The ancient Jews were constantly building hedges around their divine law. God told them that the Sabbath was a day of rest. He told them to keep it holy. He also commanded them to allow their servants to rest on the Sabbath. By the time of Jesus, the Jewish government had a large and complex set of laws based on this fairly simple commandment. A specific distance was set, beyond which it was illegal to travel on the Sabbath. The people were required to prepare their Sabbath meals the day before, to avoid the work of food preparation on the Sabbath. Specific activities were forbidden by law, including many charitable activities, to avoid work on the Sabbath. (Jewish leaders even accused Jesus of Sabbath breaking for healing someone.) This one law, to keep the Sabbath day holy, was surrounded by a thick hedge of additional laws to avoid even the smallest chance of breaking God's law.
The Sabbath was not the only law that the Jews built hedges around. Practically every commandment had something in Jewish law to clarify or extend it. Jewish leaders were so afraid of the people breaking commandments that they hardly gave them room to think for themselves.
Sadly, this hedge building is fairly common today as well. It is even becoming common in government, not just religion. The Catholic Church has laws against using birth control, based not on commandments, but rather based on two unrelated scriptures. The first is God's command to Adam and Eve to multiply. The second is an isolated incident where Judah's son Onan was killed by God for using a very primitive form of birth control (which is, ironically, the only form of birth control considered permissible by modern Catholics). (Note that Biblical experts contend over the actual reason for God's wrath. The most likely reason for God's reaction is not the use of birth control. Onan was required by law to impregnate his dead brother's wife, to give his brother offspring, and he deliberately used the birth control to avoid fulfilling this responsibility.)
Now, I want to discuss a few hedges found in the LDS (or Mormon) Church. There are probably fewer official hedges in the LDS faith than many other churches, but the culture within the Church has spawned its own hedges. As much as 50% of Mormon's believe it is forbidden by Church doctrine to drink caffeinated beverages. This is based on LDS scripture forbidding members from drinking "hot beverages" (later clarified as meaning coffee and tea specifically). Around the early '90s, Church leadership published a press release stating that no such law (forbidding caffeine) existed, and that rather, the Church discourages the use of any addictive substance in a case where it would cause addiction (in reference to caffeine, this merely means to consume it only in moderation, with good judgment). Despite this press release, Church culture still regards the consumption of caffeine as sinful.
Another Mormon hedge is forbidding women from working outside the home. Thankfully, Mormon culture has largely gotten over the idea that even single women should not work outside the home, but it still holds that married women should not. LDS Church policy provides only mild support for this, but it also explicitly recognizes that this is subject to exceptions, and it is really only the business of the couple and God. Many Mormons, however, still believe that other couples' personal choices are their own business in this regard. First, I need to clarify: The point of this Church policy is not that "women belong in the home and men should be the breadwinners." The point is that children thrive more when cared for by a parent in the home than they do in day care or in the care of baby sitters. Since women are typically better suited to this task than men, it makes the most sense, in the typical situation, for the mother to be the one that cares for the children. Now, a female friend of mine discovered, with her husband, that he was better at caring for the children than she was, when he lost his job, and only she could find work. They are both quite content with her working and him being a stay-at-home dad, but her mother-in-law has taken this hedge to the extreme, telling them that they are sinning by having her work instead of him. This is perhaps Mormon cultural hedges at their worst. As with caffeine, this is not Church doctrine or even Church policy. This is entirely cultural, and it actually violates Church policy, which specifically states that there are exceptions to this policy which are only the business of the couple involved.
There are a few hedges more I want to discuss. One is the opposition to Dungeons and Dragons. D&D is a table top role playing that got a lot of flak in the past because of some extremely stupid acts taken by some people who played it. It was blamed for some murders as well as some other crimes. Many churches during that time took up arms against the game, claiming that it was evil because the rules included the mention of demons and devils (they were mentioned as potential enemies for the players to defeat, but the opponents of the game left that fact out; they also left out that the Bible itself mentions such evil entities more frequently than the D&D rules). Supposedly, at some point, an LDS leader said that the game was evil and should be avoided. I have searched for this reference on multiple occasions, with no luck. The most reasonable person I have talked to about this told me that what was actually said recommended that Church members use good judgment when playing games (D&D, as an example), because it could be easy to get sucked into some games. Dungeons and Dragons has become a common game among Mormon gamers, and thus far, there have been no reports of harm caused. One beneficial part of Mormon culture is a focus on spending time wisely, and it is likely that this tempers the potential risk of becoming too focused on a game.
