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patfan64

patfan64

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I searched but couldn't find a thread where this was addressed. Sorry if it already has a thread.

My 12 year old came home from school all excited yesterday. His favorite teacher at school was starting a Dungeons and Dragons Club. The club meets during school hours in a Flex period. It was only open to the first 15 students that signed up. He begged me to let him.

I had no problem with it.

Unbeknownst to me, he had discussed it with my wife the night before (I was at school until 9:30PM) She was adamant against (she's a little closer to the Church than I am.)

So around 7:30 last night, my house erupts with the fury of the Battle of Helms Deep. I had to form a unified front with my wife and the answer was no.

Poor kid was so upset. I talked to him this morning and we are going to try and get him into a few baseball clinics this winter. He seemed OK with that but I don't know.

Does anyone have any experience (either as a parent or participant) with this game? I'm just curious.
 
I played a few times in my 20s. The whole game varies depending on the participants. Some games can be innocent as far as material or subject matter, other games, not so much.
I hope this helps you.
 
I played a crapload in school. Don't have time to post more now. Will do so at lumch
 
I am not a parent, nor have I actually played the game, but I'm familiar with the concepts and once read a book on the topic.

May I ask what your wife's (or your) objection was to him playing the game?

You might have suggested it was due to your wife's religious beliefs, but I don't wish to assume.
 
We used to summer on the cape with family when I was about 7-12. One summer a family member had it. We played a crapload. I don't ever recall anything remotely indecent.

I do know you just broke a little piece of your little guys heart. If it's for church, well, I'm sorry to hear that.
 
IT is a school sanctioned after-school activity and I am hoping the teacher would be part of the game and keep it within School acceptable levels.

But you know the Happy wife, happy life saying, tough loss for your kid. Mine is into all these games and to be truthful I don't get them.
 
mikiemo83 said:
IT is a school sanctioned after-school activity and I am hoping the teacher would be part of the game and keep it within School acceptable levels.

But you know the Happy wife, happy life saying, tough loss for your kid. Mine is into all these games and to be truthful I don't get them.
Click to expand...

It's based on imagination. Just plucked out of nowhere. Helps develop ones thinking skills.
 
patfan64 said:
I searched but couldn't find a thread where this was addressed. Sorry if it already has a thread.

My 12 year old came home from school all excited yesterday. His favorite teacher at school was starting a Dungeons and Dragons Club. The club meets during school hours in a Flex period. It was only open to the first 15 students that signed up. He begged me to let him.

I had no problem with it.

Unbeknownst to me, he had discussed it with my wife the night before (I was at school until 9:30PM) She was adamant against (she's a little closer to the Church than I am.)

So around 7:30 last night, my house erupts with the fury of the Battle of Helms Deep. I had to form a unified front with my wife and the answer was no.

Poor kid was so upset. I talked to him this morning and we are going to try and get him into a few baseball clinics this winter. He seemed OK with that but I don't know.

Does anyone have any experience (either as a parent or participant) with this game? I'm just curious.
Click to expand...

This happened in my household when I started playing (I was about 12 in 1980) except that it was reversed. My dad didn't want me to play, but mom didn't see anything wrong with it. (In fact my dad tried to bribe me by steering me to comic books which only inspired me to spend thousands of dollars of them since then...a fact which I remind my father of quite often). Eventually he came around and I spent the next couple of years immersed in the world and had a ton of fun. Dad quickly realized it was harmless.

I'm not sure what it's like nowadays, but D&D was nothing but an inspiration to my imagination and a way to keep a 12 year old boy out of trouble (which was a challenge back then).

I've never understood the problem some people had with this game. It's a game, not a cult. It's not simple, you have to use your imagination, and it's a ton of fun if the people you are with are of the same mindset. D&D helped get me into mythology & reading and sparked my imagination like nothing else. My sophomore year in high school I took Russian and my teacher would play a version of D&D he invented with us on Fridays but we had to tell him everything we were doing in Russian (for example: I will attack the Beholder with a magic missile spell). So the game was responsible for helping me to learn a foreign language....and it worked.

If it were my child, I'd play the game with them myself. I haven't played for decades, but I still remember it like it was yesterday.
 
I've played and raised kids to play.

It is only as dangerous as your kids imagination.

If your children have good morals, playing D&D are not going to change that, IMO. My personal belief is it is completely harmless, like playing a board game.
 
It's as indecent as the game master will allow. But nothing in the game itself lends itself to real life devil worship, I don't think.
 
Undertaker #59* said:
I've played and raised kids to play.

It is only as dangerous as your kids imagination.

If your children have good morals, playing D&D are not going to change that, IMO. My personal belief is it is completely harmless, like playing a board game.
Click to expand...

