by Jenilee Dunson

Created on: April 06, 2009   Last Updated: April 07, 2009

What is evil is all relative depending upon which religion and whom from inside said religion you are speaking to.

I myself have played Dungeons and Dragons (and other similar games) many times, all the while keeping my belief and faith in god and thinking of myself as being a Christian.

However, I am not overly religious. I do not believe there is a god anywhere that would smite you or turn you away from utopia for playing a game.

It's a game people. It's nothing more, nothing less. The real danger comes from people unable to distinguish this fact. Some unstable individuals may take the game (or anything really) to an extreme. At which point they may try to harm themselves or others.

It's not the game's fault for these actions. Nor is it the player's fault really since they obviously are mentally ill. The game does not make people this way, It is due to some imbalance or imperfection they had previously.

As humans we all like to believe in some sort of "innate good" in all people. Therefore when we see something that conflicts with this "belief" we look for something to blame. Games, music, parents, teachers, there must be some *reason* this person committed a horrible act. But in reality not all humans are good, some have severe mental problems, and others are just sick or twisted and it is people like this who when mixed with a game of this nature can cause a bad reputation for the game.

It's a shame really but that is how things work. A few "bad apples" spoil the barrel as the saying goes.

Is the game "evil"? Not by my beliefs. It's fantasy, a made up illusion. But then there are some religious fanatics who think just about anything is evil, especially certain things dealing with magic (Harry Potter for example as another cultural icon)

Will the game cause someone to "act evil"? Not unless that person already has a predisposition which inclines such behaviour in the first place.

My Personal belief is god is way too busy to care if some 14 year old kid is pretending they are a dwarf killing a monster. Imagination is a wonderful thing and there are far more "evil" things a child could be doing these days!

Typically Dungeons and Dragons (and similar games) are games in which promote social interaction, storytelling, imagination, reading, writing, and even math and number crunching to some degree. I'd say the benefits for a small child far outweigh any negative stipulations. A typical game begins by creating your character, which you will read many books in order to hone your character's skills and attributes. You will use math to decide your characters starting statistics and use math and develop "good judgement sense" when deciding what actions your character will take throughout the journey. Your character does not have to be "evil" in fact, most of the time, in most campaigns and games you play as the hero. You may be a priest healing wounded, sick characters, or a paladin protecting his comrades on the front lines of battle. The campaign is set up a few days or weeks ahead of time by a "GM" or "game master" he has a general idea of the setting, and overarching story, and some of the characters you will meet along the way. Then the rest is developed by the other players as they interact with each other. Usually sitting around a table, munching on pizza and chips and rolling some funny looking dice.

How exactly is this evil? But to each their own. I will respect others that believe any kind of magic or "occult" literature is "evil" as long as they respect the fact that not everyone follows the exact same religion or follows it in the exact same ways as everyone else.

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