back in the 80's why did parents blame D&D on there kids killing thereselves?

RPGC Community Realm of the Dragons Forum
#33

There are several reasons as to why DnD was demonised by parents, all of which are flawed.

My personal favourite is the factor that these people can’t deal with the fact that they are human beings, and as human beings, they have flaws. It’s the same reason as to why Video Games have recieved such a slating recently. Something has gone wrong, the product is related to the incident (no matter how loosely related), and rather than find a deeper, more logical reason, the audience will blame the product. Why not? It’s easier to do, it doesn’t fight back, and it’s mass produced so there can be more money in it.

Instead of realising that there may be some social hinderence, a lack of education in what’s fact or fiction, what’s right or wrong, or some basic mental instability, all blame is placed on the product. It can never be the humans themselves, oh no, that’s insane. Let’s use the Manhunt incident as an example.

a 14 year old kills another kid of his age after playing the game. Quick answer: the game was the direct and only cause of this incident. instant flaw with this: He was 14. He was 4 years to young to have played the game. I’m just wondering how he got his hands on it. How did his parents miss the age label, and if they read the label, how did they not see this, or any other psycological problem, coming? If the kid bought it himself, why did the store clerk not ask for ID? It’s this same thing with DnD and other video games. While it may be a key player in the problem, I can probably garuntee you, it’s not the one and only reason. Yes, the label warns the audience that the game can be ‘a little disturbing’, but when it comes to 18 games, it’s only ‘a little disturbing’ in the same way that lava is ‘a tad warm’.

Another reason can be religious overtones. Remember that comic that was written? The one where this girl gets into DnD, joins a cult, realises her mistake, joins the church and then takes part in a town book burning to purge the ‘Devil’s Game’ forever? I laughed so hard at it’s terribleness, I think my sides hurt, and I’m a Christian. As wilfredo says, you fight demons and devils a lot in the game. Why would Satan think it would be a good idea to draw players in by making a game that simulates you and your friends slaughtering his minions? Sure, the demonic imagry on the early books didn’t help the case, but you could also see on the same covers, the good guys heroically holding back the evil forces. Unfortunately, they only took up 5%-10% of the cover, so attention was automatically drawn to the big scary monster that enveloped the rest.

I guess a minor reason could be Munchousen Syndrome. Parents look for attention, they realise their kid is a little screwed up, they know their kid plays DnD (or that DnD is the popular excuse), they have access to an excuse.

other reasons could be following the crowd, finding reasons to sue, over bearing parents who don’t see DnD as part of their plan for their child, etc.

Before I continue, I’m a christian, I play violent video games, watch TV and movies that are quite gory, and I play RPGs a lot. Have I lost faith in God? no. Have I killed, harmed or sacrificed someone? no. Do I plan to? the phrase ‘hell no’ comes to mind.

I do appologise for going off on a bit of a rant, I’m just tired of persecution by other social groups. I actually had someone back away and declare “please don’t sacrifice me to satan” when they found out I played DnD.

besides. Vin Diesal aparently plays DnD, and he’s not screwed up.

…right?

#34

Sorry to hear that you’ve had trouble for playing D&D, Acenra. Hopefully it’s just the typical social friction that comes with growing up (if you’re smart you’re a “nerd” if you’re athletic you’re a “jock” etc.- people always find some way to demean others, probably to make themselves feel better) and nothing too serious. BTW, I’m a Christian too (nondenominational) and I also think that God wouldn’t find fiction -even the kind that mocks him- to be evil or damning in itself- he doesn’t have our human pettiness. Besides, I’ve always believed that fiction is one of the most constructive things humanity ever conceived- it allows people to live the lives of others in their minds, and thus leads to better understanding of each other. Its main purpose may be to entertain (or making $$) but well-written fiction of any kind -even games- are GOOD for people.

