So I'm writing another paper..about D&D!

[EndlessWrath]

That's it! I'm writing a new paper about the unfair stereotypes and unfair images defacing the game we all love. I'm not just doing one stereotype (as this is a long paper) but as many as I can get. I have 2 so far that are good and strong, was wondering if anyone else knew others out there that I had no idea existed in the first place.

What I have:
- D&D is evil. -__- very frustrating reading through all 836,000 blog sites that came up. i can barely get through 5.
- D&D makes people anti-social shut ins. This one is a lot easier for me because its not so frustrating.

Does anyone else have any stereotypes or misguided ideas of D&D or D&D players I don't know about?

if your going to post a joke one..which I'm sure someone will because hey, this is the playground and someone is going to.... please post joke at the end. I'd appreciate it. Sarcasm and joking via the internet is harder to tell >.>.


Thanks
-Wrath

[xPANCAKEx]

i think you need to widen your scope

far too many university/college students have written about DnD over the years - so its nothing new to the lecuturers. Even if you focus the mainstay of your article in general is the perception of DnD, if you try to cover other games as well the the paper will get some more attention

[EndlessWrath]

i think you need to widen your scope

far too many university/college students have written about DnD over the years - so its nothing new to the lecuturers. Even if you focus the mainstay of your article in general is the perception of DnD, if you try to cover other games as well the the paper will get some more attention

Its including all tabletop versions of D&D, in addition to all tabletops getting the bad hysteria. However a lot of the evidence supporting my paper is tied to D&D specifically. Therefore... I can't just swap it. But its about all tabletops I can do, saying D&D is just an easier way of saying that.

-Wrath

[SilverSheriff]

I've written about 5 papers on this exact topic... nobody cares... :smallfrown:

[evil-frosty]

I am sorry to hear that Black Pants Guy, that really must suck. But some other stereotypes are we are all satanists, we actually dress up in full plate and robes and then actually perform rituals to cast spells. I think i read somewhere that we were all suicidal, having to do with that kid in the 80's who killed himself and his mom blamed DnD. All i can think of as of right now.

[thubby]

you could move it to role playing games in general. EQ and WoW get a lot of bad press too.

[xPANCAKEx]

I've written about 5 papers on this exact topic... nobody cares... :smallfrown:

im concerned... surely you would have picked up on other peoples ambivilance after the 2nd or 3rd paper?

[EndlessWrath]

I've written about 5 papers on this exact topic... nobody cares... :smallfrown:

Frankly, the only person reading this will be my professor, and she suggested I write about this because I've ranted about it all semester.

--------

I know the satanic one. and the spell one. Already jumping that into "D&D is evil." I'm pretty sure I'm going to keep it on to D&D and other tabletops... If I go into WoW and other online games my teacher will think I'm sidetracking (she's weird like that)

-Wrath

[xyzzy]

Perhaps go for a stereotype that's often portrayed by gamers themselves: all D&D players are male. That's one that's still prevalent, and you could widen it to videogames and other such things if you need more bulk to the topic. The vast majority of people have figured out that D&D isn't evil, so using that isn't necessarily the best plan, but this is still a common portrayal of gaming.

[kpenguin]

Another thing that might need examination is the distinction between tabletop and LARPing...

[Don Julio Anejo]

I just wanted to make a comment that might help with your paper:


- D&D makes people anti-social shut ins. This one is a lot easier for me because its not so frustrating.

Make sure to bring up "correlation does not imply causation." Look for a third variable that might cause both (like reading fantasy novels 24/7 - likely to make you like D&D and spend all your time inside because reading takes a lot of time). Although you may want to address the issue that D&D does take a lot of time to play and it's an indoors "board" game.

As for D&D being evil, I don't think anyone except religious nuts thinks it is anymore. But those same people usually also attack any mass media that isn't good and "wholesome" (read = boring) so no-one cares about what they have to say.

Other than that... all of the stereotypes I can think of are:
- D&D players are shut ins
- D&D players are all nerds
- They're also all male
- And they're all virgins.

