Elmer Gates and the Art of Mind-Using

Rare and collectible book

Information about Elmer Gates is available on the web, including a free download of all 540 pages as a PDF file. This copy was added to the Ritchie's library in the early 1990's after Bill had ordered a copy from a distant library via the interlibrary loan system at that time. Subsequently a copy came up for sale and Bill bought it and proceeded to scan every page for his digital database - including the pictures. The reason for this was that Bill was working on a back story for his game, Emeralda, to be set in an imaginary world or region by that name. Roleplaying games (RPG) were big, with title like Myst and WoW dominating the online gaming market. All these had back stories of some kind. MTG, too, had stories. Bill's story was that the player was awarded the Gates Prize. This was to grab peoples' attention since it seemed like it was Bill Gates; but no, it was Elmer Gates (no relation) that Ritchie found useful. In part it was because Elmer was devoted to education. Therefore the man, and his story, made a perfect combination. The book has been in the Ritchie library for three decades and is a cornerstone of the serious game project, Emeralda: Games for the Gifts of Life.