I've read two interesting blog posts that, although it wasn't their primary reason for posting, have interesting subtextual commentary on reality versus fantasy.
Read this post looking for the divides the author, but more specifically the commentators, make between reality and fantasy...
The first is here on Raggi's blog. Raggi is responding to a comment from another blog.
The second is here on Paladin's blog (Paladin gets bonus points for using my favorite word in the English language). Here he's citing articles from Dragon that speak to reality/fantasy.
Both posts highlight material/draw lines on what constitutes reality versus fantasy. For me, I do not believe in reality, so therefore I do not believe in fantasy. They are both social constructs and both part of the same experience. There is no segmentation. There is no difference. I suppose, for me, I like to see the ways reality and fantasy are negotiated in D&D subculture. This was brought home recently while teaching my spring course on the history and culture of RPGs (more on that in a future post).
For me, I do not believe in reality, so therefore I do not believe in fantasy. They are both social constructs and both part of the same experience.
ReplyDeleteYou're not going to tell us you're otherkin are you. :-)
The overall morality of the D&D universe is pragmatism at best and amoral at worst. "Might makes right" seems to be the rule. You are to take treasure or magic away from other players using whatever means are available, including force, magic, intimidation, coercion or negotiation). The Advanced D&D Dungeon Master's guide advises: "The best way to avoid taking damage is to beat the foe so badly he wants to crawl under a rock or, better yet, run away."
ReplyDeleteNow isn't that a wonderful "law of the jungle" kind of morality to instill in a young person? Whatever happened to forgiveness or turning the other cheek? These things seem entirely absent from D&D. Of course they are, they are not very worldly or exciting.
Additionally, the games are very violent. John Eric Holmes, a doctor and editor of the "Dungeons and Dragons Basic Set" believes that the game can be a healthy outlet for anti-social behavior. However, he remarks that "The level of violence in this make believe world runs high. There is hardly a game in which the players do not indulge in murder, arson, torture, rape or highway robbery."
Now, supposedly, some of this violence has been toned down over the years, but the underlying ethos is still one of amorality and violence.
Now, let's start a good old fashioned book burning.
@Grendelwulf: Where are those quotes from? I'd be very interested in reading the original source for "There is hardly a game in which the players do not indulge in murder, arson, torture, rape or highway robbery."
ReplyDeletePsychology Today, Nov. 1980, pg. 93
ReplyDeleteHolmes also states:
ReplyDelete"Moreover, just a Dungeons & Dragons players sometimes begin to think of their characters as real persons with a separate existence of their own, the Dungeon Master sometimes begins to think, 'I wonder what is really beyond the Southern Jungle,' forgetting that he alone has the power to put something there. The make-believe world assumes an eerie sense of reality."
"...believes that the game can be a healthy outlet for anti-social behavior."
ReplyDeleteIn academic terms that's what we call dirty functionalism. That's like saying men are inherently violent therefore we need sports to give them an outlet. It's straight-up bullshit (not Grendelwulf, just Holmes' commentary :) )
And thus is why there is conflict when moralizing, spiritually or intellectually, in RPGs.
ReplyDeleteSome will agree.
Some will disagree.
Some won't know what to think.
Some for the right reasons.
Some for the wrong reasons.
Some for no reason at all.
That's why, as you've said kiltedyaksman, it has to be "negotiated", and carefully at that. :)
I found the link.
ReplyDeleteOn reality and what's beyond the Southern Jungle: Ursula LeGuin said much the same thing about Earthsea. Quoting Realms of Fantasy (no page reference, I'm afraid; my copy was given away): "I am an explorer, not an architect. I discovered Earthsea." I think that 'eerie sense of reality' emerges from any sustained and invested act of creativity - including the fairly mature ones.
ReplyDeleteUnless referencing a friendly stone golem, anyone using the term "social construct" should have the politically correct psycho-babble beaten out of him.
ReplyDelete