People Can't Blame D&D... posted by Lady Kei on 03/19/2004 at 11:25:52 from IP# 198.110.32.98 I am an avid Roleplayer in both D&D and video games. These kinds of comments make me sick. I've been playing these games for years, and there is no harm psychologically unless there was psychological scarring beforehand. You have to realize that many of these children that are committing suicide are most likely unstable to begin with. The people who use the game of D&D to escape reality because they're nerdy or picked on too often are the ones who give in to their longing to be in a different kind of world. If anything, it's giving them a healthy outlet. It's the world around them that forced them to seek this kind of refuge in the beginning. So if parents are so concerned, they should make sure their child is as secure and healthy as they assume they are. Secondly, D&D is not purely violence unless the player is violent themself. In my case, most of the Roleplaying I do occurs in pubs and camp sites where my fellow players and I discuss politics and share jokes. The point of the game is to develop your character in ALL aspects. Not only in battle prowess. My character hardly develops battle skills because my friends and I would rather develop our characters' past story and personality quirks. The more important thing to us is to set ourselves on a path that would better the world our characters were living in. I can not see where this is unhealthy. In conclusion, the game is what you make it. It's been used as a tool to analyze the deep rooted personality and tendencies of those who play it. So if a player decides that all they want is carnage and violence, that comes from HIM. Not the game. Because the game is only what you want it to be. Sincerely, Lady Kei

Think of D&D as the Gauge not the Problem posted by Mike Cornwall on 10/07/2003 at 13:23:52 from IP# 64.83.227.93 My own experience with D&D goes back 23 years and I have never killed anyone.  I haven't even been in a fight in my adult life.  I don't beat my wife, children, or dog.  Simply put, whatever effect this game is suppossed to have, hasn't affected me.  I am a Christian, and I spent several years working in a game store that specialized in such games, along with strategy and tactics games.  I was honored to work for TSR during Southern California game conventions for three years, and got an inside look at the industry.  Having established at least a degree of expertise on gaming, I would like to submit an observation:   Roleplaying games put players in a position to make moral choices.  Inevitably, the games focus on the extremes of the society where they are set.  They deal with conflicts (violent and non-violent).  They deal with problems that only someone who is brave enough or foolhardy enough to confront.  It is for this reason that players are forced (knowingly or unknowlingly) to make moral decisions.  For example: a player might have to decide how to deal with a guard protecting an imprisoned individualy they have been paid to free.  How the player chooses for his/her character to deal with this situation is a reflection of his/her morality (the game never requires a certain choice here in and of itself, as some claim).   Being put in a position to make moral decisions over and over, in a fantasy setting, where the consequences happen to a character rather than the individual, I have observed the way people play reflects what is already going on in their minds and hearts.  That is to say, that people who idealize violence and crime as viable solutions to their problems will make choices for their characters that are violent and criminal.  Players that value gentleness and positive moral values will make gentle and positive choices for their character.  This is even more drastically evident with regard to D&D which requires player to define his/her characters morality in the form of an alignment.  Alignment in D&D is often serves to make the nature of the players moral choices stand out, because the Dungeon Master is always comparing the choices of the player against the characters stated morality.   I have seen games played where players tell their Dungeon Master, "Cut through the baloney, what do we fight next."  I have seen games run for three and four game sessions without a single character drawing a sword or casting a spell.  I have seen everything in between.   I think if we consider the alleged link between violence and D&D we should consider that D&D has been used as an outlet for violence, which has become unsatisfying and lead to real violence.  We have to consider that D&D might have actually postponed the real violence, giving the player an outlet, for a time.  I have seen people who, through their characters and through discussing their choices after a game, have told me that they feel deeply restrained in real life by laws and the morality impossed upon them by society.  If they could, they would do whatever they wanted, including murder, rape, and whatever acts they deemed desirous at the minute, regardless of the moral impact of these actions.  I have also played with Christians who enjoy trying to make good decisions, reserving violence as a last resort against foes who force them into such situations, who find friendship at the gaming table that reinforces Christian choices in dire circumstances.