The most prevalent game based hedge in Mormon culture is playing cards. A Mormon leader once asked members of the Church to stay away from "face cards." (I also have been unable to find this reference.) This has lead to a widespread belief within the Church that playing cards are forbidden. This is actually completely wrong, and it is based on a misunderstanding of language. One reason for the immediate assumption that "face cards" meant playing cards is that the Church already forbids gambling. The assumption here was that the Church leadership was building a hedge around the gambling law, to "help" Church members to avoid the temptation. This is not what actually happened though. The LDS Church does not build hedges (and has taken pains over the last few decades to eliminate the hedges that have managed to get in). It expects members to govern themselves (and frequently says as much). The misunderstanding was in the simple fact that "face cards" did not mean playing cards. The royalty in playing cards are sometimes referred to as face cards, but this term was hijacked from another type of cards: Tarot cards. The Church leader was not telling people to avoid playing cards or to remove the royalty from the deck first. He was telling people to avoid what was becoming a common method of fortune telling, and since Tarot cards are not used for any other purpose, it was easier to forbid "face cards" than to explain in more detail. Most of the people at that time understood, so no explanation was needed. Since then, Tarot cards have declined in popularity, so few modern Mormon's recognize that "face cards" does not mean the royalty in playing cards, in this context. Consequently, many Mormon homes forbid the use or possession of playing cards within the home.
These are not the only hedges in Mormon culture, but they are some of the most prominent. There are plenty of other hedges, like the opposition to government welfare on the grounds of Church policy encouraging self sufficiency (or worse, on the grounds of personal responsibility, which has been proven to not apply to a vast majority of those in poverty). In the LDS Church, we sometimes even discuss the hedges of the Jews, but few of us recognize the hedges withing our own religious culture. To be clear, these hedges are not doctrinal hedges like those of the Jews. They are not supported by Church leadership. Nearly all Mormon hedges are entirely cultural in nature, and they are often the result of misunderstandings or incorrect assumptions from Church membership. The result of this is almost always unrighteous judgment of others, which is forbidden by Church doctrine.
(I am LDS, I drink caffeine on long drives to stay awake, I play games with playing cards, and I play D&D, when I have time. Judge me if you dare.)
Showing posts with label role playing games. Show all posts
Showing posts with label role playing games. Show all posts
01 February 2015
10 July 2014
D&D for Old Folks
I have had a strong opinion on D&D and similar role playing games for some time. Unlike popular opinion, my opinion is not a negative one. Pen and paper role playing games, like Dungeons and Dragons, can be highly educational. When played in groups (group play is typical), they also improve interpersonal skills like communication and team work. When played properly (role playing as opposed to pure hack and slash), they also help participants to look at things from other points of view. No computer game can compete with a face to face, pen and paper RPG.
There are some potential problems with role playing games like D&D. Occasionally, we hear stories about people who have become hopelessly addicted to the game. On even more rare occasions, we hear stories about someone doing something stupid that could be linked to their D&D game. These almost always get blown out of proportion (these are nearly always mentally unstable people, and there has never been any evidence that D&D caused the poor behavior), but addiction is a valid concern. Thankfully, there is no evidence that D&D or any other pen and paper RPG is any more addictive than similar video games. In fact, because pen and paper RPGs require scheduling play time around the schedules of several people, most groups play only once a week to once a month (the exception is high school groups which sometimes play 5 days a week during lunch periods and tend to have higher addiction rates as a result). People who play computer RPGs tend to play at least several days a week for a few hours, and many play several hours every day. Addiction to computer games in general has become a big enough problem to get specialized attention from the medical field. Addiction to pen and paper RPGs is so uncommon that people make a big deal about it when cases are discovered. (Ok, so part of the reason for this is that more people play computer RPGs, but the point still stands.)
