Deals with Demons: Decoding the Disfigurement of D&D
Many consider the mystical elements present in Dungeons & Dragons to be the bread and butter of the game; after all, without the monsters, magic and myth that populates the game, it would be just another game about the real world. Players enter into the realm of fantasy to experience what they can't in the real world. It contributes to the escapism, the alternate reality which poses exciting opporunities and challenges to overcome which can't be experienced anywhere else.
These very elements of fantasy, however, also spark the most controversy among critics of D&D. Both radical individuals and certain Christian organizations as a whole have renounced the game as "anti-biblical", such as in Chick Publications' Should a Christian Play Dungeons & Dragons? The basis of arguments such as these is that the very concepts in D&D, are in direct conflict with commandments set forth in the Bible. Magic, combat, and just about every aspect which makes up the bulk of the standard D&D game fly in the face of everything spiritual, and by extension taking part in a game built upon these concepts is in direct conflict with living a life free of sin.
Perhaps one of the most notable claims in these arguments about D&D is that they serve as a sort of "handbook" for satanism or witchcraft. Some of these individuals, such as Christian writer Peter Leithart, have even gone so far as to say that the manuals contain "genuine occult techniques", in his criticism of D&D A Christian Response to D&D. Somehow, by participation in the game, both Chick Publications and Leithart claim that children will be able to perform these rituals themselves, opening gates to hell and creating circles to commune with demons just as they may have seen characters do within the context of the game.
However, these arguments against D&D pose several large problems, some of them created by the organizations which spread these ideas to begin with. Though one of the bones of contention with the game seems to be that they will allow children to perform the magical and satanic feats laid out in the game manuals and books, the very individuals who make this argument also seem to deny the existence of magic, creating a sort of paradoxical argument. Additionally, individuals such as Steve Weese, a Christian who enjoys playing D&D and writes articles defending its merit, remark that while the game content makes references to such things such as demonic doorways and magic, at no point in any of the manuals do they ever provide the slightest instruction for how one could perform such a feat in reality, such as in his article Christians Playing Dungeons and Dragons: Part II. As a part of the writing team for the Christian organization 'Fans for Christ', Weese and others regularly defend the game against arguments which label it as a proponent of satanic activities.
These arguments represent an interesting point in the discussion of the stigmas of D&D. Though both organizations/individuals are rooted in the same religion, they have radically different viewpoints on the content of the game, and its effect on players. This is quite contrary to what one might expect in the analysis of these two viewpoints, and suggests an alternate conclusion on the matter of stigmas concerning D&D: that they are motivated not by religious beliefs or lifestyle, but simply by personal opinion and preferences, just like any other game in history.