bobh@pedsgd.UUCP (Bob Halloran) (10/25/85)
There have been numerous postings about problems some Christians
have with fantasy role-playing games, with Dungeons & Dragons used
as the typical example. These problems come chiefly into two
categories: 1) use by some game referees of actual material and/or
ritual from other faiths to provide some degree of realism to
their game, and the distress this causes to Christians, and 2)
obsessive behavior on the part of some adolescent players leading
to self-destructive actions.
In both cases, the problems arise, in my view, from an inability
on the part of those involved to distinguish what is a GAME and
what is REALITY. In the games I have been involved with in the last
five years, there has never been any effort to introduce 'real'
material from other religions, past or present. When one of the
players' characters' was casting a spell, they simply announced
"He's throwing a fireball spell". The patron-deity idea was
used mainly to help give a character a background, and a philosophy
of action; my wife, for instance, played a cleric of the Celtic
god of healing, which helped explain her character's reticence to
engage in combat, etc. NEVER was there any idea that ANY of this
had anything to do with the player's real life. The religious
materials presented as background material in the TSR manuals are
for the most part sloppy descriptions based on mythology texts, etc.
I expect, for instance, that any practicing Hindu would have problems
with the presentation of the Hindu deities in the TSR 'Legends &
Lore' book.
As regards the press surrounding the teenage suicides being
connected to D&D playing, see my previous posting in this group
and numerous recent postings in net.games.frp about inaccuracies
in the story presented on CBS '60 Minutes'. My personal feeling
is that if these unfortunate teens are incapable of distinguishing
fact from fantasy, their problem stems much deeper than their
playing D & D. Parents who fail to recognize this kind of obsessive
behavior are themselves, I feel, somewhat out of touch with
reality. Mrs. Puling (the mother in the 60 Minutes story who
lost her son) has my sympathy, but WHERE WAS SHE AND WHAT WAS SHE
DOING while her son was involved in late night gaming sessions,
threatening his sister, etc. She claims she had no knowledge
of what was going on; I respectfully submit that if this kind of
behavior was going on for any period of time, how could she have
missed it? If no parental supervision is available to help keep
a handle on these things, is it any wonder that the children
are out of control? The same could be said of ANY obsessive
behavior; D&D, video games until the wee hours, sitting in
front of the TV to the exclusion of people around you, etc.
Let's discriminate the two parts of this. The suicidal behavior
of some players may be aggrevated by D & D, but I doubt is purely
a result of it. The use of actual material from other religions
is a PURELY OPTIONAL act on the part of the local referee, and
in the case of active religions, would probably offend their
practicioners as well as some Christians. This sort of thing
should be taken up with the referee in question, who if any sort
of reasonable person, should be able to see the point, and
change accordingly.
Excuse the length, but as a player of such games, I feel that
the recent bad press is undeserved, unwarranted and unnecessary.
Remembering that it's a GAME, not reality, and that there is
no encouragement to take it as anything else, should do
much to alleviate concerns.
Bob Halloran
Sr MTS, Perkin-Elmer DSG
=============================================================================
UUCP: {decvax, ucbvax, most Action Central}!vax135\
{topaz, pesnta, princeton}!petsd!pedsgd!bobh
USPS: 106 Apple St M/S 305, Tinton Falls NJ 07724 DDD: (201) 758-7000
Disclaimer: My opinions are my own.
Quote: "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization,
it expects what never was and never will be." -- Thomas Jefferson