Learn About Donn Nauert, Pro Gaming Pioneer

A leader of gamers

by Thomas Whitehead Sat 14th Apr 2012

Commercial endorsements came with the territory

The video game industry has a very short history, significantly more so than other mediums such as film, yet many gaming figures that were popular in past times are now unknown. Take Donn Nauert, for example.

In the first video of a planned series, video game historian Patrick Scott Patterson is compiling footage of prominent names from gaming's past. Donn Nauert appears to have enjoyed a high public profile within the industry during the 1980s, appearing on TV shows, endorsements, videos and in books. He also set a number of world record scores, some of which stand today, and captained the U.S. National Video Game Team. From the 1990s onward Nauert has, according to Patterson, worked for different game developers and companies within the gaming industry.

Check out the video below to get a taste of the life of a well-known pro-gamer in the 1980s.

[source youtube.com]

1
Slapshot
Sat 14th Apr 2012

Nice find Thomas. I remember the days back when there were new NES releases and it was a system that wowed most anyone who saw it. It's still hard to think of professional gamers on the Atari though. Lol

2
rtr0GMR1
Sat 14th Apr 2012

I used to own that VHS tape for the video that shows the US video game team or whatever. It was hands down the cheesiest thing I've ever seen. Wish I still had it...

3
chiptoon
Sat 14th Apr 2012

"The video game industry has a very short history, significantly more so than other mediums such as film and literature". I know film seems old, because it started before any of us were born (I assume), but I still think its more in the same category as video games, with maybe a 50 or 60 year headstart. Literature is a little different, more in the same category as painting and sculpture.

4
ThomasBW84
Sat 14th Apr 2012

@chiptoon Indeed, I did just find examples that were older, film and literature aren't in the same ball park (arguably about 1800 years for literature, if you count the oldest discovered manuscripts). Both get a lot more attention for their history though, which is something that needs to be remedied, as far as possible, for gaming.

EDIT: I've just edited the literature reference out, I clearly didn't have my brain engaged when I included that (it was after midnight when I typed it up). As a student of Book History (no, really), I've given myself a slap on the wrist.