Oxymoron: Christian Gamer?

Was reading Don's comment (hi Don! at least i hope you are the don i know) about DND under my spinach pasta entry, wanted to reply but Blogger hates my OS.So I thought would do it in an entry instead.

I realise that in my old church I might not have so readily talked about my love for gaming as gaming has come to be associated strongly with satanism, occult etc since the 1980s. I would approach the DND issue with as much balance as the whole "Harry Potter is Satan" fiasco.

Don't know how many of you have seen this infamous anti DND tract drawn by an infamous guy called Jack Chick, who is renown for adrawing a couple of other anti-Catholic Church, anti-Islam etc tracts. For a more detailed run-down on his point of view, click here.

Personally, what I feel about DND and gaming in general (ala Never winter Nights!) is summed up by this famous article by Mark Joseph Young, a youth pastor/DM. He points out the potential pitfalls in it and also the possibility of it being a teaching tool.

He also has a cool little alignment quiz here, if you wanna find out what moral alignment your character would take on in the DND world.

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My earliest memory of DND was watching my brother DM all nighter games with his friends. They build massive, elaborate landscapes on our family ping-pong table, accessorised with little hand-painted lead miniatures which pale in detail compared to today's metal die-cast stuff. Anyhow one day my brother was bored and desperate enough to make me play a game with him as all his pals were out. I must have been in lower primary school back then. Did not know any rules, I just rolled dice when my brother said roll and watched my tragic little band of characters get killed from my incompetence. :) I was playing an early DND module based on the Dragonlance Chronicles series of books so my characters were actually pre-made ones based on the characters in the books. So when my favourites bit the dust, I did feel sore. I think I killed off either Goldmoon or Sturn Brightblade or something. :)

I only started playing DND for real in 2003 with a group of university friends - we played a total of 2 campaigns and 3 casts of characters. One cast got tragically wiped out in a DM orchestrated wave of killer goblins who managed to cut off all our heads literally. Stupid dice. Unfair DM.

I tend to keep picking cleric characters and find it interestingly very difficult to make unethical decisions even within the "game" context. I persist in playing the medic/ warrior archetype that must right wrongs. I ought to play paladins given my tendencies but secretly think they are uncool. haha. I pick neutral good alignments but always get warned in game that I am playing towards lawful good all the time. Stupid do-gooder cleric who tells rogues not to pick pocket and always nobly attempts to reason with the Big Bad VIllain.

Presently, I play DND and Earthdawn with a group of 20/30somethings. My current DM and his wife, also a gamer, are both Christians. Personally, I thought one of the most brilliant moments in his campaign was when all of us were trapped in some kind of mystical moral limbo where we faced Judgement. Those of us who chose to hold onto self-centredness stayed in limbo, those who chose to admit our wrongs were given redemption, a second chance.

Okay, so its not exactly word for word BIble theology but it does give an interesting opportunity to discuss ethical "what would you do? why did you do that?" situations with your non-christian gaming buddies. :)

I also realise why non gamers may feel antsy about how "harmless" these games are. Gamers talk casually about "casting spells" and "memorising spells" - no actual memorising or casting of mumbojumbo actually happens at all in the game. When I say I had to memorise a sleep spell, all I mean is that I had to pencil in the words "sleep spell" onto my character sheet . If i am playing Never Winter on the comp, memorising spells just means clicking a button.

that said, there is a whole genre of gaming known as LARP - live action role play. now honestly that gets a bit more dodgy. While conventional table top gaming is just a bunch of nerds (me!) sitting around talking and imagining stuff in the head, LARP advocates you Really get into character. Thats when reality can go fuzzy to me...for kids with low self-esteem, the glamour of playing out a powerful, beautiful, intelligent alter ego can be intoxicating i would imagine.

DND table top gaming still happens to be the cheapest way to get your fantast genre fix. It's like how dinosaurs used to play Diablo and Neverwinter Nights back when computers were still orange and green VGA graphics. ah the good old days. It's imaginative, creative, lots of fun interaction, you see sides of your friends that never came out before but yes....as with all things on this sordid world, exercise caution and never go overboard. and never never never let it compromise the more important things in life. :)