Austin Straight

5/4/2020

Research Paper

Dungeons and Dragons and Danger?

When the witch trials were going on in late 1600s Salem, everyone involved was in a frenzy.

Those who stood accused of being witches ran and hid in fear of losing their lives, those accusing them

of being witches hunted them down and punished them viciously in fear of living outside of perfect

accordance with their interpretation of God’s word, and those who fit in neither of those two categories

pointed fingers in fear of being harmed by this so-called witchcraft. Of course, there were no actual

witches, and those who lost their lives in the tragic inquisition were the victims of a plague whose

pulsating presence through humanity’s timeline has yet to see an end: the plague known as ignorance.

Ignorance has taken the lives of many masses of people throughout history; when people can’t explain

something, they look to those they deem wiser than themselves for answers. When those “wiser”

people don’t have the answers, they begin pointing fingers in fear. This was the case for the Salem witch

trials in the 1690s, and it continues to be the case today. Only today, the fingers are pointed at the

immensely popular tabletop role-playing game known as Dungeons and Dragons.

Dungeons and Dragons, also known as D&D, is not a “new” game; it was first published in 1974

by creator Gary Gygax and rose to popularity very quickly, especially among teenagers and young adults.

And, like any new craze, it had parents and pastors running around in a tizzy trying to figure out if it was

a godly, Christ-honoring, and biblical pastime for their young children of God to partake in. After reading

the game’s handbook, which is filled with references to elves, orcs, kingdoms, monsters, devils, gods,

wizardry, and everything else that comes with a fantasy setting, the parents and pastors determined
that the game must be of the devil and forbade their children to play it. This only increased the

popularity of Dungeons and Dragons, and the craze that began as a simple role-playing game became

the source of outright hysteria in no time at all. News stories airing on television told of criminals who

supposedly felt compelled to commit heinous acts because of their playing the game, rumors spread far

and wide of teens gathering in secret to perform satanic rituals before committing suicide, and the older

generation, blind to the sensationalist tendencies of the media and blinded by their own fear, gathered

in large numbers to burn the D&D books and publicly denounce the game. And this was only in the 80s.

Today, in 2020, we are seeing a major resurgence in the popularity of Dungeons and Dragons and

tabletop role-playing games like it, and the inevitable denouncements of those who mask their

ignorance and fear by calling it religious vigilance have returned as well. The difference between now

and the 80s is that there exist today many studies detailing the countless and varied benefits of the

game. We, including many of those who previously rebuked it, now know that D&D isn’t a mentally

corrosive game that pulls the souls of children closer and closer to hell with every flip of the page. We

know that it isn’t even really a game; Dungeons and Dragons is a medium of imagination, an open book

where the players are the authors. Dungeons and Dragons can be anything.

The field of blank terrain on which the players paint their story is incredibly creatively

stimulating for most players. For William Schnoebelen and his readers, however, it is a black hole of

hellish wickedness that seduces young minds away from the will of God, and it should be avoided. In his

article “Straight Talk on Dungeons and Dragons,” Schnoebelen attempts to pick apart each aspect of the

game, and he gives many real-world examples of people who have been corrupted by the witchcraft

that the game supposedly endorses. He claims knowledge on the subject from personal experience – not

with Dungeons and Dragons – with witchcraft and “hardcore Satanism.” According to Schnoebelen, he

was a witch high priest for eleven years in what he calls a covendom based in Wisconsin. He uses this

experience to drive home the point multiple times throughout his article that to perform actions within
the imaginary world of the game is exactly the same as doing them in real life. “To quote an old proverb,

‘Though the boys throw stones at the frogs in sport, the frogs die in earnest.’ Just because the people

playing D&D think they are playing a game doesn't mean that the evil spirits (who ARE very real) will

regard it as a game. If you are doing rituals or saying spells that invite them into your life, then they will

come-believe me! We have prayed with enough people our age and younger who were former D&D

fans, and they were totally in bondage to it,” (Schnoebelen).