To be honest, I'm a bit gobsmacked that 'OMG D&D IS EVIL!!!' is still a thing. I thought that belief went out with the 80's (no offense to you or your wife, PF64). Shows you what I know. :shrug:
 
Annihilus said:
To be honest, I'm a bit gobsmacked that 'OMG D&D IS EVIL!!!' is still a thing. I thought that belief went out with the 80's (no offense to you or your wife, PF64). Shows you what I know. :shrug:
Click to expand...
PF is my age (I think) and that stigma would stick with us today if we never got into playing the game.


And on a side, I would let my kid play if he wants. as it is I take him to Yo-ge-oh (sp?) tourneys now and figure walking in looking like a crazy bastard lets the 20 year old kids know to not F-with my boy at 12 years old.

and truth is they really go out of their way to help him learn and advance as a player.
 
Annihilus said:
To be honest, I'm a bit gobsmacked that 'OMG D&D IS EVIL!!!' is still a thing. I thought that belief went out with the 80's (no offense to you or your wife, PF64). Shows you what I know. :shrug:
Click to expand...

I had to edit my post several times, as I almost went on a rant, as I think the notion is just absurd, but I am not looking to offend.

Adapted quote from Zappa - "The language and concepts contained (in D&D) herein are GUARANTEED NOT TO CAUSE ETERNAL TORMENT IN THE PLACE WHERE THE GUY WITH THE HORNS AND POINTED STICK CONDUCTS HIS BUSINESS."

:)
 
mikiemo83 said:
PF is my age (I think) and that stigma would stick with us today if we never got into playing the game.


And on a side, I would let my kid play if he wants. as it is I take him to Yo-ge-oh (sp?) tourneys now and figure walking in looking like a crazy bastard lets the 20 year old kids know to not F-with my boy at 12 years old.

and truth is they really go out of their way to help him learn and advance as a player.
Click to expand...

Most gamers are about as harmless as a bunny rabbit. Also, most of them have pretty sharp mental faculties.

Undertaker #59* said:
I had to edit my post several times, as I almost went on a rant, as I think the notion is just absurd, but I am not looking to offend.

Adapted quote from Zappa - "The language and concepts contained (in D&D) herein are GUARANTEED NOT TO CAUSE ETERNAL TORMENT IN THE PLACE WHERE THE GUY WITH THE HORNS AND POINTED STICK CONDUCTS HIS BUSINESS."

:)
Click to expand...

LOL, I had the same problem. What I came up with was the least offensive of the bunch of thoughts floating through my head.

The beholder was a nod to you, if you didn't catch that ;)
 
Nice, my first avatar here. I currently have that active on Soxplanet.
 
Annihilus said:
To be honest, I'm a bit gobsmacked that 'OMG D&D IS EVIL!!!' is still a thing. I thought that belief went out with the 80's (no offense to you or your wife, PF64). Shows you what I know. :shrug:
Click to expand...

My wife's sister became born again later in life and informed my wife that reading Anne Rice and Steven King was akin to inviting the devil into your home.

She also didn't approve of "The Lord of the Rings" but loved "The Chronicles of Narnia". The fact the Tolkien was key to getting Lewis to convert to Christianity was lost.

People are funny sometimes.
 
Annihilus said:
To be honest, I'm a bit gobsmacked that 'OMG D&D IS EVIL!!!' is still a thing. I thought that belief went out with the 80's (no offense to you or your wife, PF64). Shows you what I know. :shrug:
Click to expand...

I had to do a little searching, but I recalled that there was a major flap in the national media about D&D that was generated by the disappearance of a kid named James Dallas Egbert III in 1979. If you are curious then you can read a summary here:

http://ptgptb.org/0006/egbert.html

This case spawned a novel called Mazes and Monsters and also a Tom Hanks movie of the same name that borrowed from the Egbert case and the basic national debate was whether role-playing fantasy games were unhealthy and led to some players inability to separate fantasy from reality and all of that sort of thing. It was a big deal at the time because people didn't understand what an RPG was at the time and the genre was widely demonized for reasons which the test of time did not support.

There is also a long history involving the church and the game of which I was not aware that I won't get into, but I believe that flap was related to the above stuff.
 
Annihilus said:
Most gamers are about as harmless as a bunny rabbit. Also, most of them have pretty sharp mental faculties.
Click to expand...
yeah I get that knowing the kids who played but will be honest in that we were entering an area of the state with a high crime rate and many other issues with schools so I went in expecting the worse based on location and right off the bat I saw how they took him in and taught him a lot.


I think Big Bang theory would have helped squash these stereotypes.
 
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