I'm currently writing a thesis for my degree about the 1980s in the United States. I would be super glad if someone could answer some of my questions about Dungeon and Dragons!
It won't be too long and it will help me to add some content lol
- Do you think RolePlays like Dungeon and Dragons could influence teenagers' behavior and how?
- Did Dungeon and Dragons had a positive or a negative influence on you?
- What would you say to people who say that D&D droves teenagers to loneliness and insanity?
I'm currently writing a thesis for my degree about the 1980s in the United States. I would be super glad if someone could answer some of my questions about Dungeon and Dragons!
It won't be too long and it will help me to add some content lol
- Do you think RolePlays like Dungeon and Dragons could influence teenagers' behavior and how?
- Did Dungeon and Dragons had a positive or a negative influence on you?
- What would you say to people who say that D&D droves teenagers to loneliness and insanity?
Thanks folks!
Point 1- Yes. In more ways than can be put in the response here without writing your thesis for you alone. To change the perspective of it slightly: this is like asking “how does going to school change a teenager”, “how does working a job”, “how does hanging out with different friends” etc. even on top of mesosystemic and macrosystemic effects, there’s different effects on intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, self-esteem, mob mentality, and when to stand apart from others. Etc.
point 2- both.(you should also ask “how the positive or negative influence effected you and maybe for some examples)
point 3- I would say: “so... then getting together with friends, being in a group of people, drove them to loneliness? Are you sure it wasn’t their bad parenting? Are you sure it wasn’t bullying at school? Are you sure it wasn’t a chemical imbalance from drugs? Are you sure it wasn’t a psychological disorder from genetics? How can you be certain the only possible cause and explanation is the D&D? That’s funny... there’s a lot more school shootings now than there ever was in the 1980s. I hadn’t heard about the shooters being connected to D&D, what is causing their loneliness and insantity?”
and depending how the person responds to point 3 I might belittle them and demean their intelligence.
Thank you for your answer and I just want to point out the fact that my questions could seem silly but they had been asked by psychologists in the 1980s and writers who thought D&D was one of the causes who drove teenagers to adopt a violent behavior and psychosis.
I'm not saying they were right or that their observations were relevant, I only wanted to have the viewpoint of real D&D players on those "accusations"...
- Yes and no, the game itself will not influence anyone's behavior, but roleplaying, much like acting, can affect anyone's behavior depending on how it's done. Roleplaying requires getting into character and when you do so, the in game emotional experience becomes a part of your memory and affects your behavior, because it is real to your brain. While you logically know you did not slay a great beast, you remember it emotionally. This is where a lot of the enjoyment comes from and this is why I am against romance in D&D. You can see the negative results of this effect in actors, the better they are at getting into character and more romantic scenes they do, the less likely they are to have stable relationships.
- People on a fansite for D&D obviously like D&D and would likely only say that it has been a positive experience. However, as it is primarily a social event, the actual negatives and positives is down to one's interactions. If one finds D&D frustrating, it is likely to do with themselves or the people around them. The easiest way to make sure is to try a different system that is simple, if the frustration stops, it was purely the mechanics.
- If they would be okay with an individual acting, they should be okay with them roleplaying. The skills are the same, the results are the same. It is less the activity and more the people and how they act. Now some may say that it is impossible to become lonely while interacting with others, this is false. Loneliness can be brought about by a disconnect with those around you, when you feel that they don't understand you or want you around. I personally never feel lonelier than when I am in a crowd - they don't know me, they don't understand me, they don't care about me, and the social pressure to be part of the group is an unpleasant feeling at best. I much prefer to be alone rather than in a crowd.
Thank you for your answer and I just want to point out the fact that my questions could seem silly but they had been asked by psychologists in the 1980s and writers who thought D&D was one of the causes who drove teenagers to adopt a violent behavior and psychosis.
I'm not saying they were right or that their observations were relevant, I only wanted to have the viewpoint of real D&D players on those "accusations"...
