D&D Player Accused in Sword Killing *why is the game a factor?*

So, there's been a lot of talk on the boards lately about anti-D&D stuff... and, for the most part, people have said that it seems like it's getting better... but, the negativity arises again in this article.

There are plenty of weirdos that play other games and are deeply involved in other hobbies... anyone ever think this guy just had some mental issues?

Why is it that the game takes some of the brunt?

You know, if you look at the majority of crime that happens in this country, D&D has no more criminals then say...golf. It's not like the prisons are full of D&D groups, and the cell blocks don't have monthly LARPs. Sheesh, when will people blame people for crimes?

The difference is that Golf is never mentioned in a murder story. OJ played Golf, but it wasn't mentioned at the time of the Nicole Brown / Ron Goldman slayings. (OJ's name alone was enough to popularize the story.) Mostly, it's a tagline to hang the story on, nothing more. It brings a sensational quality to the story, which is what most large journalistic establishments do to sell it.

It's because we're easy scapegoats, the same as any other form of escapism.


People inherrantly look for the easiest, least defendable excuse for something, because, well, people are lazy. To Jonny Sixpack and Jane Housecoat what we do is wierd - why would anyone want to pretend to be someone other than who they are? That's so strange, it must be a large part of why Soandso went nuts.


I mean it's not like human psychology is a very complicated subject that people devote their entire lifetimes to unraveling or anything. Nope. Cut and dry, he was into something that is alien to me, so the alien thing must be to blame for his actions.


...you know, instead of the actual person being responsible for what they do.

Sejs said:

...you know, instead of the actual person being responsible for what they do.

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Oh, personaly responsbility!! Where have you gone?

Just read the article. I'm confused, however, because though the article makes mention of Dungeons and Dragons and Fantasy Board Games, it makes no overt attempt to blame DnD for his actions.

Granted, the first paragraph of the article is rather offensive and just pointless. Saying, "he's a goth freak-o who plays childish games and has no grip on reality," would probably have been a more consice way of conveying what the article's author intended the reader to gather. It's negitive, sure, but if you ignore that paragraph the article is a lot less inflamitory and a lot more informing. I'd like to hear what James Tate, the police spokesman who quoted witnesses, heard but didn't repeat.

Personally, I find the idea that he burned candles on his shift to be more suprising and distasteful than the fact he fanatically played DnD, but I may be biased.
Fantasy games might have something to do with his choice of weapon, but if you work in a steel mill, sharp pointy bits of metal are readily available, and carrying them around attracts much less attention than a gun or even a 'real' knife would. I doubt he learned how to use a sword, or even how to make one, from DnD, and I'm more annoyed that the press chose DnD as a means to explain what kind of person James Flemons was instead of his acts of violence.

I don't see this as Anti-Dungeons and Dragons press. I simply see it as bad and irresponsible writing on the part of the article's author. Then again, if Flemons had belonged to a different 'fringe group' they'd be complaining about bad press and I would never have heard of this incident.

- Kemrain the Biased.

Why couldn't they have blamed Highlander instead?

Blarg.

I don't think the article blames D&D for his actions... I just can't figure out why it is even an issue... particularly in interviewing his co-workers... the fact that he was into fantasy board games seems about as relevant as whether or not he liked sugar cookies...

The fact that people do not understand the difference between a cause and a correlation really drives me batty.

The articel isn't blaming D&D for anything. It is just describing this wacko. Note that it mentions other things about him like black fingernails and burning candles. This article is no more ofensive to the D&D player or the black fingernail polish wearin' person.

What do you want to do? Censor the media so that they can't report the types of games a killer plays?

Why couldn't they have blamed Highlander instead?

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Heh, or better yet, blamed it on Highlander 2. Then we could all just say the whole thing never happened and go on with our lives.