When I grew up I heard that Dungeons and Dragons was an evil game that was created by Satan as a gateway to the occult. The idea was that if you played it your mind would be invaded by evil and that evil would take root in your soul such that you might one day worship Satan or vote for a liberal president.
These kinds of videos remind me that some people still think odd things about the world. When I cast a spell in Skyrim or make Mario shoot a fireball, I don't spend time trying to figure it out in real life(mainly because it's impossible). I would love to live in a world where magic was real so I could be the oldest student at Hogwarts(or it's United States sister school). I imagine if magic were real many people would learn it and it would become quite common place. Why wash your dishes when learning an incantation would do it for you? I would love to live in a world where magic was some kind of real, but until then we will all just have to pretend.
**EDIT Apparently I was a bit wrong as a study was done that shows kids watching Harry Potter have become Satanists. Even I can be wrong sometimes, sorry everyone, consider this a formal apology.
http://www.theonion.com/articles/harry-potter-books-spark-rise-in-satanism-among-ch,2413/
These kinds of videos remind me that some people still think odd things about the world. When I cast a spell in Skyrim or make Mario shoot a fireball, I don't spend time trying to figure it out in real life(mainly because it's impossible). I would love to live in a world where magic was real so I could be the oldest student at Hogwarts(or it's United States sister school). I imagine if magic were real many people would learn it and it would become quite common place. Why wash your dishes when learning an incantation would do it for you? I would love to live in a world where magic was some kind of real, but until then we will all just have to pretend.
**EDIT Apparently I was a bit wrong as a study was done that shows kids watching Harry Potter have become Satanists. Even I can be wrong sometimes, sorry everyone, consider this a formal apology.
http://www.theonion.com/articles/harry-potter-books-spark-rise-in-satanism-among-ch,2413/
If you want to join this conversation you need to sign in.
Sign Up / Log In
Still waiting for my Hogwarts acceptance letter... Yup... Stiiiiiiill waiting...
I love the part at the beginning where he says that the kids are into things that "we know absolutely nothing about," even down to how to turn the machine on. It's interesting how many people will come from that position, and yet proceed to judge, based on appearances, conjecture, fear, tradition, in the name of what's right, just so that they have something to say against whatever is going on. Why are we so defensive, as a society? What is it that we think will happen if we open our minds before we open our mouths?
Scrypt nailed it. Ignorance breeds fear. Its easier to yell 'devil' when you encounter something you don't understand and in this case CONTROL the minds of the children and take them away from the fold in which they want to KEEP them. But I am just free thinking here without trying to name names... Man this stuff fires me up... lol
I agree. Fear of the unknown gets people to do weird things. As jdodson said we grew up with the explanation of "It is wrong". Leaving things with that sort of explanation (as a father of 5 kids that I am) promotes a justifiably "Why?" question. We need to understand and not throw rocks at kids and their form out entertainment. With the age of this video now adults. It also gives us a chance to see how inventive and creative people can be in their world around them. With out D&D I do not think we would have had some our most amazing and favorite games we all grew up with and experience to this day. Brining out creativity in people is always something we need to do. And if you disagree with what it promotes. That's good. Stay away. Let the dreamers dream and build us an even better world to live in.
I agree, D&D really did influence a ton of the awesome games we have now. Neverwinter Nights, Magic, etc. I really appreciate how games build on that sort of thing.
Then again, one could argue that ALL of that is based on Tolkiens work too. I mean, yeah, if shooters are "Doom clones" then fantasy stuff is a "Tolkien clone."
/i love the hobbit book so much
Yes, roots go way back. I am sure Tolkien was inspired by something as a child to bring his imagination to a level where amazing things came from.
Keep Dreaming!
I think he said Beowulf. Oh yeah, memory does serve.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._R._R._Tolkien's_influences
In case anyone is interested National Geographic did a rather interesting show about Tolkien's influences. A good deal of the info is here - http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ngbeyond/rings/influences.html.
I thought the bit about "...some social misfit off in the corner playing D&D..." I played D&D for years before I met someone I would have characterized as a social misfit. But as has been pointed out, he is speaking out of ignorance. I can only imagine how horrified these folks must have become be the like of UltimaOnline, EverQuest, and WoW.