To further research the true effects of playing Dungeons and Dragons, I joined a couple of

stories, or “campaigns,” myself in which I roleplayed imaginary characters and made decisions that I felt

my characters, given their respective alignments to good or evil, would make in the situations provided

by the ongoing story. One of the characters I wrote for myself was an evil sorcerer named Marius who

felt entitled to power and had no qualms with using magic to achieve it. By Schnoebelen’s standards, I

have personally cast spells and committed vile acts of evil against God. In reality, of course, I simply

communicated to my friends and fellow players what my character was doing, and we all moved

forward with the story. At the end of the roughly four-hour session, we all got up and left, surprisingly

unpossessed by the legions of hell. Joseph Laycock, assistant professor of religion at Texas State

University likens this inability to separate imagination from reality to the issues we see with many

conspiracy theorists’ thought processes: “Several of the anti-D&D crusaders claimed that when players

“imagine” a demon, they are actually having a metaphysical encounter with a real demon. Others

claimed that the imagination itself is an unbiblical and heretical faculty. Because imagination and reality

were confounded together, people from these religious cultures had no alternative reality onto which to

project their natural, heroic fantasies. They could battle evil only if that evil was given a literal existence

in the form of demonic paranoia and conspiracy theories. In this sense, the impulse to spin conspiracy

theories is a kind of spiritual malaise that arises from a sense of disenchantment, combined with a fear

of the imagination,” (Laycock).

 Sorcery was probably my character Marius’s least evil sin; when a strange illness affected

everyone in an entire village and left them unable to speak, Marius decided to kill one of the afflicted

villagers and study his body to try and learn more about the illness. I had Marius do this because it fit his

character, not because I would do it myself. It also should be said that Marius was killed soon after doing

this by another player – one who was roleplaying a hero who didn’t tolerate unwarranted killing.

Actually, unwarranted killing is largely frowned upon in the D&D community. “Murderhobos,”

characters who travel from point to point in the story and kill those who oppose them indiscriminately,

are seen as an ultimately unfulfilling way to play the game, as these players are devaluing the

roleplaying experience for themselves. In my second running game, I played the opposite of Marius;

Bark, my half-orc priest, worshipped God in everything he did, and he lived his life in complete

accordance with good. He smote evil whenever it crossed his path and was a crusader against villainous

acts. Like with Marius, the things Bark did weren’t indicative of how I felt or would act. Bark was killed in

battle with a force of evil invading from another world – not because the game punishes good and

rewards evil, but simply because I rolled a low number on my dice. Being able to remove yourself from

the equation and inhabit the mind of an imaginary character in an imaginary setting is an important skill

for humans in general; it reinforces interpersonal understanding and empathy in a way that allows

oneself to create something wonderful and enjoyable, and those who fear it are, again, blinded by

ignorance.

One of the biggest issues that many critics of not only Dungeons and Dragons but also video

games, television, and film have is that it is easy to become so immersed in the world of the media

which you consume that the real world, including its real people, lose their appeal. Kids will play video

games for dozens of hours instead of spending time playing outside or hanging out with friends, and the

concern that follows is also being applied to Dungeons and Dragons. Make no mistake, D&D definitely

offers an escape from reality. Ruth O’Hagan writes: “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 storytelling and truly become your

character,” (O’Hagan). The difference between other, more solitary forms of media and D&D is that

playing the game is a social gathering in and of itself. You can’t play Dungeons and Dragons alone! It’s

not possible. I was disappointed to see FocusOnTheFamily.com’s uneducated stance on the matter, as I

grew up listening to lots of their content and held them in high regard. They write: “Some gamers have

been known to play for 48-hours straight, forgetting to eat or sleep due to their intense focus on “D &

D.” Responsible parents worry about this particular aspect of “D & D,” and maybe you should, too.

