Let’s face it – stereotypes exist because there is some truth to them. I am a middle-aged man that is overweight, I have a beard, and I play Dungeons & Dragons. I did play D&D in my parents’ basement as a teenager. But those things do not mean I have not had relations with a woman of the female persuasion. I have four kids. And my wife plays D&D. And Magic the Gathering. And she could kick your butt at Castlevania back in the day.
So when I see gamer stereotypes portrayed on TV, I have mixed emotions. On the one hand, I’m glad that my favorite pastime is trickling into mainstream America. On the other, I’m frustrated that the stereotypes are being perpetuated, and that most of the portrayals are inaccurate. It’s one thing to make fun of D&D – it’s another to make fun of it while doing it wrong!
They’ve played D&D on Big Bang Theory several times over the years, most recently the episode that aired this past week (“The Love Spell Potential”). They’ve played D&D on Community, and on Freaks and Geeks. In every case, they’ve done something I’ve never seen in any game I’ve ever played – the DM rolls all the dice.
Why? What was the logistical conundrum that made portraying the game accurately such a difficulty? If it’s “all in good fun,” why give an erroneous portrayal? Why they be messin’ with my game???
Honestly, I can’t even begin to imagine why the change was necessary. They’ve got the DM screen; they’ve got the character sheets; they’ve got the dice! How hard is it to show more than one person rolling a d20?
I think part of why I take umbrage is the erroneous implication that rpg players are antisocial. Nothing could be further from the truth – socialization is a requirement to play the game. When the writers show the DM hoarding the dice while the players simply sit and watch, it promotes a false image of an activity that is already steeped in negativity.
I love D&D, and I love to share with those I think can appreciate it. I play online, I play with my local gaming group, and I play with my children. The last thing I want is for my girls to go to school and tell their friends or teachers we play D&D at home, and they think about what they’ve seen on TV. I think D&D is a positive experience, and I don’t want my children teased unduly.
There are a lot of pastimes of which people take a negative view, but I think that attitude is born of ignorance. I can’t fathom people enjoying watching sports – to me, it seems repetitive and devoid of intellectual stimulation. Obviously I’m in the minority, and I recognize that; I consciously try not to judge others based on their fanaticism for sports, just as I wouldn’t want to be judged solely for my love of D&D.
But I don’t see tv programs showing players running the wrong way around a baseball diamond, or carrying the soccer ball down the field, or kicking the football from player to player. I don’t see bowling with the wrong number of pins; I don’t see people playing poker with the wrong number of cards in their hands. Perhaps I’m overly sensitive, and production teams make all kinds of mistakes all the time, and I’ve never noticed – except when they portray people playing D&D.
Maybe it is ignorance of the subject matter, but I would think after seeing all the work that goes into making a television show that they wouldn’t skimp on research for that one element. Heck, you can’t tell me that SOMEBODY involved in making the Big Bang Theory hasn’t played D&D and couldn’t speak up. Surely SOMEBODY knew that the portrayal was wrong, no matter the show. D&D has been portrayed accurately – and with humor – in movies like The Gamers and The Gamers: Dorkness Rising. It can be done, so why won’t television do it?
Freaks and Geeks probably came closest to an accurate portrayal, so maybe I’m just being too sensitive. Perhaps it’s a symptom of my obsession. I WANT people to like D&D, and I can appreciate humor and good-natured ribbing, but I can’t help feeling the scenes I’ve seen give a negative impression of the game. I’m afraid of the negativity at a time when our hobby needs a serious positive boost.
There may be a certain prejudice involved in these portrayals; they’re being done for laughs, but perhaps the assumption is that such a small segment of the audience is actually familiar with D&D, so the actual details don’t matter. You could argue that it’s just the concept of roleplaying that’s being spoofed, but they call it D&D. When Big Bang Theory shows the guys playing cards, they don’t call it Magic the Gathering – it has a made-up name. Are roleplaying games so obscure that the activity can’t be spoofed without spoofing a specific game?
Is anyone aware of a positive portrayal of roleplaying games on tv? Am I wrong in my assumptions? Does it not bother anyone else? I must admit, I feel a bit like an old man shaking his cane at kids yelling, “Keep off my lawn!” Or Chris Crocker crying, “Leave Britney alone!” Leave D&D alone! I don’t want its name besmirched in the mainstream media. I don’t want it ridiculed and derided. I had enough of that in the 80s with Jack Chick.
Which brings me to another point. I heard of a couple of projects planning to turn the Chick tracts into a full-blown movie, and the producers plan to play it all straight. On the one hand, I think it will be hilarious – but then, I KNOW it’s a wildly inaccurate portrayal and the humor stems from the complete ignorance of the author. But the general public doesn’t know that. I fear too many people may take it seriously. Creators need to follow due diligence because the audience won’t. Recently Pat Robertson on the 700 Club made an erroneous reference to D&D – how many of his viewers simply accepted it as fact?
