CAMPUS AND AREA
University Daily Kansan, February 8, 1985
Game's violence causes concern
By GREG LARSON Staff Reporter
Suicides and killings linked to the rote-playing game Dungeons & Dragons occur only when players are mentally unstable before they play, psychology professors and players of the game said yesterday.
Recently, concern about the effects of the game on its players has spread across the country. A 17-year-old California boy who played the game committed suicide in September. A 17-year-old Colorado player shot his brother, and a 17-year-old Texas player committed suicide in January.
Powler Jones, associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Kansas Medical Center, said the study's threat to mentally stable players.
A 14-year-old Goddard boy charged with shooting and killing his principal and wounding three others who had played Dungeons & Drummons.
MAYNARD SHELLY, professor of psychology, said, "If the individual already likes the world and the teacher the just accelerates their destructive nature."
Dungeons & Dragons leads groups of players on medieval journeys across the land. Courier monsters, traps and other human forms. Sometimes the players kill imaginary beings because of necessity or preference.
Players roll dice to determine their character's charisma, intelligence, strength, constitution, wisdom and dexterity levels. Players also can character's moral alignment, which could be good, neutral or evil.
PLAYERS OF THE game agree that individuals are responsible for taking the game out of context.
Jerry Manweiler, president of the KU Dungeons & Dragons Club, said, "I think that you have to have a certain maturity to play the game. I've never seen anyone who couldn't hear their character from themselves."
Grant Steinie, Parsons graduate student, said, "For the game to be harmful, the person would not be able to separate fantasy and reality. If you can't do that, you are a dangerous individual already."
He said the dungeon master — the person who directs the game — was responsible for weeding out players who couldn't cope with the game.
"THE DUNGEON MASTER can let their character survive and then not play with them. I've done that to several people," he said.
John Sennent, indoor recreation director for Student Union Activities, said, "Dungeons & Dragons doesn't involve demon worship. Most of the players keep Dungeons & Dragons within the scope of the game."
But psychologists stressed that people could become addicted to the game.
Shelly said individuals needed to have diverse interests to grow in a normal manner.
Jones said parents and friends of players shouldn't allow them to play Dungeons & Dragons to the exclusion of other things. The people around an addictive player could notice personality problems, and could help the individual he said.
Although addiction can occur, the psychologists said, it is not automatical.
JONES SAID, "FOR every one case of negative consequences, I would hate to know how many thousand kids haven't been affected. Even people who go to church can become addicted."
Players and psychologists content that Dungeons & Dragons has positive qualities beyond those of other games.
Shelly said. "When you do something and create a product, you are much more involved. That's the advantage of role-playing games."
Steinle said, "What I get out of Dungeons & Dragons is social interaction with some people. Some play it a ball around the room, and we kill imaginary monsters."
Manweiler said, "The game helps you get along with people and puts you in situations that make you devise ways to get out."
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