Renegade Paladin
Knight Errant
Posts: 68
(3/7/04 8:53 pm)
Reply
|
In Defense of D&D: Positive Info for the Misinformed
Okay, this board being what it is, I think that we might get some Christians who have been misinformed about role playing games and wonder why we have a forum devoted to them. To forestall that eventuality, I'm putting up this list of links to articles refuting the many claims made against RPGs. Thanks to GnomeFactory on Monte Cook's message boards for starting the thread of the same name there, and thanks to all who contributed to it. It is my primary source. In the order of appearance in the thread:
The Real Truth About D&D This one isn't the best and I link to every source the author used, but its a nice summation of several different articles.
Dragons of Deception I don't know how reputable the National Exposer site is, but it was in the thread's original post.
The Truth: On Sale Now! Not sure about some of the other work of the North Texas Skeptics, but they got this one right.
Studies about Fantasy Role Playing Games This is a listing of helpful sources, indexing various studies available both on and offline, rather than a source in and of itself.
The D&D Urban Legend urbanlegends.com takes on the issue.
The Pulling Report This one's heavy reading. It comes out to 41 printed pages, all about debunking Pat Pulling and her organization, Bothered About Dungeons & Dragons. It succeeds in its goal, too.
Confessions of a D&D Addict This is a piece by Mark Joseph Young, a founding member of the Christian Gamer's Guild. Quite effective at presenting a Christian argument in favor of D&D.
I'm leaving out religioustolerance.org because they place ads for Wiccan stuff on the same page that they try to argue that D&D isn't related to witchcraft. 
Uncle Figgy's Guide to Roleplaying Fairly good. I had to do some hunting for it, since it had moved to a new host since the link at Monte's went up.
The Escapist archive page This one bills itself as the gaming advocacy website, though I think that title properly belongs to rpg.net, host of the Pulling Report linked to above. Highlights from it: Playing with Dragon Fire and RPGs: The Stigmas and Benefits.
The GAMA Website The Game Manufacturer's Association, formed to combat the attacks upon the industry. Some of the best parts have apparently been taken down or moved, so I can't direct link. You'll have to poke around yourself. 
Mazes & Monsters breakdown And man, did they break it down!  Mazes & Monsters is a book written in the 80s that portrays a group of college age gamers losing their minds due to playing what is obviously a lift from D&D. It is a work of fiction, but like the famous radio broadcast of War of the Worlds, it is not styled as such and fooled many into believing that the events described were real.
The Attacks on RPGs Not quite on par with the Pulling Report, but still very good.
Another breakdown of BADD Yet another good one. At the bottom are links to sites supporting both sides of the debate. (Most of the pro-gaming sites are also linked to here.)
Placeholder for one that has either been moved or taken down. I used this as a major source for my senior year term paper and will find an alternate site later.
Religion and Roleplaying By James Wyatt. He's a former minister, devout Christian, and currently a major game designer for Wizards of the Coast. As such, he is in a unique position on the issue, and his views are quite interesting. As an added bonus, he has also come up with a variant ruleset for Christian characters, also found on that site, that's worth a look. 
Okay, that's it. If anyone has any others, feel free to post them.
"Courage is the complement of fear. A fearless man cannot be courageous. He is also a fool." -- Robert Heinlein Edited by: Renegade Paladin at: 3/7/04 9:37 pm
|
Email This To a Friend
Topic Commands
Click to receive email notification of replies 
Click to stop receiving email notification of replies