Slashdot Mirror
A Parent's Guide to Role Playing Games
hapycamper writes "Role playing games are evaluated from the perspective of a concerned parent in the latest two editions of the GamerDad Unplugged column. The articles discuss some of the finer points of table-top gaming from a parental perspective, with the first article discussing just what an RPG is and the second addressing some of the main concerns that a parent might have about their child playing an RPG." From the article:"So, the most important things a parent should be concerned about in a role playing game are the game players. Who is your child playing with? As mentioned, these types of games come straight out of the imagination of the players, especially the GM..."
I see two responses to this:
1: Despite how we joke that all slashdotters are pimple-faced nerds living in their parent's basement and have no social life, my guess is that more and more of us actually are getting out, getting married, and raising families. Articles like this do definately apply to the types of games that many of us enjoy, and it's something we can point out to our less-nerdy peers.
2: There are undoubtably a lot of slashdotters that are themselves teenagers, and their parents question their interest in tabletop RPG's. This is a good source that these teens can point their parents to to alleaviate their fears.
I skimmed the article, and I agree that there's not a whole lot in it that is new to many of us, but I think it is a good informational source to a layman.
Intelligent responses welcome, flames will be met with marshmallows.
Explaining it's egyption or norse mythology probably would not have helped. Paganism, worshipping idols, even the acceptance of the concept of multiple gods is really not something even more mainstream non-church going concerned parents would want for their kids. They'd really rather see their kids taking up a sport. These parents are the ones asking "Is my kid normal for playing RPGs?", and they're asking because they know NOTHING about it but want to know what their kid is up to. It might scare them to know their child is participating in the worship of some strange egyptian god, even if they have no beliefs of their own. I'd want my child to be as thoroughly agnostic as I am, not a worshipper of Ra. Hell, I'd be happier if he chose a "normal" religion instead of some long dead one that has gone retro for no clear reason. That's my opinion but I think many parents would probably sympathize.
If the author had done a better job of dropping the reality from it, and explained how the various gods etc. made the game more interesting and added depth to this make believe world, then at least some resistant parents would accept it more. Belief in egyption gods is at least as insane as almost any other religion, but in the context of playing a game it can be fun. It's just yet another set of arbitrary rules that modify the game experience, only that by knowing the foundation for the rule it allows players to be more subtle and more creative. The author should give examples.
In chess you are given the rules for how each piece moves (and a few "special" moves that somehow worked in there). Your objective is simple, kill the opponents King. You can do this by, one turn at a time, moving your pieces around the board to trap the opposing players king (while he does exactly the same to you). Surely this is a very complex game, with no guaranteed strategies. But it's a bit arbitrary, and can get dull after a while, and ultimately there are only so many things you can do.
In RPGs you're given situations and objectives that may be more subtle. Maybe it's to kill the guy who killed your teacher, maybe it's to steal a thingamabob, maybe your objective is to craft a perfect piece of armor, etc. Each plan of action must be evaluated against your setting, situation, antagonists and friends. There is right and wrong, and a whole bunch in between. That's more fun. You don't have to REALLY believe in Poseidon to summon rain, but you can appreciate how useful it might be to summon a particularly nasty rain storm against people who use fireballs, or conversely use a certain characters desire to remain strong in that house of magic to also be his undoing. The more you put yourself in your characters place, the better able you are to think outside the box and solve problems creatively. You don't necessarily have predefined "moves", at least not in the better games with better GMs. I obviously have never played D&D but I'm trying to illustrate my point based on other games I did play.
I think that maybe D&D sometimes hit a bit too close to home created a lot of these misconceptions. If it were more obviously made up from nowhere, it might cause less trouble. If the author focused on how the games are played and what their kids are REALLY thinking (in terms of problem solving, meeting objectives, critical thinking), rather than how evil the books look, it would probably go further to helping parents understand healthy gaming, versus unhealthy gaming which I think is what parents NEED. Games, like guns, aren't evil, but the people playing with them might be.