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Somehow, I see this becomming a long thread.
As background, I am 31. I started playing D&D in the 3rd grade, and quit somewhere in college. I quit for the reason that most people do....got married, had children, and my parents held a garage sale and poof.....there went my extensive collection of books, modules, dice, and character sheets.
Of course, I got out of fishing, hunting, and a host of other things for the exact same reasons.
Now, I MUD. But I am also a Sunday School teacher, and a deacon in my church. I hold God and his Word above anything else in life.
That said, I think the guy in the article is a nut. But a nut I can relate to.
Most of us who MUD know what it is like to 'jones' for your character even when you are not playing. We know what it is like to get mad at a school buddy because he toasted your character. We've stayed up playing till the sun came up, neglecting homework and chores. We've sat at work and plotted our next Pkill or sat and mused on how we wanted to get a "Deck of Many Things" or "Rod of Lordly Might".
There comes a point when you need to draw a line. For me, D&D, heavy metal music, violent Commadore 64 games, stone washed blue jeans and girls pretty much made up my mentality throughout the 80s. But I had enough grounding in God, Counrty, Family, and Friends to lead a solid life. Never killed anyone, or got arrested. Never had the thoughts to.
Personally, the Hours and hours spent hiding in a garage, an attic, a basement......playing D&D, Star Frontiers, Gamma World, Car Wars, or whatever....pretty much kept me outta real trouble. The money spent on game books blew any funds for dope or booze. Go figure.
Here's the kicker....add religion...the Bible does say that all forms of sorcery are evil. Is casting an imaginery fireball at an imaginary cave troll sorcery? Depends on where you draw the line. Most forms or western religions are against drugs...yet only the Mormans eschew coffee & cafinated products. For them, thats the line.
If the Bible proclaims sorcery as evil....that at least tells you that there is a such thing. But the writter also claims that anything that draws you away from God is of the Devil. Interesting statement. I think it gives too much credit to the devil. What about golfing and fishing? How many zillions of folks will never hear a Sunday sermon due to their 'addiction' to a sunday round of 18 holes? Personally, I was raised as a Catholic. My rigerious Irish-Catholic rearing is probabily what kept my life in line through some tough times, but now that I have actually read the Bible, I'd have to put the Catholic church in a worse pile than D&D or golf (as far as things that keep you from God).
(aside....no ill intended by that)
I guess the best rule is: you are what you eat. What you expose yourself to is what will fill your mind. You work in a dentist office 10 hours a day....you will prolly be less likely to cuss and curse that someone who works on a construction crew at a refinery. You won't think like Samuel F. Jackson or Harvey Kietel when you get cut off in traffic if the only TV you see is Mr. Rogers.
Come to think of it....wasn't Rev. Fred Rogers into "make believe"?
Maybe the author of the article needed to draw a line in his fantacy world too........when you capture the orc chieftan, you don't have to murder, rape and drink his blood.....you can turn him into the local millitia.
For the author, D&D was probabily the thing that warped him...At least on the surface...the real issue was something deeper.
Keep the main thing the main thing.
~Mandrake
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