Do Role-Playing Games Cause Aberrant Behavior And Suicide?

"High school student shoots self after character dies in game." "Boy hires friends to kill parents, follows game blueprint." "Did MSU student die in 'dungeon'?" (Dear, 1984). Only one of these is an actual headlne, but all reflect media reports concerning teenagers who play role-playing games and commit crimes or suicide. The Associated Press and United Press International carried 111 stories between 1373 and 1992 which mentioned these games, 80 of which were negative (Cardwell, 1994). Two oeganizations, the National Coalition on Television Violence (NCTV) and Bothered About Dungeons & Dragons (B.A.D.D.), linked role playing games to 128 suicides, murders, and other crimes between 1979 and 1993 (Cardwell). Parents across the country petitioned school boards to remove these games from campuses. Many banned the games or cancelled programs that involved them. But not everyone has held the view that role-playing games are dangerous. CAR-PGa, the Committee for the Advancement of Role-Playing Games, researches all aspects of role-playing games and defends against these accusations (Cardwell). Although the controversy is less public, it still continues today.

Role-playing games come in three playing structures. Most common is the pencil, paper, and dice method. Groups of players meet together and create characters on paper and take them through a story line by interacting with one another and dice rolling. Second in popularity are the play-by mail games where players respond to character updates through the mail. The rarest type of play is live-action, which is a kind of improvisational acting. In all three a moderator, known as the Game or Dungeon Master (GM), designs scenarios which are described verbally or in writing, and players indicate how characters will react in the situations presented, also verbally or in writing. Any thing with a degree of success or failure is determined by rolling dice. The only exception is live-action where players act out characters and dice rolls are replaced with hand signal type games like 'paper, rock, scissors' (Pinola, 1995).

Two of the biggest concerns raised by critics of these games are violence and occultic content (Brooke, 1985). Many games present pantheons of dieties and heroes which may be based on the real pantheons from the past or present, such as the Norse mythos, imaginary figures created by the game designers or the GM, or any combination of the three. This has led to accusations of promoting occult religions (Hamilton, 1985). Character worship of these dieties is cited as causing bizarre behavior or motivating activity (Cardwell, 1995). In the same vein, some games use magic in the game world, resulting in accusations of teaching real magic and occultic rituals (Brooke; Cardwell, 1994).

Because combat is a common element of these games, it is claimed they desensitize players to death. The Christian Information Council asserts that rape, torture, robbery, and other illegal activities also become acceptable (Abeyta & Forest, 1991). Some of the cases offered as support include the suicide of Roland Carter in 1985 (Hamilton), the murder case of Leith Von Stein in 1988 in which his son arranged to have friends kill his parents (Cardwell, 1994), and the suicide of a 16-year-old computer prodigy named James Dallas Egbert III at Michegan State University (Dear).

Added to these concerns is the belief that players become so involved in the game that they lose the ability to differentiate between fantasy and reality (Abeyta et al.). The long hours of play are equated with brainwashing (Adler & Doherty. 1985). Players take on their charcater's alignment or world view and behaviors, become confused, and develop a distorted moral code (Cardwell, 1995). As the character gains in strength and ability, the player gains a false sense of personal power (Cardwell, 1995). Thus the game modifies their behavior and they begin to react in real life as their characters would in the game (Cardwell, 1995).

However these games are supported by players and non-players alike. The Association for Gifted-Creative Children found that they encourage students to read Tolkien, shakespeare, Isaac Asimov, and other classic authors (Adler et al.). When used in a competition in England, teachers were impressed by the communication and social skills of the participants (Lancaster, 1994). Supporters also claim that imaginative, intelligent people are attracted to these games (Abeyta et al.). Players include artists and writers, computer programmers and draftsmen (Dear), all levels of the medical profession - from students to doctors (Holmes, 1980), and chemists and physicists (Lancaster), in addition to the teenagers that are considered the norm for gamers.

Supporters point out that critics and the media do not understand gaming in two ways. For one, Dungeons & Dragons is often used as a generic term (Cardwell, 1994) when it is actually a distinct game and representative of all role playing games. Role-playing games cover a wide variety of settings: science fiction and science fantasy, gothis and horror, comedy, even traditional war games fall under the catagory of 'role-playing game'. In addition the games themselves are quite varied. Dungeons & Dragons, published by TSR, offers a variety of separate medieval fantasy worlds. White Wof has a series of games that can be played separately or integrated into one game. By contrast, FASA's Shadowrun is a futuristic earth with magic. Each has a different background, character development, and method of play.

The second misunderstanding concerns game mechanics and characters. Players and characters are often reated as one in the same by the critics. But players and characters are separate - the second is a creation of the first, and is treated much like an actor treats a part in a play. Players don't have alignments and very few games actually use this concept (Cardwell, 1995), spells are described in game terms but not actually taught for actual casting, and combat and other 'chance' situations are resolved by rolling a die. Finally players generally need to make the characters work together to achieve the goals of the game. Players do not commonly "annihilate each other" (Brooke; Hamilton) as claimed by the media.

The biggest point that supporters make, however, is that the statistics are actually in favor of gaming. Of the 128 cases NCTV and B.A.D.D. link to role-playing games, 29 are listed as murder and suicide (Abeyta et al.). When comparing these numbers to the suicide rate in the U.S. and the numbers of players worlwide, a gaming link to suicide becomes slim to none. By 1991 over 8 million copies of Dungeons & Dragons alone had been sold (Abeyta et al.). An estimated 7.5 million play these games at least once a month worldwide (Cardwell, 1994). In the U.S. alone approximately 30,000 individuals commit suicide every year, about 5300 between the ages of 15 and 24 (Cardwell, 1994; Moehlman, 1995). The cases listed by the critics of combined murder and suicide do not add up to one tenth of 1% of the total suicides for one year, and are a far cry from the 1060 gamer suicides that supporters claim would still be too low to prove a game link (Cardwell, 1994).

