D&D in the News...

[Ace32]

It seems our beloved game has found its way into the news again, if only as a tangential reference.

They also loved to play Dungeons & Dragons, and now they're accused of a plot as far outside the realm of their ordinary lives as that fantasy role-playing game.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/12/16/armored.car.company.ap/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

I can't really tell if the author assumes these peoples' 'fantasy lives' made them more likely to commit this strange crime or if he was simply using the reference to make a comparison between this crime and what seemed to be 'normal life'.

If you notice, he also jabs Halo here too.

Thoughts?

 

[Glyfair]

If you notice, he also jabs Halo here too.

I just saw that myself. He mentions Wiccans as well (with the D&D/witches tie).

However, this doesn't seem to really be focusing on that. You can be sure as this story spreads you'll some more focus on it, though.

 

[Wik]

Oh, you can diss my D&D, but you will NOT slam Halo!

Rrrraaarrrrrrghhhhhh!

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I can't really tell if the author assumes these peoples' 'fantasy lives' made them more likely to commit this strange crime or if he was simply using the reference to make a comparison between this crime and what seemed to be 'normal life'.

If you notice, he also jabs Halo here too.

Thoughts?

Yeah, you're reading too much into it. The whole article is about contrasting normal life with the criminal acts they've been accused of. D&D is no more being blamed than her modeling briefly is.

 

[JustKim]

I did notice that this afternoon an angry torch-wielding mob descended on my home and burned all of my D&D books in a bonfire haunted by the exorcised ghosts of hell, but I didn't know why until now. Looks like the jig is up. Personally, I'm looking at getting into yoga next, I've heard Pat Robertson called it spooky and possibly evil.

 

[The Grumpy Celt]

It seems our beloved game has found its way into the news again, if only as a tangential reference.

I used to be a reporter and a news paper editor, so I have some insight into the matter.

The first five paragraphs of a story are considered to be important and are usually reserved for a summary of the story with a Who, What, When, Where, How and a Why. So it is interesting that the reporter chose to lead off (the comment in the third paragraph) with a reference to D&D, as aside from being a somewhat salacious detail, it has no bearing on the story. If anything the idea of D&D being synonymous with crime is losing traction in the mainstream, even if the hobby itself is not part of the mainstream.

It seems like the reporter was trying to hard to find some “odd hook” to put into the first few paragraphs.

A better hook would have been to play up the fact that a nice, mostly suburban, middle class family tried a poorly thought-out scheme to rob an armored car company. Doesn’t Hollywood they make comedy movies with plots like this?

 

[The Grackle]

Thoughts?

They also quoted crap off his myspace page. I'd say it's all filler to make up for lack-of -story.

 

[Ranger REG]

Why do the media and journalists like to subtly portray D&D as bad influence?

What the hell did we do to them?

 

[Odhanan]

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/12/16/armored.car.company.ap/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

*sigh*

There's always a place for one more moron copying data straight from the bank and tainting it with stupid stereotypes to write his articles in a News room...

 

[dogoftheunderworld]

Why do the media and journalists like to subtly portray D&D as bad influence?

What the hell did we do to them?

Killed them and took their stuff? ... Sorry, I got nothing :\