Science tends to come full circle over time much like history.
we’re fighting the battle in science from 600+ years ago about the earth being flat.
the scientists in the 80s, as the ones now, on the D&D issues.
they could easily design some studies to isolate out extraneous variables to test their theories of D&D.
off the top of my head, using only identical twins, that are pretty similar in personalities and such via likes dislikes etc, found out through surveys plus interviews done separate from each other so they can’t see/hear each other’s answers.
put them in groups with other sets of twins meeting same qualification standards of similarity. Have a control group where they do not play D&D. Have a group where they do play D&D. Limit their interaction with their twins over course of the study. Assess again after study.
but that’s off the top of my head. It’s a model that conceptually has similarities in set-up to things like the Milgrim Prison Experiment. But since you’re 1. Doing it humanely. 2. Not testing obedience. And 3. *hopefully* not conflicting with other ethical issues. Could come up with some nice information after you have enough samples.
Note: The belief that the world is flat is a new one, no one in the 1400s believed the world was flat. The roundness of the world has been known since ancient Greece. The argument Columbus had was that the world was half the size it had been estimated to be, he was wrong by the way, the ancient Greeks were only a few miles off the size of the earth. The reason this was important is resources and time. The objective was to quickly get to India to get to the spice trade that the Ottomans had cut Europe off of. If the west way was as large as the Greeks had estimated, it would be less efficient then going around Africa; and if the west way was mostly ocean, there was no way to get resources in order to survive the journey, it took months to sail and the food would spoil or run out. The worry was that the sailors would starve to death and the expedition would be a massive waste of resources, they almost did starve and the expedition only became profitable 100 years later.
Please stop claiming that ancient people believed the world was flat, not having computers is not the same as being stupid.
2. 600 years ago is not considered “ancient” since you want to make your entire argument about semantics. Please don’t be hypocritical.
3. How can you possibly claim to know the belief of every person that ever lived? Just because ancient people couldn’t air their thoughts on twitter to let you know they thought the world was flat doesn’t mean they didn’t think it.
4. Noted. I’ll make sure to give you a bibliography of all my sources for anything I say in the future so you can understand where it comes from.
1. Yes, it could influence teenagers’ behavior. That which you focus on, you become. It’s basic psychology. The thing with this game is there’s such a diverse world to play in, there’s no set way to say how D&D will affect you. You can focus on the character of your paladin or cleric and come away feeling more comfortable with the thought of defending or aiding someone. You could focus on rogue life and start seeing hiding places in your real world surroundings. You could see several races living and working together and come away feeling like maybe skin color shouldn't even be a speed bump in race relations. You could focus on treasure and come away more greedy. This could be taken to further extremes, though I think it more reasonable to cite more likely examples.
2. In the less than 2 years I’ve been playing, the only effect I can say it’s had on me is taking up much of my time imagining new adventures or characters, sparking creativity to write, or try rule mechanics to see if they can add to the fun.
3. I would say show me the research. You’ll be hard-pressed to convince me that something which requires by its very nature social interaction and dependence on a tight-knit party would contribute to loneliness. As to insanity, teenagers are prone to insanity and anything which they feel they’ve discovered that their parents don’t understand is going to be a treasure all their own. That this treasure would be D&D doesn’t say anything special about it.
I'm currently writing a thesis for my degree about the 1980s in the United States. I would be super glad if someone could answer some of my questions about Dungeon and Dragons!
It won't be too long and it will help me to add some content lol
- Do you think RolePlays like Dungeon and Dragons could influence teenagers' behavior and how?
- Did Dungeon and Dragons had a positive or a negative influence on you?
- What would you say to people who say that D&D droves teenagers to loneliness and insanity?
Thanks folks!
I was playing back in the 1980s. I remember hearing some "ultra Christian" or "Evangelical Christian" groups were wishing to stomp out D&D believing the kids were getting together practicing and learning about witchcraft. I remember there was some movie that depicted college age kids playing D&D in the storm sewers carrying swords and shooting arrows and stuff. I suspect there was some truth to the panic reaction of a few whipped up by uninformed men but I think most of it was Rural Myth. Anybody that knew something about D&D would have realized these were kids wanting to be the heroes of a Tolkien novel but they knew they were only playing a game. It is really no more than the idea that kids who play Bad Company are likely to shoot up their schools. As a matter of fact, I think the objection to video games is more substantial today than the objection to D&D was back then.
