How Does D&D Influence American Culture?

[Diamond Cross]

This was inspired by the thread about being in the (RPG) closet. A claim was made that D&D has a huge influence on the American culture.

I'd like to submit that it does not.

Because, aside from an occasional feature in a TV show or movie, I just don't see it.

Here's an example of what I mean.

Here's a few phrases that are used commonly every day:

• Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him --
• Ay, there's the rub
• Brevity is the soul of wit
• Conscience does make cowards of us all
• Good night, ladies
• Dog will have its day
• Frailty, thy name is woman
• Get thee to a nunnery
• Hoist with his own petard
• In my heart of hearts
• It smells to heaven
• More in sorrow than in anger
• In my mind's eye
• Murder most foul
• The lady doth protest too much, methinks
• Though this be madness, yet there is method in't
• Sweets to the sweet
• To be, or not to be: that is the question
• To thine own self be true
• The play's the thing
• Neither a borrower nor a lender be
• Not a mouse stirring
• Something is rotten in the state of Denmark
• What a piece of work is a man

The source, of course is from Shakespeare's Hamlet. I'd even go so far as to say that many people in America often uses these kinds of phrases without being aware of where they originated from.

So, who uses D&D phrases and slang in that fashion? Do you actually see people thinking in gaming terms when watching a car accident and saying like "Uh oh, somebody fumbled that skill roll"?

Now, I do remember there was a huge concern over it in the early eighties. My high school even held a rally that talked about the dangers of the occult and claimed D&D led to the occult as well. But that fever has pretty much died out and you generally don't hear about it anymore.

I am also aware of the influence it has had on Computer games, but it's also possible that these computer games would've developed independently of pen and paper RPGs. For millions of people play MMORGs as opposed to the pen and paper. But I don't know for certain, I am simply speculating.

But at least as far as I know, that's pretty much it.

So, I'd like to know more about how D&D has influenced American culture beyond what I know.

 

[francisca]

D&D is wonderfully fertile ground for artsy/creative types. A whole generation cut their creative baby teeth building megadungeons to slaughter their classmates' characters in.

Its kinda like the Commodore 64 is a home computer that launched a couple million IT careers. You sure the hell don't see any C=64 assembly code in Web 2.0 apps or the Google search engine, but it is where many got there start.

kinda like the background radiation from the big bang. Its there, its presence permeates everything, but it is hardly quantifiable.

 

[Dausuul]

Just about every fantasy MMORPG (which is most of them) owes a tremendous debt to Dungeons and Dragons. World of Warcraft is one of the most prominent examples; both the mechanics and the setting are hugely D&D-influenced.

Likewise, while D&D may not have much direct impact on the culture at large, it has a big effect on certain groups of people who in turn have a big cultural impact. Francisca has pointed out its effect on many creative people, but I would say it's had a much greater role in the lives of the computer geeks whose work is the foundation of the Internet economy.

 

[Stormonu]

The influence of D&D isn't in catch phrases, though there are a few known to geekdom:

"Roll for Initiative"
"He failed his Dex check"
"Never Split the Party"

However, D&D's influence is generally elsewhere. Every stinking RPG console game would not exist were it not for D&D. Say goodbye to the Final Fantasy series, World of Warcraft and a host of other games; they would have never existed.

D&D's fantasy novel line, starting with Dragonlance, created much of the explosion for love of fantasy novels. The fantasy section would be awful small these days (and its authors much less well-known) if it weren't for the D&D novels, I'm sure. Just look how much space D&D and RPG spinoff novels take up in the fantasy section; all of that would be absent if D&D had not come about. Also, wasn't Wheel of Time based on Jordan's old campaign characters and whatnot, if I remember right?

Also, D&D has a strong influence on fantasy art. Elmore, Parkinson and others helped advance the look of fantasy art alongside Valero and others, bringing a high quality to the visual look of D&D and fantasy overall.

 

[Firebeetle]

Funny you should mention it.

This is the focus of my blog, the World's Most Dangerous Dungeon Master, I intend to progressively catalog all the references and cultural tidbits D&D has offered over the years. It's not terribly in depth, but it's interesting enough for me. Please feel free to check it out.

