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

[Bagpuss]

Still White Dwarf doesn't have any RPG material in it, so they really don't have a case based on a RPG ban even if that ban is legal.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

"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.

Read Wulf's Story Hour. Link in sig.

Corrolary: "There's no problem you can't solve with a big enough pile of dead bad guys."

I actually find it a rather insightful observation on RPGs, and definitely true in my case.


Wulf

 

[Umbran]

"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."

Hr. As if, in the real world, "legitimate authority" was not established and maintained through the use of raw power? I wonder how many of their prison guards would be willing to fall back on their "legitimate authority" when there's a riot in the prison?

Silly prison officials

 

[Ruined]

Check it out. I made this d20 out of soap...

 

[BiggusGeekus]

A while ago in Dragon there was a kick-butt response to this issue by a prison gaurd who played RPGs. From what I remeber, his stance was that the issue was more complicated that it looked and that he didn't have a good solution. If I remember right, he conculded that the best idea was to stay on the right side of the law.

I wish I could remember the issue number on that.

 

[takyris]

Some prisoners could use a good game of D&D to channel their aggression in a healthy manner, learn from what happens to their characters (Having another prisoner say, "Uh, dude, you killed the town guard. What did you THINK was gonna happen?" could be a powerful learning tool.), and generally use it to improve their lives.

Other prisoners could use it as a violent fantasy that provided the catalyst to lead them into even worse activities.

And other prisoners could get so angry about it that they went out and killed people.

Ultimately, some prisoners should be encouraged to game, some should be allowed if they want to, and some should be prohibited, based on their psych profile.

But with the overcrowding in American prisons, I sort of doubt that there are resources available to make this kind of judgment fairly for every prisoner.

 

[Erik Mona]

At least 50% of our "snail" mail comes from prisoners. Most of them seem to play LOTS of D&D. Almost all of them ask for free magazines and books.

MANY report trouble with their administration confiscating or not allowing the importation of RPG products.

Bastards.

--Erik Mona
Editor-in-Chief
Dungeon Magazine

 

[heirodule]

At least 50% of our "snail" mail comes from prisoners. Most of them seem to play LOTS of D&D. Almost all of them ask for free magazines and books.

Maybe they've confused Dungeon with a correctional facility Trade Magazine

 

[MerakSpielman]

"No, I don't want to try to escape. There's a game Friday night, and I can't play if I'm not here..."


Maybe they'd be more accepting if the GM was not a fellow prisoner, so there wouldn't be as much possiblity of the characters being consequence-less versions of the criminals...

Eric Mona: 50%???? Wowzers! I guess the guys in prison have more time for writing letters - surely they can't represent 50% of your subscribers.

 

[Darrin Drader]

Bastards.

Would that be the inamtes, who have proven themselves unfit to be a part of society, or the administrators who think they have the right to act as thought police?

Eric Mona: 50%???? Wowzers! I guess the guys in prison have more time for writing letters - surely they can't represent 50% of your subscribers.

I can vouche for that. About 50% of our snail mail is also from prisoners.