And just to be fair, to those who think that RPG's are bad and evil I will post this piece called Dark Dungeons by Jack T. Chick. It was written in 1984.

Dark Dungeons

It might seem rather outdated and hoaky today, but back in the 'devil worship' days of the 80's this was a real concern.

I am one who thinks that this debate ... really doesnt need a long explanation . Anyone who says role playing "endangers your soul" or other nonsense simply does so because they (either willingly or not) do not understand what role playing is . Simple as that . I have never seen a situation where someone said an RPG/magic/harry potter/*insert other fantasy game/story here* was evil and could demonstrate that they understood the reasons behind those games and stories at the same time .

Conclusion: willfully ignorant
Action: Ignore

^^I have read reports from minister's of various organizations (never from a mainstream CHristian organization, but from smaller churches like United church of God, not to be mixed up with the Uniting Church, that are more like cults).

Anyhow, one of the ministers of the United Church of God went online about Harry Potter, claiming it was evil and citing reasons why (totally wrong reasons, with all the HP quotes out of context.....). Furthermore, this minister writes: Do not read this book. DO not let your children read this book. I have read it, and it is evil. I can read it without being corrupted because I am an ordained minister of God. You will be corrupted, because you are only a lay member and have no true spiritual knowledge to help you resist the temptations of the devil. So do not read it, just take my word for it.

I'm paraphrasing, but this is essentially what he said. But as I also said, it's the smaller cults rather than the big-time Christian churches that say stuff like this. (though I'm sure there are exceptions somewhere, I've just never seen it).

Regards, PA

My stepdad thought I was posessed or something.

When in reality, I almost never actually "played" the RPGs. . . . . I was creating my character all day. Then I never got to use him.

But I was actually just really depressed at the time, I didn't know what to do with my life.

Now I got into college, and I'm depressed again cuz I need more money for it. . . . . . . .

Often times what I have found is that the louder a church proclaims something as bad, or evil in nature the faster people run to see what it's all about. Take the movie 'Last Temptation of Christ' It hadn't even made a ripple in the movie circles until it was blamed for blasphemous material.

You would think that they'd learn by now.

Well I would say that RPG's are not an endangerment to your soul or any kind of belief that you may have in whatever particular religion you may be involved in.

Where the true problem arises in RPG's recently in the amount of time that people put into these games. I am writing this out of my own experience as well as many I saw playing the games I was playing. It is easy to get caught up in the excitement that they provide now and the ability to build upon something you have started. Time drifts faster then any comprehension on whether you need to use the bathroom or eat for that matter. What suffers is a combination of your intelligence and your life away from the virtual world. In the US it has not become YET an epidemic as it has in other parts of the world. In the past year or two there was a couple that played for hours at a gaming center completely forgetting the child they left in their home who died from neglegence. Also some people have taken the virtual world a little too seriously and attacked in real life those they fought in the virtual world.

So I would just recommend that those who enjoy playing RPG's online to be aware of the time you spend playing and the time you give to your real life. Real life is much more important on your overall development then a make believe world on the internet.

Well anything not done in moderation can be harmful regarless of what it is so how far one takes it depends on wether it sucks out your soul.

All I can say is that the same people who think D&D is a tool of Satan are the same people who condemn rock & Roll, fantasy literature and movies and advocate book burning.

Small minds full of big fears.

We may as well rid our selves of Star wars Star Trek, Frank Herbert, Tolkien RE Howard, Salinger, and any other literature that doesn't "worship" god.

Pah. savages.

after laughing, crying, and laughing again (really just smiled...) I'm wondering if you have tried to discuss your beliefs with them? They might be intimidated by the fact that the only thing they know about paganism is from stereotypes. Just a thought, but it'd be great to hear of a few more average Joe and Janes who aren't quite so wary of pagans etc.

The only danger from RP games like D&D is it seriously threatens your chances of getting laid, but if you're the kind of guy who's really into D&D, well you probably aren't getting much action anyways.

It's sad how some people might actually think that, maybe it would be partially right in a metaphorical way, but still, you are the one who must control your addition, I have been playing Diablo 2 for quite some time now, and it does take a lot of time from me, which isn't really a problem cause I am currently unemployed =(
Now... I wonder if the ultimate game would be allowed, many have speculated that the ultimate videogame would be a MMOVRPG (Massive Multiplayer Onlive Virtual Role Playing Game), this game would had the possibility of doing almost anything, it would had multi-layers of worlds where one could either fight hordes of monsters to simply get a job like in a normal day life (in separated worlds, that would be).
But such game might never be invented, or if it will, it will still take a long time before it appears, and lots of different MMOVRPGs would exist before that one, but we are not even in the era of MMOVRPGs so why worry?
Still, I wonder what would be the capacity of such game to make people addicted to it, how it might destroy lifes, where in reality it will never do (with this I mean that people might loose themselves in that world, while for them they are just having the time of their lives, enjoying the game, to others they would look like they wasted their lifes, which I think that's just stupid, mind your own lifes, if people are happy with their situation then let them be! This is the problem with a big part of society, to not accept others choices), I believe that if such game will ever exist, it will end being destroyed by media, (unless by that time the scientist mind has become normal among the average person, but I doubt that such thing will ever happen in the near future, and even when it will happen there will still be idiots among them)while in reality, the right thing to do would be to just let it exist without any interference.

And they say resurrection is impossible

Such a game where people spent huge chuncks of their lives playing, devoting hours and hours to it evening after evening, has already existed for a long time. It is not a video game but its ardent fans are much like modern "gamers" and are often called fanatics.

The game is called Chess.

That is a Role Playing Game.

Amen.