 

[Umbran]

I am also aware of the influence it has had on Computer games, but it's also possible that these computer games would've developed independently of pen and paper RPGs. For millions of people play MMORGs as opposed to the pen and paper.

Well, to use your own analogy - far more people have experienced something influenced by Shakespeare's work than have actually seen a play on the stage. Does that somehow say his work lacks influence? Quite the opposite - the fact that millions more play WoW only shows how far the influence reaches.

Influence isn't about unique development attributed to you - it is about the impact you have on what does develop. It is possible, even likely, that rock music as we know it could have come about without Elvis - but in saying that you don't dismiss the impact Elvis actually did have. Might-have-happeneds do not negate history. Evis didn't create all of rock-and-roll, but he shaped, colored, or shaded so much that came after him.

 

[SoulsFury]

Its funny this is brought up. While watching the NFC championship, the Bears QB got hit. My gf yelled, "That was a crit!" I was very proud, and the fact that Cutler stayed out the rest of the game made it even better. Our gaming group was there, among our football friends (who know nothing about D&D), and it was hilarious to see half the people laughing and high fiving her, and everyone else like "duh, whats a critical hit."

D&D is a part of our culture. I have never met anyone that hasn't heard of D&D.

 

[OnlineDM]

While it's not all that widespread, using D&D language in everyday life is something that people pick up on quickly once they're exposed.

My brother-in-law and his wife came to visit over Christmas. They had never played RPGs before. We introduced them to D&D, and they loved it. (Side note: They love it so much that they've already had me run them through two sessions in MapTool since they've gone back home, with a third session coming up tomorrow.)

Anyway, they started throwing out references like "I hope you make that Acrobatics check" when one of their kids was walking along a log, or "I suck at Perception" when they couldn't find their keys, that sort of thing. It was awesome!

 

[tuxgeo]

This was inspired by the thread about being in the (RPG) closet. A claim was made that D&D has a huge influence on the American culture.

I'd like to submit that it does not.

Because, aside from an occasional feature in a TV show or movie, I just don't see it.

Here's an example of what I mean.

Here's a few phrases that are used commonly every day:

. . . <quotes from Hamlet snipped> . . .

So, I'd like to know more about how D&D has influenced American culture beyond what I know.

The influence of D&D does not reside in quotable quotes; besides, you're comparing the prose of Gary Gygax to the poetry of William Shakespeare, and that is hardly apt: Bill is considered by some to have been the greatest poet in the English language, while Gary was more of an enthusiast.

IMHO, the influence of D&D comes in the form of cultural breadth and depth, although perhaps not scope: if we can imagine gnome warlocks fighting alongside drow clerics, we can imagine a much more racially diverse world than we get in the formerly-rotten state of Denmark.

Duergar and Svirfneblin and Githzerai (and Minotaurs and Shardminds) can stretch our imaginations in ways unheard of in Helsingor, or even Copenhaven, in days of old. When the game is being played, one sees people having fun with their imaginations; but when the game is over, the lasting effect of stretching their imaginations remains with them, and can carry over into other facets of their lives, even if their PCs die.

An active imagination can help a person to establish a new business, or campaign for a cause, or work with others for a common goal that would not take on much personal significance for the less-imaginative, especially if that goal is nebulous or abstract or extremely far-off.

So, agreed: the quotes from Hamlet were better. Lots better. That doesn't mean D&D never had any influence; it had and still has a lot.

 

[ExploderWizard]

D&D has subtly worked its way into pop culture. Last night I watched the premiere episode of a new TV show Fairly Legal. The main character of this show has an assistant who is a geek/gamer type. In the episode she asks him for a favor and remarks that he might be able to find some help from someone in his Dungeons & Dragons group.

The significance of this reference is that no D&D play or even discussion of D&D play was shown in the episode. The assistant was shown to be a WOW player, a player of Magic The Gathering, and a collector of Buffy memorabilia.

"Dungeons & Dragons" was used as a generic identifier of gamer dude because a lot of non-gamer viewers would understand D&D being mentioned and know instantly what was being talked about.

30 years ago a mention of a D&D group would have meaning for a much smaller percentage of the viewing audience.

The popularity of a somewhat niche hobby/activity isn't measured by how much the general public is intimately familliar with the hobby but rather how many know about it at all.