Concerning your questions:
1) Kids playing social games helps them learn to be adults. They learn to communicate verbally, to prepare argument that will persuade people, to respect other people's contribution and other positive skill development. It isn't the same as going to a class on the psychology of group dynamics, but there are positive things being learned. A group of warped individuals could likewise find a way through acting out D&D to cause harm, but they were inclined to that anyway and D&D would only have given them a form for acting out. If there were a samurai game they enjoyed, the same thing could have happened. I think the sorts of influence you are talking about in your question came from something other than D&D, and includes the modern lack of respect for life and the individual, which is not part of D&D.
2) I don't think D&D had either a positive effect or negative effect on me. It did make me want to learn more about plate mail armor and some mystical beasts.
3) Teenagers are facing especially difficult times because of the dissolution of the family, the decrease in participation in strong faith traditions by the family, the lack of respect for life, the lack of respect for the individual, violence, vulgarity and sex in the modern entertainment culture because their other talents are not worth paying to see. I'm not experiencing it myself, but I wouldn't be surprised if part of what teenagers are facing is the transition from being a kid to being an adult, which is not the same as it was for me. Today it is "all about the children." And I wonder what these kids are thinking as they become no longer the children and have to enter a workforce they were not prepared to enter by the system. Now they are no longer the center of attention and because of the way they were treated they are unprepared to come to work and satisfy a boss every day.
Being a teenager has many difficulties. It is a combination of learning you have to become yourself and no longer able to rely on your parents, and then learning how to take care of yourself all in a few years. Bills, relationships with older adults, the person who you wish to spend the rest of your life with, going to work every day and having to produce for your boss, and finally having to manage all your chores and responsibilities. It is regrettably an overwhelming task for some and contemporary society isn't helping. Don't lay all that at the feet of Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.
- Do you think RolePlays like Dungeon and Dragons could influence teenagers' behavior and how?
Other than developing social skills and articulation through simulated conversation, and possibly increasing confidence while speaking, I don't see how it could influence behavior.
- Did Dungeon and Dragons had a positive or a negative influence on you?
Mostly neutral. I was already a game and fantasy loving nerd before ever playing my first session. D&D is just another fantasy game. It has introduced me to a huge community of generally helpful individuals though.
- What would you say to people who say that D&D droves teenagers to loneliness and insanity?
I could see D&D driving lonely teenagers to insanity as the very nature of the game requires interacting with other people. But the very nature of the game requires interacting with other people, I don't see how that leads to loneliness. Since I got into D&D I have only had another potential thing to have in common with other people I meet and it can help start conversations and friendships.
Granted I was born in the 90s and only started playing d&d with 5e a few years ago. Things may have been different in the 80s (particularly religions had much more power back then). Nowadays need culture is pretty mainstream.
Note: The belief that the world is flat is a new one, no one in the 1400s believed the world was flat. The roundness of the world has been known since ancient Greece. The argument Columbus had was that the world was half the size it had been estimated to be, he was wrong by the way, the ancient Greeks were only a few miles off the size of the earth. The reason this was important is resources and time. The objective was to quickly get to India to get to the spice trade that the Ottomans had cut Europe off of. If the west way was as large as the Greeks had estimated, it would be less efficient then going around Africa; and if the west way was mostly ocean, there was no way to get resources in order to survive the journey, it took months to sail and the food would spoil or run out. The worry was that the sailors would starve to death and the expedition would be a massive waste of resources, they almost did starve and the expedition only became profitable 100 years later.
Please stop claiming that ancient people believed the world was flat, not having computers is not the same as being stupid.
- Yes and no, the game itself will not influence anyone's behavior, but roleplaying, much like acting, can affect anyone's behavior depending on how it's done. Roleplaying requires getting into character and when you do so, the in game emotional experience becomes a part of your memory and affects your behavior, because it is real to your brain. While you logically know you did not slay a great beast, you remember it emotionally. This is where a lot of the enjoyment comes from and this is why I am against romance in D&D. You can see the negative results of this effect in actors, the better they are at getting into character and more romantic scenes they do, the less likely they are to have stable relationships.
- People on a fansite for D&D obviously like D&D and would likely only say that it has been a positive experience. However, as it is primarily a social event, the actual negatives and positives is down to one's interactions. If one finds D&D frustrating, it is likely to do with themselves or the people around them. The easiest way to make sure is to try a different system that is simple, if the frustration stops, it was purely the mechanics.
- If they would be okay with an individual acting, they should be okay with them roleplaying. The skills are the same, the results are the same. It is less the activity and more the people and how they act. Now some may say that it is impossible to become lonely while interacting with others, this is false. Loneliness can be brought about by a disconnect with those around you, when you feel that they don't understand you or want you around. I personally never feel lonelier than when I am in a crowd - they don't know me, they don't understand me, they don't care about me, and the social pressure to be part of the group is an unpleasant feeling at best. I much prefer to be alone rather than in a crowd.
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts!
Your first answer is really similar to my research, are you ok if I take it for my thesis? Obviously it will remain anonymous.
- Do you think RolePlays like Dungeon and Dragons could influence teenagers' behavior and how?
I think any activity that you do with your peers can influence a teenagers behavior. It can be positive, negative, or negligent depending on how invested the person is with those peers, their background, particular level of functioning in various domains, beliefs, morals etc. I don't feel that DnD is any more or less impactful than other activities you might do as a teen with your peers.
- Did Dungeon and Dragons had a positive or a negative influence on you?
It was very positive for me as I was a very shy child. It gave me an outlet to roleplay as someone else which gave me an outlet for expression and creativity. it also gave me an opportunity to design lush worlds and characters that lived in them. it was a great place to explore, create, express, and experience things I wouldn't have been able to elsewhere.
- What would you say to people who say that D&D droves teenagers to loneliness and insanity?
I think that the widespread (and it was I was born in 1973 so lived fully through this) satanic panic forced those of us who loved the hobby underground, thus creating somewhat the thing they were saying it was causing. I can recall very clearly me and my couple of friends being very secretive about our love of DnD lest our peers find out and we be persecuted for it. I even had to hide it from my grandmother because she thought it was the work of the devil.
- Do you think RolePlays like Dungeon and Dragons could influence teenagers' behavior and how?
I think any activity that you do with your peers can influence a teenagers behavior. It can be positive, negative, or negligent depending on how invested the person is with those peers, their background, particular level of functioning in various domains, beliefs, morals etc. I don't feel that DnD is any more or less impactful than other activities you might do as a teen with your peers.
- Did Dungeon and Dragons had a positive or a negative influence on you?
It was very positive for me as I was a very shy child. It gave me an outlet to roleplay as someone else which gave me an outlet for expression and creativity. it also gave me an opportunity to design lush worlds and characters that lived in them. it was a great place to explore, create, express, and experience things I wouldn't have been able to elsewhere.
- What would you say to people who say that D&D droves teenagers to loneliness and insanity?
I think that the widespread (and it was I was born in 1973 so lived fully through this) satanic panic forced those of us who loved the hobby underground, thus creating somewhat the thing they were saying it was causing. I can recall very clearly me and my couple of friends being very secretive about our love of DnD lest our peers find out and we be persecuted for it. I even had to hide it from my grandmother because she thought it was the work of the devil.
It's super interesting, thank you for sharing!
Would you be persecuted by adults "only" or did there exist a "satanic panic" among teens too?
Context regarding my answers: My brother got into D&D in the late 70s. My sister got into it in the early 80s. I got into it finally in the early 2010s after some false starts going back to the late 80s. Our parents, though they never got into it and being devout religious, think it's harmless fun, not evil or promoting evil - not any different from other board games, just more complicated and creative. My brother and sister never isolated themselves to play. It actually made them more social of which our parents approved. I don't think our parents' attitude towards D&D was an exception but, rather, was the rule despite what the media liked to show back then. Back then, like now, the media loved to overreact because it sold views the same as clickbait does today. Our parents always insisted that we dig deeper than what we were told (which is consequently how I left their religion which is fine by them as long is my path makes me happy).
Then again from an early age, our parents (almost 80 y/o now) taught us the difference between fiction and reality long before D&D came into any of our lives.
- Do you think RolePlays like Dungeon and Dragons could influence teenagers' behavior and how?
- Did Dungeon and Dragons had a positive or a negative influence on you?
- What would you say to people who say that D&D droves teenagers to loneliness and insanity?
To answer all three at once: If my parents are correct, D&D adds social value to people's lives.
I think they're correct in regards to D&D.
EDIT: In regards to the poll: Yes. We heard about the accusations and supposed D&D-linked incidents back in the 80s. My parents told us that D&D cannot be the culprit but people themselves are to blame for their own actions. They pointed out that the links to D&D were all supposition by a frantic media and that the greater evidence showed that D&D did not have such a widespread negative influence as the media proposed it was having.
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider. My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong. I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲 “It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
Context regarding my answers: My brother got into D&D in the late 70s. My sister got into it in the early 80s. I got into it finally in the early 2010s after some false starts going back to the late 80s. My parents, though they never got into it and being devout religious, think it's harmless fun, not evil or promoting evil - not any different from other board games, just more complicated and creative. My brother and sister never isolated themselves to play. It actually made them more social of which my parents approved. I don't think my parents' attitude towards D&D was an exception but, rather, the rule despite what the media liked to show back then. Back then, like now, the media loved to overreact because it sold views the same as clickbait does today.
Then again from an early age, my parents (almost 80 y/o now) taught us the difference between fiction and reality long before D&D came into any of our lives.
- Do you think RolePlays like Dungeon and Dragons could influence teenagers' behavior and how?
- Did Dungeon and Dragons had a positive or a negative influence on you?
- What would you say to people who say that D&D droves teenagers to loneliness and insanity?
To answer all three at once: If my parents are correct, D&D adds social value to people's lives.
I think they're correct in regards to D&D.
EDIT: In regards to the poll: Yes. We heard about the accusations and supposed D&D-linked incidents back in the 80s. My parents told us that D&D cannot be the culprit but people themselves are to blame for their own actions. They pointed out that the links to D&D were all supposition by a frantic media and that the greater evidence showed that D&D did not have such a widespread negative influence as the media proposed it was having.
Thank you!
You said your parents taught you to distinguish reality and fiction but do you think, a teenager who didn't have this education could have been lost between the fantasy present in the game and his/her real life? Could he/she have been pushed to do things he/she wouldn't normally have done?
Would anyone agree to tell me his experience with D&D?
Pro tip; don't assume everyone that plays D&D is male.
*or HER experience.
I didn't want to say every player of D&D is male, but answers I got and pseudonyms used by people who answered seemed masculine to me :)
Your best bet would be "their experience". And keep in mind some people chose masculine usernames and handles to avoid getting harassed or dismissed online.
Hey! What's up?
I'm currently writing a thesis for my degree about the 1980s in the United States. I would be super glad if someone could answer some of my questions about Dungeon and Dragons!
It won't be too long and it will help me to add some content lol
- Do you think RolePlays like Dungeon and Dragons could influence teenagers' behavior and how?
- Did Dungeon and Dragons had a positive or a negative influence on you?
- What would you say to people who say that D&D droves teenagers to loneliness and insanity?
Thanks folks!
Point 1- Yes. In more ways than can be put in the response here without writing your thesis for you alone. To change the perspective of it slightly: this is like asking “how does going to school change a teenager”, “how does working a job”, “how does hanging out with different friends” etc. even on top of mesosystemic and macrosystemic effects, there’s different effects on intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, self-esteem, mob mentality, and when to stand apart from others. Etc.
point 2- both.(you should also ask “how the positive or negative influence effected you and maybe for some examples)
point 3- I would say: “so... then getting together with friends, being in a group of people, drove them to loneliness? Are you sure it wasn’t their bad parenting? Are you sure it wasn’t bullying at school? Are you sure it wasn’t a chemical imbalance from drugs? Are you sure it wasn’t a psychological disorder from genetics? How can you be certain the only possible cause and explanation is the D&D? That’s funny... there’s a lot more school shootings now than there ever was in the 1980s. I hadn’t heard about the shooters being connected to D&D, what is causing their loneliness and insantity?”
and depending how the person responds to point 3 I might belittle them and demean their intelligence.
