I am a Christian and do not in any way think D & D is a religion any more than some people say a sport is their religion. I thought I wrote a good paper. My instructor must have thought so too as I got an "A" for the class. I find it interesting in all the years I attended UMC the only 2 "A"s I ever got was Acting for Non-Majors and this religions class.
Here is my paper. Please remember, I wrote this more as a way to get a good grade. I do not believe that D and D or any role playing game has any religious signification. They are just a fun way to pass time, like going to a movie.
The Dice Never Lie: Why Dungeons and Dragons Is
A Religion
Dungeons
and Dragons are many things to many people. From movies and books to the church
and political pulpit, the question of what Dungeons and Dragons (D and D) has been
debated and vilified. This paper will only focus on whether D and D meets the
requirements for it to be considered an authentic religion tradition according
to one of the five definitions of religion we were working with in class. I will use Catherine Albanese’s Definition of
Religion to prove D and D is a religion; “a system of symbols (creed, code,
cultus) by means of which people (a community) orient themselves in the world
with reference to both ordinary and extraordinary powers, meanings and
values…From the perspective, while many people live without Gods, nobody lives
without religion.”
“A set of
dice for each player” (WOTC). Dice are needed whenever you want to do something
or something is done to you in the game. They could also be considered
‘yardsticks’ to compare when you do something.
For the majority of role play games, dice are used as a ‘Murphy’ factor.
This would be similar to ‘why things happen.’ It’s just the roll of the
dice.
Some view fantasy gamers as not being in touch with
reality. Gary Alan Fine states “Fantasy gamers are not psychotic-their
fantasies are systematic, logical and realistic to the assumptions they make.
Further, unlike participants in delusional systems, gamers have little
difficulty switching from fantasy to reality.” (Fine, 12). Although fantasy gamers know where fantasy ends and reality
begins, they of course would love to get lost in their world. In Wishing It To Be True, gamers playing
D and D find a magical Ring of Wishes
and wish themselves into their game world. “Almost always, the personalities of
the characters turn out to be combinations of people’s idealized alter egos,
and their less-than-ideal impulses: (Holmes, 1980).
Though D and D has only been around (1973)
a relatively short time, games have always been a part of the human experience.
Culture and time have served to modify and change games, but there was always a
winner and loser. As society changed, more emphasis were placed on delving into
the reason people do things, and some took the position “that man is both a
game-playing and a game-creating animal, that his capacity to create and play
games and take them deadly serious is of the essence, and that it is through
games or activities analogous to game playing that he achieves a satisfactory
sense of significance and a meaningful role” (Long 252). Mankind has always favored games.
D and D does fit that part of the definition of “a
system of symbols”. There are many books from the company who owns D and D, Wizards of the Coast (WOTC). Other companies have sprung up to piggy-back
onto D&D’s success. This is similar to how other religions of Christianity
started. There are offshoots such as the Church of Christ and Foursquare
Gospel. Both have their roots in Christianity, but have charted their own path.
This idea of a fantasy realm is one
of the reasons that many play D&D. The same reason that many join the SCA –
Society for Creative Anachronisms. It suspends disbelief. You believe. Isn’t
the basic tenant of any religion, faith?
Some things orient people in the
fantasy world. Small painted figures, paper, pencil, dice and books. Couple
this with history or legend, movies and books, and you produce an environment
that people want to inhabit. This is a hobby that helps people enjoy some
control and fun, when they have to deal with harsh reality. Everyone needs
something.
Albanese says, “while many people live without Gods,
nobody lives without religion.” Man may live without many things, but must have
something to derive joy from, or what is the use of living? People who play D and D find not only pleasure
but also ways to think outside the box when dealing with issues in real life. While
you can’t use a battle axe against the IRS, you can haggle over goods or
service.
D and D
evolved from the game Chainmail designed by E. Gary Gygax in 1968. Its
focus was primarily as a war game. It was slow to catch on, but when it did,
gave Gygax enough confidence to want to make this his living. But it wasn’t
until Gygax met with Dave Arneson at a war gaming convention when history was
made.
Arneson had come up with variations in the original game. What made Arneson’s idea unique was that the players kept what they got from one game to another, instead of starting over. Together they formed a partnership. “The game first appeared at the 1973 EasterCon, had a limited availability throughout 1973, and was officially released (in a white box) in January, 1974” (Darlington).
So the word of D and D had been written, modified, and then approved for general release. Today D and D is on its 4th edition, but there are some who refuse to accept it. This is also similar to many religions when people try to ‘modernize’ the Bible or to ‘interpret’ what was meant. Look at the Amish. But, there are some who stay true to the original both in religion and in gaming. There are gamers who refuse to play anything but the original in the little white boxes. This is their D and D.
Gygax was once quoted in Dragon magazine saying that if you didn’t play it [D and D] his way, you weren’t playing “real” D and D. When that came out, there were the faithful who rallied to his defense saying he was right. After all, wasn’t he “the grandfather” of role play games? Others choose to ignore it. The argument could be made that the original had rules that people choose to ignore. Or in later editions, those rules were lessened. Such as in the Bible where it forbade the eating of shellfish. Now, some modern Judism groups allow it. Back in earlier editions, the players had level and class restrictions; certain races could only be certain classes and could only go so high. In the later editions, restrictions were eliminated.
