Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site pedsgd.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxt!houxm!vax135!petsd!pedsgd!bobh From: bobh@pedsgd.UUCP (Bob Halloran) Newsgroups: net.kids Subject: Re: D&D Message-ID: <327@pedsgd.UUCP> Date: Fri, 25-Oct-85 11:49:25 EDT Article-I.D.: pedsgd.327 Posted: Fri Oct 25 11:49:25 1985 Date-Received: Sat, 26-Oct-85 05:43:39 EDT References: <123@mit-hector.UUCP> Distribution: na Organization: Perkin-Elmer, Tinton Falls, NJ Lines: 65 Keywords: D&D In article <123@mit-hector.UUCP> melissa@mit-hector.UUCP (Melissa Silvestre) writes: >A few weeks ago, 60 Minutes did a show on D&D. Their claim was that there >are a large number of homocides/suicides which are linked to D&D recently. >They showed interviews with parents and police in a number of cases, with >both groups saying "Johnny was obssessed with the game but I didn't realize >how badly until he stabbed his brother and himself ..." or such stuff. >Gary Gygax (creator of D&D) was interviewed and he denyed that there was >any link. He sounded pretty feeble about it. > >Well folks, it seems to me that if you are a parent concerned about your >child, you have two choices. 1) Forbid him to play, or 2) Learn enough >about the game to be able to talk to him intelligently and discuss the >fantasy vs reality aspects with him. I'm sure all of the readers of >net.kids can tell you how well the first way works, which is to say >worse than not at all. If possible, please check the spate of articles posted to net.games.frp WRT: the 60 Minutes story. Several misconceptions were presented by CBS in the course of the item. More specifically, the case of the two brothers in Colorado whose murder/suicide was referred to had no connection to D&D; the mother of the boys, in Denver's Rocky Mountain News of the week following the broadcast, stated that the elder son had recently been convicted of car theft after involvement in a joyride, and committed suicide rather than face jail. Filial loyalty apparently prompted his brother to join him. There was no mention of D&D in the note left, and it was apparently the investigating officer who implicated D&D after learning that the boys had, on occasion, played. In the newpaper interview, the mother was quoted as saying that her sons' involvement with the game was a casual one. In a similar vein, the 'Today' program about two weeks later had an item on D&D, with the same psychologist who appeared on 60 Minutes, and a representative of a gifted childrens' group in California. While the psychologist repeated his misgivings about the game, the mother simply asked what kind of home life these children had had, that they would use a game to escape from reality to the point of self- destruction. When the psychologist proposed Federal hearings, the mother heartily agreed, saying it would likely bring out problems in the home environment of those children involved, or false implications like the Colorado case above. She went on to say that any problem with an obsession about D&D was a problem with AN OBSESSION, and mentioned a case of a young 'hacker-nerd' type who was spending hours upon hours closed up in his room playing with a terminal. She said the group's recommendation had been to bring the child's machine out into a family area, to encourage more people contact. As a player myself for some five years, and the parent of a young child, I have no problem with the game as such. D&D encourages imagination, but as many have already said, no more so than, say, amateur theatrics. If some unstable youngsters unfortunately carry their game into reality, with tragic results, is the game at fault, or the children? Bob Halloran Sr MTS, Perkin-Elmer DSG ============================================================================= UUCP: {decvax, ucbvax, most Action Central}!vax135\ {topaz, pesnta, princeton}!petsd!pedsgd!bobh USPS: 106 Apple St M/S 305, Tinton Falls NJ 07724 DDD: (201) 758-7000 Disclaimer: My opinions are my own. Quote: "Delay is preferable to error." - Thomas Jefferson