A few interesting, if not amusing, articles about dnd....

As to the list of people who killed themselves or others that were supposed D&D players I bet they played monopoly as kids maybe that made them do it.

These fanatics assume that D&D or Video games are the answer to all the world ills.

The mother of a kid who killed himself 20 some years ago was the one who started a lot of the trouble I guess she had to blame somebody or something.
 

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omedon said:


My favourite part of that article.

So this guy claims he was a sorceror? After reading that part it was COMPLETELY impossible for me to take him seriously. I can't imagine why the author felt this claim was going to help his arguement. I think most people, both theist and atheist alike, will quickly dismiss anything he says as loony babble after reading that.

I'll back him up here, and try to see things from the Christian POV. (I'm not, but I love pointing out hypocracy.)

He was admittedly a sorcerer, following satan, and it'd be reasonable to assume that he still remembers to do at least some of that stuff, the reality of what he's talking about aside. Yet, he believes that he should be fully forgiven and accepted because he repented and cast it off.

I would accept that certain proto-D&D'ers would want to incorporate "real magical" to make their game seem "more authentic". I've seen people make that mistake a lot, especially earlier on, before people started realizing that real occult background is dry, and probably won't do anything for your game but bog it down and call down the fundies. But even if the Voices of Satan corrupted the game early on, it's moved on, and isn't even in those hands. So if we are to forgive him for what is in his own mind direct and willing service to satan, shouldn't he do the same for a game that was once lead astray?
 

Lady Dragon said:
The scary part is that the guy must actually believe that rituals are real or he wouldn't be saying that he taught D&D writers how to do them...
I seriously doubt that he believes it - the important thing is that there are suckers out there who do.

Lady Dragon said:
... He probably also believes in the easter bunny. [/B]
Now that is scary :D
 

It's hard to understand when a child, especially your child dies. Blaming something or someone is easier then realizing that your child may be partially at fault. I'm not referring to any case in particuliar, just a simple general statement.

So, I have compassion for the parents. When I was younger I had a friend commit suicide, but it was ruled accidental. It was easier on his parents and there was no way I was going to contradict anything.

It's a shame that it's out hobby that gets the short end of the stick. It's also a shame that these stories never seem to go away. But as of now that's just something I'm willing to live with and explain our side to anyone that is willing to listen.
 

Originally posted by Humanophile
He's old, we've all seen him, let's go do something actually fun now.

This is actually the first of Jack Chick's newsletters I have ever seen. I am only 20, I have heard his name mentioned on the boards before but never have had any direct knowledge of him. While I am aware of some of the stigmas associated with D&D I have never heard it from the horses mouth so to speak.

So while this might be old hat to you, please don't spoil the fun for some of us younger folks.
 
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Yeah. It's old and tired to some, but others need to know about it too. We've got to honor our dweeb history, y'know. Imagine, an entire edition of D&D was designed with placating many of these people in mind. Even the 3e D&D PHB contains a "THIS IS FANTASY" idiot-clause.

For those new to the argument, you can read the articles and see the silliness for yourself. But that doesn't mean all Christians/Catholics are nutcases like Chick and his cult. It's important to realize that many Catholics and Christians play D&D, and even those that don't are generally open-minded about it (or at least as open-minded as anyone else in the general populace).

It's also important to realize that there are ideas here that would hold up to scrutiny. It's not all completely buggered theory.

Take the view, common in many religions, that your god(s) are the True and Only One(s), and that any others that humans may worship are, in fact, creatures of deception, produced by the evil side.

It's been argued by many Christian and Catholic scholars that the reason there are so many other gods worshiped around the world, despite the existance of the one true god, is that Satan, the great deciever, has led people down these paths. All you have to do to be a sinner is not believe in the True God, so all Satan has to do is make you doubt it, or pose as a god himself, and get your worship.

Now, in D&D, you play the role of someone who doesn't worship the One True God (or, at least, more than likely doesn't). This introduces your mind to the idea of polytheism, in place only because of Satan. True, it is only fantasy, but it is a slippery slope. Satan (an active force in the world) could take this idea -- that a world may exist where no one realizes the One True God, even in fantasy -- and twist it. He could use your thirst for knowledge and your logical mind to turn you away from the true God, implant doubt, and, thus, corrupt you.

In this way, D&D can lead you away from Christ and, nessecarily, toward Evil.

I once articulated that a lot better, but that'll work for now.

Remember, don't attack the believers of the idea. It's futile. The idea lives on. If you understand *why* people believe what they do, you're much better equipped to understand where they're coming from, and either accept the difference of opinion, or fight the destructive thought itself.

And I learned that reading Planescape. ^_^

That said, yeah, I personally think Jack Chick = Doofis. But I've said it before on these boards, and I'll say it again.

E-Mail 'em. If he gets enough, he might give us a new rant to pick apart. :)
 
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These kinda articles really get to me, I know they shouldn't but they do...
Its not necessary the publishing of it, everyone has thier right to say what they think, its the fact that no one can respond to his views and let tohers see the truth and what an arse he is being..

Anyway I wrote to the site on a whim...
"I have just read you article on DnD.. (http://www.chick.com/articles/dnd.asp) and all I can say is that I am offended, truely offended.
Everyone is entitled to their view and thir right to express their views, but when those views are not backed up by the facts and people are not given the chance to respond to those views, considering the details of the article are so condesending and offensive to the intellect of people who play these games.
Andrew Troman"


Kept it short before I dropped to his level of argument
 

To Dungeon Keeper....

Its a shame your email will be deleted after the idiot reads the first line.... Fanatics and zealots like that are why we have had nearly 2000 years of religous wars....Thickheaded narrow minded people......

Oh well... I guess you and we can always just ignore them because WE know the truth behind the fallacies.
 

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The "Freeway Killer," Vernon Butts, who committed suicide in his cell in 1987 while being held as a suspect in a string of murders was an avid D&D player.4
D&D player (14 years old) commits suicide by hanging, 1979, name withheld by parents' request.....

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



These are sad sad stories...

Don't be taken in by the anti-gaming lobby. All of these so-called cases are either unsubstantiated (read "fabricated") or were tragedies where no causal link was found between RPG's and the violent acts involved.

I'm the UK national co-ordinator of CAR-PGa (Committee for the Advancement of Role-Playing Games), the largest international RPG advocacy group. Within the group, the above list is known sardonically as the "trophy list". Please don't take it at face value. It doesn't merit it.

It's also worth pointing out that the majority of RPGers are young males. So are the majority of murderers and a large proportion of suicides. If all the cases on this list were true and associated with RPG's, the homicide and suicide rates of gamers would probably still be significantly lower than you would expect for the demographic group in question. I say "probably" because it's difficult to get an accurate measure of the number of gamers and no sociological studies corroborate this contention (though none dispute it either). Nonetheless, it seems to be that gamers are less likely to commit homicide or suicide than non-gamers. This position is supported by psychological studies have found that either gamers shown no mental differences with non-gamers or that the differences that do exist are not causes for concern.


For more info on CAR-PGa, check out:

http://www.theescapist.com/carpga.htm
 

To Jack Chick's credit, I couldn't find anything anti-semetic on his site. Did I miss something, or is this guy the only religious nutcase out there that doesn't think that we Jews control the weather?
 

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