Funny story about this. When I was in middle school, my school had a speaker come in and tell us that everything from rock music to being born a Capricorn would send us to Hell. (No exaggeration. He actually though being born under a goat sign meant you were Hellbound). This was a public school in the early 2000's. I think the only reason my school got away with this is I'm from a small Christian town.
One of things he brought up was of course D&D. My best friend and I were watching and struggling to contain our laughter at how stupid and over the top this speaker was. I.e. "Don't think just because you can play a religious class like clerk doesn't mean you won't burn like the oven you were told not to touch!!!" The guy clearly had no idea what he was talking about. He couldn't even remember that it's "cleric" not "clerk."
Afterwards, my friend and I laughed the entire time we waited for our bus. We shared how not only was the guy clearly an antiquated idiot but how D&D had improved my math and vocabulary skills and my friend's leadership and group setting skills. There was no way a game that helped us do better as people would ever send us to Hell.
Looking at D&D's impact on players
Funny story about this. When I was in middle school, my school had a speaker come in and tell us that everything from rock music to being born a Capricorn would send us to Hell. (No exaggeration. He actually though being born under a goat sign meant you were Hellbound). This was a public school in the early 2000's. I think the only reason my school got away with this is I'm from a small Christian town.
One of things he brought up was of course D&D. My best friend and I were watching and struggling to contain our laughter at how stupid and over the top this speaker was. I.e. "Don't think just because you can play a religious class like clerk doesn't mean you won't burn like the oven you were told not to touch!!!" The guy clearly had no idea what he was talking about. He couldn't even remember that it's "cleric" not "clerk."
Afterwards, my friend and I laughed the entire time we waited for our bus. We shared how not only was the guy clearly an antiquated idiot but how D&D had improved my math and vocabulary skills and my friend's leadership and group setting skills. There was no way a game that helped us do better as people would ever send us to Hell.
More positive than negative. For me it is mostly just a fun game to play with friends.