"Anyway, I'm outing myself as a geezer to tell you about how Dungeons & Dragons - the board game beloved by dorks everywhere - was viewed very differently back in the '80s. It wasn't quirky or wholesome. It was trouble. Dangerous, even. Talk shows, radio programs, church groups, and whispered PTA gossip warned that the game didn't just promote Satanism and the occult - it could literally lead to your kid's death."
"But it was a very different time in the early 1980s. Kids didn't yet have the endless list of "bad influences" they'd have later. Forget TikTok and social media - most kids didn't even have home video games. And if you were lucky enough to have an Atari 2600 or Commodore 64, the games were incredibly basic. Cable TV was still new (MTV didn't launch until late 1981), and VCRs weren't yet standard."
"OK, so how exactly did D&D get such a bad reputation? Well, the panic really took off after the disappearance of James Dallas Egbert III, a troubled teenage prodigy who enrolled at Michigan State University at just 16. In August 1979, Egbert went missing after leaving behind what appeared to be a suicide note. The case drew national attention, especially after his parents hired private investigator William Dear."
In the early 1980s, Dungeons & Dragons was perceived as a dangerous influence blamed for promoting Satanism and causing real-world harm. Conservational media, church groups, radio shows, and PTA gossip amplified fears about basement gaming, magic spells, and demon-summoning roleplay. Limited home entertainment options and the absence of social media focused parental concern on in-person activities. The disappearance of James Dallas Egbert III and investigator William Dear's theory intensified national panic. Popular culture responded with the novel Mazes and Monsters and a 1982 TV movie starring Tom Hanks, depicting immersive roleplaying as a pathway to losing touch with reality.
Read at BuzzFeed
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