#35

If it was deadpan it was probably Brit humour. \deadpan

#36

well, it wasn’t the standard sarcastic bullying that usually goes around, he seemed genuinely scared. It was more embarrasing on their behalf really. Of course, this became awkward for a good few weeks, then the standard bullying came along, and then I went to university and found people who play DnD, so it all worked out in time :slight_smile:

#37

My response would of been “I dunno, I get a +2 profane bonus to dice rolls if I sacrifice innocents, but rituals of darkness are like posting a kill me sign on my back as far as those damn paladins are concerned.”

That or “Nah, you don’t gotta worry about that, but I might feed you to a dragon.”

#38

That, uh, isn’t what Münchhausen syndrome is, really.

#39

Really? I thought Münchhausen Syndrome was a parent harming their child or over exagerating an illness in order to get attention. I was saying it was possible that the parent would make their child seem like a victim of DnD, and, in turn, become a victim themselves. I probably should have worded that part better. Either way, I’d probably still end up wrong, I usually am :slight_smile:

#40

Actually you’re right, sort of: there’s “Munchhausen Syndrome” and there’s “Munchhausen Syndrome by proxy”. According to Wikipedia anyway:

#41

Basically, they have to intentionally cause harm to another (in this case, the child) to gain attention. So making up an excuse for why, instead of blaming themselves, is just regular denial.

There’re social stigma against a lot of things that don’t make a lot of sense, and it sucks, but I actually don’t think D&D gets off that bad, really.

#42

D&D wasn’t affected too bad by the whole 80’s satanism scandal mostly because it was obscure even in geek circles. Had it been as well-known then as it is today it might have been a bigger deal.

#43

True, but the scandal would’ve been a bigger deal in America, culturally, then than it is now; Harry Potter has its share of satanism scandal and remains entirely mainstream.

#44

A lot of the controversy probably stemmed from things like demons and summon spells. These usually made sense within context, but self-appointed moral crusaders don’t usually bother with such things. It didn’t help that a lot of the people who played D&D were sometimes pretty far from the societal mainstream.

#45

Harry Potter had the good fortune of receiving THE VATICAN’S vote of confidence. Of course that was back when John Paul II was alive…

#46

Yeah, but a lot of the people who said D&D was evil also insinuated that the Catholic church was founded by Satan. See: Jack T. Chick.

#47

John Paul II was respected even among non-Catholics. Jack T. Chick on the other hand… :wink:

#48

I’ll be damned if I’m going to listen to what some… PAPIST has to say about some godless books.

#49

My point was that the sort of people who make the really ridiculous, inflammatory condemnations of things like D&D tend towards the fringes, anyway, at least from what I can tell.

#50

Sadly, there’s still many people good who are being mislead by religious fanatics, Arac. I can’t believe my own older sister - a Doctor, and one of the persons I admire most- is against letting kids celebrate Halloween because it’s a pagan holiday.:thud: I had to inform her that in that case, children shouldn’t celebrate Christmas either, since it started as a pagan winter festival! The Church just inserted the date of Jesus’ birth (which is not really known) into the celebrations to co-opt them for their own.

#51

To be fair to your sister, there is a big difference between co-opting the date of a pagan holiday and replacing it with a wholly Christian celebration. Now, if you focused on secular side of Christmas with the trees and all that, you would have a point. However, taking over the date is not the same as taking over the aspects of celebration.

#52

Her problem is that Halloween started as a pagan celebration and so should not be celebrated regardless of how we do it to day (I doubt the old Celts put on costumes and went door to door asking for candy, did they?) Thus my example: it shouldn’t then matter how we celebrate Christmas today, if it started as Yuletide or the Saturnalia.

But what really bothers me is that this is not a notion she held previously. I’m pretty sure she got it from local preachers, who have been going on about this around here in recent times. Which given the facts above is really ironic. :noway: Oh btw the Church also hijacked Halloween, since they turned the pagan homage-to-the-dead rituals into “All Hallow’s Eve” another Christian Holiday.