MORE-ON TIPPER

(heh heh heh)

Dungeons and Dragons does not lead to Satanism. I have been playing D&D since I was twelve, and some much darker games, such as Call Of Cthulu, a gothic horror game based on the works of Howard Philips Lovecraft. Never, in all these six years, have I worshipped Satan. Sure, I joke around and call myself "El Diablo", and such, but I don't even BELIEVE in Satan, much less have the desire to worship a diety whose morals involve pointless slaughter and destruction.
D&D does not lead to Satan worship. Yes, there are devils and demons and evil gods and such, BUT WHO THE HELL ELSE CAN WE USE AS ENEMIES? Sure, in dungeons and Dragons, characters can use magic to slay their enemies and help them along the way, but, once again, it is only a game. On the same coin, would you have teachers ban J.R.R. Tolkien's immortal classic Lord of the Rings Trilogy from school libraries? Gandalf uses magic, but, once again, the purpose is to defeat the Dark Lord of Mordor.

Point Two: Deaths are linked to D&D

This is one I doubt. I have only heard of one such case, but Tipper Gore claims that she can link at least fifty to it. First off, even if this is true, more serious injuries and deaths result from high school sports every year than this, and they are considered all American. Tipper pointedly refers to only one specific occurance, where some poor sap commited suicide because his buddy put a hex on him. His PARENTS blamed it on D&D.
I have even heard of one event, back in the 80's I believe, in which some dufus snorted a bunch of coke, then went off and slaughtered his parents ruthlessly, for Experience Points*. Come on, at least we could do the respectable government thing and blame it on the drugs, rather than the game. I would prefer to blame the parents, TV, and this kids own screwy mental functions. The cocaine was just a catalyst. NORMAL people (or semi-normal in my case) don't go around doing this sort of thing. It's just totally inconcievable to a semi-rational mind. Hmmm... this reminds me of an event in the small town of Union, when a bunch of teenagers commited a string of robberies, and blamed it on a role-playing game, Shadowrun, in conjunction with drugs. I knew these people, and the simple fact was that they were board out of their skulls. The drugs and the game were just scapegoats, something to point a finger at.

Point Three: People Playing D&D lose touch with reallity

Oh for the love of God! What is wrong with people? Lose touch with reality, oh please. DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS IS A GAME!!! It takes an already whacked mind to lose touch with reality in this sort of a scenario. I have yet to do it. I lose touch with reality constantly, but not yet during a game of D&D. The exact same answer to this one as to number two!

IN CONCLUSION: Tipper Gore simply does not know what she is talking about. End of story. It occurs to me that sitting in a basement, drinking coffee and playing Dungeons and Dragons till the wee hours of the moring is considerably safer than, say, giving your kid the keys to the car and sending him on his way. Or most anything else.
Solution: If any D&D players out there can get in touch with Tipper (yeah right) have her sit down with you for a rousing game and several pots of black, black coffee. After a few nights of actually USING HER COBWEBBED IMAGINATION, then maybe she'll have a different perspective.

*Eperience Points: A measure of how much adventuring a D&D character has. More exp. points gives the character more abilities.