Post/Author/DateTime	Post
KingDes 11-18-04, 12:44 AM	Has anyone ever told you D&D was evil? Or anything like this? I had this problem growing up and i just wanted to see if this problem still existed...
GothicDan 11-18-04, 01:03 AM	The closest that I ever had to an experience like that was when I was playing game in the local mall's hobby store, of which my DM was the manager. A young woman came up to us and said, "My friend went insane and killed himself from this game." My DM replied in a straight face: "We have a pact. If one of us goes insane, the others kill him." Other than that, no. But that may be because I am in New Jersey.
chme 11-18-04, 01:05 AM	Yes, I had that problem when I was growing up - both that it was 'evil', but also that it was dangerous, sickly and very very nerdy :). I'm passed 30 now, and have long since moved safely away from the bible belt in my country. I still hear the dangerous and especially the nerdy part though. Over my 20+ years of gaming I've found it best not to mention my hobby at work or in any context where I don't know the people. It's not that I'm not capable of discussing rp with them, it's just that to them, it's not a discussion about rp, but a demonstration of sickly nerdiness :). I know many rpers in my generation that feel exactly the same. I think the early 80s made us overly sensitive. I know people that started to play in the 70s and the 90s, and that don't recognize this problem at all.
ArnimThayer 11-18-04, 01:29 AM	I've faced this problem less in recent years, but have seen it enough to know it not only still exists as a mind-set, but is still strong. One of my players a few years back is a devoted Catholic. Her mother would not let her play until I had discussed it with the priest at her church. I spent a week preparing and researching before my meeting with him and luckily, was able to disuade him of any notion that "D&D is evil." I explained to him that all roleplaying games work underthe general principle of "let's pretend - with rules." The dice help simulate a random factor to prevent the "I got you - No, you didn't" syndrome. He was really supportive when I further explained that in most roleplaying games, the emphasis is on "Good vs. Evil" with tangible reward for defending the side of Good. His only reservation seemed to be about the idea of polytheism privilant through fantasy campaigns. As I explained to him, the "Gods" in any given fantasy campaign are really just a embodiment of an ideal or concept; an aspect of forces of Good and Evil. This made him visibly relax to the subject. I went on to explain that in D&D a cleric is granted ability to enact certain miracles as a sign of an aspect' power. He laughed and told me that Faith is Belief without Proof, and therefore D&D clerics, by demanding Proof, haven't as much Faith in the Right of their actions as those of us with Belief in the real world. He agreed that D&D, and roleplaying in general, seemed no more harmful or evil then acting in a play. I always think of this discussion whenever someone tries to convince me of the Evil of roleplaying.
WizO_BigSister 11-18-04, 04:59 AM	This is not a Forgotten Realms topic ... it is a general D&D topic and does not belong on these boards. There have been numerous threads on this subject over on the main D&D boards, and it comes upregularly so I advise you to go there for this discussion.