MSNBC 'expert' suggests DnD played a roll in the Pamela Vitale murder

[billd91]

http://clinton.senate.gov/news/statements/details.cfm?id=240603&&

The fact is that games draw attacks from both sides of the political debate. Rather than worry about what direction the criticism is coming from, I think it would be more productive to present a calm, united front such as was done in the Mike Stackpole's Pulling Report

Games may come under fire for a variety of reasons. I would submit that the flap over adult content, ratings, and availability to minors (as in the Senator's statement linked above) is a different one from the debate over D&D being implicated in murder. And it should be dealt with differently, though I agree that it should also be done calmly.

But if the primary opposition in either situation does come from a particular quarter, that quarter should be identified so that we can better inform people concerned with the debate and protect ourselves from the most likely direction and method of attack whether it's based on patronizing attempts to keep kids from adult content or patronizing attempts to protect our souls from things that happen to involve magic, mysticism, or pagan gods.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

Game may come under fire for a variety of reasons. I would submit that the flap over adult content, ratings, and availability to minors (as in the Senator's statement linked above) is a different one from the debate over D&D being implicated in murder. And it should be dealt with differently, though I agree that it should also be done calmly.
But if the primary opposition in either situation does come from a particular quarter, that quarter should be identified so that we can better inform people concerned with the debate and protect ourselves from the most likely direction and method of attack whether it's based on patronizing attempts to keep kids from adult content or patronizing attempts to protect our souls from things that happen to involve magic, mysticism, or pagan gods.

Fair enough!

 

[William Ronald]

I think that one way to combat some of the ignorance of the mass media is to refer them to sites such as The Escapist and try to refute the claims with evidence.

I think it is best to avoid the political debate on this thread, except perhaps to say that I think there are people who sometimes make an issue out of games for their own purposes. My advice is to counter spin with facts. (I also think there is an unfortunate tendency among some people to want simple answers to complex issues. Hence, gaming gets the blame for various problems.)

 

[kenobi65]

I'd seen Nancy Grace (CNN's legal analyst) comment on this last night, and the current CNN story on the murder has the same speculation -- that the motive was related to the kid stealing the victim's credit-card information and using it to order supplies for growing pot:

http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/10/21/vitale.suspect/index.html

The San Francisco Chronicle, citing an unidentified law enforcement source, reported that investigators believe the killing was related to a scheme that involved using stolen credit card numbers to fund a marijuana-growing operation.

The Chronicle's source said the boy had ordered equipment for the operation and mistakenly thought the supplies were delivered to Horowitz and Vitale's home, the newspaper reported on its Web site.

The teen went there Saturday looking for the equipment and got in a fight with Vitale, striking her dozens of times in the head with a piece of molding that was left behind at the scene, according to the Chronicle's source.

 

[Mystery Man]

As a mostly conservative republican, with every player in my group as a mostly (if not more than me) conservative republican, and with the all of the republicans that I know, (and I know a lot of republicans) most of them play DnD or are fans of sci/fi fantasy. My father-in-law and his wife are what you would consider very very Christian and they don't mind that I play DnD. And it's no secret that my brother-in-law (they're daughters husband) is off fighting in the war right now but has a chair reserved at my table when he comes home.

You can imagine my confusion when christian/republicans get blamed for the anti-DnD sentiment.

 

[Erik Mona]

You must be one of the other 4 people that watches that channel.

I watch MSNBC every day! My TiVo has a season pass for Hardball (often lame, but the only daily show that covers politics) and Countdown with Keith Olbermann (by far the best daily news show on cable).

I can't vouch for any of the other shows on the channel, and Chris Matthews takes a lot of patience to watch, but if there are only four of us, I guess I'm saying that I represent at least 25% of the audience.

Don't watch the Abrams Report, though. I'm not that interested in murder victims or Missing White Women (tm).

--Erik

 

[diaglo]

don't have cable and don't watch the idiot box so i can't comment.

 

[diaglo]

You can imagine my confusion when christian/republicans get blamed for the anti-DnD sentiment.

you missed the 80's.

D&D was thought to be satanic.

diaglo "who's rogues gallery was burned in a public library parking lot by a friend's parents and their church" Ooi
edit: i'm christian. but i'm not that kinda christian.

 

[CrusaderX]

I don't think he was trying to lay the blame at Republicans since it's not clear that all Republicans are the right wing regious groups that attack D&D. The main attacks have come from that quarter and that is where the main attention should be directed.

But is the notion that "the main attacks have come from that quarter" actually true? Do you have real statistics to back this up? Or is it simply a popular stereotype? Kind of like the stereotype that D&D players are satanic?

 

[Mystery Man]

you missed the 80's.

D&D was thought to be satanic.

diaglo "who's rogues gallery was burned in a public library parking lot by a friend's parents and their church" Ooi
edit: i'm christian. but i'm not that kinda christian.

Oh I remember the 80's, graduated highschool in '87. Junior high is when I first started playing DnD. My box set was given to me by my aunt who used to be a nun! I had no clue that DnD was considered "satanic" until one of my friend's mom made him stop playing because of it.