Is D&D good?

[BASHMAN]

Ways D&D is Good BESIDES being "Not Religiously Bad"

Aside from not teaching people how to cast "real spells" like Dark Dungeons says, (Check this out btw for a good laugh: http://www.humpin.org/mst3kdd/
)

There are GOOD things about D&D and other RPGs

1. They help develop reading skills
2. They help develop math
3. They help develop deductive reasoning skills
4. They help develop teamwork and strategy

 

[Munin]

Not to steal the thread but...

after following the link to the stackpole report in Fransica's post, I finally got the inside joke on this forum between members of B.A.D.D. (Bothered About Disposable Dragons) and
BADD (Bothered About Dungeons & Dragons)

Anyways, time to clean the mountain dew off my monitor.

 

[Greatwyrm]

I didn't get that until you just told me. Color me oblivious.

 

[relivita]

wonderful

you guys have helped me so much, I love you all. I hope you don't mind me using quotes from your reply in my paper (hopefully my teacher doesn't mind me using screen names). And Greatwyrm, I love you signature, very helarious and my room mate that didn't know D&D existed until an hour ago even loved it and agreed you were very funny.
Once again, i love you all, you saved my paper.

 

[Whimsical]

This article dicusses how RPGs can actually promote Christian values...

From Confessions of a Dungeons & Dragons™ Addict by M.J. Young
...most games incorporate the competitive notion that only one player or team can win, encouraging the belief that winning requires defeating everyone else. Some games, notably Risk™, Stragego™, and chess, have elevated this to the status of war. While conflict, even war, is integral to the Dungeons & Dragons™ world, it is generally the case that players quickly learn to join forces, cooperating against a common non-player enemy, overcoming problems as a team. In a good campaign, all the players come away as winners.

There are a lot of really good articles in Christian Gamers Guild discussing questions of gaming and morality or faith. M.J. Young has even impressed this atheist.

 

[Torm]

I think you misunderstand me. I'm NOT down on myself or other gamers, exactly. I know that what we do - most of us, anyway - is a lot better than what we could be doing. And there are good aspects of gaming - fellowship and social skills, history and math and so on.

It's just this: For most of us, in the game, if our characters heard that there was a horrible plague, or a famine, or an oppressive government in a neighboring land (that wasn't an enemy), we would be off and charging to the rescue. And this is a certain amount of hypocrisy when we DO hear these things everyday in the real world, and we just keep on keepin' on. And I'm as guilty as anyone else. Because its HARD. And I don't have Holy Smite. Would that stop my Paladin? No, but it stops me. And that's bad.

And I said "bad", not "evil". It's not evil - evil is the scumsuckers who set things up like this in the first place. The ones who don't fight the good fight even though they HAVE the power. The ones who make us forget that if we all got up and did something, we WOULD have the power.

I game, and it makes me happy. And I don't feel bad for gaming. I feel bad for giving up the good fight. Gaming just happens to be one of the things I do since I surrendered. And I don't think I'm alone. Why is it that it's mostly those of us who are smart enough to understand what's going on in the world around us who are drawn to RPGs? A desire to escape to somewhere where we can win the good fight, at least until we have to go home again?

I probably would've remained quiet on this subject if I had seen more balance in the responses, but everyone is usually so eager to defend what they're doing that they DON'T provide balance. And there is the slightest kernel of truth to the point the Fundies make (that a lot of them probably don't understand, themselves), which is that anything that doesn't serve good serves evil in a way. It's cliche, but true - all evil needs to win is for good people to stand by and do nothing.

 

[Rel]

It's just this: For most of us, in the game, if our characters heard that there was a horrible plague, or a famine, or an oppressive government in a neighboring land (that wasn't an enemy), we would be off and charging to the rescue. And this is a certain amount of hypocrisy when we DO hear these things everyday in the real world, and we just keep on keepin' on. And I'm as guilty as anyone else. Because its HARD. And I don't have Holy Smite. Would that stop my Paladin? No, but it stops me. And that's bad.

And I said "bad", not "evil". It's not evil - evil is the scumsuckers who set things up like this in the first place. The ones who don't fight the good fight even though they HAVE the power. The ones who make us forget that if we all got up and did something, we WOULD have the power.

I'm genuinely curious as to who you think these "scumsuckers" are who "set things up like this" and are making us feel powerless. But I suspect that it would lead us into politics pretty fast and that is, of course, against the rules of the board. If you can explain that part without delving into that arena, I'd be interested to hear what you have to say.

As to the rest of your point, I think you're setting up a false dichotomy where neither extreme is realisic nor extant. Just as I pointed out that it is unrealistic to expect people to be out there saving the world 24/7, it is also incorrect to assume that we aren't doing anything about the problems in the world and are sitting around playing D&D (or worse) all the time.

Is there starvation in the world? Of course. Is there less starvation in the world than 50 or 100 years ago? Much less.

I've found that most people in this world enjoy giving back to their community and to those who are in unfortunate circumstances. No, they don't work 25 hours a week at a homeless shelter or give half their income to organizations that feed the hungry in the 3rd world. But they do a bit of charity work, donate money to organizations that do that sort of thing and try to be decent to others, even if it just means stopping to help somebody fix a flat tire once in a while.

Maybe I'm just lucky, but most of the folks I've met in life, and certainly the group I game with, are good people and I'm willing to definitively say that playing D&D or whatever other leisure activities they pursue are not "bad".

 

[Silveras]

I don't think I saw this one in the thread before.

James Wyatt is one of the staff at Wizards, helping to write the game supplements. He is also a former ordained minister. His web site has some observations on religion and roleplaying, here

 

[JacktheRabbit]

I hope this isn't considered off topic, I'll give it a try and hope for the best.
I'm doing a report for school on D&D and have only found extremely negative things about D&D. (all religious) is there anywhere that shows why D&D is a good thing?
Hope someone can help.

Here is a suggestion. Use the sources you found and rate the information gained from them against the bias you expect the source to have, you can prove the positive nature of DnD while getting some good fun licks in against the dogmatic buffoons in one stroke.

 

[Dragonblade]

Here is a good site which punches a multitude of holes in the religious right's arguments:

Lets get one thing straight here. Jack Chick and Pat Pulling are nut cases that have nothing to do with the so-called "religious right". If there is such a thing.

Growing up in a religious family that could be termed "right-wing", I have never met anyone who felt the way they did.