I'm doing a persuasive speech in about a week and a half for my public speaking class, and I've decided that my topic will be disproving some of the negative myths about D&D. So, what I ask of you, my esteemed board members, are some references that I can use. I need four sources cited in this speech. I'd like a mix of D&D pro and con works, to back up my counterpoints against the accusations. Nothing too lengthy, I don't have that much time to get this all done.
Also, try and veer away from the religious aspects. Accusations that it promotes Satan worship, I can handle, but other things (like the site proclaiming the evil of Harry Potter and imagination in general) present too big of a topic to handle in my seven minute speech, and are a little too hot to touch in this situation.
Thank you all!
The case of James Dallas Egbert might be a good place to start, and the book, "The Dungeon Master" written by a guy named William Dear, a PI.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dungeon_Master
provides links to a few articles. The book itself is a compelling read that offers a more rational view of both sides of the issue, if a little dated.
Part of what makes this game great is also part of what causes so many to fear it and ridicule it, as mentioned in the thread about the guy who samurai hacked a co-worker to death, elsewhere on these boards. (Mock my hobby?... etc)
As a hobby it attracts its fair share of bright, motivated creative people who don't feel like they fit in anywhere except at a table of gamers.
When outsiders see the devotion many gamers have to their group and their hobby and indeed their "fictional" persona, they feel a mixture of envy and contempt, which are both emotions which fuel wild speculation and baseless accusations.
edited for spelling "Did I really mispell 'fuel'? I did" *head-desk-repeat*
There was a thread maybe six months ago with a ton of references to some sociological researches into RPGs. Can't remember the title of the thread but you might be able to dig it out of the archives. There might be some good references in a wikipedia article about D&D as well, and you could bibliography hop from there.
If an old gamer who is about to finish his Ph.D. carries any authority, you can quote me:
Gaming has enriched my life, stimulated my imagination, and nurtured my ability to think about real life problems and understand human psychology. Gaming has never interfered with my academic or professional success, nor has it kept me from having a healthy social life. I taught my son and my nieces and nephews to play because I think it is a healthy and rewarding hobby. My son plays three sports in high school, maintains a 3.5 GPA, plays guitar, has a very nice girlfriend, and serves as dungeonmaster for his own gaming group. He has good judgement about how to manage his time and interact with his peers, so I don't have any worries that D&D is going to interfere with him being "normal" or successful.
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You might check with GAMA's (The Game Manufacturer's Association) Industry Watch Committee: http://www.gama.org/committees/industry_watch
Mike Stackpole has done a brilliant job for many years in responding to misleading information about the Adventure Gaming industry. (Also, he's a really good guy.)
I've got you covered with what you need off the top of my head. For your assignment, i'd recommend picking up Williams/Hendricks/Winkler: Gaming as Culture: Essays on Reality, Identity and Experience in Fantasy Games. It's perfect for your assignment because it's a compliation of 10 essays that are published together and you can just read the relivant ones there and cite them quickly.
If you are really interested in sociological studies (someone mentioned it above and i posted several reference lists a while back), you NEED NEED NEED to read Fine: Shared Fantasy: Role Playing Games as Social Worlds. It's a 198(something) text, but it's still the authority on the subject of fantasy gamers and society.
As ever,
ACE
I rarely have a chance to offer help to other gamers using my non-gaming skills, so forgive me if I overstep my bounds with this offer. Your public speaking class probably already has you covered on this topic, but, . . .
If you're looking for guidance on effective techniques for making compelling oral arguments, shoot me an email at ted@ashenvaleart.com. Honing my oral argument skills consumed many years of my life. I trained at the best law school in the country (IMO), litigated in the DC, Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania state and federal courts, and taught dozens of other lawyers trial practice, including oral argument skills.
Your topic speaks to me. I'd love to help.
Nevermind, everybody. I did a poll of my class, and there were surprisingly few people with any frame of reference to what I was talking about. I'd also have to explain what D&D is and all the flak it caught before I moved into refuting it. Considering the 8 minute time limit, it would be much easier to just do something else entirely.
If you don't mind me mentioning it, this thread reminded me of a comment my cultural anthropology proffesor said one day in class about roleplaying. He mentioned that the vast majority of game in our society revolve around winning or loosing with some kind of point system to determine the outcome. Gaming in different. There's no points, no scores and no teams, if you had fun playing you win. That's it. Infact, the game is most enjoyable if everybody wins. He felt that that is probably one of the reasons people don't get roleplaying. Anyhow, never got a chance to find out if the guy had ever roleplayed, but I though it was an interesiting veiw on the subject.
It's back on schedule! I've got another speech assignment for Wednesday, this time a "policy" speech (using Monroe's Motivated Sequence, for anyone who was really astute in their Public Speaking class) promoting Role Playing Games (particularly D&D). Anyway, I'm focusing on the benefits of RPGs, and I remembered the cost-analysis that someone did here, comparing D&D to other hobbies. If somebody could tell me what thread it's in, I'll do a search, or if you have the time/energy, someone could reprint it here. Thanks in advance.
EDIT- Also, anyone remember Alansii (I think that's his name; sorry if I misspelled it) and his thread about "What has D&D done for you?" or something like that? I tried doing a search for it, but can't find it. I'm not entirely sure (read: I have no clue) how to access the archives on the sight. Anyone care to inform me?
