melee has been adopted and popularized in

wargaming A wargame is a strategy game in which two or more players command opposing armed forces in a realistic simulation of an armed conflict. Wargaming may be played for recreation, to train military officers in the art of strategic thinking, or to s ...

, table top, and

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...

s to encompass all forms of close combat. This can include any combat that involves directly striking an opponent at ranges generally less than a metre, especially using martial arts or melee weapons. This term is especially used in comparison to other strategies, such as ranged combat or magic (where applicable) when the game offers multiple methods of combat.

History

The early tabletop war game, '' Kriegsspiel'', created in 1812, contained rules for a "hand-fight" or hand-to-hand combat. In some translations, this stage of the game was referred to in passing as a ''melée''. H.G. Wells' 1913 '' Little Wars'' was the first to specifically outline a "melee" rule in his eponymous war game. Many later wargames (and video games) can trace their origins to the rulesets first laid out in ''Little Wars''. In 1968,

Gary Gygax Ernest Gary Gygax ( ; July 27, 1938 – March 4, 2008) was an American game designer and author best known for co-creating the pioneering role-playing game ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D'') with Dave Arneson. In the 1960s, Gygax created an ...

and

Jeff Perren Jeff Perren is a game designer, a hobby shop owner, and an early associate of Gary Gygax. Career Jeff Perren was an early member of the Lake Geneva Tactical Studies Association along with Gary Gygax, Terry and Rob Kuntz, Ernie Gygax, Mike R ...

adopted and modified the rules for ''

Siege of Bodenburg ''Siege of Bodenburg'' is a wargame developed in 1967 by Henry Bodenstedt. It is one of the earliest sets of rules for conducting battles with medieval miniatures. Publication In 1967 the game was published by ''Strategy & Tactics'' magazine ...

'', a medieval war game, and expanded on rules for one-on-one melee combat and specific melee weapon rules. This modified ruleset was published as ''

Chainmail Chain mail (properly called mail or maille but usually called chain mail or chainmail) is a type of armour consisting of small metal rings linked together in a pattern to form a mesh. It was in common military use between the 3rd century BC and ...

'' and included a fantasy supplement which would later be known as ''

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. (T ...

''. The popularity of ''Dungeons & Dragons'', which featured a "melee phase" to represent the fighting of characters outside of bows and magic, would help spread the use of "melee" as a phrase for other table-top and video games.

In video games

This term still applies to most role-playing games, but is often used in the context of

first-person shooter First-person shooter (FPS) is a sub-genre of shooter video games centered on gun and other weapon-based combat in a first-person perspective, with the player experiencing the action through the eyes of the protagonist and controlling the pl ...

s to specify a non-ranged attack. This began with the 1992 game '' Wolfenstein 3D'', which featured a

knife A knife ( : knives; from Old Norse 'knife, dirk') is a tool or weapon with a cutting edge or blade, usually attached to a handle or hilt. One of the earliest tools used by humanity, knives appeared at least 2.5 million years ago, as evide ...

that could be selected from the inventory, just like a gun. Because of the risk involved in using a melee weapon, they were typically the most powerful weapons available, in terms of damage. Later, ''

Duke Nukem 3D ''Duke Nukem 3D'' is a first-person shooter video game developed by 3D Realms. It is a sequel to the platform games ''Duke Nukem'' and '' Duke Nukem II'', published by 3D Realms. ''Duke Nukem 3D'' features the adventures of the titular Duke N ...

'' would include a button that allowed the character to kick enemies while still wielding a gun. A Nintendo fighting game franchise called ''

Super Smash Bros. ''Super Smash Bros.'' is a Crossover (fiction), crossover fighting game series published by Nintendo. The series was created by Masahiro Sakurai, who has directed every game in the series. The series is known for its unique gameplay objectiv ...

'' had its second game released in 2001 for the

GameCube The is a home video game console developed and released by Nintendo in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, and in PAL territories in 2002. It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 (1996), and predecessor of the W ...

and used the term "

melee A melee ( or , French: mêlée ) or pell-mell is disorganized hand-to-hand combat in battles fought at abnormally close range with little central control once it starts. In military aviation, a melee has been defined as " air battle in which ...

" in the title. In strategy games, especially

real-time strategy Real-time strategy (RTS) is a subgenre of strategy video games that do not progress incrementally in turns, but allow all players to play simultaneously, in "real time". By contrast, in turn-based strategy (TBS) games, players take turns to pla ...

, infantry units that do not use ranged weapons are often called melee units.

References

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History

In video games

References

See also