Entering a fantasy universe and assuming a different personality can be addictive for some gamers,

particularly those who tend to be isolated or who have a hard time connecting with people in the real

world,” (FocusOnTheFamily.com). Obviously, doing anything for 48 hours straight is crazy, but the

reason it is so addictive for people who find it difficult to connect with others in the real world is

because it is allowing them a fun, accessible way to do just that. Dungeons and Dragons is a community-

building, relationship-forming activity that enhances interpersonal skills and increases confidence in

social settings.

The community that has risen from the popularity of D&D is nothing short of incredible. I don’t

necessarily consider myself a part of it; I don’t attend the conventions, buy the newest editions of the

handbooks, or watch every new episode of popular streamed campaigns, but I still think it’s amazing.

The community is one of the most inclusive, supportive, and least toxic communities I’ve ever

witnessed, especially considering the size of it. And it’s only growing larger. “On January 11 of [2018],

over 120,000 people logged on to their computers to watch Critical Role, the live-streaming show where

well-known voice actors sit around a table and play D&D. Since then, the episode (which was four hours

long, by the way) has been viewed on YouTube over 1 million times. This is not some fast-paced

game either; it is literally people sitting at a table playing Dungeons & Dragons! And this is just one
show; millions of people all over the world are watching other people play Dungeons & Dragons online

every month. And they aren’t just watching it. Wizards of the Coast, the maker of D&D, recently

announced that in the two years since it’s been released, sales for the current version have already

surpassed the lifetime sales for each of the previous versions, and Hasbro reported D&D sales were up

over 50%. Men, women, adults, teens—all different people from all over the world are contributing

to D&D’s booming popularity. For a game that was once assumed to be played only by nerds in their

parents’ basements, this is huge news,” (Garn). This game, with its immense appeal due to its

accessibility and creative potential, has connected people all around the world by providing them the

means to forge their own stories from their own imaginations. Nerds, jocks, cheerleaders, celebrities,

misfits, and people from all the other proverbial high school lunch tables have all gathered together at

one table for one singular purpose: to share their love for D&D. For some, it’s an escape. For others, it’s

improv training. For everyone, it’s a chance to connect. To say that playing Dungeons and Dragons

equates to self-isolation from the outside world isn’t just ridiculous; it’s outright wrong.

People who live their lives in fear of things they refuse to experience themselves will always

come up with new reasons why it is unholy, unfulfilling, or unworthy of your time. Luckily, those more

experienced can quickly debunk these false claims. Schnoebelen referenced the role of the DM, or

Dungeon Master, in his explanation of how D&D erodes family values. The Dungeon Master’s role in a

campaign is to write the setting, plot, and non-player-characters (NPCs) as well as guide the story,

describing the goings-on as the players traverse the fictional world. He is, for all purposes, the leader of

the game. Without a Dungeon Master, there is no game. Schnoebelen takes this to mean that the DM is

a dictator: “The Dungeon Master (DM) demands an all-encompassing and total loyalty, control and

allegiance…authority over self is surrendered to the DM. Depending on the personality and ego-strength

of the player, this loss can be near absolute,” (Schnoebelen). Aside from the fact that this is possibly the

most dramatic sentence I’ve ever read, it’s just plain incorrect and uninformed. Matthew Mercer, the
DM for the insanely popular Dungeons and Dragons stream called Critical Role and widely considered

the greatest DM of all time, says this about leading his campaign: “A DM creates and directs a story for

your friends to live and play in, and working with their ideas, collaborates with them in real time to write

the next chapter together,” (Mercer). This is the correct attitude of a mature, effective DM, and it is

conducive to the ultimate goals of Dungeons and Dragons: Get together, create an interesting story

through collaborative effort, and have fun. There are some aspects of the game that certain people may

not be comfortable with. Luckily, D&D is not bound by fantasy or any specific subject matter; a D&D

story can take place in a modern town or outer space just as easily as in a fantasy world. And if one of

the players isn’t comfortable with a certain element of the game – magic, for example – being present, it

can simply be removed. Schnoebelen quotes Dr. Thomas Radecki, a psychiatrist at the University of

