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Message: <blockquote data-quote="WizarDru" data-source="post: 4446302" data-attributes="member: 151">You have to remember, this was 1985.  It may sound ridiculous looking at it now, but D&D was a relatively new 'game' that didn't fit any known category.  It was weird in the eyes of folks who didn't understand it and the game had virtually no good public faces other than Gary.  At best, it was considered some sort of nerdy 'brainiac' pursuit, like the chess club.  At worst, it was the gateway drug to the Occult and to real, actual cults.  And the 1970s were RIFE with pop-culture fascination with cults like those shown in 'The Omen' and 'Rosemary's Baby', so the idea that a game that has violence, magic and demons in it was, on its face, upsetting to many people.  D&D was a fringe thing, then.  Put another way: in 1984, Gencon only had 3600 attendees.  In 1985 it grew to about 5000 attendees.  Compare that with 1994, when it got the record high 30,000 attendees, or even this year's 26,000.  D&D, like things like Rock and Roll, video games and the Internet, was threatening because it had skyrocketed to popularity virtually over-night, from the perception of outsiders.  One day, D&D was something you could only find in special Hobby stores...the next day, it was displayed prominently in your local bookstore.  So when the most prominent investigative journalism show on television makes it look like your children are in danger....many parents paid attention.  Obviously, a large number of parents took a look, decided that the game was perfectly harmless and promptly ignored further hysteria.  But some parents took it as a validation of their fears or suspicions and used it as a justification to get rid of the game.  This report prematurely ended or interrupted more than a few gamers careers.</blockquote>

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