Dangerous Games: What the Moral Panic over Role-Playing Games Says about Play, Religion, and Imagined Worlds

By: Joseph P. Laycock

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Synopsis: The 1980s saw the peak of a moral panic over fantasy role-playing games such as "Dungeons and Dragons. " A coalition of moral entrepreneurs that included the Christian Right, psychologists, and law enforcement claimed these games were not only psychologically dangerous but an occult religion masquerading as a game. "Dangerous Games" explores both the history and the sociological significance of this panic. Fantasy role-playing games do share several functions in common with religion. However, religion as a socially constructed world of shared meaning can also be compared to a fantasy role-playing game. In fact, the claims of the moral entrepreneurs, in which they presented themselves as heroes battling a dark conspiracy, often resembled the very games of imagination that they condemned as evil. By attacking the imagination, they preserved the taken-for-granted status of their own socially constructed reality. Interpreted in this way, the panic over fantasy-role playing games yields new insights about how humans play and together construct and maintain meaningful worlds. Laycock s clear and accessible writing ensures "Dangerous Games" will be required reading for those with an interest in religion, popular culture, and social behavior, in the classroom and beyond. "