Violent Games = Violent People? posted by Eric Besley on 12/17/2002 at 10:48:37 from IP# 170.158.3.1 Although I've never been directly introduced to D&D, a few of my friends participate in the pasttime frequently and this in no way denounces my expereince or involvement with violent games though. I've played the recent games, such as Grand Theft Auto (all installments-including Vice City) and am well aware of the violence they all contain, but, to build on Mr. Hartkopp's point, a generalized assumption that D&D or any other violent games can or always will create a direct reaction ending in violent acts committed by youths/teens. More often than not, people (when I refer to people I mean teens) derive freindships and social habits from these games, because of the teamwork essences or simply having it in common. Games do not instill within it's users the ideas to promote what the game stands for, ex. D&D- to slay, rape or maime those who you seek emotionally or physically whether for revenge or personal satisfaction. Games are meant to provide the user an oppurtunity, to place them in a situation where they came make decisions and depending on the personality or goals of the person, is the decision they would make. I have no doubts the people who were mortally affected by D&D had some kind of emotional history, had trouble making friends or felt they weren't good enough NOT because the game itself implied these feelings, but because the world itself imbedded them into their existence. Just as Fashion instills in some women today that they are not as good as they could be if they had this undergarment, or this jazzy coat. We can't blame violence in games for the images we strike unto ourselves. Games provide ideas, stateing that Dungeons and Dragons was a direct cause for the suicides or acts of violence by the involved is ignorance to painfully obvious facts. In D&D, I'll ask you, does it say that suiciding or self-sacrifice(giving life) is an admittence of some kind or any kind of honorable act? I don't think so. What is evidence? It could just be what we want it to be, proving the one we want to be guilty, so. A suicide note contains a reference to D&D... alright, well an obese woman committed suicide with a fashion magazine on her lap... see the point I'm leading to? Gameing violence does not cause this, We do. By refusing to accept ideas and differences just because of who someone is and any related items is a crime in itself and the only direct proof you or I have to the beginnings of any ordeal that leads someone like a D&D player to seperate themselves from an otherwise crappy society and create chaos or break laws. When we stop pointing fingers at games or anything so general and petty and start looking at the basic cause of any crime/violent action, you shouldn't be looking at any game or magazine, but ourselves and only us. If you want to stop violence from things related to topics as trivial as games then maybe we should learn to be a more cooperative and accepting society.

This Kind of Generalized View Point is Unfair posted by John Hartkopp on 01/05/2001 at 10:39:37 from IP# 207.252.25.12 My introduction to Dungeons and Dragons was through a fellow Boy Scout on a camping trip when I was 15. I feel that in many ways it has sharpened my mind, improved my people skills, and helped create lasting friendships for me. Our Gaming group never plays evil characters nor do we endorse evil activitys within the game. In our games those who are evil are punished, not rewarded. Not once in a game have our characters ever raped, cannablized or killed women and children. Also in my gameing group we do not focus on the hack and slash aspects of the game instead we focus more upon puzzles, riddle solving and political machinations. We do have combat in our games and occasionaly it does involve an ambush or the over through of an evil tyrant. But none of us within our group would ever think of comiting murder or any other harmfull act against another person. THE GAME FANTASY NOT REALITY. We, along with most players of the game, know the difference between the two. We are not social misfits or dregs upon society. We are intelegent normal people. Two of our members are Eagle Scouts who still continue to give back to the community. Two more are enrolled in film school and will make a great impact upon the film community if they keep up there excellent work. Three of us work for AT&T and have unlimmited growth posibilitys. Two of us also own our own houses. And not one of us is over 22 years old. We are not rich. We did not come into insane amouts of money. We are just normal people that know how to make good decisions and work togather with others. Please feel free to Email me with any attacks or questions about Roleplaying games JHartkopp@Broadband.att.com