Now, to get to the point. I have had this idea for over 10 years, but I have not really had time to do much about it. I just read an article that reminded me of it and gave me a very good reason to discuss it here. This article discusses seniors that gamble out of boredom. Evidently, a significant percentage of U.S. seniors gamble because they do not have anything better to do. Some claim they do it for the social interaction, however, upon observation, it is found that almost no social interaction takes place in the casinos aside from lunch time. The rest of the time is spent gambling on very non-social machines. The gambling itself offers no social interaction. All of the social interactions occur during the trips to and from the casino and during meals. In most cases, according to studies funded primarily by the gambling industry (red flag), most seniors gamble responsibly. The problem I see is that they think they are spending their money on a social experience, but they are not getting the actual experience. Besides the false advertising (casino ads typically show groups of people having positive social experiences, when in reality most gamblers are sitting at a machine, ignoring everything else), these people are craving social experience, but they are not getting what they need. In the article, one person is quoted as lamenting that her generation did not invent something better for seniors to do than squander their money gambling. She is wrong. Her generation (or maybe the one directly before her) did invent something superior to gambling.
Most older people choose to gamble out of boredom. When people get old, fun physical activity becomes difficult and painful, so the normal things younger people do for fun are either painful or even outright dangerous for older people. The current older generation is not very computer literate, and thus the computer games with good long term value can be very difficult for them to learn. They also grew up during a time when most social interaction was face to face, and they prefer that to the impersonal online interactions found in computer games. My solution is Dungeons and Dragons (or any other pen and paper RPG).
Dungeons and Dragons allows people to try new things by proxy. An 80 year old man may not have the physical capacity to travel much, but in an RPG, he can role play a 20 year old youth with very good stamina and strength. Through his character, he can experience things and places that he cannot experience in person due to his age. Even further, he can experience things through his character that no one can experience in real life. Though it is often frowned upon, women can play male characters and men can play female characters (it also tends to be more difficult to role play characters that are a different gender from the player). Further, addiction is less problematic for older people, in some degree, because they tend to be less susceptible to addiction, and because gaming addiction is far less likely to interfere with their lives.
Note that not all pen and paper RPGs are based on a fantasy environment. A D&D-like modern RPG system exists called Modern D20. Shadowrun is another RPG system that is futuristic (the genre is often called cyberpunk). There are also superhero RPGs, anime RPGs, steampunk RPGs, and nearly any other kind of RPG you can think of. And if you are worried about claims of a certain RPG being evil and demonic, the involvement of any brand of supernatural power (good or evil) is up to the DM (who hosts the game) and the players. (D&D has some seriously evil monsters, however, it has a selection of monsters so large that the DM must chose a subset of them to use in the game. In fact, a game heavy on role playing and light on combat might not include any of the fantasy monsters available for the game.) Ultimately, the direction and content of the game is up to the DM and the players. If they are really set on gambling, they could even play a game where their characters go on a casino road trip (a good setting for this might be the 1800s, when much of gambling was done face to face with a dealer and other players). At least this way, the money squandered would be fake.
Old people, especially those in elderly care homes, do not have much to do with their time. They often suffer from extreme boredom. Many have taken up gambling as a hobby, because they think it will provide social interaction that they crave. Unfortunately, it does not, and it costs money than many elderly people cannot afford to lose. Role playing games are less addictive and far cheaper than gambling. They offer a wide variety of possible social interactions. They provide good mental stimulation and experiences that can not be had any other way. With a good DM, even the learning curve is quite shallow (players tell the DM what their characters do, and the DM explains what happens in response; the DM can handle most of the rules). I think that we could solve this gambling problem for elderly people by offering face to face, pen and paper role playing experiences.
There are some potential problems with role playing games like D&D. Occasionally, we hear stories about people who have become hopelessly addicted to the game. On even more rare occasions, we hear stories about someone doing something stupid that could be linked to their D&D game. These almost always get blown out of proportion (these are nearly always mentally unstable people, and there has never been any evidence that D&D caused the poor behavior), but addiction is a valid concern. Thankfully, there is no evidence that D&D or any other pen and paper RPG is any more addictive than similar video games. In fact, because pen and paper RPGs require scheduling play time around the schedules of several people, most groups play only once a week to once a month (the exception is high school groups which sometimes play 5 days a week during lunch periods and tend to have higher addiction rates as a result). People who play computer RPGs tend to play at least several days a week for a few hours, and many play several hours every day. Addiction to computer games in general has become a big enough problem to get specialized attention from the medical field. Addiction to pen and paper RPGs is so uncommon that people make a big deal about it when cases are discovered. (Ok, so part of the reason for this is that more people play computer RPGs, but the point still stands.)
