Role Playing Games

The idea of role playing is not new as most children practice it almost instinctively , imitating the life of grownups and heroes that they see around them , but it until 1974 it was something most people stopped when they began to reach their teen years . Then , people who had grown up playing board games that simulated battles from Chess to Battleship to complex miniature reenactments of actual battles decided that combining the playing pretend of childhood and the board games of their teen years should be combined into a new and interesting entertainment

, role playing games , called RPGs for short (Wiseman and Stackpole 1991 . The games were originally designed to incorporate the strategy of the war games and board games with high fantasy and storytelling . What resulted was a plethora of new game types ranging from high fantasy like Dungeons and Dragons to dark fantasy like Call of Cthulhu and Vampire to dark future like Cyperpunk and Shadowrun . The games draw from classic literature like H .P . Lovecraft and William Gibson and Bram Stoker

Strangely though , this new genre met with almost immediate dis and attacks . It has been linked unfavorably to suicide , murder and school shootings . On the other hand , educators have argued it is an effective way to teach (Blatner 1995 . Role playing can teach social interaction higher reasoning skills , and problem solving . Unfortunately , many middle aged people who were out of high school and college by the time the games became popular have missed the point entirely and see only the media driven stereotype of a fringe activity . Therefore , it is imperative that people evaluate the process of role playing themselves and not accept the stereotypes . Role playing engenders social activity and leadership , teaches problem solving and critical thinking skills and provides a health form of escapism

To critically approach role playing , it is important first off to understand the criticisms levied against it . The first widespread attention to the new system came after best-selling fiction author Rona Jaffe wrote a novel entitled , Mazes and Monsters . The book depicts a college student who plays a game remarkably similar to Dungeons Dragons , goes more than a bit crazy and ends up a danger to himself and others in the steam-tunnels under his college (Jaffe , 1981 . Then , in 1984 , it was made into a TV Movie of the Week The film was originally entitled "Dungeons and Dragons " but I suppose CBS wasn 't interested in the slander libel charges that would have surely followed its December 28th showing . Mazes and Monsters ' basic plot line (while deviated from on occasion ) follows our bosom buddy Robbie (played by an embarrassed Tom Hanks ) on a journey from innocent college gaming sessions to a freaked out mental breakdown ( Spooky Librarians ' 2007 . To add to the hysteria , in 1996 , Rod Ferrell , who was 17 at the time , killed a friend 's parents with a crowbar . The other teens involved claimed he was the leader of a vampire cult based on the game Vampire : The...