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As the first and most popular role-playing game, Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) has received significant attention in the media and in popular culture. Some of this publicity has been negative, especially during the game's early years in the 1970's and early 1980's. Because the term D&D is sometimes used as a metonym for all types of role-playing games, some of the controversies regarding D&D actually pertain to role-playing games in general, or to the overall literary genre of Fantasy as a whole.

Some of the controversies that have arisen concern the game itself and its alleged impact on those who play it, and others concern business issues at the game's original publisher, TSR, Inc., now owned by Wizards of the Coast.

Religious objections

At various times in its history, Dungeons & Dragons has received negative publicity for alleged promotion of such practices as devil worship, witchcraft, suicide, and murder. In the 1980s especially, some religious groups accused the game of encouraging interest in sorcery and demonic creatures. Throughout the history of roleplaying games, many of these criticisms have been aimed specifically at "Dungeons & Dragons", but touch on the genre of fantasy roleplaying games as a whole.

The concept of Dungeons & Dragons as somehow demonic was also linked to the concept of Satanic ritual abuse (SRA), in that both presumed the existence of large, organized Satanic cults and societies. Sources such as the famous Dark Dungeons tract from Chick Publications portray D&D as a recruitment tool for these organizations.

The Schnoebelen articles

Chick Publications also published William Schnoebelen's two essays, Straight Talk on Dungeons and Dragons and Should a Christian Play Dungeons & Dragons? Published over a decade apart, these essays attempt to portray Dungeons & Dragons as a tool for satanic and New Age groups to introduce concepts and behaviors that are seen as contrary to Christian teaching and morality.

The first article, which cited Patricia Pulling as a source, summarized D&D as "a feeding program for occultism and witchcraft violates the commandment of I Ths. 5:22 'Abstain from all appearance of evil.'" It continued on to suggest that rituals described in the game were actually capable of summoning demons and other real-world effects, though the books themselves describe no such detailed mechanics for any spell or ritual. It also took elements of the books out of context. For example, "the Dungeon Master's Guide gives the celebrated Adolph Hitler as an example of a real historical person that exhibited D&D charisma!" The book never suggests that Hitler is "celebrated", nor that he is a model of an acceptable D&D character.

The second article took a softer approach, and refrained from statements of the original such as "pain and torture are heavily involved in sadistic, sexual situations stresses the defilement of innocence". Instead, it focused on the contrast between a realistic, Christian world-view and the fantasy worldview of Dungeons & Dragons, suggesting that, "being exposed to all these ideas of magic to the degree that the game requires cannot but help have a significant impact on the minds of the players."

The Hickman articles

Tracy Hickman, a prolific author of Dungeons & Dragons materials, has written many articles about the ethics of Dungeons & Dragons from the point of view of Christianity. His Ethics in Fantasy: Morality and D&D / Part 1: That Evil Game! details a number of concerns about the ethics surrounding Dungeons & Dragons, but also outlines a number of the hurdles in gamers and non-gamers communicating over these topics.

TSR's reaction

The controversy led TSR to remove references to demons, devils, and other potentially controversial supernatural monsters from the 2nd Edition of AD&D. Many of these exclusions were not returned to the game until the release of the 3rd Edition in 2000. And in fact, a few 3rd Edition products have addressed demons and devil-worship far more explicitly than materials from previous editions. The more 'extreme' manuals, such as the Book of Vile Darkness and the Book of Exalted Deeds, bear a "For Mature Audiences Only" label.

Israeli army

The Israeli army has an official policy that frowns on the playing of D&D by Israeli soldiers. Their position is that game play makes players "detached from reality and susceptible to influence,” automatically lowering their security clearance. Due to these pressures, most soldiers that play D&D hide this fact.

Mazes and Monsters

Dungeons & Dragons has also been plagued by rumors of players having difficulty separating fantasy and reality, even leading to schizophrenia and suicide. The novel Mazes and Monsters and especially the 1982 CBS made-for-TV movie adaptation helped fuel these rumors, particularly since they were based on media coverage of a real incident, the disappearance of James Dallas Egbert III.

