D&D (Dungeons and Dragons)

[Lost_Wanderer]

In the gaming world, I love almost all aspects of sex presented in there (that’s the truth.). Not all I love, but most of it. I won’t go into details. I even made some really… sexy music videos from some video game content and posted up on youtube. I DO have a great talent for that. I have sinned heavily, I would take down those videos one day, may god give me the grace.

Ah yes, I’m quite familiar with that side. It has cons sure but there’s also pros. I mean, if I were to imagine myself entering some underground, forbidden market, I would think that I, as an adult, would have plenty of grisly details to expect. Furthermore, I’m not so easily distracted. I tend to focus more on the nearest fool to set on fire rather than the nearest hooker.

The same goes for when one enters a Cathedral. I would expect peace, tranquility, cleanliness, etc.

Fictional they may be, game worlds are still worlds. It’s actually quite paradoxical that we still expect a sense of realism even though we enjoy suspending our disbelief in fantasy.

I’m against rape, sexual torture (BDSM, used to like it alot), prostitution, bestiality, homosexuality. I mean for those people who like those kind of stuff I don’t judge against them, it is their own personal struggling fight.

Well so am I but that doesn’t deny the existence of such crimes (even in fantasy). However, where there is a hero, there has to be a villain. That’s how fiction works. There must be some form of conflict and the evils you describe are just one of the many ways you can start one.

 

[Lost_Wanderer]

Herein, I think, lies the problem, for the very fact that they are enthusiasts prehaps prevents them from looking at the oppossing arguments and disquiet that people have with this game in a detached and dispassionate manner.

Proven fact: Religious zealots are more prone to emotional appeal than gaming enthusiasts.

It is undeniably difficult to remain unemotional when something that someone derives an immense amount of pleasure from is being attacked and negatively appraised, especially if men are convinced that that attack is due to plain ignorance or some perceived prejudice.

Proof of appeal to emotion: Portrait has not responded to any logical demand that requested justification for his parrallelomania.

However, dear friends, I think that the fans of this game are in denial as to what constitutes sorcery, witchcraft and magic, which is using supernatural powers which are not of divine origin.

Folks, this in fact both the main and also the most discriminatory argument of people like Portrait. It also fails because, like the word ‘magic’, the term supernatural is a loose one.

This is why I’ve been asking you all: What if, one day, many of us started waking up to these ‘not-of-God’ powers? What if, for some reason, curlycool over there could manipulate stone with mere thought, I start sprouting dragon wings and breathing fire, and Melissa over there can make illusory copies of herself?

The worst-case-scenario: We’d have the fantasy version of X-Men and folks like him will either be Stryker or Kelly.

All of this because they choose to discriminate against people with power.
All of this because of a loose definition of what is now ‘supernatural’ in fantasy.

 

[Melissa]

Bless your heart, Portrait, logic just is not your strength. Sadly, truth is also something which is found lacking in your screed. It is not merely aficionados who point out the deficiencies in your logic, but by the same token, we could mirror your words to hold up your own inability to consider alternative viewpoints due to … well, to be honest, I’ve never been quite sure what dog you have in this fight, since it has been demonstrated ad nauseum that these “parallels” do not exist.

Another deception of Satan is to lie.

Irony overwhelms me here.

For those who are concerned with truth, insofar as role-playing games are concerned, the truth is that the spells are nothing more than an imaginary tool for solving imaginary problems in an imaginary universe. In this imaginary universe, one might find a locked chest. For some reason, the characters need to get inside this chest. The fighter does not really have a good tool for this problem … he could chop it apart with the weapons he uses in a fight, but then the chest would be useless, so we’d consider that a suboptimal choice. The cleric is also rather limited in this particular problem in the same way as the fighter. The thief character might pick the lock (by rolling a d100). The mage character might cast a “knock” spell (by the player saying “Aglaia [actual character name in one of the games I run] casts knock on the chest”) This is the reality of what “pretending to use” these character skills means.

In a fight, the characters roll a 20-sided dice to determine whether they successfully hit (by weapon) a foe. No swords are unsheathed, no magic missiles fly against the darkness, no holy symbols are brandished. No one breaks a sweat (unless running back from the kitchen to get back with the Mountain Dew and Doritos before its your turn to roll).

And for LZ2000–to be honest, talking about “the gaming world” as some sort of all-encompassing term really doesn’t make sense. It would be rather like talking about the “nutritional values of the grocery store” as though there were no distinction between the produce department, the candy aisle, and the cleaning product section.

 

[Crescentinus]

Maybe Stryker is an anti-Catholic?

 

[Lost_Wanderer]

Maybe Stryker is an anti-Catholic?

No, Stryker is anti-mutant. Religious or otherwise. According to wiki, this particular incarnation believes that mutants are in fact corrupted, pre-natal souls that should be eradicated.

What’s frightening is that Portrait here operates on the same logic. Any person that demonstrates a fantastical ability such as magic is damned because the power is ‘not of God’.

The fact that they can’t even put a nail to what defines supernatural is just the first sign of their shaky reasoning.

 

[Portrait]

Dearly beloved friends,

Cordial greetings and a very good day.

It is normally my custom to take a breather from posting on the boards at weekends, but in this instance I feel that an exception is most necessary.

Evidently my posts have been the occasion of much offence and so may I take this opportunity to proffer my profound and heartfelt apologies to all those contributors to whom my posts have been displeasing. Truly sorry, dear friends, it was not my intention to wound the feelings of anyone or for there to be a violation of Christian charity. Where I do have strong disagreements with other forum users I always endeavour to disagree amicably and not allow my mode of expression to become antagonsitic, however, it would appear that on this occasion I have woefully failed. Neither was it my aim to sully the character of any contributor by an appeal to the emotions rather than to reason, so apologies for any hurt on that score.

Let me just say, my dear frineds, that it does genuinely concern me when men find my contributions uncharitable, unreasonable and offensive, as I put much effort into them and strive jolly hard to be rational and to sustain a friendly tone. This I deem to be so necessary on a public forum such as this where men can all to easily express themselves more trenchantly than they would speak to each other inter parties and where the anonymity of the internet can encourage a loss of inhibitions and courtesy. Moreover, there is also a jolly good deal of scope for misunderstanding and men may not always explain themselves well or elaborate sufficiently by providing proof of their assertions (even though they might have thought they had), thereby giving unintended offence and eliciting a hostile response.

Finally, as a token of my goodwill, I shall cease posting any further contributions in the present thread. In any event, I think I have outstayed my welcome and that it is time for me to bow out from the discussion. Once again, dear friends, I kindly entreat your forgiveness for being the sad occasion of any hurt and offence.

God bless you all and may you enjoy the rest of the weekend, whatever are your plans.

Warmest good wishes and prayers,

Portrait

Pax:tiphat: