Dungeons and Dragons More like Dung and Drag On

By Lilly LeGrand

There must be a reason why Dungeons and Dragons is all the rage amongst teenagers right now, for it is all they ever talk about.

I just cannot make heads or tails about why anyone would want to pretend to be a juvenile wizard or witch, prancy elf, dull-witted barbarian, sorcerer of dark magic, or flirtatious bard, for if they spend too much time-which they already do- playing as these characters than they are obviously going to become bloodthirsty barbarians and go on rampant killing sprees.

Of course people will disagree with me and say that they are just ‘acting’. Neil Mussett, author of Is Anyone Actually Chaotic Evil?: A Playable Theory Of Wilful Wrongdoing from Dungeons And Dragons And Philosophy explained on Hopes&Fears that “[People pick evil alignments] for the same reason actors want to play villains. Good story is about conflict, and bad guys pick fights,” Musset goes on to say that he thinks most people have not given much thought about what it means to be a good person. ‘Lawful Good’ sounds like a bore; a character obliged to follow every rule, totally predictable, and with very little freedom,” Musset’s justification proves he certainly has an Evil character that he tries to act on in real life. just the way he talks about evil so casually definitely makes him sound like a psychopath that drinks blood.

Anyways what is wrong with being Lawful? Anyone who doesn’t follow the law becomes a mindless killing machine. Also, why should it matter if actors are into playing villains? They are just a bunch of big hot shots who would pretend to be (or kill) anyone as long as they are paid! This really makes me think that this game is the main reason why teenagers today are always talking about joining the dark forces or cults so they get rid of joy and happiness.

D & D fans claim that the game helps them to escape their problems and that by playing it they it feels like their anger and stress levels go down, but really-from my perspective-it only seems to make teens act worse until gets to the point where they become a ruthless dragonborn. On A Lust For Life- ‘a mental health charity’- Ruth O’Hagan stated, “D&D can be a welcome break from the mundane activities of daily life. It takes your mind off every negative feeling or thought that you may be experiencing. For every minute you play, you get more lost in the story telling and truly become your character. In the game, you are a hero with great power, your actions truly change the course of the world or even the universe itself. As they say, with great power comes great responsibility. It’s natural to think that RPG’s primary purpose is to help players escape from our real, mundane lives but they can be a way of enhancing our realities,” How could anyone believe such trash? O’Hagan clearly is some sort of fae that has nothing else to do with her life than spin lies into the mind’s of whoever reads A Lust For Life and cause them to become faes as well. Also, A Lust For Life. Does that title not make it sound like it is a website created by a bunch of sparkly lusty vampires who want to suck up people’s lives? Now if they really are trying to take a break from their problems they really should not be playing a game that will cause them to stress out more and cause them to want to release all of their emotions on people that have problems of their own. They could instead be playing a nice game of checkers.

Then, one of the most ridiculous things I hear from teenagers is that they create friendships and communities by playing this game; in actuality they meet some of the most awful people out there. On yet again another sadomasochist website that sounds like it wants readers to chop up bodies, (Lifehacker), Patrick Allan claims,“Making new friends can be more difficult for some people, and the forced social interaction of role-playing games can help them find people that share their interests. Additionally, kids and adults alike can use role-playing games to combat shyness. Players are given a mask in the form of their character that allows them to feel less vulnerable.. How can you feel less vulnerable in a game that forces you to play as someone else? The only way to make yourself less vulnerable and gain more friends is by pumping some iron, practicing your checking, and by learning how to wrestle. As for the ‘mask’: why not use a helmet, some face paint, and a mouth guard instead to hide your identity? Therefore, Dungeons and Dragons is not a good game to be using for making friends and communities; that is what we have sports for.

Everyone that plays Dungeons and Dragons should be tortured until they die a terrible death, anyways it’s not like they don’t already do this already when they play the game.

(http://www.hopesandfears.com/hopes/culture/video-games/216625-dungeons-dragons-violence-ethics) (https://www.alustforlife.com/soul/you-are-alive/being-your-own-hero-how-dungeons-dragons-helped-my-mental-health)