RPGs "reduce accountability and substite raw power for legitimate authority"

[Krug]

http://www.icv2.com/articles/home/4149.html

RPGs Banned for Prisoner
'Reduce Accountability,' Officials Say

January 22, 2004
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that an Oregon prisoner has no right to receive roleplaying games in prison under the U.S. Constitution. Prison officials had prohibited the prisoner from purchasing Games Workshop's White Dwarf magazine. "Roleplaying games are prohibited," they said, "to prevent inmates from plaing themselves in fantasy roles that reduce accountability and substite raw power for legitimate authority."

The prisoner argued in his initial suit that his free-speech rights were being violated. On appeal, he argued that White Dwarf contains no roleplaying materials. The court rejected those arguments, although allowing that the Oregon state constitution, which has broader free speech protections than the U.S. Constitution, might provide protection that would apply.


The prisoner had also originally been banned from receiving his subscription to Green Lantern, but that ban was overturned because it was based on a rule against materials sent by bulk mail, which was ruled unconstitutional.

 

[Oni]

Wouldn't want to DM in prison, imagine getting shivved because Bubba's elf got eaten by a hungry troll.

 

[johnsemlak]

That's a real shame.

I'd go into why I disagree with this court, but that'd be getting into politics.

 

[Psion]

Prison officials had prohibited the prisoner from purchasing Games Workshop's White Dwarf magazine. "Roleplaying games are prohibited,"

Does White Dwarf even have RPG material in it anymore? I thought that went the way of the dodo. White Dwarf, last time I checked, was pretty much a GW wargames organ. (Considering I don't forsee much army collecting in prison, it's essentially just reading material.)

(Not that I'd expect mundanes to know the difference.)

 

[TiQuinn]

"Roleplaying games are prohibited," they said, "to prevent inmates from plaing themselves in fantasy roles that reduce accountability and substite raw power for legitimate authority."

I'm just trying to figure out what in the hell that means.

 

[Mytholder]

Y'know, that actually is a very good summation of rpgs. I don't agree with the decision one bit, but they do seem to have actually thought about it.

 

[Tsyr]

"Roleplaying games are prohibited," they said, "to prevent inmates from plaing themselves in fantasy roles that reduce accountability and substite raw power for legitimate authority."

I'm just trying to figure out what in the hell that means.

Translation: They might make a character like themself and commit a crime with that character because no one in the world they made up exists to stop them.

 

[Goobermunch]

What it means is that for people with borderline personalities and poor impulse control, perhaps imagining themselves as violent, consequence-free adventurers is not the best thing. When you're dealing with a population that, by and large, has a disproportionate number of mentally ill people, it might be better to keep them grounded in reality.

They probably also don't want people in prison thinking about a world in which they're free . . . kinda defeats the purpose of that "correctional decor."

--G

 

[Tsyr]

They probably also don't want people in prison thinking about a world in which they're free . . . kinda defeats the purpose of that "correctional decor."

Short of a frontal lobotomy to rid them of imagination, I think most inmates probably imagine and dream of that every day as it is.

 

[TiQuinn]

They probably also don't want people in prison thinking about a world in which they're free . . . kinda defeats the purpose of that "correctional decor."

--G

So do shivs.