As a kid I liked Dr Who, Lost in Space, horror movies, the Twilight Zone and all that kind of speculative fiction. One day while walking home from school I passed a group of kids with some strange and fascinating objects and some sooks open. I asked tham what they were doing. They explained the objects were dice and they were playing Dungeons and Dragons. I was fascinated by what they explained and asked if I could join in. “Sorry you can’t just join a game like this.” Within a few weeks I had designed my first role playing scenario to play with my Mum and sister and started searching for people to learn to play this fascinating game with. When I got to a new school in year nine I was looking for friends. In English class a kid I was talking to said. “I know where you belong.” After class he took me to a room at the back of the library. “I think he’s on of yours.” They looked me up and down and nodded. And I was in with the nerds.
Nerd was a new term then and we didn’t know what it meant. It was just something about us that made us weird, creepy and inferior. And quite importantly; nerds were just boys, there were no nerd girls and girls didn’t like nerds. It hurt. Added to this were the Christians who went around saying Dungeons and Dragons was evil devil worshiping. This just added to the hurt of the nerd thing and left us with a bitter attitude towards Jesus and church.
Around this time Spirit in the Sky came up on the radio. It was a very catchy Christian song that made it into the main stream. I was walking down the passages singing it out loud when a Christian friend stoped me and asked “have you actually thought about what those words mean” “No” I responded and a deep theological conversation started. “Do you believe Jesus existed?” “Well of course Jesus existed, it can’t have been completely made up, obviously something happened.” “Do you believe Jesus was the son of God, performed miracles and was raised from the dead?” I gave it a little thought and answered. “Its kind of absurd but I think I believe it anyway and its kind of offensive to suggest otherwise.” He was a little surprised with this and continued “Do you believe Jesus died for your sins?” This required a bit more thought “It sounds kind of harsh, but I’m open to the idea” Now my friend was surprised “well your a Christian!” “No Im not.” “Why not?” I don’t believe the creation story in Genesis and I don’t believe Dungeons and Dragons is evil devil worshiping. That is where I was in my Christian walk in high school.
Some years passed and I read Zen and the Art of Motor Cycle Maintenance and my philosophical mind was opened. I set out in search of God and Truth and the meaning of life. I searched every where including, but not exclusive to, the Bible, church and street preaches. My Christian walk was underway. One of the biggest obstacles was the resentment I had the kids at school that called me an evil devil worshiper for something that seemed completely harmless to me. One of the concerns expressed about this new game was that D&D players were committing suicide when there D&D characters got killed. There was sufficient concern about this that some research was done into the issue. It was found D&D players had a significantly lower rate of suicide that average. Lower than among Christians. Its young people with little or dysfunctional social lives that are prone to suicide. Role playing gamers have brilliantly healthy social lives with not much in the way of bad influences.
Role placing games are an awesome hobby for a young adult, but your meant to out grow it. Bible study and church is for life. As a result I have put Dungeons and Dragons behind me and I am constantly growing in my understanding of the Bible. And after having studied the Bible, along with Shakespeare, Tomis More, Plato, Descartes, Holmer and many other of the great books of the western cannon; the wisdom of the elves of Grey Hawk seem kind of daft. But I am still bemused that the church is still peddling the line about Dungeons and Dragons is evil devil worshiping.
In the fifties and sixties it got into the churches that rock and roll was evil devil worshiping and young Christians took to burning there Beatles records. It wasn’t long and rock and roll was playing in the churches and the churches look back on the attitude to popular music with a bit of embarrassment. The same really ought to be happening with role playing games.
It simply isn’t true that these games are a front for occult practices or that role players are prone to suicide. In fact the games are just the kind of healthy sober social activities the church should be encouraging. And the story telling method could be a great way to teach Bible wisdom. Popular music can be used to encourage bad behaviour or idolatrous practices. But it can also be a great way to worship our God. Same with Dungeons and Dragons.
This attitude toward these games isn’t winning disciples. Rather it is propagating the misconception that Christians are highly judgemental people who base there judgements on delusional beliefs. This attitude is leaving bitter resentful people who close there hearts to the Gospel message. There are Christian role playing gamers who are well aware of how useful the Bible can be in putting together a role playing scenario and how a role playing session can be used to teach Bible stories. But they are in a vulnerable place where there gaming life can cause offence at church and their faith can case offence among gamers.
Please; quit it with the Dungeons and Dragons is evil devil worshiping thing. Its doing a lot of harm, it simply isn’t true and its denying the church a medium to spread the good news. The gaming community tend to be a very open minded lot and if the church stops saying nasty things about them they are likely to open up to Biblical wisdom when they see what the Bible and Christian faith is really about.
Clown Artist Philosopher 