Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site ucla-cs.ARPA Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxt!houxm!vax135!cornell!uw-beaver!tektronix!hplabs!sdcrdcf!ucla-cs!mccolm From: mccolm@ucla-cs.UUCP Newsgroups: net.games.frp Subject: Re: D & D : 60 Minutes 9/15 Message-ID: <6883@ucla-cs.ARPA> Date: Thu, 19-Sep-85 19:13:16 EDT Article-I.D.: ucla-cs.6883 Posted: Thu Sep 19 19:13:16 1985 Date-Received: Mon, 23-Sep-85 00:43:28 EDT References: <271@pedsgd.UUCP> Reply-To: mccolm@ucla-cs.UUCP (Eric McColm) Distribution: net Organization: UCLA Computer Science Department Lines: 61 Summary: After seeing the 60-minutes report, I noticed a few details. First, there seem to be a lot of depressed kids whose parents have guns. Not to kick the American Way or anything, but do these parents leave their guns out for the kids to use, or what? Also, the situation in which the teenager plays D&D, threatens his sister into not mentioning the game to the parents, and is so careful never to let the parents find out, and all the while the parents have never HEARD of the game is to me highly implausible. Teenagers aren't nearly this hyperbolic. They only hide what they know the parents think is wrong. Clearly, either the parents knew of and disapproved of the game, or they disapproved of the son's fellow players, or they disapproved of all his hobbies in general, or they were trying to instill *certain* activities to the exclusion of all others, or there was ABSOLUTELY NO rapport or trust between the parents and son to begin with. Or, quite possibly, the players did *something else* at the game (like drugs) that they knew parents wouldn't like. E. Gary Gygax was up to his usual form. On camera, he looked disoriented, and he sounded like he was trying desperately to come up with a convincing lie. If we don't want the game banned, we'll have to keep this guy off camera. He reeks of dishonesty. Also, while what he said was likely true, he said it in a manner so clearly offensive that he could not help but to galvanize popular opinion against him. This guy could recite the Lord's Prayer and be offensive. Lastly, let us suppose that D&D and teenage suicide are *entirely* independent. Question: knowing how many D&D players there are, and how many of these have committed suicide, how many teenagers will have committed suicide (players or not) in the same period? Assumptions: The US has about 50 million teenagers There are 4 million FRPers in the US, 3/4 of whom are teenagers There were 30 D&D-related suicides in the last ten years Answer: 50 teenage suicides a year. Clearly ridiculous. Even if only 1 in 1000 suicides among D&D players is connected to the game, (a huge fudge factor including limited information, disbelieving police, limited publicity, and all sorts of other factors to prevent the association) the result is only 50,000. So there seems little grounds to the claim that D&D increases the suicide rate. Keep in mind that the average teenage D&D player is (in my experience) male, bright, imaginative, quick-witted, disillusioned with parents and school, and misanthropic to some degree or other. These people are a high-risk group for suicide. Yet if among this group, the rate is *below* the national average, this leads directly to one conclusion: Fantasy role-playing reduces the suicide rate among teenagers. This is a significant statement, if borne out by evidence. --fini-- Eric McColm UCLA (oo' - kluh) Funny Farm for the Criminally Harmless UUCP: ...!{ihnp4,trwspp,cepu,ucbvax,sdcrdcf}!ucla-cs!mccolm ARPA: mccolm@LOCUS.UCLA.EDU Quotes on the Nature of Existence: "To be, or not to be..." -Hamlet (Wm. Shakespeare) "I think, therefore I am." -R. Descartes "" -Gleep (Robt. Asprin)