EDIT- Also, anyone remember Alansii (I think that's his name; sorry if I misspelled it) and his thread about "What has D&D done for you?" or something like that? Anyone care to inform me?
Search for "D&D teaching English" thread and you'll find it. I helped him write a proposal to form a school sponsored D&D club that was accepted. Kudos to Alansii and all other teachers out there willing to extend themselves to their students in endevors like he did. We need more of that in this world.
As ever,
ACE
It's back on schedule! I've got another speech assignment for Wednesday, this time a "policy" speech (using Monroe's Motivated Sequence, for anyone who was really astute in their Public Speaking class) promoting Role Playing Games (particularly D&D). Anyway, I'm focusing on the benefits of RPGs, and I remembered the cost-analysis that someone did here, comparing D&D to other hobbies. If somebody could tell me what thread it's in, I'll do a search, or if you have the time/energy, someone could reprint it here. Thanks in advance.
Also, i'll refer you to the collection of essays again. You'll find good, sourcable nuggets for your speech there if you need citations...Williams, Hendricks, Winkler: Gaming as Culture: Essays on Reality, Identity and Experience in Fantasy Games.
As ever,
ACE
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I wrote a paper on the misperceptions of RPGs in modern culture last year - part of my focus was on psychological studies performed on gamers, all of which show no substantial deviations from control groups. I can post citations to the articles, though I don't know if you'll be able to find hard copies of them.
1. James L. Carroll and Paul M. Carolin. Relationship Between Game Playing and Personality. Psychological Reports, v. 64 (1989), pp. 705-06.
2. Lisa A. DeRenard and Linda Mannik Kline. Alienation and the Game Dungeons and Dragons. Psychological Reports, v. 66 (1990), pp. 1219-1222.
3. Armando Simon. Emotional Stability Pertaining to the Game Vampire: The Masquerade. Psychological Reports, v. 83 (1998), pp. 732-34.
Hope that helps!
Also, Ashenvale, it's great to know that there has been at least one other gamer at HLS in history (I went to your website when you mentioned that you'd gone to the best law school in the country to see what you meant by that)! I'm a 3L here now, and I wind up having to game with the undergrads at BC, which is my girlfriend's school.
I wrote a paper on the misperceptions of RPGs in modern culture last year - part of my focus was on psychological studies performed on gamers, all of which show no substantial deviations from control groups. I can post citations to the articles, though I don't know if you'll be able to find hard copies of them.
1. James L. Carroll and Paul M. Carolin. Relationship Between Game Playing and Personality. Psychological Reports, v. 64 (1989), pp. 705-06.
2. Lisa A. DeRenard and Linda Mannik Kline. Alienation and the Game Dungeons and Dragons. Psychological Reports, v. 66 (1990), pp. 1219-1222.
3. Armando Simon. Emotional Stability Pertaining to the Game Vampire: The Masquerade. Psychological Reports, v. 83 (1998), pp. 732-34.
Hope that helps!
Also, Ashenvale, it's great to know that there has been at least one other gamer at HLS in history (I went to your website when you mentioned that you'd gone to the best law school in the country to see what you meant by that)! I'm a 3L here now, and I wind up having to game with the undergrads at BC, which is my girlfriend's school.
Well I can hardly claim to have gone to Harvard - I ended up getting an MBA at BU. But I am really glad to know that not everyone gaming is out of work or serving fast food. Givn the folks on this board, I am kind of curious as to how the geeky, outcast, non-performer stereotype developed.
Nor do I pretend to have read the "the literature" but I think it makes a kind of intuitive sense that gamers would enter the professions - gamers work together to achieve a win/win for the group - which is unlike many sports which focus on a win lose outcome. It is my personal opinion that to be productive you need to be able to do both, the thing I find interesting, is that there are so few collaborative games/activities - at least with "cultures"outside of roleplaying. There are lots of competitive activities - sports, chess, even video games, but collaboration (if any) is for your team - not the game.
Nevermind, everybody. I did a poll of my class, and there were surprisingly few people with any frame of reference to what I was talking about. I'd also have to explain what D&D is and all the flak it caught before I moved into refuting it. Considering the 8 minute time limit, it would be much easier to just do something else entirely.
At the end of the day its probably a good thing for all concerned if the majority of kids these days don't have a frame of reference. Certainly beats the hell out of having a negative frame of reference.
I'm not really surprised - anyone who thinks gaming is really uncool presumably thinks computer games are really uncool - and nobody (many girlfriends excepted), these days, think video games are uncool. They might not care for the ones you like but they probably like playing HALO on their X-Box.
Okay, Paizo, I made a mention that this site is great for pruchasing a wide variety of RPG products in my speech.
So, where's my 50 bucks? And don't forget that cookie, McArtor!!! You Scoundrel, you!
well, many of my gaming group thinks the game is a positive outlet for negative feelings - many of them consider it therapy and gets them off the streets and keeps them out of trouble; and since i play with two to three ex cons; we all consider that to be a pretty good thing. They get some positive interaction and a new group of friends to go out and eat with; have some good fun; and mash stuff so they dont have to do it in the real world and can learn and view and try out other approaches to scenarios other than whatever got them in trouble after all, rpg put characters in just about every concievable situation and players have to think their way out. Several of my friends really profess that D&D or rpg's in general and our gaming group has turned around and really helped them in their lives by providing positive social interaction. I am sure you can work that into your speach; it always make me wonder what so many of us would do for stress relief if we didnt play this game.
my two bits.