For aeons, people have expressed themselves, their ambitions and their fantasies in mock battles among competitors. Some were stylised and intellectual, like chess; some were gambler`s games, such as cards and dice. Others were physical and testing, like wrestling or football. All offered an irresistible distraction from, and adjunct to, the cares and worries of real life.

And some say real life is nothing more than a massive multiplayer role-playing game. Today`s computer game - interactive, online, real-time and, of course, violent - has its roots in a number of historical developments.

One might cite arcade games as key to their evolution into home game consoles. Perhaps single-player games of skill on computer terminals are the key. But if one has to pick the most influential historical contributions to computer gaming, two people stand out. Though both would live to see the birth of computers, both performed their most inspiring work many years earlier. Those people are HG Wells and JRR Tolkien.