While both sides have legitimate concerns in this debate, it should be noted that both also have their biases and problems. Critics are primarily from a highly religious background (Lancaster). Strong religious beliefs in only one god and that magic is evil will find conflict with many games. B.A.D.D. has the additional biases of its founder, who's son committed suicide and had played the game (Abeyta et al.). Clearly it would be difficult for these two groups to be objective. One sees things in black-and-white terms while the other has suffered an emotional loss which is likely to color her judgement. The media bought the critic's position without checking the facts.

There are also problems with the arguments. Just by the language used, it is obvious that critics and the media are fairly uninformed about gaming. The concerns having to do with the game mechanics rest on faulty information and lack of knowledge. In addition, in several of the cases presented as proof other elements are ignored as possibly having an impact. In the three examples cited previously, Roland Carter was using drugs and had family problems (Adler et al.)., and the Von Stein murder also involved a $2 million inheritance (Cardwell, 1994). And James Dallas Egbert III was under tremendous pressure to succeed, chronically depressed, socially isolated on a university campus beginning at age 14, used drugs, and was considered socially retarded (Dear). Out of 7 cases of suicide and murder documented, two provide no background information other than the teenager played the game, and the others had other factors to be taken into account.

Very young players may "get lost in the fantasy" since separating fantasy from reality is a developmental milestone. However, this applies to very young children, not teenagers who are aware of the difference. Many character reactions are determined by a roll of a die, and it would be difficult to translate such an arbitrary decision-making process and characterization into day-to-day real life. It should also be noted that anything that becomes an obsession has the potential to modify beliefs and behaviors. It's not the games that are dangerous in this case, but the obsession itself. Dr. Joyce Brothers states, "Games are just games if you have fun." )Adler et al.).

Those who support the games, however, come up with few of their own arguments to validate gaming. Instead their energy is spent countering attacks. For the most part, these explanaitions are fairly soild and mostly common sense. The only unsupported refutation appears to be the statistics, which are presented without supporting documentation. Of all those used, only one was easily verifiable by an objective source: U.S. suicide rates per year. Instead of giving an unsupported figure considreed too low to prove a game link to suicide and aberrant behavior, a documented number that would prove the possibility of a link should have been presented then compared with the claims of the critics.

The one assertion that supporters make is that role-playing games develop language and social skills. But little is offered to back these claims except isolated statements and the observations from one drama competition. It boosts the credibility of advocates that testimonies were made by highly repectable and credible individuals, however this does not prove their claims. What studies do find is that there are few differences between gamers and non-gamers (DeRenard & Kline. 1990) or that distinctions in personality are relatively small (Douse & McManus, 1993), The only encouragement is that there is no evidence of a connection between role-playing and criminality. In fact non-gamers report more criminal activity (Abeyta et al.). But these findings do not support claims concerning communication and social skills.

From the information presented, critics actually have very little supporting evidence and their arguments are discredited by facts. And defenders do not really need to prove that gaming has advantages other than as a fun leisure activity. While parents maywish to restrict the age at which their children can play and the hours played, there is no reason to fear that they will become a lawbreaker or suicidal just from playing.

I have four children and am also a player and GM. As a result of exposure to gaming, my oldest is already asking if she can play. But, at age 8, she is just beginning to make a distinction between players and their characters, so I have decided to wait until she is 13 or 14 years old before she can play. This is not because I fear she will become a criminal or suicidal. This is based more on her maturoty level, critical thinking skills, and ability to develop options in dealing with different circumstances. It is smart parenting to make sure a child's maturity level is sufficient for an activity. These games are designed for participants to have fun and it is up to parents to make sure they remain "just fun" or to curtail the activity if it becomes as obsession.


References


Abeyta, S., & Forest, J. (1991). Relationship of role-playing games to self-reported criminal behavior. Psychological Reports, 69, 1187-1192.

Adler, J., & Doherty, S. (1985, September 9). Kids: the deadliest game?. Newsweek, CVI(11), 93.

Brook, J. (1985, August 22). A suicide spurs town to debate nature of game. New York Times.

Cardwell, P. (1994, Winter). The attacks on role-playing games. Skeptical Inquirer, 18, 157-165.

Cardwell, P. (1995). Setting the record straight: interviewing techniques for adolescents. Unpublished article, Committee for the advancement of role-playing games.

Dear, W. (1984) The dungeon master: the disappearance of James Dallas Egbert III. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.

DeRenard, L. A., & Kline, L. M. (1990). Alienation and the game Dungeons and Dragons. Psychological Reports, 66, 1219-1222.

Douse, N. A., & McManus, I. C. (1993). The personality of fantasy game players. British Journal of Psychology, 84, 505-509.

Hamilton, R. A. (1985, May 26). Game target of fight in Putnam. New York Times, sec. 23:4.

Holmes, J. E. (1980). Confessions of a dungeon master. Psychology Today, 14 (6), 84-94.

Lancaster, K. (1994, Fall). Do role-playing games promote crime, satanism and suicide among players as critics claim? Journal of Popular Culture, 28 (2), 67-79.

Moehlman, D. (1995). Class lecture, Sociology 12: Marriage and Family. Riverside Community College, Riverside.

Pinola, B. (1995). Phone Interview December 3. San Bernardino - Fontana.


Paper written December 1995
grade: A
Note: Since this paper was written the author has also become aware of a 4th rpg structure, the online game. However, this strusture was not mentioned in any research used for the paper itself.