Dungeons and Dragons—Dangerous Entertainment
A FIGHTER, two thieves and a magic user creep cautiously along a dimly lit stone passage in search of treasure. The magic user motions the group to halt. “I sense an evil presence,” he warns. Suddenly, out of a hidden door, three armed goblins burst into the corridor. “Surface dwellers!” they shout, “Smash them!”
What is this? A bad dream? The plot for a horror movie? No, just a typical episode in the increasingly popular fantasy game Dungeons and Dragons. The game has grossed millions of dollars for its makers since 1974.
One young man who recently gave up Dungeons and Dragons offered this comment: “The game is very deceptive. In the beginning it just seems like harmless fun and adventure, but soon you are drawn into it. You get hooked.”
Another former player agreed. “Dungeons and Dragons is addictive.”
Mythological World of Violence
Dungeons and Dragons is not played on a board like most games. Instead, the players assume the identities of characters who enter a mythological world controlled by a player called the “Dungeon Master.” The players, seated around a table, map out their imaginary surroundings by questioning the Dungeon Master. The Dungeon Master plays the part of any monsters or miscellaneous characters the players encounter, and determines what will happen to them with the aid of specially shaped dice. The players’ characters are looking for treasure. The Dungeon Master’s monsters are trying to kill them.
“The level of violence in this make-believe world runs high. There is hardly a game in which the players do not indulge in murder, arson, torture, rape, or highway robbery,” comments veteran Dungeon Master John Eric Holmes in a recent article in Psychology Today.
“You get attached to your character,” said an ex-player. “You want to keep playing to see what will happen to him next. Besides, if your character can survive a few adventures without getting killed, then he will gain new powers and abilities, which will make him even more interesting.” This desire eventually to develop one’s character into a fantasy superman appeals to the dreamer in many people. Of course, the game must be played many times to reach this goal. In the meantime, what if the character is killed?
“When one of these alter egos gets killed,” admits Dungeon Master Holmes, “the game player sometimes suffers psychic shock and may go into depression.” Does that sound like harmless fun?
“It’s true,” a former Dungeon Master agrees. “I killed off my brother’s favorite character, one he had spent a long time developing, and he was very upset about it.”
Personalities Affected
“The game makes you selfish,” notes this former player. “At first the players are all noble and self-sacrificing, but after a while they change. They learn that if they don’t just look out for themselves, somebody will stab them in the back and take their treasure. Pretty soon you can’t trust anybody.”
Anyone who is invited to play Dungeons and Dragons, especially any Christian, should bear in mind the following:
The game teaches greed and materialism. The basic goal of the characters is grabbing treasure that does not rightfully belong to them. How does this square with the apostle Paul’s inspired counsel that “having sustenance and covering, we shall be content with these things. For the love of money is a root of all sorts of injurious things”?—1 Timothy 6:8, 10.
The game teaches violence. Jesus urged his followers: “Continue to love your enemies and to pray for those persecuting you.” (Matthew 5:44) This is not easy to do. Are Christians helped to carry out this counsel by adopting violent fantasy alter egos? True, the violence in the game is not “real,” but even imaginary violence can affect the heart sooner or later. As Jesus warned: “Out of the heart come wicked reasonings, murders.” (Matthew 15:19) “More than all else that is to be guarded,” warns the Bible book of Proverbs, “safeguard your heart, for out of it are the sources of life.” So the question arises—Can someone who plays games like Dungeons and Dragons be following this Bible counsel?—Proverbs 4:23.
The game teaches polytheism and demonism. A mere look at some of the characters and monsters mentioned in the basic Dungeons and Dragons guidebook should convince Christians that this game is not for them. Included are magic users (mediums, seers and conjurers), goblins, hellhounds, hobgoblins, ogres, skeletons, specters, vampires and zombies, to name but a few! Experienced game players are expected to learn a great deal about the characteristics of such grisly playmates. Yet Christians are told not to get to know the “deep things of Satan.”—Revelation 2:24.
In the early stages of play, such demonic overtones may seem like harmless fun, but at more advanced levels the demonism gets more serious. “Some of my high level characters had advanced psychic powers,” recalls an ex-player, “and during one game they were fighting directly against demons and devils. There was something weird going on. We were scared by it, and never tried it again.”
Satanic Thinking
In fact, at the higher levels of play, characters are expected to dedicate themselves to a mythological god. “Serving a deity is a significant part of D & D,” says one of the game’s publications, “and all player characters should have a patron god.” Patron gods include most ancient Greek, Egyptian, or Babylonian deities (Zeus, Ra or Marduk, for example) but the only true God, Jehovah, is nowhere referred to.
Indeed, the underlying assumption of Dungeons and Dragons is that there is no one true God, only a universal struggle between the abstract forces of “good and evil, law and chaos,” with their assorted champions. This is the sort of teaching long held by such enemies of Christianity as the Gnostics.
Dungeons and Dragons is permeated by the ideas of Satan the Devil, who has always championed greed, violence and demonism.