Thank you for your answer and I just want to point out the fact that my questions could seem silly but they had been asked by psychologists in the 1980s and writers who thought D&D was one of the causes who drove teenagers to adopt a violent behavior and psychosis.
I'm not saying they were right or that their observations were relevant, I only wanted to have the viewpoint of real D&D players on those "accusations"...
- Yes and no, the game itself will not influence anyone's behavior, but roleplaying, much like acting, can affect anyone's behavior depending on how it's done. Roleplaying requires getting into character and when you do so, the in game emotional experience becomes a part of your memory and affects your behavior, because it is real to your brain. While you logically know you did not slay a great beast, you remember it emotionally. This is where a lot of the enjoyment comes from and this is why I am against romance in D&D. You can see the negative results of this effect in actors, the better they are at getting into character and more romantic scenes they do, the less likely they are to have stable relationships.
- People on a fansite for D&D obviously like D&D and would likely only say that it has been a positive experience. However, as it is primarily a social event, the actual negatives and positives is down to one's interactions. If one finds D&D frustrating, it is likely to do with themselves or the people around them. The easiest way to make sure is to try a different system that is simple, if the frustration stops, it was purely the mechanics.
- If they would be okay with an individual acting, they should be okay with them roleplaying. The skills are the same, the results are the same. It is less the activity and more the people and how they act. Now some may say that it is impossible to become lonely while interacting with others, this is false. Loneliness can be brought about by a disconnect with those around you, when you feel that they don't understand you or want you around. I personally never feel lonelier than when I am in a crowd - they don't know me, they don't understand me, they don't care about me, and the social pressure to be part of the group is an unpleasant feeling at best. I much prefer to be alone rather than in a crowd.
Science tends to come full circle over time much like history.
we’re fighting the battle in science from 600+ years ago about the earth being flat.
the scientists in the 80s, as the ones now, on the D&D issues.
they could easily design some studies to isolate out extraneous variables to test their theories of D&D.
off the top of my head, using only identical twins, that are pretty similar in personalities and such via likes dislikes etc, found out through surveys plus interviews done separate from each other so they can’t see/hear each other’s answers.
put them in groups with other sets of twins meeting same qualification standards of similarity. Have a control group where they do not play D&D. Have a group where they do play D&D. Limit their interaction with their twins over course of the study. Assess again after study.
but that’s off the top of my head. It’s a model that conceptually has similarities in set-up to things like the Milgrim Prison Experiment. But since you’re 1. Doing it humanely. 2. Not testing obedience. And 3. *hopefully* not conflicting with other ethical issues. Could come up with some nice information after you have enough samples.
Note: The belief that the world is flat is a new one, no one in the 1400s believed the world was flat. The roundness of the world has been known since ancient Greece. The argument Columbus had was that the world was half the size it had been estimated to be, he was wrong by the way, the ancient Greeks were only a few miles off the size of the earth. The reason this was important is resources and time. The objective was to quickly get to India to get to the spice trade that the Ottomans had cut Europe off of. If the west way was as large as the Greeks had estimated, it would be less efficient then going around Africa; and if the west way was mostly ocean, there was no way to get resources in order to survive the journey, it took months to sail and the food would spoil or run out. The worry was that the sailors would starve to death and the expedition would be a massive waste of resources, they almost did starve and the expedition only became profitable 100 years later.
Please stop claiming that ancient people believed the world was flat, not having computers is not the same as being stupid.
1. Way to jump straight to name calling.
2. 600 years ago is not considered “ancient” since you want to make your entire argument about semantics. Please don’t be hypocritical.
3. How can you possibly claim to know the belief of every person that ever lived? Just because ancient people couldn’t air their thoughts on twitter to let you know they thought the world was flat doesn’t mean they didn’t think it.
4. Noted. I’ll make sure to give you a bibliography of all my sources for anything I say in the future so you can understand where it comes from.
edit: bibliography
https://www.cs.mcgill.ca/~rwest/wikispeedia/wpcd/wp/f/Flat_Earth.htm
edit2: in general. You don’t do stuff to “prove” something. If there is no belief to the contrary. Just for your own edification.
1. Yes, it could influence teenagers’ behavior. That which you focus on, you become. It’s basic psychology. The thing with this game is there’s such a diverse world to play in, there’s no set way to say how D&D will affect you. You can focus on the character of your paladin or cleric and come away feeling more comfortable with the thought of defending or aiding someone. You could focus on rogue life and start seeing hiding places in your real world surroundings. You could see several races living and working together and come away feeling like maybe skin color shouldn't even be a speed bump in race relations. You could focus on treasure and come away more greedy. This could be taken to further extremes, though I think it more reasonable to cite more likely examples.
2. In the less than 2 years I’ve been playing, the only effect I can say it’s had on me is taking up much of my time imagining new adventures or characters, sparking creativity to write, or try rule mechanics to see if they can add to the fun.
3. I would say show me the research. You’ll be hard-pressed to convince me that something which requires by its very nature social interaction and dependence on a tight-knit party would contribute to loneliness. As to insanity, teenagers are prone to insanity and anything which they feel they’ve discovered that their parents don’t understand is going to be a treasure all their own. That this treasure would be D&D doesn’t say anything special about it.
I was playing back in the 1980s. I remember hearing some "ultra Christian" or "Evangelical Christian" groups were wishing to stomp out D&D believing the kids were getting together practicing and learning about witchcraft. I remember there was some movie that depicted college age kids playing D&D in the storm sewers carrying swords and shooting arrows and stuff. I suspect there was some truth to the panic reaction of a few whipped up by uninformed men but I think most of it was Rural Myth. Anybody that knew something about D&D would have realized these were kids wanting to be the heroes of a Tolkien novel but they knew they were only playing a game. It is really no more than the idea that kids who play Bad Company are likely to shoot up their schools. As a matter of fact, I think the objection to video games is more substantial today than the objection to D&D was back then.
Concerning your questions:
1) Kids playing social games helps them learn to be adults. They learn to communicate verbally, to prepare argument that will persuade people, to respect other people's contribution and other positive skill development. It isn't the same as going to a class on the psychology of group dynamics, but there are positive things being learned. A group of warped individuals could likewise find a way through acting out D&D to cause harm, but they were inclined to that anyway and D&D would only have given them a form for acting out. If there were a samurai game they enjoyed, the same thing could have happened. I think the sorts of influence you are talking about in your question came from something other than D&D, and includes the modern lack of respect for life and the individual, which is not part of D&D.
2) I don't think D&D had either a positive effect or negative effect on me. It did make me want to learn more about plate mail armor and some mystical beasts.
3) Teenagers are facing especially difficult times because of the dissolution of the family, the decrease in participation in strong faith traditions by the family, the lack of respect for life, the lack of respect for the individual, violence, vulgarity and sex in the modern entertainment culture because their other talents are not worth paying to see. I'm not experiencing it myself, but I wouldn't be surprised if part of what teenagers are facing is the transition from being a kid to being an adult, which is not the same as it was for me. Today it is "all about the children." And I wonder what these kids are thinking as they become no longer the children and have to enter a workforce they were not prepared to enter by the system. Now they are no longer the center of attention and because of the way they were treated they are unprepared to come to work and satisfy a boss every day.
Being a teenager has many difficulties. It is a combination of learning you have to become yourself and no longer able to rely on your parents, and then learning how to take care of yourself all in a few years. Bills, relationships with older adults, the person who you wish to spend the rest of your life with, going to work every day and having to produce for your boss, and finally having to manage all your chores and responsibilities. It is regrettably an overwhelming task for some and contemporary society isn't helping. Don't lay all that at the feet of Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.
Please keep the replies civil and on-topic. If personal debate is needed, it can be taken directly to PM to hash out.
Thank you much for continued constructive posting.
Other than developing social skills and articulation through simulated conversation, and possibly increasing confidence while speaking, I don't see how it could influence behavior.
