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Message: <blockquote data-quote="talien" data-source="post: 1112327" data-attributes="member: 3285">I'll add my two cents here because it bugs me when folks think "the stigma is over":I was not just allowed to play, I was ENCOURAGED to play D&D.  I was part of a gifted education program and it was on the list of games to play.  My mom bought me the D&D Basic boxed set after my aunt bought me some of the AD&D hardcovers (we had no idea one wasn't compatible with the other).  I played it, started a group, played it for a long time in elementary school, got another group in high school and frankly didn't have a problem until...My junior year in high school.  The art teacher was rather devoutly religious and actually spent a lot of time arguing with me over D&D.  He didn't like the fantasy artwork that I drew and felt I was somehow being manipulated against my will.  I didn't mind this really, and by this time I had learned to argue for myself (or alternately, my ego had expanded to the point where I argued with teachers openly).  But I didn't realize what was going on around me -- the other kids literally did no working waiting for this man to stop lecturing me about the evils of D&D.In class. In a public school.You know, the schools American tax dollars pay for.This went on and on, round and round.  He was utterly intractable.  He found fault with everything -- he had a problem with a "desirable attribute rolling being 6, 6, 6."  He had a problem with the magic circles listed in the Dungeon Master's Guide.  He certainly had a problem with demon/devils even mentioned in the book.  It was all mind control in his opinion, and he tossed every piece of antagonistc propaganda at me.I was severely troubled by this man's intensity.  My parents were certainly in favor of it.  So I took it to the best authority I knew -- I asked my local priest.He took me aside and asked me one simple question, "Do you FEEL it's evil?"I told him absolutely not and explained the virtues of the game.  "Then there's nothing wrong with it."I took this back to my art teacher, who then cast aspersions on 1) my parents, and 2) the priest in question.Had I been an adult, I would have thrown the first punch after that.  But I was a kid and despite all my supposed maturity, didn't realize just how much of a gross violation this teacher was committing.  I'm a bit mellower now, so I probably would have just sued him.  But the mere thought of being hounded by such an individual, at the expense of 20+ other students' education for an HOUR EVERY DAY burns me.  There were implications.  The Strategy & Tactics club used to allow D&D.  It was no longer allowed.  Not that it stopped us.  We all gamed, my best friends are from the original high school group. I can honestly say that D&D helped get me a job, helped teach me how to code, helped me meet my wife, taught me mathematical and language skills, and now actually makes me MONEY.  It's been one of the single most influential forces in my life, after my religion and my parents.But is it over?  Not by a long shot.  I don't talk about my published stuff at my regular, corporate job.  I had one employee mention how "all that Lord of the Rings stuff sounds like all that evil D&D stuff."  And one of my friends (from said D&D group) is a teacher now and he can't have D&D in his wargaming club because the school's worried about it.The reality is, ignorance is everywhere and it's worse in groups.  Did D&D lose its horrible stigma?  Somewhat.  But is that kind of narrowminded prejudice still out there?  Oh yes -- in everything and everyone.  We've had visitors to our apartment (which is replete with dragons, swords, knights, and volumes upon volumes of books) look around in disgust.  The difference?  Now, I'm okay with it.  To each their own -- I don't foist my beliefs on anyone else and I expect the same courtesy.</blockquote>

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