Dungeons & Dragons is now so dominant in popular culture that actual play streams have become full-fledged cartoons, gamers have become the target of fast food chains with serious marketing muscle, and major studios squabbled over movie rights. But thanks to the lingering effects of the Satanic Panic in the 80s, D&D was treated warily at best and openly hostile at worst by the media just a decade ago. Three data points from 2010 show just how far we've come.
Picture courtesy of Pixabay.
That Time CareerBuilder Said D&D Was Bad for Your Resume
CareerBuilder posted "outrageous and common mistakes" candidates make in job interviews according to a new survey. Among the unusual blunders hiring managers encountered, they reported that:
That Time Playing D&D Meant You Were "Undateable"
With the release of Undateable: 311 Things Men Do That Guarantee They Won't Be Dating or Having Sex, the authors compiled dating deal-breakers from hundreds of women, as a sort of "Don't" list for men who were interested in dating women. Chief among them was playing Dungeons & Dragons, listed as a "storm cloud" (one step above a red flag, and a step below "not getting any"):
That Time the Boston Herald Blamed D&D for Murder
Amy Bishop, a professor of biology at the University of Alabama at Huntsville, opened fire at a faculty meeting, killing three of her colleagues. Boston Herald reporter Laurel J. Sweet described the attacks this way:
Looking back, it's clear 2010 was the nadir of D&D's presence in popular culture. In fact, it seems more likely that the existing media establishment wasn't reacting well to the rising popularity of geeks who thought including game experience on a resume or as part of their dating profile was entirely normal. It would take a few years before the narrative would change, and for that we can only be grateful.
That Time CareerBuilder Said D&D Was Bad for Your Resume
CareerBuilder posted "outrageous and common mistakes" candidates make in job interviews according to a new survey. Among the unusual blunders hiring managers encountered, they reported that:
This survey was conducted online within the U.S. by Harris Interactive© on behalf of CareerBuilder.com among 2,720 hiring managers (employed full-time; not self-employed; non-government) ages 18 and over between November 5 and November 23, 2009. Of course, it's never appropriate to bring up an irrelevant example in an interview. However, the manager specifically citing D&D as a "blunder" because it's used as an example of teamwork. There's no disputing that there's an appropriate time and place to discuss D&D. But managers could do a lot worse than hire a role-player.
That Time Playing D&D Meant You Were "Undateable"
With the release of Undateable: 311 Things Men Do That Guarantee They Won't Be Dating or Having Sex, the authors compiled dating deal-breakers from hundreds of women, as a sort of "Don't" list for men who were interested in dating women. Chief among them was playing Dungeons & Dragons, listed as a "storm cloud" (one step above a red flag, and a step below "not getting any"):
If the authors didn't make it clear that gamers weren't worth dating, there was this exchange, from an interview with Elle magazine:
The press tour for the book included ABC's Good Morning America, The New York Post, and Oprah.com.
That Time the Boston Herald Blamed D&D for Murder
Amy Bishop, a professor of biology at the University of Alabama at Huntsville, opened fire at a faculty meeting, killing three of her colleagues. Boston Herald reporter Laurel J. Sweet described the attacks this way:
According to Sweet, Bishop and her husband James Anderson met in a D&D club while biology students at Northeastern University in the early 1980s and were "heavily into the fantasy role-playing board game," according to the Boston Herald's anonymous source. “They even acted this crap out." Sweet tried to connect Bishop's motivation for murder to Dungeons & Dragons by using the McDermott case as a precedent.
The McDermott case had little connection to Dungeons & Dragons. Yes, McDermott did have D&D books in his possession. He also had computer equipment, a will, gun cases and ammunition, a passport, blasting caps, bomb-making literature and three gallons of liquid nitric acid. McDermott never blamed D&D for the killings.
Looking back, it's clear 2010 was the nadir of D&D's presence in popular culture. In fact, it seems more likely that the existing media establishment wasn't reacting well to the rising popularity of geeks who thought including game experience on a resume or as part of their dating profile was entirely normal. It would take a few years before the narrative would change, and for that we can only be grateful.