Mostly neutral. I was already a game and fantasy loving nerd before ever playing my first session. D&D is just another fantasy game. It has introduced me to a huge community of generally helpful individuals though.
I could see D&D driving lonely teenagers to insanity as the very nature of the game requires interacting with other people. But the very nature of the game requires interacting with other people, I don't see how that leads to loneliness. Since I got into D&D I have only had another potential thing to have in common with other people I meet and it can help start conversations and friendships.
Granted I was born in the 90s and only started playing d&d with 5e a few years ago. Things may have been different in the 80s (particularly religions had much more power back then). Nowadays need culture is pretty mainstream.
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts!
Your first answer is really similar to my research, are you ok if I take it for my thesis? Obviously it will remain anonymous.
Would anyone agree to tell me his experience with D&D?
How you've learnt about it, your first steps etc?
Anything you think, people who have bad assumptions about D&D, should know?
Pro tip; don't assume everyone that plays D&D is male.
Find my D&D Beyond articles here
- Do you think RolePlays like Dungeon and Dragons could influence teenagers' behavior and how?
I think any activity that you do with your peers can influence a teenagers behavior. It can be positive, negative, or negligent depending on how invested the person is with those peers, their background, particular level of functioning in various domains, beliefs, morals etc. I don't feel that DnD is any more or less impactful than other activities you might do as a teen with your peers.
- Did Dungeon and Dragons had a positive or a negative influence on you?
It was very positive for me as I was a very shy child. It gave me an outlet to roleplay as someone else which gave me an outlet for expression and creativity. it also gave me an opportunity to design lush worlds and characters that lived in them. it was a great place to explore, create, express, and experience things I wouldn't have been able to elsewhere.
- What would you say to people who say that D&D droves teenagers to loneliness and insanity?
I think that the widespread (and it was I was born in 1973 so lived fully through this) satanic panic forced those of us who loved the hobby underground, thus creating somewhat the thing they were saying it was causing. I can recall very clearly me and my couple of friends being very secretive about our love of DnD lest our peers find out and we be persecuted for it. I even had to hide it from my grandmother because she thought it was the work of the devil.
*or HER experience.
I didn't want to say every player of D&D is male, but answers I got and pseudonyms used by people who answered seemed masculine to me :)
It's super interesting, thank you for sharing!
Would you be persecuted by adults "only" or did there exist a "satanic panic" among teens too?
Context regarding my answers:
My brother got into D&D in the late 70s. My sister got into it in the early 80s. I got into it finally in the early 2010s after some false starts going back to the late 80s. Our parents, though they never got into it and being devout religious, think it's harmless fun, not evil or promoting evil - not any different from other board games, just more complicated and creative. My brother and sister never isolated themselves to play. It actually made them more social of which our parents approved. I don't think our parents' attitude towards D&D was an exception but, rather, was the rule despite what the media liked to show back then. Back then, like now, the media loved to overreact because it sold views the same as clickbait does today. Our parents always insisted that we dig deeper than what we were told (which is consequently how I left their religion which is fine by them as long is my path makes me happy).
Then again from an early age, our parents (almost 80 y/o now) taught us the difference between fiction and reality long before D&D came into any of our lives.
To answer all three at once:
If my parents are correct, D&D adds social value to people's lives.
I think they're correct in regards to D&D.
EDIT: In regards to the poll: Yes. We heard about the accusations and supposed D&D-linked incidents back in the 80s. My parents told us that D&D cannot be the culprit but people themselves are to blame for their own actions. They pointed out that the links to D&D were all supposition by a frantic media and that the greater evidence showed that D&D did not have such a widespread negative influence as the media proposed it was having.
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider.
My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong.
I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲
“It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
Thank you!
You said your parents taught you to distinguish reality and fiction but do you think, a teenager who didn't have this education could have been lost between the fantasy present in the game and his/her real life? Could he/she have been pushed to do things he/she wouldn't normally have done?
Your best bet would be "their experience". And keep in mind some people chose masculine usernames and handles to avoid getting harassed or dismissed online.
Find my D&D Beyond articles here