Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site im4u.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!bonnie!akgua!whuxlm!harpo!decvax!genrad!panda!talcott!harvard!seismo!ut-sally!im4u!riddle
From: riddle@im4u.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.suicide,net.games.frp,net.kids
Subject: Suicide and D&D (Re: Violence and the arts)
Message-ID: <449@im4u.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 22-Aug-85 13:35:36 EDT
Article-I.D.: im4u.449
Posted: Thu Aug 22 13:35:36 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 25-Aug-85 02:23:31 EDT
References: <6601@ucla-cs.ARPA>
Organization: U. of Tx. at Houston-in-the-Hills
Lines: 23
Xref: watmath net.suicide:713 net.games.frp:1862 net.kids:1743
Deviled-Ham: "Bob"

> An interesting article (from AP) discusses Dr. Thomas Radecki's study
> of violence in television, and, incidentally, other places. Some examples
> of his concerns: ...
> 
> "Games - 'There is no doubt in my mind that the game Dungeons and Dragons
> is causing young men to kill themselves and others.  This game is one of
> non-stop combat and violence.'" ...
> 
> I wonder if Radecki could come up with a single case where he can demonstrate
> that D & D contributed to a killing or suicide?

I'm no fan of the culture of violence, but the case for linking D&D with
suicide seems to be overstated.  Interested readers can take a look at page
18 of today's New York Times.  It seems that a group of fundamentalists in
Connecticut is trying to get the local school board to ban Dungeons and
Dragons from the schools, on the grounds that D&D caused a 13-year-old boy
to commit suicide and is the work of the devil to boot.  The kid's friends
tell reporters that it wasn't D&D that made him kill himself, but drugs.
Chalk another one up for the fundamentalists' grip on reality...

--- Prentiss Riddle ("Aprendiz de todo, maestro de nada.")
--- {ihnp4,harvard,seismo,gatech}!ut-sally!riddle   riddle@ut-sally.UUCP
--- riddle@ut-sally.ARPA, riddle%zotz@ut-sally, riddle%im4u@ut-sally