D&D and violence

[bweenie]

I am involved in a dispute with my state's department of corrections (they run the prisons). A client, who is a prisoner, wants to play D&D with his buddies in prison. Big surprise, they won't let him. A large part of this is due to concerns that D&D will lead to violence and gang activity, disconnect with reality, and disrespect for authority. In order to effectively challenge the stance of the prison officials, we may need an expert to testify.

Therefore, I am looking for someone who might qualify as an expert in order to address these matters. If you know of anyone who has done research on this topic, or who is a psychologist who works or plays with the game, please let me know.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Do they allow Monopoly?

Videogames?

Books?

Music?

Movies?

D&D has never been shown conclusively to inspire anything related to what they're saying, any more than any other source of entertainment. Millions of people play D&D every day without any violence, gang activity, disconnect from reality, or disrespect for authority. Banning D&D for causing these things would be like banning Crime and Punishment for causing things things.

It doesn't.

I don't know of any expert that can vouch for it, but you might try any sales records you can dig up. As much as D&D sells, and how many violent events have ever been conclusively drawn back to D&D (vs. being played up in the media). Something similar to the argument of "Millions of people do this every day without going on a killing spree, I don't think you can prove that this causes that."

Good luck. Sorry I can't be actually helpful. :\

 

[Teflon Billy]

I read something about this before, and I think the actual problem that the folks (in that instance) had with D&D in prison is that it can allow for imaginary "goods" (Magic Items, gold etc) to be traded for actual items in the prison economy.

Think of it like a a version of selling WoW items on Ebay, except that instead of money you get Crack, Smokes or a Bitch in exchange.

And, unlike Monopoly, the "playing Piece" in D&D allows for a lot more identification by the player. If they are given a +1 flaming sword in exchange for a carton of smokes and the sword is sundered...I'm guessing it's not out of the question that that might cause some grief amongst the population oat the table.

 

[Wik]

Out of curiousity, and respectfully - who are you? You've been on this site for four years, and yet you've only made a handful of posts. I'm sure there's a story behind that.

To answer the question, it's more than just that, I think. Allowing D&D is the potential for weapons - hardcover books, dice, and whatnot can all become dangerous weapons. So, if your prison doesn't allow boardgames, it might not allow this. As has already been mentioned.

As for violence, disconnect from reality - I remember the gov't of sweden doing a study on RPGs that concluded the exact opposite. It's online, somewhere. Also, Michael Stackpole's "Pulling Report", while a classic, is always a great source to use. Finally, doesn't Yale have a D&D class that offers credits? I remember hearing something about that. I think you can always use the "if it works for Yale..." argument, there.

I think a great way to describe the game would simply to describe it as a social gathering of players, using pre-recorded information. Almost akin to a book club, really, just a bit more interactive. And with dice (and there are methods to go diceless, by the way).

All that being said, if he's not allowed D&D, that's fine. I personally don't see a huge problem with that - prisons aren't country clubs, and if the powers that be decide it's not safe playing D&D, knowing the facts, that's for them to decide. After all, there are plenty of harmful effects D&D can have in a prison:

* It causes an authority chain (responsibility to the DM, for example - I can see this leading to a 'gang mentality'.) If someone threatens my DM, I have to protect him. And my group of gamer buddies take up a large portion of my time, and we probably become a clique. And it's a group that has a leader (a DM). Now, it might be farfetched, but if I'm in a prison, I probably have some problems with decision-making - if my DM says "hey, guys, King Pooba in Cell Block D is ticking me off.... shank him in the showers and you all get 1,000 XP"...
Kind of a very nerdy gang, but still something worrisome for prison guards.
* The aforementioned weapon aspect. A single PHB can be turned into a knife, due to the very hard cover. Role-playing without books and dice is possible, but it might be a bit difficult unless your client is rather creative.
* Protection of the players. A lot of prisoners are, lets face it, bullies. And if you see a bunch of people playing a game that is rather universally seen as a geeks game... it could lead to trouble for the people playing it. After all, the other prisoners are bored, angry, and could easily see a potential target in someone playing the game.

 

[Chimera]

With all due respect...

D&D is about killing things (mostly intelligent things, or "people") and taking their stuff.

Most of the people in prison are there for having done at least one of those two in real life.

 

[Mark]

. . . and then there is the dicing apsect.

 

[Goobermunch]

Try the Escapist. They self-designate as a Role Playing Games advocacy site. They may be able to help put you in contact with the right folks.

I know for a fact that there is a Role Playing Games political advocacy group, but I cannot recall their name. Found it! It's the Committee for the Advancement of Role-Playing Games (website: www.car-pga.org).

--G

 

[Morrus]

I'm certainly no psychology expert... but prison is supposed to be a punishment. Disallowing D&D (and X-boxes, and hundreds of other enjoyable activities) seems entirely appropriate to me. People aren't supposed to enjoy their time in prison.

 

[moritheil]

It is astonishing that people have taken the "games corrupt" idea so far that they believe a game will corrupt hardened criminals.

 

[SiderisAnon]

I fully understand why you would want to be able to have gaming as a prisoner. You have a limited amount of stuff that you're allowed to own. While a typical book can only be read once, a gaming book can be used over and over again.

I am not going to get on the bandwagon talking about prisons being just punishment versus a level of rehabilitation as well. More important is that if you don't give the prisoners some way of having some entertainment during a long jail sentence, they're going to become uncontrollable. (Hence there are the everyday things like cable TV and the sometimes occurring problems of guards bringing in drugs and booze to help keep the prisoners "placated".)

I do however agree that playing a game which is generally about violence, theft, and being so powerful that you can do whatever you want is maybe not the best entertainment for a lot of prisoners. Sure, the guy in there for cheating on his taxes probably isn't going to be influenced by it, but it's not really the outlet I'd like to see for a more violent criminal.

Then again, as you've told us nothing about your client or what kind of crime or what type of prison, any discussion of appropriateness is probably moot.


There is another problem you must face with prison gaming, however. At least in my state, my understanding is that most dice are simply not allowed because they can be used for gambling as well as gaming. While you can play without any real materials such as miniatures (metal to make into a weapon), dice are necessary unless you're playing a game like Amber.


That having been said, I will go on to an actual constructive reply to your request: About 10 years ago, I had a player in my group whose younger brother wanted to play. His mother wouldn't allow it because she felt that D&D was evil. I put together a package for him of research I did on the internet. I found articles written by psychologists and priests touting the benefits of D&D for everything from stress relief to a place to where you could face moral decisions that you won't normally get in the real world. There were statistics about how gamers actually have a much lower level of suicide than normal folk of their age. There were also items helping to debunk the common myths about gaming.

Some of these were from professional sources. These seem like the kind of people you want to approach.

Unfortunately, I no longer have the research or the links. However, I found all of this in an evening or two with Webcrawler. I'm sure Google and whoever else could help you do the same thing. Much of it would be useless in court because it is unsubstantiated, but I think you should be able to find some starting points on experts fairly quickly.

I just did a quick search for "d&d psychology benefit". In the first page of links, I found a site that lists advocacy sites and books. "http://www.roleplayingtips.com/downloads/supplemental_21_rpg_advocacy.txt"

Good hunting.