Teenagers and D&D
Our kids are now getting together to play Dungeons and Dragons. And they excitedly recount their adventures to us, filled with stories of battling Mind Flayers with energy-swords. We parents (still playing tabletop RPGs together on Saturday nights, a tradition which has lasted years) are so proud of our little geeks. For one thing, we feel like we've done our duty as geek-parents, passing along the tradition to the next generation. But we are also thrilled for ulterior motives. None of the kids read this blog (I hope), so I will outline our cunning little plan (passed to us by OTHER geeky parents):

Dungeons and Dragons is EVIL and Makes Kids Insane
When I began playing tabletop "Dice and Paper" Role-Playing Games (RPGs) at age 12, the same kind of anti-videogame hysteria you see now was aimed primarily at Dungeons and Dragons. The arguments pretty much boiled down to one of two things:

#1 - The game contains spells and demons, so it's supernaturally EVIL

or

#2 - The game is so involving that damages the delicate psyche of impressionable young people and makes them believe it is real or act out the events of the game in real life.

The second argument is pretty much the same as the one leveled by our great local and federal leaders right now towards videogames, unfortunately. I don't think it has any more truth to it now than it did then, but it still strikes a believable chord with people. In the early 1980's, you also had the book and movie "Mazes and Monsters," a fictionalized account of James Dallas Egbert III's dissapearance down university steam tunnels, based primarily upon the sensationalized news accounts and theories.

Of course, all that conspiracy theory stuff and anti-Dungeons-and-Dragons hype only fueled sales of the game, helping it gain mainstream attention. That was probably how I ended up playing in the first place, but we had to contend with some issues and disapproval with our playing. At one point, when friends and I were playing D&D at lunch time in Junior High, the principle came over to ask us about the game. He mentioned not-so-casually how the game had been banned from schools in a nearby county, after one player had committed suicide "after having a curse cast on him."

Yeah, we'd heard that story. The boy's mother was trying (and eventually failed) to sue TSR (the makers of Dungeons and Dragons) because D&D had caused her son's suicide. Nevermind that he'd had a long history of drug abuse and attempted suicide attempts that predated his gaming by a fair margin. The truth behind the story didn't much appeal to people though - they were more fascinated by the fantastic: a story that a mere game could drive normal teenagers insane.

Sorta like how folks like to blame the Columbine Massacre on Doom, eh? Same story, different characters. But I digress. Moving right along...

So Support Your Local Adventurers!
My wife's forays into tabletop Role-Playing-Games as a teenager went a bit more smoothly. She was a little more of a reluctant player at first, but her friend Sara's parents were both pretty canny and saw past the hysteria. They stocked their basement rec-room area with plenty of junk food for their daughter's gamer-friends. They'd only periodically pop their heads in to check on the crowd, making sure that everyone was doing fine, having fun, and had all the food they needed.

Well, Sara's friends just figured Sara had the coolest parents in the world. Many weekends had the "gang" there hanging out - boys & girls together, playing Dungeons & Dragons, Call of Cthulhu, or various board and card games. I got to experience this same hospitality first-hand while I was in college, working in California the summer before Julie & I got married. Julie was out of town at the time, but she directed her friends - when they were home briefly from school during the summer - to take me in and give me something to do (other than playing Wing Commander on the computer). Sara's parents still provided soda and gummi worms (which I put to use as props, since I was running a game of Call of Cthulhu).

The Method to the Madness?
Years later, my wife and I were talking about whether or not we'd encourage our kids to play roleplaying games. We talked about the support Sara's parents gave. A realization dawned on us from our perspective as new parents:

Julie's high school had the usual problems with kids and alcohol, drugs, teen pregnancy, and so forth. Probably a little more so than average in the mid-80's. And here was a group of kids - mixed boys and girls - VOLUNTARILY remaining under nominal adult supervision, hanging out and interacting with each other by playing games. And the kids just thought Sara's parents were being so cool, supporting their kids engaging in such controversial activities.

Sara's parents were frickin' GENIUSES!

So we're carrying on the tradition - at least for those of our kids who are enjoying it. So far it hasn't dawned on them how uncool it is to play something their parents play. We'll relish it while it lasts. And we'll keep listening to their stories of battling mind-flayers with energy swords.
- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 6:56 AM (Permalink)