Egbert was a bright but very socially awkward teenager who had played D&D before entering college (prematurely at the age of 16). He went missing for nearly a month in 1979, allegedly after entering steam tunnels under Michigan State University (MSU). Egbert had been known to be a member of a group at MSU that had played a live action (LARP) version of D&D. William Dear, a private investigator searching for James, initially linked his disappearance to Dungeons & Dragons, which the media widely reported. Dear wrote the 1985 book, The Dungeon Master, about the case and revealed that James' disappearance was not related to Dungeons & Dragons. According to Dear, Egbert had run away following a failed suicide attempt; he would later successfully commit suicide in 1980 at the age of 17.

Clinical research

Researchers have investigated the emotional impact of Dungeons & Dragons since the 1980s. A number of studies have shown that depression and suicidal tendencies are not typically associated with role players, feelings of alienation are not associated with the mainstream player (though those who are deeply, and often financially committed to the game do tend to have these feelings), and according to one study there is, "no significant correlation between years of playing the game and emotional stability." Despite anecdotal evidence to the contrary, suicide and fantasy role-playing have not been shown to have any causal link.

Business disputes at TSR

The game's commercial success led to lawsuits initiated in 1979 regarding distribution of royalties between D&D co-creators Dave Arneson and Gary Gygax. Specifically at issue were the royalties for AD&D, a product for which TSR did not acknowledge Arneson's intellectual property claims. Those suits were settled out of court by 1981.

Gygax himself became embroiled in a political struggle for control of TSR and disputes related to the company’s deteriorating financial situation in the early 1980s. The disagreements culminated in a court battle and Gygax’s decision to sell his ownership interest in the company in 1985.

Licensing and trademark violations

Early in the game's history, TSR summarily revoked the license to create AD&D-compatible items it had previously granted to the publishing company Judges Guild. TSR's action was a primary cause of the smaller publisher's decision to cease operations in the early 1980s.

Grimoire Games, which published David A. Hargrave's multi-volume Arduin series, had no such license. When presented with a cease and desist order regarding the use of TSR's trademarks, Grimoire was forced to rely on white-out and typing correction tape to mask its use of AD&D references in subsequent printings of the Arduin series.

TSR itself ran afoul of intellectual property law with respect to the Cthulhu Mythos and Melnibonéan Mythos it had included in early versions of the Deities & Demigods manual. These problems were ultimately resolved by excising the material from later editions of the book. Similarly, references in early TSR publications to certain creatures from J.R.R. Tolkien's mythical Middle-earth were also removed or altered due to intellectual property concerns. For example, TSR replaced all references to the race of Hobbits in D&D with their alternate name, Halflings - which was also coined by Tolkien but judged by TSR to be non-infringing.

See also

• History of role-playing games
• Moral panic
• Allegations of Satanism in popular culture

References

1. Schnoebelen, William (1984). "Straight Talk on Dungeons and Dragons". Chick Publications.
2. Schnoebelen, William (2001?). "Should a Christian Play Dungeons & Dragons?". Chick Publications. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
3. Hickman, Tracy (1988). "Ethics in Fantasy: Morality and D&D / Part 1: That Evil Game!".
4. Ward, James M (1990). 'The Games Wizards: Angry Mothers From Heck (And what we do about them).' Dragon, 154:9, Feb 1990.
5. Greenberg, Hanan. "Army frowns on Dungeons and Dragons". ynetnews.com. Retrieved 2007-02-01.
6. Carter, R and Lester, D (1998). "Personalities of players of Dungeons and Dragons". PubMed.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
7. DeRenard, LA and Kline, LM (1990). "Alienation and the game dungeons and dragons". PubMed.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
8. Simon, Armando (1987). "Emotional Stability Pertaining to the Game of Dungeons & Dragons" (v24 n4, Oct): 329-32. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help); Unknown parameter |publication= ignored (help)
9. "The Acaeum page on Deities & Demigods". Retrieved 2007-02-21. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help) shows contents of different printings.
10. Copyright conflicts with the Tolkien Estate lead to removal of references to Hobbits, Ents and others, shown on "The Acaeum page on Original D&D Set". Retrieved 2007-02-21. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)

Further Reading

• "Studies About Fantasy Role-Playing Games". RPGStudies.net. 1994.

• Dungeons & Dragons