Mabel Addis Mergardt (21 May 1912 – 13 August 2004) was an American writer, teacher and the first video game writer. She designed ''

The Sumerian Game ''The Sumerian Game'' is an early text-based strategy video game of land and resource management. It was developed as part of a joint research project between the Board of Cooperative Educational Services of Westchester County, New York and IBM ...

'', programmed by William McKay, for the

IBM 7090 The IBM 7090 is a second-generation Transistor computer, transistorized version of the earlier IBM 709 vacuum tube mainframe computer that was designed for "large-scale scientific and technological applications". The 7090 is the fourth member o ...

in 1964, which inspired other kingdom management games such as '' Hamurabi'' from the early 1970s. She is considered to have created the

strategy video game Strategy video game is a major Video game genres, video game genre that focuses on analyzing and strategizing over direct quick reaction in order to secure success. Although many types of video games can contain strategic elements, the strategy ...

genre and text based game concept. She has been recognized as the world's first narrative video game writer as well as the first video game writer, and is the oldest known female video game designer.

Early life and education

Mabel Holmes was born on 21 May 1912 to James Holmes and Mabel Wood. She grew up in

Mount Vernon Mount Vernon is the former residence and plantation of George Washington, a Founding Father, commander of the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War, and the first president of the United States, and his wife, Martha. An American landmar ...

and excelled in school, graduating valedictorian from Brewster High School in 1929. After graduating, she attended

Barnard College Barnard College is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college affiliated with Columbia University in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a grou ...

. At Barnard, she obtained a degree in ancient history and a minor in psychology by 1933. She attended

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

for her graduate schooling, and obtained a masters degree in education.

Career

Upon obtaining her master’s degree in education, Addis worked in a rural one-room school. In 1937, she moved to the Hyatt Avenue School. She worked there for thirteen years before finally moving to Katonah-Lewisboro School District in 1950. She taught in this district until 1976. Her teaching career spanned five decades. Addis was active in her community. She used her knowledge of history to contribute to both history and book committees in the school district. She wrote and published historical articles, started an oral history collection, and co-authored a book titled ''Katonah: a History of a New York Village and Brewster Through the Years''. Her most notable work took place in the 1960s. Addis was elected to work with

IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...

and

Boards of Cooperative Educational Services The Boards of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES //) is a program of shared educational services provided to school districts by the New York State Legislature. History BOCES owes its origin to a state legislative enactment authorizing the f ...

to create

, the first text-based computer game. This game enabled players to assume the roles of rulers of the ancient

Sumer Sumer () is the earliest known civilization, located in the historical region of southern Mesopotamia (now south-central Iraq), emerging during the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age, early Bronze Ages between the sixth and fifth millennium BC. ...

ian city of

Lagash Lagash (; cuneiform: LAGAŠKI; Sumerian language, Sumerian: ''Lagaš'') was an ancient city-state located northwest of the junction of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers and east of Uruk, about east of the modern town of Al-Shatrah, Iraq. Lagash ( ...

, marking it as the first video game to run on a fully electronic computer. As a result, Addis became the first writer and designer for computer video games, pioneering the field.

Personal life and legacy

She married Alexander L. Addis in 1942, officially becoming Mabel Addis. Alexander died in 1981. She remarried in 1991 to Gerard Mergardt, who died in 1995. Addis passed away in 2004. She was posthumously awarded the Pioneer Award during the 2023 edition of

Game Developers Conference The Game Developers Conference (GDC) is an annual conference for video game developers. The event includes an expo, networking events, and awards shows like the Game Developers Choice Award for Game of the Year, Game Developers Choice Awards and ...

on 23 February 2023.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Addis, Mabel 1912 births 2004 deaths 20th-century American women writers American women non-fiction writers American video game designers Barnard College alumni Columbia University alumni American electronic literature writers Game Developers Conference Pioneer Award recipients Women video game designers 20th-century American non-fiction writers