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<blockquote data-quote="The Serge" data-source="post: 381319" data-attributes="member: 4049">....It's rare that I come across a statement so... bizarre that I'm almost speechless.&nbsp; This is one of those cases.After reading this incredibly difficult preamble, I thought to myself, &quot;What the heck is this person trying to get across?&quot;&nbsp; I'm still not sure what the answer to that is, but I will put in a few comments of my own.I do take issue with the idea that young teen-age boys are going to become terrible, evil fiends as they engage in any kind of game.&nbsp; Quite frankly, I think it's a mistake to assume that the kinds of acts the original poster illustrates are typical of those engaged in by all adolescent males as they play D&amp;D.&nbsp; I started playing D&amp;D in 1985 when I was 11.&nbsp; Prior to that time, my brother and I had already created our own fantasy lands and D&amp;D gave us interesting, usable guidelines upon which to build our worlds.&nbsp; Yes, when we played, we ran around killing things.&nbsp; Yes, when we played, we took the game seriously.&nbsp; Yes, when we played, we expected some kind of reward for our efforts.&nbsp; No, never at any time did our games degenerate into some kind of sinister realm for us to live out our sexual anxieties and violent tendancies.&nbsp; Certainly, we wanted to kill things... BAD THINGS (at least &quot;bad&quot; as far as an adolscent boy can conceive).&nbsp; I am going to steer away from making unfounded, and unresearched comments about why some children may find themselves attracted to extreme examples of anti-social behavior since I don't think that is the point or the purview of this board.&nbsp; I will say that I completely disagree with the suggestion that the game rewards strictly for killing.I started playing during 1ed.&nbsp; Yes, there was a great deal of emphasis on &quot;killing.&quot;&nbsp; However, I think it's better to look at killing in this case as the elimination of an obstacle, much in the same way a pawn is eliminated in Chess.&nbsp; D&amp;D is a GAME, not real life.&nbsp; However, it is a game in which, ideally, strategy, exploration, and morality have a significant impact.&nbsp; This is one of the reasons why there were alignments.&nbsp; This is one of the reasons why the various monster collections featured evil beings.&nbsp; This is the reason why the Paladin class was one of the strongest, most restrictive classes in the game.&nbsp; Yes, &quot;killing&quot; was a significant part, but it was significant because the expectation was you were killing things that were bad.&nbsp; (Additionally, remember that the game also rewarded people for the accumulation of wealth... a capitalistic position if I ever saw one).In the end, I think the story we read at the beginning of this thread is reflective more of a lack of maturity and serious issues of repression more than a result of the goals of the game.&nbsp; I think that children, or anyone to be fair, will find outlets for their behavior.&nbsp; In this case, the outlet was D&amp;D.&nbsp; Because of the versimilitude associated with this game, the behavior of the participants seems shocking, but for other people not involved in D&amp;D, going overboard in football may have been the result of dealing with adolescent immaturity.&nbsp; Don't blame the game.&nbsp; Blame the person(s).</blockquote>

[QUOTE="The Serge, post: 381319, member: 4049"] .... It's rare that I come across a statement so... bizarre that I'm almost speechless. This is one of those cases. After reading this incredibly difficult preamble, I thought to myself, "What the heck is this person trying to get across?" I'm still not sure what the answer to that is, but I will put in a few comments of my own. I do take issue with the idea that young teen-age boys are going to become terrible, evil fiends as they engage in any kind of game. Quite frankly, I think it's a mistake to assume that the kinds of acts the original poster illustrates are typical of those engaged in by all adolescent males as they play D&D. I started playing D&D in 1985 when I was 11. Prior to that time, my brother and I had already created our own fantasy lands and D&D gave us interesting, usable guidelines upon which to build our worlds. Yes, when we played, we ran around killing things. Yes, when we played, we took the game seriously. Yes, when we played, we expected some kind of reward for our efforts. No, never at any time did our games degenerate into some kind of sinister realm for us to live out our sexual anxieties and violent tendancies. Certainly, we wanted to kill things... BAD THINGS (at least "bad" as far as an adolscent boy can conceive). I am going to steer away from making unfounded, and unresearched comments about why some children may find themselves attracted to extreme examples of anti-social behavior since I don't think that is the point or the purview of this board. I will say that I completely disagree with the suggestion that the game rewards strictly for killing. I started playing during 1ed. Yes, there was a great deal of emphasis on "killing." However, I think it's better to look at killing in this case as the elimination of an obstacle, much in the same way a pawn is eliminated in Chess. D&D is a [B]GAME[/B], not real life. However, it is a game in which, ideally, strategy, exploration, and morality have a significant impact. This is one of the reasons why there were alignments. This is one of the reasons why the various monster collections featured evil beings. This is the reason why the Paladin class was one of the strongest, most restrictive classes in the game. Yes, "killing" was a significant part, but it was significant because the expectation was you were killing things that were bad. (Additionally, remember that the game also rewarded people for the accumulation of wealth... a capitalistic position if I ever saw one). In the end, I think the story we read at the beginning of this thread is reflective more of a lack of maturity and serious issues of repression more than a result of the goals of the game. I think that children, or anyone to be fair, will find outlets for their behavior. In this case, the outlet was D&D. Because of the versimilitude associated with this game, the behavior of the participants seems shocking, but for other people not involved in D&D, going overboard in football may have been the result of dealing with adolescent immaturity. Don't blame the game. Blame the person(s). [/QUOTE]

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