Do you think that little of me?
The answer might be "yes," and if so, that is totally fine. I know many people for whom the answer would be "yes, I do." If that's the case, then feel free to curl your lip in disgust and stop reading. But if your answer was, "Well, no" or "Not usually," then I would ask you to hear me out. If you respect someone, then you ought to hear them out, even—maybe especially—when they start down a road you wouldn't normally travel.
I think Dungeons and Dragons might be helping me grow as a person.
If you're still here, let's get some things straight. (Gabe also blogged about this last year, so if you're interested in his take, you can check out his post here.)
1) Dungeons and Dragons is not necessarily a game about magic.
Dungeons and Dragons is a game where everyone except one person makes up a character, and the remaining person is like the narrator. The rules of Dungeons and Dragons are basically just a guide to translating any conceivable action into a die roll so that you're able to "do" it in the game in a quantifiable way. If you want to have your character squawk like a chicken and jump off a roof wielding a spatula, DnD can tell you which dice to roll to see how that goes.
Most people who play Dungeons and Dragons are into magic, so they set their games in magical worlds and have their characters use magic. Most DnD resources cater to this group. This is a choice, however. Gabe is currently playing a Sci-Fi game where there is zero magic; everything is technology-based.
2) Dungeons and Dragons has no more agency than video games, books, podcasts, or playing pretend with the kids you babysit.
DnD does not have the power to make you possessed, obsessed, or...duressed? Help me out with the parallelism XD DnD is just a game. It does not involve anything legitimately spiritual. If anyone has ever gone crazy from Dungeons and Dragons (and I know they have; Hello Satanic Panic of the '80s), the person was unstable to begin with, played with bad people, intentionally summoned demons, or some combination of the above.
As Christians, we do not need to be afraid of our imaginations in and of themselves. Monitor them, yes. Do an idolatry check on them, yes. But no game has the agency or authority to possess a person—especially a Christian.
3) Dungeons and Dragons is role playing, yes—but so is fiction writing, acting, playing video games, etc.
Role playing is not an inherently slippery slope. Most people will be able to keep fantasy and reality separate. For people who cannot, DnD is not for them. But neither are a lot of other things that would require a person to think clearly and keep her feet rooted in reality.
If you're concerned and it's bothering you, I suggest doing some research into what the bare bones of the game entail, or talking to someone who plays. Gabe would be glad to have a conversation about this (and he is much more empathetic and diplomatic than I am).
However, at the end of the day, I'm not here to convince you that Dungeons and Dragons isn't evil. I'm just here to ask you to read the next post that mentions it, because I think it's going to teach me how to open the Feelings Door.
~Stephanie
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