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| Israel-Palestine |
| IDF says D&D players are detached from reality and automatically given a low security clearance |
| 2005-03-07 |
| Ynetnews has learned that 18-year-olds who tell recruiters they play the popular fantasy game are automatically given low security clearance. "They're detached from reality and suscepitble to influence," the army says. Fans of the popular role-playing game had spoken of rumors of this strange policy by the IDF, but now the army has confirmed that it has a negative image of teens who play the game and labels them as problematic in regard to their draft status. So if you like fantasy games, go see the military psychologist... In a more "active" version of the game, players leave the table and go out, dressed as the characters they assume for the game, along with the requisite equipment of swords (not real) to play outside, usually in the forest or woods. Thousands of youth and teens in Israel play "D and D", fighting dragons and demons using their rich imaginations. The game has also increased in popularity due to the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy... Game enthusiasts are aware of their problematic image in the army and prefer to maintain their anonymity. Many of them are from the former Soviet Union where the game is very popular. In Israel there are thousands of players, between the ages 16 to 35, and include lawyers, high-tech workers and businessmen. Matan, 22, and Igor, a 21-year-old IDF soldier, organize activities for groups of players. Soon hundreds of fans are expected to meet in a forest in the southern part of Israel for a two-day game of pure fantasy. "It's not a game of winners and losers," Matan says, "but rather entry into another world with stories and plot changes." He is aware of the game's problematic reputation, especially in the IDF. The Army is not indifferent to the unique hobby and is trying to locate soldiers who in their free time dress up as witches and play in forests... |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #13 Pray tell. |
| Posted by: Sobiesky 2005-03-07 11:44:51 PM |
| #12 All I have to say is, you people have never met any of the D&D or SCA "people" that I have. |
| Posted by: gromky 2005-03-07 11:42:41 PM |
| #11 I think some of our civil affairs troops in Iraq need a special edition of SimCity for practice. They can practice renovating Bagdad or Fallujah while dealing with IEDs and terrorists. They'd have to remove the SimCity "bulldoze a church--get a nasty disaster' rule, though. |
| Posted by: Eric Jablow 2005-03-07 11:29:13 PM |
| #10 I submit that the best D&D dungeonmasters went on to design the architecture of the Internet. |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2005-03-07 11:18:05 PM |
| #9 But, but at NWN I have a +5 Astral sword and I am a level 21 enchantress and level 20 warrior. The game uses Wizzards of the Coast D&D rules. I thought Quake3Arena was a time sink until I started playing NWN. I think their shrinks have too much time on their hands. The whole thing is about playing as a goal oriented team or party. Wonder what they think about Wolfenstein 3-D and it's ilk. |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom 2005-03-07 11:11:53 PM |
| #8 ookay. Stupid and dumb. I play D&D, was in the 101st, had a security clearance and was well grounded in the reality that I could go and shoot people as well as get shot myself. I think it is time to introduce the egghead shrinks that thought that crap up to a wall-to-wall counseling session. |
| Posted by: mmurray821 2005-03-07 10:40:54 PM |
| #7 Don't ask, don't tell (for the love of God!) |
| Posted by: Paul Moloney 2005-03-07 10:35:04 PM |
| #6 Hmmmm. I wonder what they think of "furries"... |
| Posted by: jackal 2005-03-07 10:30:45 PM |
| #5 Oooooookay. Considering I had 3 people from My old group were in the 82nd, and the other was a Marine who fought in GWI. Nope. Can't make good soldiers out of D&D players. |
| Posted by: jackal 2005-03-07 10:28:44 PM |
| #4 Article is a fake! The pictures were taken outside! Real D&D nerds never see the light of day. This isn't D&D. Dungeons and Dragons is played with paper, pencil, and dice. The pictures are from the Society for Creative Anachronism or similar, which has stuff like people running outside and hitting each other with sticks wrapped in foam. There are also people who pretend that they're vampires and run around university campuses at night. That being said, both groups of people are totally gay and I would never want one backing me up in a firefight. Flakes. Yeah I know there's creative and positive people, but those don't make good soldiers. |
| Posted by: gromky 2005-03-07 10:06:28 PM |
| #3 D&D players may suffer from low Charisma, but as long as their Strength and Dexterity are high enough, I don't see what the IDF's problem is. |
| Posted by: Paul Moloney 2005-03-07 10:04:23 PM |
| #2 Obviously they haven't heard of the Sword of Infidels which is +4 vs Mooselimbs and gives protection +2 vs Seething or they would change their mind in a damn hurry! We used to play D&D back when I was a teenager. We didn't get dressed up or use figurines or anything 'detached' like that. And it was always fun when the starving party ("I thought you had the rations!") would come across a conviently placed Circle K down about the fifth level..... In other words we played it for fun. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2005-03-07 9:59:46 PM |
| #1 Gads, we used to play D&D aboard ship. In fact, our dungeonmaster had been in the original group that later became TSR (I know - I'm dating myself....). Then again, we didn't dress up and use the passageways as dungeons. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2005-03-07 9:47:59 PM |