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| - When discussing the role-playing activity with avid role-players, it is best to take a moderate or even neutral stance at the beginning, especially if your true intent is to convince them of the moral wrongness of the activity. Over the course of your discussions with the role-player, however, you will find it rewarding (at least in terms of the salvation of their souls) to “up the ante” as it were, regaling them with more and more horrific accounts of those players who were seduced by such games. You may find it useful to tell role-players about the Dallas youths who were burned to death in the steam tunnels of Southern Methodist University (of course it was the Methodists) while exploring them for treasure. Tell them about the syphilis-related insanity of Jimmy Cox, a Tennessee teenager who used role-playing games to build around him a coven of homosexuals. Tell them about Michelle Sikes, the Montana role-player who had a sex-change operation. The more perversion you can ascribe to involvement with role-playing the better. You may even wish to fabricate some of your own, to better illustrate the point to your specific at-risk individual. Witness, if you will, the activities of Latricia Pushing, founder of SADD (Sickened About Dungeons & Dragons). Pushing’s position was one of immediate, active opposition — I can’t fault her for this, of course, as the titular game led to the suicide of her son “Dink” — but nothing serves to galvanize a debate rival against oneself than an open statement of hostility to his standpoint. Indeed, many of today’s role-players believe themselves to be besieged by some sort of potent anti-role-playing lobby. Would that this were true — ah, but this is not the venue for fancies and wish. Openly claiming a position against the role-playing earns the player’s ire immediately, and they almost invariably respond with accusations of alignment with the “moral majority” or some other convenient faction that they believe seeks to oppress their activity. The late Ms. Pushing’s attempts to formalize an opposition to the activity unfortunately had the side-effect of providing a rallying point against which role-players could unite. Now, rational first-stage arguments against the role-playing activity and acknowledgements of its detrimental spiritual effect serve only to ignite acrimony, usually laden with a healthy dose of adolescent histrionics. By not immediately exposing oneself as an opponent of this morally crippling activity, a clever individual can bypass these fervent defenses. While I’m not normally the sort to advocate subversion or guile, neither am I too proud to use the Devil’s own tactics against him. Discuss role-playing with the enthusiast from a position of intent to learn, or of interest in something with which you have no familiarity. The price of doing the Lord’s work does not come cheaply, and you must be prepared — like any cult activity, adherents of the role-playing activity will attempt to woo you into their fold, either by regaling you with tales of their “characters’” exploits or invitations to their games, “just to see what it’s about.” In my experience, it is difficult to deal with these tactics. Listening to accounts of the role-players’ games is either the height of tedium (it must be said, pardon my air of judgment) or evinces strong feelings of pity, as these individuals genuinely exult in the jeopardy of their souls. Like damned pagans, they thrill to the exploits of their forbidden activity, never knowing the true price that the Devil places upon their souls. Invitations to participate, if accepted, place the individual in a precarious position himself, and will probably expose him to the scourges of drugs, fornication, homosexuality and Catholicism/paganism in many cases. Extracting a role-player from his spiritual jeopardy is better accomplished by working around the cult activity rather than by attempting to steer the individual away from it. Invite the role-player to join you in watching a movie, participating in a sporting event, or taking part in some other wholesome activity. Do not make claims of this alternate activity being better for the individual than the role-playing activity, as that serves only to agitate their already extant feelings of embattlement. Make your invitations more and more frequent — soon, the role-player will naturally find himself drawn to the healthier pastimes you suggest, as well as finding his self-esteem bolstered by inclusion in group activities and the company of people who earnestly appreciate him for who he is, rather than the accomplishments of some mythical persona. Don’t be afraid to “kick it up a notch,” though, warning the role-player about the potential hazards of the activity. Tell them, for instance, that role-playing is little different from homosexuality, in which gays and lesbians “role-play” the parts of women and men, respectively. Warn them about the sexual deviancy in addition to the social deviancy — point out to them that the activity borders on delusion (“You are not an elf, Tommy!”) and heresy (“If God intended for you to act like a demon, he would have made you a demon, Jenny”).
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