Certainly. Sociological imagination is just a thought exercise for qualitatively examining the relationship between macrocosmic trend (e.g.: suicide rates and gaming) and microcosmic experiences (e.g.: loneliness and socialization opportunities). It doesn't find causal links, but it can help reveal new factors to explore for those links.
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NOW LIVE! Into the Woods--new character species, eerie monsters, and haunting villains to populate the woodlands of your D&D games.
Stigma and Parental backlash
- Thread starter AverageCitizen
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Ratskinner
Adventurer
...difficult to do this while tiptoeing around religion, but here goes.
When I was teaching in schools I saw this a little bit. I suspect there are likely several things going on, not just the echoes of 80's D&D panic. (Although that comes and goes, so ::shrug:
I'm not sure if you're in a position to do so (and maybe being the DM entangles this as well), but often some straightforward talk can turn the trick. I didn't really run games for the kids, but I kinda mentored them and dealt with some parents over it. I didn't have to, but I can be scrappy sometimes when stupid runs amok. (At least in person, online there's little point...and yet here I am...
) For example, I've seen many kids suffer this way when two adults are fighting for the possession of a child or the child's affection or attention (either divorced parents or parents and in-laws, even a widow and her in-laws once.) If A gives permission to do X, and subsequently is seen as having scored some points, then B often reacts negatively to whatever X is. This would seem to make no sense, except that the adults have often previously agreed not to badmouth the other in front of the child. So A is forced to rescind the permission, while B hopes the child blames A for the loss. This gets worse if there are step-spouses C and/or D involved, because it seems that no one ever successfully overcomes anyone's objections regardless of how silly.
Similarly, you sometimes see A & B getting into "goody two-shoes" contests, seeking to find moral fault with any parenting the other does and thus demonstrate their own moral purity. I saw several parents suddenly discover that they were staunch moral conservatives after their extra-marital affairs and drinking problems lead to divorce.
The motivation here seemed to always be custody battles, with both sides trying to present a "better" face to the judge. Sadly, I can't say that this didn't actually work sometimes. Having said all that about how evil the parents are, there are also semi-legitimate concerns by parents...ill-advised or not, to push their kids into different activities. In particular, folks in my area all seem to believe that your kid can't get into college if their Curriculum Vita(!) isn't eight pages long before you get to the charitable work appendices. "Played D&D after school" doesn't really get much traction there. Nor does it help if parents are concerned about the child's physical inactivity.
As others have mentioned (facetiously or not) playing a different game can also be a boon (although WoD or most of the horror games probably aren't too much of a step up...at least put covers on the books). D&D is really the only brand within the hobby that has any cachet outside the hobby. As such, if you avoid mentioning D&D by name, you can sometimes simply avoid the fuss. Heck, you can sometimes get people on board if the games can be cast as "creative writing" or "group storytelling" games. A former friend of mine actually called his afterschool group a "fiction workshop", and had his kids write synopses that they would critique.
Beyond playing a game that doesn't say D&D on the cover, the only real advice I can offer is that straight talk kind of works...sometimes. Don't be afraid to talk about how silly the game really is, and for heaven's sake don't act like its something serious. The research that [MENTION=24488]was[/MENTION] presented upthread can really arm the parent who would grant permission, especially the parts about suicide and criminality. I mean, really, how many people even know that such research could exist, let alone the results? However, they need to take the fight on outside your reach. Again, I don't know your situation, so this may not be advisable or possible for you*, but I was not afraid to stand up to administrators. You'd be surprised how people react to you when you confidently and calmly state things like "Actually the research (what little there is of it) shows that kids who play D&D are less likely to commit suicide or commit crimes than the population as a whole. There are a lot of Urban Myths surrounding D&D that don't stand up to scrutiny." Offering to print copies of the studies tends to stun people into silence....I think just because no one ever considers the possibility of research into the topic actually existing. Also, don't be afraid to pass that research (or its links) onto some of the kids, sometimes they can surprise you.
...so I guess it wasn't that hard....seems less-satisfying though.
*I was a HS teacher dual-certified in Math and Physical Science, comfortable teaching both at an AP level, and could pinch-hit for computer programming and robotics classes, a rarity 'round here. When I left one school to follow my wife's career to a different city, I thought the principal was going to cry.
ppaladin123
Adventurer
Mercule
Adventurer
I didn't think so. I mainly added that in to avoid any misunderstanding that I was "firing back". As Morrus' warning attests, it's a pretty narrow ledge and I just wanted to be sure there was plenty of water for any sparks. I thought it important enough to correct any prejudices about a class of folks, but I really have no intention of going deeper than that.
I shall, however, break a cardinal rule and assume that you are not from the states. I may be mistaken, but I think my idea of being an ultraconservative may vary drastically from yours.
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A classic example is the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas.[/QUOTE]
I won't make any claims about connotations you see in words, but I've lived in Iowa my whole life, so we shouldn't be too far off -- though I've learned that there are significant misunderstandings about what folks actually believe whenever there's much difference in where two folks stand. As for the Phelps' lot, they're no more representative of religious and conservative folks than the nuts who used to spike trees were of green or liberal folks. Please be careful with how broad of a brush you paint with.
To actually add to the conversation: There definitely was a lot of general parental stink-eye in the 1980s towards D&D. Anymore, I find that there's still a noticeable amount of stigma to playing D&D, but that it largely comes in two flavors (speaking as a professional adult old enough to remember the 1980s well). The main one is just a general "wow, that's geeky"; which is odd, considering I'm in IT and computers were almost as geeky in the 1980s. The second is around games being for kids; again, I'm not sure why that doesn't apply to the adults my age who gladly spend hours and hours playing Call of Duty, or whatever the current "it" game is.
Grogg of the North
Adventurer
Well, if they've already said Little Jimmy isn't coming back, then there isn't much else you can do. If they're curious as to what's going on, let them watch a session with you. Or have them watch the 8bit version of the dead ale wives.
If I could ask some questions?
Who are you? I mean, what is your relationship to the kids in question? How old are you? And how old are the kids in question? In what context are you meeting these kids?
Because, in this day and age, an adolescent engaging in "imaginative play" with a fully gown man* who is otherwise a stranger... that sets off warning bells in many people's minds.
*I am assuming you're male, just based on statistical likelihood - please correct me if I am wrong
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