No matter what, D and D has outlasted its creator and has continued to grow and spread. As we learned in class, how a religious movement functions after the creator leaves is important. D and D is still here
The current owner of D and D is the WOTC game company, which bought it in 1997. They have expanded on
this with plastic figures and much more accessories than Gygax could have
envisioned. Much more use of figurines and computers, which were not prevalent
when the original was made. Similarities to the arguments that they didn’t have
Facebook back in Jesus’s day. D and D 4th edition supposedly ‘streamlines’
and brings a new group of people to play that wasn’t playing before. They have
lost some of their old followers, who see this new edition as pandering to the World of Warcraft computer crowd and
also a way to make money as you have to buy the new editions to stay current. This is similar to modernizing the bible to
appeal to the younger audience. And yet - “At the highpoint of the TSR Empire,
the TSR Castle stood in its majestic glory in the center of the Mecca Dealer's
room, dominating the landscape and the competition” (1).
Going to church and going to game with a group of people are also similar. Both usually happen respectively every week. Grouping of players outside local clubs was at one time brought under the banner of the Role Playing Game Association (RPGA) a subset of TSR. This was a way to be ranked as a Player (PC) and a Dungeon Master (DM). The higher your level the better you were (supposedly). This was similar to Scientology. You had to pay to play in tournaments. You were judged and ranked to see if you were good enough to go higher. Like Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks, D and D has famous people who are also players. Actors Robin Williams, Stephen Colbert, Elijah Wood, and Wil Wheaton and pro basketball player Tim Duncan are players. Vin Diesel was on the Conan O’Brien show and he mentioned that he had been playing for over 24 years.
Where can you find D and D today? It
is worldwide. It has been translated into many languages like any good religion.
And the D and D holy days would be the main yearly convention, GenCon. But
there is a convention held somewhere in the world every weekend. GenCon is the
world’s largest gaming convention and also where new games are premiered.
Originally it was started by Gygax in Lake Geneva, WI. But when it outgrew its
small beginnings, he moved it to The Mecca Center in Milwaukee. Every year this
event attracts tens of thousands of people.
Like other burgeoning religions, D and D has had its controversies. Most famously was the suicide of Irving “Bink” Pulling in 1982. His mother then started B.A.D.D. (Bothered about Dungeons and Dragons). And like many other ‘anti-‘ groups, she and others started to crop up as an expert on D and D. “RPGs have been accused of many things, including the teaching of demonology, witchcraft, voodoo, murder, rape, blasphemy, suicide, assassination, insanity, sexual perversion, homosexuality, prostitution, Satan worship and necromantics” (Robie). B.A.D.D. also claimed that there were increases in gamer’s suicide, murdering and Satanism. But after a while, when their ‘facts’ were examined closely, no link between D and D and teen suicides were found. This study was conductive by the American Association of Suicidology, The Center for Disease Control and Health and Welfare. While some have tried to use the D&D Defense (D and D made me do it!), as of this time no civil or criminal case in which this was used as a defense has ever succeeded.
While D and D meets Albanese’s definition, so too does any role play game. That is because a role play game actually lets you be someone else. There are beliefs, myths, rituals, texts and many things that make up religion, and make up mankind; just like what makes up Player Character (PCs) for the games.
D and D has also survived after the loss of its creator both in the gaming industry and in his passing. It has had its high and low moments. There are celebrities who play it and others who want it destroyed. Amazing since D and D started out as a war game system.
In conclusion, as we learned in class, for a group to be taken as a religion, it must identify itself. While I have shown how D and D can fit the definition of a religion, it is clearly not. Nor has it ever portrayed its self as one. Some people do play it religiously, and are loyal to its tenants. So I guess it does have some undertones to it.
D and D is a role play game that lets you escape reality for a brief period of time. It’s also a social game, with historic overtones. It’s a teaching game that helps people learn about math through rolling dice. It is a game where there is no winner or loser. It’s weird. Just like the five definitions of religion, what D and D is about is also difficult to put into words.
Works Cited
Darlington,
Steve. A History of Role-Playing. Places to go, People to Be. Feb 1998. 1
Mar 2009. Web. http://ptgptb.org/0001/history1.html.
Fine,
Gary Alan. Shared Fantasy – Role Playing
Games as Social Worlds. Chicago/London:
University of Chicago Press, 1983. Print.
Holmes,
J. Eric. Fantasy Role Playing Games. New York: Hippocrene Press, 1981. Print.
Holmes,
J. Eric. “Confessions of a Dungeon Master.” Psychology
Today Nov 1980: 84-94. Print.
Robie,
Joan Hake. The Truth About Dungeons and Dragons. Pennsylvania: Timelee Books.
1991. Print.
Schick,
Lawrence. Heroic Worlds, A History and Guide to
Role-Playing Games. New York:
Promethius Books. 1991. Print.
Long,
Norton L. “The Local Community As An Ecology of Games.” The American Journal of
Sociology. 64.3 (1958): 251-256. Print
Waldron,
David. “Role-Playing Games and the Christian Right.” Everything Dungeons and
Dragon. ver. 05/23/2004. Web. 3rdedition.org/articles/viewer.asp?ID=67
Wizards
of the Coast. Player’s Handbook v.3.5.
Washington: Wizards of the Coast. 2003. Print.
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