Sunday, October 25, 2009

D&D and the Moral Panic on CBC (1985)

I'm particularly fascinated with the moral panic surrounding D&D in the early to mid 1980s. I've watched the 60 Miniutes clips posted on youtube before, but recently someone posted clips from the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) from 1985.

I still find it shocking that such a discourse arose out of the game. I also find it ironic that when the odd death occurs "due" to WOW - like one in Barrrie, ON in the last couple years - people don't even notice.

PART I:



PART II:

10 comments:

  1. All right, Mansbridge! Was that his real hair!

    I wish I had seen that documentary back in 1985, what a hoot.

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  2. I lived through that period, as a kid, and not understanding what the heck the evangilists were really getting on about. When TSR tried to improve the image with 2nd Edition, I completely and totally understood what was going.

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  3. I was a first-year undergrad in Nova Scotia in 1985 and had been playing D&D for about four years. Honestly, we never heard anything about any controversy surrounding the game, especially in Canada. Our parents were more concerned that we weren't meeting any girls.

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  4. I once went around a mate's house. He played me a evangalist video of his parents (I think they got him to play it to us) and it was showing the signs of witchcraft. A black cat, occult symbols such as those in astology and right at the end he said and showed "The Dungeons and Dragons game!!"

    I wet myself with laughter. I don't think that was the reaction they were looking for. I keep trying to find it on YouTube - or anywhere.

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  5. I never really noticed much of the furor at the time. I remember my mom and aunt talking about it once, because both I and my cousin played it. But they both thought it was harmless enough.

    Another cousin's mother (a distant cousin, so she isn't an aunt), a librarian like my mother, actively encouraged us to play D&D. The way she saw it, it kept us from going through her oldest son's Playboy collection once she & her husband were asleep. Well, it limited our time perusing Playboy, anyway!

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  6. Oh I lived it in my hometown on Vancouver Island. My mom kept all the clippings. You can relive the fun here.

    http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=459104

    I'm psyched to watch those videos above.

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  7. I totally disagreed with this.

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  8. Dungeons and Dragons is so great!

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  9. uhhh its gone! :(

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