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Dungeons and Dragons 75
America, games have been accused of causing teen
suicide and distorting minds. They falsely claimed
that RPG players usually impersonate killers or
death-row inmates.
By the early 1990s, the furor had largely died
down. The games are still attacked periodically by
a small number of Christian TV programs and
ministries. The games are regularly accused of
promoting violence and murder of parents and
others, causing suicide among young people, and
luring young people into the occult. Many books
on Satanism and the occult by conservative
Christian authors still attack the games: In The
Truth about Dungeons and Dragons, Joan Hake
Robie writes: “Dungeons and Dragons is not a
game. Some believe it to be teaching the following:”
She then lists twenty-two activities, including
blasphemy, assassination, insanity, sexual perversion,
homosexuality, prostitution, Satan worship,
and necromancy. (Robie 1994, 67)
In The Seduction of Our Children, Neil
Anderson and Steve Russo claim that the game
negatively “affects a person’s self-image and
personality and opens him to Satanic influence”
(Anderson and Russo 1991, 78). Bob Larson has
asserted that young people who call his radio talk
show often mention fantasy games as their introduction
to Satanism. In Like Lambs to the
Slaughter, Johanna Michaelsen criticizes games for
their promotion of occultism and violence. All of
the opposition to RPGs in books, magazines, TV,
or radio appears to be by persons who are conservative
Christians. Their critiques are logically
derived from conservative Christian beliefs about
Satanism and demonic possession.
In their article, “Relationship of role-playing
games to self-reported criminal behavior,”
Suzanne Abyeta and James Forest studied the
criminal tendencies of “gamers” and found that
they committed fewer than average numbers of
crimes for people in their age group. The
Association of Gifted-Creative Children of
California surveyed psychological autopsies of
adolescent suicides and were unable to find any
linked to these games. The National Association
has endorsed Dungeons and Dragons for its
educational content. The American Association of
Suicidology, the Center for Disease Control, and
Health and Welfare (Canada) have conducted
extensive studies into teen suicide and have found
no link to fantasy role-playing games. The
Committee for the Advancement of Role-Playing
Games has investigated every suicide or criminal
case that BADD advanced, and has been unable to
find any caused by role-playing games.
Groups opposing fantasy games often criticize
the alleged occult content of the games. It has been
claimed—incorrectly—that the games’ rule books
include poison recipes or methods of summoning
demons, etc. A handful include printed incantations
from folk and ceremonial magic, but most
do not. A gamer who wants her or his pretend
character to cast a spell in order to protect itself
from attack might simply say to the GM, “I am
casting a healing spell now.” Neither the player nor
their character actually casts a spell or practices
magic. The player simply describes what the imaginary
character is doing. Gaming is basically an
adult version of make believe. It does not promote
black magic or manipulative magic.
—Bruce A. Robinson
See also Demons
For Further Reading:
Abyeta, Suzanne, and James Forest. “Relationship of
Role-Playing Games to Self-Reported Criminal
Behavior.” Psychological Reports 69 (1991).
Anderson, Neil, and Steve Russo. The Seduction of
Our Children. Eugene, OR: Harvest House,
1991.
Fannon, Sean Patrick. The Fantasy Role-Playing
Gamer’s Bible. Rocklin, CA: Prima Publishing,
1996.
Larson, Bob. Satanism. The Seduction of America’s
Youth. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1989.
Michaelsen, Johanna. Like Lambs to the Slaughter.
Eugene, OR: Harvest House, 1989.
Robie, Joan Hake. The Truth about Dungeons and
Dragons. Lancaster, PA: Starburst Publishers, 1994.
Schick, Lawrence. Heroic Worlds: A History and
Guide to Role-Playing Games. Amherst, NY:
Prometheus Books, 1991.
Stackpole, Michael. “The Truth About Role-Playing
Games.” In Shawn Carlson and Gerald Larue,
ed. Satanism in America. El Cerrito, CA: Gaia
Press, 1989.
Wise, Russ. “Satanism: The World of the Occult,”
Probe Ministries.
http://www.probe.org/docs/satanism.html.