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the thinking has already been done for them if they desire to accept those thoughts as their own. Therefore, you are going to have extremists, as are so much in the news these days, who will "kill for God" when, indeed, they don't understand who God is or that God would not want them to kill others of the race because He created them all, and it hurts -like a pet dying after years of loyalty and love- when one of His creations is destroyed.

In the realm of music, you have all manner of talents and sounds to be had in the world today. Certain scholars and scientists agree that discordant sounds and violent lyrics are more apt to "make" someone do something violent than, say, Classical music, which is generally uplifting and quieting to the soul. Although I do not listen to heavy metal on a regular basis, anymore, I would have to tell the scholars and scientists they're full of poppycock. Each person has their own mind, and their own internal conflicts, real or imagined, and as a result, each person is going to act in a way contrary to others, especially if they get into a group that shares the same tastes in music, clothes, bad hair styles, and the like. Once again, however, you have the effect of the group upon the individual, not the activity upon the individual, although a combination can exist.

This is the same in role-playing games, but to a much lighter extent. The individual gamer has their conflicts, especially when being cast out by mundanes such as football players and cheerleaders, highly successful people unable to see beyond their own money, or other short-sighted types who fail to understand the rhyme or reason behind playing RPGs. However, as a member of the group(s) a player can get into, there is a broadening of the mind, the imagination, that takes place which allows the player to see beyond the violence and into the story, especially as it pertains to their character. As a result, a letting off of steam from the previous work/school week takes place, and the player can relax with good friends in a positive social setting that encourages the thought process. This is something neither religion nor music nor any other activity a person may become involved with can provide.

Therefore, although you as a potential player may see and hear news broadcasts and stories about crimes committed as a result of role-playing games, don't believe everything you here. Unbalanced individuals who come in contact with role-playing to the extent that they become further unbalanced, would have become unbalanced further, eventually, with or without role-playing games. RPGs remain a relatively unknown source of fantastic social entertainment -like a weekly Thursday night card game for the fella's, or shopping luncheons every Wednesday for women- and cannot be directly blamed for crimes committed by role-players.

A role-playing group, due to the D&D Stigma, began work to find out if role-playing games were, indeed, directly attributable to criminal activity, and their findings can be found at http://www.rpgstudies.net/ .

For my fifth article, I will write about Game Rule Basics and Differences between games and mass systems such as D20, GURPS, and Palladium. I hope you've enjoyed what's been written, here, and will continue to read as the articles come out.

Learn more about this author, Paul Emerson.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

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