A reader writes:
Mr. Akin,
I’m 18 years old, a fellow Catholic, a Knight of
Columbus in the 3rd degree, and I play D&D.I have a question that’s been haunting me. Is there truth to the story that
the new Pope, while still a cardinal, was on a committee that blacklisted
D&D?Considering that you reference D&D and other RPGs, and not in a morally
negative light, I’m assuming that it’s not a sin to play D&D.I’d really appreciate it if you could help me out.
P.S.: Are you a Knight? If not, have you given it any thought?
I’ve thought about it, but I’m not much of a joiner. Maybe someday.
As to the rumor you heard, here’s my rule for dealing with rumors about what popes have and have not done: I discount them utterly until such time as a person produces a primary source (or an extraordinarily reliable secondary source) validating the claim. There is simply too much nonsense on the papal rumor net to do otherwise.
Consequently, I could not recommend that you pay any mind to rumors that Cardinal Ratzinger was on a committee that prohibited the playing of Dungeons and Dragons or other role-playing games. Certainly the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and it ssubsidiary bodies did no such thing. Role-Playing Games are, frankly, a phenomena that simply does not rise high enough to trip the Vatican’s radar.
That being the case, one must fall back onto the principles of moral theology. On applying these to RPGs,
In sum, though: There is nothing intrinsically sinful with RPGs, though they can definitely be run in a way that has a corrosive effect on the morals of the players. This is particularly true of D&D as it is commonly played. It all depends on who you’re playing with, how the GM or DM runs the game, and how you respond.
Hope this helps, and thanks for writing!
This is definitely going around. Earlier this year my sister got some sort of Examination of Conscience from a “church lady” at her college parish, and “learned” from it that D&D playing was a mortal sin. She’s since been disabused of that notion.
This was a big worry when I was 13 and playing D&D. I remember well teasing my cousin becuase he thought it was wrong to play on Easter Sunday, and also a kid I knew who reconciled his fears of falling into sin by including God in the game as a diety called “Lordus”, who could not be killed as long as He had at least one worshipper somewhere in the universe. This notion was probably more theologically unsound than anything else associated with D&D. 8^)
Fr. Altier’s rather popular examination of conscience lists playing D&D as a venial sin. It is hard for me to disagree with the good Fr., as he is a wonderful priest, but as Jimmy says, it is not in itself sinful.
There seems to be a revulsion toward D&D that stuck to a certain generation of Christians. A friend of mine, who was our parish’s DRE before becoming a deacon, was very disturbed by D&D even though he’d characterize himself as fairly progressive. I think that is starting to fade as since RPGs peaked in the mid to late 80s.
Ultimately, there are elements of the game which need to be handled carefully, or jettisoned. But a good DM/Referee can do that with no problem. Aside from the actual game mechanics, there is nothing mandatory about the rules and products. Ultimately, it’s a matter of how it’s played more than the system itself, and a good DM can use the alignment system and even flat-out arbitrary fiat (one of my favorite weapons) to impose conscience checks.
I will say that some of the newer gaming products are much, much darker and skewed toward either gnosticism or an especially amoral neopaganism. D&D, regardless of the edition, has largely managed to sidestep those problems.
Frankly, I would tell concerned individuals they need to worry much more about the stuff being pushed for PS2s and X-Boxes, starting with the grim first person shooter stuff.
I’ve played a number of RPG’s (from Cyberpunk to Legend of the Five Rings), and while I agree that they can be played without being sinful, in my experience, you had better be playing with practicing Christians to make it so.
I usually played with my “comic and [Magic] card shop friends”, and unfortunately, these guys were not practicing Christians, and playing the RPG gave them an excuse to “role-play” the worst side of themselves. Lots of impure talk and unnecessary violence were the most common things.
“I am Galstaff, Sorcerer of Light!”
Sorry, all I could think of in this post was the Dead Alewives’ routine about exposing the Cult Of D&D, where they go “underground” and discover a bunch of genial geeks arguing over whether or not to cast Magic Missile and whether there were chips and soda in the fridge. Certainly close to my experience of D&D players (married one :)).
My policy is to cast magic missle first and ask questions later…
Pass the chips…
“Where’s the Mountain Dew?”
“In the fridge… Derr!”
“I cast Magic Missile at… the darkness. huh huh … huh huh….*snort* ”
“Am I drunk yet?”
That Dr. Demento clip of “Dungeons & Dragons – Satan’s Game” is classic.
I’m saddened to see this sort of misinformation still going around.
I’m tempted to write up “Playing with Dolls — Threat or Menace?” Except, of course, there have been times when doll-based roleplaying has also been condemned by those folks with too much time on their hands, and a great love of minding the imaginary beam in someone else’s eye.
To balance the discussion just a tiny bit, while D&D may not be sinful in and of itself, it seems to be commonly known among Christians that D&D is a tool often used by demonic forces to lure people downwards. So one should think twice before getting involved, or encouraging others to do so.
“Tool used by demonic forces”….really? Facinating. Never ran into that tool myself. Every attack on D&D’s been rather thoroughly debunked.