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Message: <blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 378484" data-attributes="member: 1210">Great essay!I agree that evil==vile==mature; however, I don't mind seeing vile material published.  The issue of whether it should be in Dragon or Dungeon is a different one, and I understand the point of view of those who object based on the fact that kids might have subscriptions, and that parents prolly don't filter every issue that comes in the mail... and they might want to filter some of this stuff out (in the mature section of Dragon 300, that is).I find it extremely telling that most kids are more willing (in my experience) to get into the "vile" stuff than adults.  As an adult, I became a tutor of a kid of about 11 years old, who subsequently begged for the chance to get into my dnd game until (with his parents' permission) I relented and let him in.  I then had a difficult decision to make: do I tone down my game for his sake, and disappoint my more adult (mature) players?  I didn't have time to run two games, that's for sure!  In the end, I decided to see how it would go with my game as it was, including convoluted morale dilemmas, mentions of the horrors of war, torture, human sacrifice, etc.- and the kid loved it!  In fact, he invited his twin brother and best friend to join the game without consulting me.  When this happened, I reluctantly went along with it, and told him not to try that crap again- I don't wanna be the creepy older guy always hanging out with little boys- and it still went well.  In fact, I ended up tutoring the best friend too.  Now, all three of those kids are around 18 years old.  The twins don't live around me anymore, and the other guy still games with my friends and I sometimes.  None of them are any the worse for wear for having played in what is arguable a "vile" game (in that there is a lot of vile, explicit stuff that happens).  In fact, I'd say they all learned some valuable lessons about independence, playing nice with others, etc. from our gaming sessions.Another thing: it seems to me that the people most likely to play "vile" games OUTSIDE of rpgs are kids.  I remember as a child how fascinated everyone was with the disgusting, the offensive, the profane.  I remember drawing nasty pictures of blood and death.  I remember wondering what leprosy looked like, staring for hours (okay, slight hyperbole) at the pics in the highway patrol mags of people smeared across the highway cuz they drank and drove.  I remember wanting to see the splatter films that bore me today.  I remember reading books whose only redeeming feature (if you want to call it that) was explicit depictions of horrible acts.  I know that most of my peers did it too.Nowadays, the splatter stuff doesn't appeal nearly as much as a good horror flick that scares me.  Alien appeals to me now as much as it did then, but it isn't the monster out of the chest part so much as the being a helpless incubator part.  As I've grown more mature my taste for the vile has tapered off.  But sometimes, if you're going to explore the mature you have to have the vile.  What, is the alien going to politely knock on your esophogus and ask you politely to let it out?No real point here- just wanted to share some personal reflections on the topic.</blockquote>

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