I would have liked a definition of "cult". It sounds like you mean it in the sense of idolatry.
Regarding DnD's resemblance to religious practice, I think it goes further than what you suggested.
First, TTRPG's are an echo of gathering around the fire/hearth and passing on the myths of the culture and family. Second, due to the randomness introduced with dice, it has resonance with seance sessions (gathered around a table and consulting an outside force for filling in the blanks).
So the Satanic Panic, though a hysteria can not completely be dismissed in the sense that at least one can say that DnD is not completely neutral in a spiritual sense. It does carry with it a spiritual resonance of practices that some Christians would identify as anathema to their tradition.
So, yes they overblew it but it wasn't nothing.
DnD promises that one will be immersed in an epic adventure where one's choices matter. This is what the soul yearns for. People get sucked into sinking so much time into this because the world in general has not satisfied that yearning. Modernity is not offering a better alternative. So they go for what does quench that thirst even if it is ultimately insufficient.
Good points. But rolling dice and getting a result of random chance is hardly an outside force in the spiritual sense. The same could be said for other games that use dice, and I’m certainly not tapping into the spiritual when I play monopoly.
The origin of dice is as tools of divination (astragalomancy in greek). And divination is definitionally a spiritual act.
If you read my comment carefully you will see I'm not saying that people who play DnD are reading fortune or contacting spirits. I'm saying that games and especially games which utilize chance are resonant with something which is ontologically spiritual.
And yes, random chance is a force outside of you. So recourse to it is recourse to an outside force.
I think D&D can only be a cult in the same way that using any externalized activity as an identity is a cult—in other words, it's not D&D that's the problem. You see the same sort of position and behavior everywhere now—in photography, activism, trade work, baking, music collection, and even fantasy writing. We've forgotten how to understand ourselves, and so we obsess over and define ourselves by interests and other things far more superficial.
Well put! I once idolized my writing and spent every waking moment thinking and stressing about it. It’s not that telling stories is bad. I’m still very passionate about it and would love to turn it into my job. But it shouldn’t be bigger than my God. Thank you for the great read!
I would have liked a definition of "cult". It sounds like you mean it in the sense of idolatry.
Regarding DnD's resemblance to religious practice, I think it goes further than what you suggested.
First, TTRPG's are an echo of gathering around the fire/hearth and passing on the myths of the culture and family. Second, due to the randomness introduced with dice, it has resonance with seance sessions (gathered around a table and consulting an outside force for filling in the blanks).
So the Satanic Panic, though a hysteria can not completely be dismissed in the sense that at least one can say that DnD is not completely neutral in a spiritual sense. It does carry with it a spiritual resonance of practices that some Christians would identify as anathema to their tradition.
So, yes they overblew it but it wasn't nothing.
DnD promises that one will be immersed in an epic adventure where one's choices matter. This is what the soul yearns for. People get sucked into sinking so much time into this because the world in general has not satisfied that yearning. Modernity is not offering a better alternative. So they go for what does quench that thirst even if it is ultimately insufficient.
Good points. But rolling dice and getting a result of random chance is hardly an outside force in the spiritual sense. The same could be said for other games that use dice, and I’m certainly not tapping into the spiritual when I play monopoly.
The origin of dice is as tools of divination (astragalomancy in greek). And divination is definitionally a spiritual act.
If you read my comment carefully you will see I'm not saying that people who play DnD are reading fortune or contacting spirits. I'm saying that games and especially games which utilize chance are resonant with something which is ontologically spiritual.
And yes, random chance is a force outside of you. So recourse to it is recourse to an outside force.
I think D&D can only be a cult in the same way that using any externalized activity as an identity is a cult—in other words, it's not D&D that's the problem. You see the same sort of position and behavior everywhere now—in photography, activism, trade work, baking, music collection, and even fantasy writing. We've forgotten how to understand ourselves, and so we obsess over and define ourselves by interests and other things far more superficial.
That’s very well said, and I totally agree.
I think it's pretty harmless. I see your point but there are worse things.
Just a cult??? Not harmless. You make a lot of very valid points and
Well put! I once idolized my writing and spent every waking moment thinking and stressing about it. It’s not that telling stories is bad. I’m still very passionate about it and would love to turn it into my job. But it shouldn’t be bigger than my God. Thank you for the great read!