Roleplaying Revisited
by Mike Perschon
A pair of feet step into my peripheral vision. I look up to
see a male counselor, beach towel and book in hand.
"You ever play fantasy role-playing games?" he
asks me after some small talk and counselor-to-camp-speaker banter. The nearly
inaudible and conspiratorial way he asks this question is normally reserved for confessions of deep dark secrets, inquiries into "how far is
too far" in a dating relationship, or confusion over the erotic imagery of Song of Songs.
When I say yes, he becomes animated. Once
a fellow tabletop role-player has been identified, the proper geek etiquette
involves a series of "secret handshakes" and esoteric lingo involving
the mechanics of gaming, the idiosyncrasies of gamers, and inevitably the
question of whether or not I really think it's okay for Christians to play
role-playing games.
This isn't an isolated event; I know
Christians of every warp and hue who are also avid gamers—a math professor who
worked as a missionary in the Cameroon plays an Elven healer who sings his
spells of mending, a youth pastor of an evangelical church moonlights as a
warhammer-wielding Dwarven fighter. I myself don a "+20 shirt of smiting"
once a month to act as "Game Master" or moderator to an ongoing
campaign (two years and running) based in Tolkien's Middle-Earth.
In addition to being avid, most Christians who are into
role-playing games are "in the closet" because of a number of
misconceptions and urban myths which vilified the hobby back in the 1980s. In a
faith that's redeemed the alternative cultures of skateboarding and championed
the once controversial tool of rock and roll, fantasy role-playing and its
adherents remain outcast, forced to carry out their actions covertly.
After gaming for over 20 years and living as a Christian for
nearly as long, it is my belief and experience that Roleplaying Games (RPGs) could serve youth
ministry but continue to be largely overlooked for reasons which have not been
properly evaluated or critiqued, despite the large number of students who are
involved in this hobby.
In this article, I will attempt to address the main concerns
with RPGs, then demonstrate that contrary to being harmful, fantasy
role-playing has potential to assist youth ministry in the areas of
socialization and education. This article will not concern itself with defining
the history or mechanics of role-playing games as these topics have been
extensively dealt with and are readily available through Internet searches.
Mythunderstandings about RPGs
There are two common objections within the Christian
community to RPGs. The first is that fantasy role-playing allegedly leads
players to become involved in the occult or opens them to demonic influence due
to the magical element present in the majority of RPGs. The second is that they
are said to contribute to suicide and/or violent crime.
The first reason, regarding magic, comes down to the reality
that "if you believe that magic is both real and evil, then there can be
no reasonable argument for accepting the game." (1) More relevant to our
discussion, if one believes that the magic within role-playing games is real,
then this statement is doubly true. This issue depends on whether the Christian
gamer accepts fantasy worlds as secondary worlds not subject to the same laws
of nature our own primary world is governed by. If one believes the magic of
Narnia or Middle-Earth different from the magic prohibited in Scripture, then
playing an RPG involving magic would not be an issue.
However, if the concept of imaginary magic is as abhorrent
as real magic, then there are other options within the RPG community. A number
of very popular role-playing games involve no magic, such as Star Wars, Star
Trek, or games based in modern settings such as the modern d20 system. I.C.E.'s
Rolemaster provides the possibility of gaming in any era, with or without the
inclusion of magic.
The second concern, that RPGs lead to suicide and violent
crime, is largely the result of media hype in the 1980s. One of the most
notorious examples of this media-misinformation was in the case of Dallas
Eggbert, a teen genius who went missing during his first year at college, and a
year after the investigation into his disappearance, committed suicide. (2)
Despite the fact that the investigation located no gaming paraphernalia other
than a gaming magazine in Eggbert's dorm room, that no one could be found who
had ever played Dungeons and Dragons with him, the disappearance and suicide
were linked by the media to fantasy role-playing.(3) Mazes and Monsters, a
best-selling novel inspired by Eggbert's story was made into a TV movie,
further obscuring other relevant information from the investigation which
stated that Eggbert was a user of hallucinogenic drugs, a homosexual in an era
of homophobia, socially challenged and under severe pressure from his mother to
achieve academically. (4)
Eggbert's story became the template for the media's
treatment of such cases. When Bink Pulling, another teen genius, shot himself,
the fact that he admired Adolf Hitler, had killed his own pets and neighborhood
animals, and was socially isolated were ignored in favor of the more
sensational element that he played Dungeons and Dragons with other gifted
students at his school. (5) His mother formed an anti-FRP coalition, which
would be responsible for much of the misinformation surrounding fantasy gaming.
Ironically, the evidence pooled by the critics of RPGs
served to weaken the conclusions at which they arrived. If game designer
Michael Stackpole's estimate of 10 million gamers in North America is correct,
then the estimated "125 people killed from these games…should actually be
higher."(6) Providing that each of these alleged cases were actually the
result of involvement in RPGs, it means that less than 0.000001% of gamers
commit suicide, a number far below the national average.
Statistical psychological studies have shown the opposite of
what the critics claim; that involvement in a role-playing group "is not
positively correlated with emotional instability." (7) Instead of studies
into the therapeutic effects of role-playing games on socially challenged and
neurotic individuals reveals that gaming groups provide a healthy community.
Shared Fantasy—A Gateway to Healthy Community
In his article "Therapy is Fantasy," John Hughes
determined four positive psychological dimensions to fantasy role-playing (8),
two of which are especially relevant to the potential use of RPGs as a tool of
youth ministry.
Hughes identified that role-playing enabled players to gain
greater social skills. In youth ministry, we're often faced with the challenge
of the student who lacks the skills necessary for social interaction. My own
experiences using an RPG in youth ministry demonstrated how gaming creates a
safe environment for socially challenged students to try communicating in ways
they would be afraid of in real life situations.
I purposely chose several players for our gaming group who
were outgoing and gregarious to play alongside those who were awkward and
withdrawn. The behavior manifested by the socially challenged students ranged
from compulsive chewing (pencils, pop cans, whatever could be fit into the
mouth) to extreme personal space issues. Initially, the group had little
contact beyond the gaming table.
As the boys interacted with each other as their
"characters," their relationship outside the game began to transform
as well. The outgoing students began phoning the withdrawn ones and inviting
them out, while the withdrawn students began socializing at youth group, not
only with the gaming friends, but with students their gaming friends were
connected with as well. Within a year, the student with personal space issues
put his hand on my shoulder and asked me what it was like to be married, a
question and action that stood in stark contrast to my first experience of him.
RPGs also provide an opportunity for a discerning game
master or moderator to observe aspects of the players' personalities that
manifest within the fantasy framework in bolder ways than they would in real
life. I was often able to talk to the students after a gaming session about
choices they'd made within the game, and draw connections with real life
situations. RPGs have been used in psychotherapeutic treatments as an aid to
"extended character analysis" and were reported to "bypass some
of the risks of fantasy-based therapies such as Guided Affective Imagery while
allowing emotions to emerge within the therapy in a non-threatening
manner." (9)
I've witnessed this in the life of one of the characters
involved in the campaign I'm currently running. By observing a recurring
pattern that emerged over the two years in the player's gaming choices, we were
able to identify an area of personal struggle that he was working out within
the safety of the gaming environment.
The value of this beneficial attribute of RPGs cannot be
understated, given the fringe group that are stereotypically most attracted to
gaming. Young men who find frustration in the transition from childhood through
adolescence into adulthood can work out a lot of their inner fears and
apprehensions within the role-playing environment, simultaneously forging a
small community of like-minded friends with whom they share a favorite activity
.
The other benefit identified by Hughes is that role-playing
is educational. All youth leaders interested in communicating the gospel to
their students find frustration at one time or another in generating student
interest in Scripture. Christian gaming RPGs such as DragonRaid incorporate
Scripture memorization as an integral part of the rules.
Players of RPGs are voracious about learning everything they
can about their gaming world. The possibilities are nearly endless, ranging
from Biblical Eras (as Green Ronin's excellent d20 supplement Testament now
enables gamers to do) to monastic communities in Europe. If a gamer has to play
an Israelite priest, it is likely in short order they'll know more about Mosaic
Law than you do. Or imagine a student playing a missionary during the age of
Imperialism. In addition to having to know how to communicate the gospel,
they'll have opportunity to wrestle through some tough and controversial
aspects of church history.
This is where the youth leader comes into the picture. I
remember reading an encouragement to teachers, pastors, and parents to take on
the role of Dungeon Master or referee, to help guide the direction of
role-playing games. Because of misinformation and media manipulation, I think
many youth leaders have missed out on the possibility of using RPGs in a
positive way. I know there are many youth workers who are closet gamers; its
time to come out of the closet and into the light, and begin to use this area
of personal play as a tool of the gospel.
Some will respond to this article by saying, "Well of
course you think this is a good idea…you're a gamer…you're biased."
Of course I'm biased. No one is objective when it comes to
such issues. But if I was writing an article about many other fringe elements
of youth culture, my 20 year immersion in that culture would lend me
credibility. Instead, I'm viewed with suspicion—my judgement must be clouded,
I'm confused, deluded, or completely lost. Christianity has redeemed many other
fringe youth cultures—we're prepared to become all things to all people to the
students with piercings, tattoos, and loud music. But how many of us will be
brave enough to enter the world of the geek, the world of 20-sided dice,
miniature dragons, and all night gaming sessions involving 2 a.m. pizza runs?
And will we be brave enough to really, truly enter it,
rather than simply wagging a finger and condemning it? To walk without fear
into the supposed den of dragons with the words of Hebrews 2:8 ringing in our
ears: "God has put everything under our power and has not left anything
out of our power." (CEV)
1 Carolyn Caywood. "Rescuing the Innocent: The Lure of
Dungeons and Dragons." School Library Journal Mar. 1991: 138.
2 Kurt Lancaster, "Do Roleplaying Games Promote Crime,
Satanism and Suicide among Players as Critics Claim?" Journal of Popular
Culture, 28 (2), Fall, 71.
3 Paul Cardwell, Jr. "The Attacks on Roleplaying
Games," Skeptical Inquirer, Vol. 18, No. 2, Winter 1994, 158.
4 Ibid., 158.
5 Ibid.