[Mauve Shirt]

Mention this. (http://www.chick.com/READING/TRACTS/0046/0046_01.ASP) :smalltongue:

[xPANCAKEx]

other stereotypes:
lack of hygene
lack of social graces
lack of athletic abilities

[EndlessWrath]

Thanks everybody :smallbiggrin:.

Wrath is on 6th out of 8 pages and its mostly about the D&D is evil. Extra thanks (and cookies) to mauve for the comic link, I've been looking for that but I haven't been able to find it.

-Wrath

great.. So I got 5 hours to write another page.. a bibliography..and another paper on Cyber Crime. Go me!

[Castaras]

"All D&D players are 16 year old hormonal driven teenage boys. Any female characters they play are sluts that drop their clothes at anything, fulfilling said teenage boy's fantasies."

There, another stereotype for you. :smalltongue:

[Surfing HalfOrc]

Physical Characteristics of D&D players:

All D&D players that can grow facial hair sport neckbeards.
They're either malnourished skinny, or morbidly obese.
Hygene is what they say to their friend Gene.

Mental Characteristics:
All are intellegent, and gloat over it.

Hygene characteristics:
Showering? What's that?
Deoderant? Huh?
Shampoo and conditioner? Dude, are those even real products?

Topics of discussion among non-gamers:
Dude! It's such a cool game! You gotta come play!
My character? He's a half-elven Paladin of Solarnus, with +2 armor of of spikeness, and a +3 Holy Slayer ego 13 empathaic sword and blah, blah, blah (for a minimum of 10 minutes)
Seriously, it's not Satanic at all! It's just the news media and a few parents back in the 1980's got hold of a couple of stories, and twisted them...

As with any stereotype, there are those who fit everything to a T, and those whom you would never have suspected.

Good luck with the paper. What class are you taking?

[Maximum Zersk]

Seriously, it's not Satanic at all

Funny thing is, that Satanism is completely different. :smalltongue:

Some stereotypes is it's evil, yeah. I've heard my friend say it's nerdy. Another stereotype. My friend also plays World of Warcraft. :smallamused:

[Gamerlord]

Mental Characteristics:
All are intellegent, and gloat over it.


But...I DO gloat over my intellect :smalltongue: .

[Lioness]

Healthy gaming snacks!

Or the lack thereof.

[Solaris]

"All D&D players are 16 year old hormonal driven teenage boys. Any female characters they play are sluts that drop their clothes at anything, fulfilling said teenage boy's fantasies."

There, another stereotype for you. :smalltongue:

Right, some of us are in our twenties. [/joke]

[EndlessWrath]

Gah I'm almost done the second paper which is about Cybercrime -__-. Teacher chose that topic because her class could..."relate to it"
Thanks for suggestions guys. it was an awesome paper.


Physical Characteristics of D&D players:

All D&D players that can grow facial hair sport neckbeards.
They're either malnourished skinny, or morbidly obese.
Hygene is what they say to their friend Gene.

Mental Characteristics:
All are intellegent, and gloat over it.

Hygene characteristics:
Showering? What's that?
Deoderant? Huh?
Shampoo and conditioner? Dude, are those even real products?

Topics of discussion among non-gamers:
Dude! It's such a cool game! You gotta come play!
My character? He's a half-elven Paladin of Solarnus, with +2 armor of of spikeness, and a +3 Holy Slayer ego 13 empathaic sword and blah, blah, blah (for a minimum of 10 minutes)
Seriously, it's not Satanic at all! It's just the news media and a few parents back in the 1980's got hold of a couple of stories, and twisted them...

As with any stereotype, there are those who fit everything to a T, and those whom you would never have suspected.

Good luck with the paper. What class are you taking?

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm taking an english writing course. we pick out topics. This is my final
-Wrath

[Phoenix86]

I'll be back later to post something ''deeper''. But right now, i just wanted to share this link :smallwink: ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SzZRwhmopc

[SilverSheriff]

I'm concerned... surely you would have picked up on other peoples ambivalence after the 2nd or 3rd paper?

Because I had a different audience every time. ("Hey, maybe I'll get through to someone this time!")