Illinois School of Medicine who says that, "There is no doubt in my mind that the game Dungeons and

Dragons is causing young men to kill themselves and others. The game is one of non-stop combat and

violence. It is clear to me that this game is desensitizing players to violence and also causing an

increased tendency to violent behavior,” (Radecki). While I cannot attest to being as educated in

psychiatric medicine as I’m sure Dr. Radecki is, I can attest to the fact that my experience with the game

has not been full of non-stop violence, nor have I or any of my fellow players killed ourselves or even

wanted to. I look forward to my D&D session every week, and I often find myself outside of the game

thinking about ways the story might go. People will always try to connect dots that aren’t there. Clyde

Haberman of the New York Times uses the same logic sarcastically in his article: “A century ago, H. G.

Wells, the English titan of science fiction, invented a tabletop game called Little Wars with a friend,

Jerome K. Jerome. Though a pacifist, Wells was intrigued by war games. He wrote a handbook for his

creation, filled with clear rules of combat for opposing infantry, cavalry and artillery. That was in 1913. A

year later, World War I broke out. You see the connection, don’t you?” (Haberman). At the end of the

day, the game is simply imaginative effort with some dice rolls here and there. Whatever you can
imagine can be implemented into the game in any way you like, so what you get out of the experience is

completely dependent on what you put into it. Playing is like writing a book where everyone involved is

an author, and no one knows what will happen next. It is this spontaneity of storytelling that keeps you

sitting down for four to five-hour sessions, and it is the itch of wanting to know what will happen next

that keeps you coming back for more.

 Works Cited

Garn, Elizabeth. “Dungeons & Dragons and the Church.” Christ and Pop Culture, 16 March 2018,

https://christandpopculture.com/dungeons-dragons-and-the-church/

Haberman, Clyde. “When Dungeons & Dragons Set Off a ‘Moral Panic.’” The New York Times, 17 April

2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/18/us/when-dungeons-dragons-set-off-a-moral-

panic.html

Kunzelman, Cameron. “Matthew Mercer Explains How To Be A Good Dungeon Master.” Kotaku, 2 June

2018, https://kotaku.com/matthew-mercer-explains-how-to-be-a-good-dungeon-master-

1826508992

Laycock, Joseph P. “Rival Fantasies: Dungeons & Dragons Player and their Religious Critics Actually Have

a Lot in Common.” The Conversation, 29 May 2015, https://theconversation.com/rival-fantasies-

dungeons-and-dragons-players-and-their-religious-critics-actually-have-a-lot-in-common-40343

Ley, David. “Dungeons & Dragons, Satan, and Psychology.” Psychology Today, 6 April 2014,

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/women-who-stray/201404/dungeons-dragons-

satan-and-psychology

O’Hagan, Ruth. “Being Your Own Hero: How Dungeons & Dragons Helped my Mental Health.” A Lust for

Life, https://www.alustforlife.com/tools/being-your-own-hero-how-dungeons-dragons-helped-

my-mental-health

Schnoebelen, William. “Straight Talk on Dungeons and Dragons.” Chick Publications,

https://www.chick.com/Information/article?id=Straight-Talk-On-Dungeons-and-Dragons
“Teen Questions About “Dungeons and Dragons.” Focus on the Family,

https://www.focusonthefamily.com/family-qa/teen-questions-about-dungeons-and-dragons/

Young, Joseph. “Confessions of a Dungeons & Dragons Addict.”

http://www.mjyoung.net/dungeon/confess.html

Zapal, Haley. “How Dungeons & Dragons Can Benefit Kids.” Bark, 15 Nov. 2019,

https://www.bark.us/blog/dungeons-dragons-benefits-kids/