Now, to get to the point. I have had this idea for over 10 years, but I have not really had time to do much about it. I just read an article that reminded me of it and gave me a very good reason to discuss it here. This article discusses seniors that gamble out of boredom. Evidently, a significant percentage of U.S. seniors gamble because they do not have anything better to do. Some claim they do it for the social interaction, however, upon observation, it is found that almost no social interaction takes place in the casinos aside from lunch time. The rest of the time is spent gambling on very non-social machines. The gambling itself offers no social interaction. All of the social interactions occur during the trips to and from the casino and during meals. In most cases, according to studies funded primarily by the gambling industry (red flag), most seniors gamble responsibly. The problem I see is that they think they are spending their money on a social experience, but they are not getting the actual experience. Besides the false advertising (casino ads typically show groups of people having positive social experiences, when in reality most gamblers are sitting at a machine, ignoring everything else), these people are craving social experience, but they are not getting what they need. In the article, one person is quoted as lamenting that her generation did not invent something better for seniors to do than squander their money gambling. She is wrong. Her generation (or maybe the one directly before her) did invent something superior to gambling.
Most older people choose to gamble out of boredom. When people get old, fun physical activity becomes difficult and painful, so the normal things younger people do for fun are either painful or even outright dangerous for older people. The current older generation is not very computer literate, and thus the computer games with good long term value can be very difficult for them to learn. They also grew up during a time when most social interaction was face to face, and they prefer that to the impersonal online interactions found in computer games. My solution is Dungeons and Dragons (or any other pen and paper RPG).
Dungeons and Dragons allows people to try new things by proxy. An 80 year old man may not have the physical capacity to travel much, but in an RPG, he can role play a 20 year old youth with very good stamina and strength. Through his character, he can experience things and places that he cannot experience in person due to his age. Even further, he can experience things through his character that no one can experience in real life. Though it is often frowned upon, women can play male characters and men can play female characters (it also tends to be more difficult to role play characters that are a different gender from the player). Further, addiction is less problematic for older people, in some degree, because they tend to be less susceptible to addiction, and because gaming addiction is far less likely to interfere with their lives.
Note that not all pen and paper RPGs are based on a fantasy environment. A D&D-like modern RPG system exists called Modern D20. Shadowrun is another RPG system that is futuristic (the genre is often called cyberpunk). There are also superhero RPGs, anime RPGs, steampunk RPGs, and nearly any other kind of RPG you can think of. And if you are worried about claims of a certain RPG being evil and demonic, the involvement of any brand of supernatural power (good or evil) is up to the DM (who hosts the game) and the players. (D&D has some seriously evil monsters, however, it has a selection of monsters so large that the DM must chose a subset of them to use in the game. In fact, a game heavy on role playing and light on combat might not include any of the fantasy monsters available for the game.) Ultimately, the direction and content of the game is up to the DM and the players. If they are really set on gambling, they could even play a game where their characters go on a casino road trip (a good setting for this might be the 1800s, when much of gambling was done face to face with a dealer and other players). At least this way, the money squandered would be fake.
Old people, especially those in elderly care homes, do not have much to do with their time. They often suffer from extreme boredom. Many have taken up gambling as a hobby, because they think it will provide social interaction that they crave. Unfortunately, it does not, and it costs money than many elderly people cannot afford to lose. Role playing games are less addictive and far cheaper than gambling. They offer a wide variety of possible social interactions. They provide good mental stimulation and experiences that can not be had any other way. With a good DM, even the learning curve is quite shallow (players tell the DM what their characters do, and the DM explains what happens in response; the DM can handle most of the rules). I think that we could solve this gambling problem for elderly people by offering face to face, pen and paper role playing experiences.
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