The bottom line is, I appreciate the humor, but I’d appreciate accuracy more. I’ll still watch Big Bang Theory (I only watched Community because of D&D – I don’t enjoy their style of humor), but a teeny tiny part of me died inside when Wolowitz said, “But only the DM rolls the dice.” The dice are for everybody man…everybody gets to roll the dice.
So when I see gamer stereotypes portrayed on TV, I have mixed emotions. On the one hand, I’m glad that my favorite pastime is trickling into mainstream America. On the other, I’m frustrated that the stereotypes are being perpetuated, and that most of the portrayals are inaccurate. It’s one thing to make fun of D&D – it’s another to make fun of it while doing it wrong!
They’ve played D&D on Big Bang Theory several times over the years, most recently the episode that aired this past week (“The Love Spell Potential”). They’ve played D&D on Community, and on Freaks and Geeks. In every case, they’ve done something I’ve never seen in any game I’ve ever played – the DM rolls all the dice.
Why? What was the logistical conundrum that made portraying the game accurately such a difficulty? If it’s “all in good fun,” why give an erroneous portrayal? Why they be messin’ with my game???
Honestly, I can’t even begin to imagine why the change was necessary. They’ve got the DM screen; they’ve got the character sheets; they’ve got the dice! How hard is it to show more than one person rolling a d20?
I think part of why I take umbrage is the erroneous implication that rpg players are antisocial. Nothing could be further from the truth – socialization is a requirement to play the game. When the writers show the DM hoarding the dice while the players simply sit and watch, it promotes a false image of an activity that is already steeped in negativity.
I love D&D, and I love to share with those I think can appreciate it. I play online, I play with my local gaming group, and I play with my children. The last thing I want is for my girls to go to school and tell their friends or teachers we play D&D at home, and they think about what they’ve seen on TV. I think D&D is a positive experience, and I don’t want my children teased unduly.
There are a lot of pastimes of which people take a negative view, but I think that attitude is born of ignorance. I can’t fathom people enjoying watching sports – to me, it seems repetitive and devoid of intellectual stimulation. Obviously I’m in the minority, and I recognize that; I consciously try not to judge others based on their fanaticism for sports, just as I wouldn’t want to be judged solely for my love of D&D.
But I don’t see tv programs showing players running the wrong way around a baseball diamond, or carrying the soccer ball down the field, or kicking the football from player to player. I don’t see bowling with the wrong number of pins; I don’t see people playing poker with the wrong number of cards in their hands. Perhaps I’m overly sensitive, and production teams make all kinds of mistakes all the time, and I’ve never noticed – except when they portray people playing D&D.
Maybe it is ignorance of the subject matter, but I would think after seeing all the work that goes into making a television show that they wouldn’t skimp on research for that one element. Heck, you can’t tell me that SOMEBODY involved in making the Big Bang Theory hasn’t played D&D and couldn’t speak up. Surely SOMEBODY knew that the portrayal was wrong, no matter the show. D&D has been portrayed accurately – and with humor – in movies like The Gamers and The Gamers: Dorkness Rising. It can be done, so why won’t television do it?
Freaks and Geeks probably came closest to an accurate portrayal, so maybe I’m just being too sensitive. Perhaps it’s a symptom of my obsession. I WANT people to like D&D, and I can appreciate humor and good-natured ribbing, but I can’t help feeling the scenes I’ve seen give a negative impression of the game. I’m afraid of the negativity at a time when our hobby needs a serious positive boost.
There may be a certain prejudice involved in these portrayals; they’re being done for laughs, but perhaps the assumption is that such a small segment of the audience is actually familiar with D&D, so the actual details don’t matter. You could argue that it’s just the concept of roleplaying that’s being spoofed, but they call it D&D. When Big Bang Theory shows the guys playing cards, they don’t call it Magic the Gathering – it has a made-up name. Are roleplaying games so obscure that the activity can’t be spoofed without spoofing a specific game?
Is anyone aware of a positive portrayal of roleplaying games on tv? Am I wrong in my assumptions? Does it not bother anyone else? I must admit, I feel a bit like an old man shaking his cane at kids yelling, “Keep off my lawn!” Or Chris Crocker crying, “Leave Britney alone!” Leave D&D alone! I don’t want its name besmirched in the mainstream media. I don’t want it ridiculed and derided. I had enough of that in the 80s with Jack Chick.
Which brings me to another point. I heard of a couple of projects planning to turn the Chick tracts into a full-blown movie, and the producers plan to play it all straight. On the one hand, I think it will be hilarious – but then, I KNOW it’s a wildly inaccurate portrayal and the humor stems from the complete ignorance of the author. But the general public doesn’t know that. I fear too many people may take it seriously. Creators need to follow due diligence because the audience won’t. Recently Pat Robertson on the 700 Club made an erroneous reference to D&D – how many of his viewers simply accepted it as fact?
The bottom line is, I appreciate the humor, but I’d appreciate accuracy more. I’ll still watch Big Bang Theory (I only watched Community because of D&D – I don’t enjoy their style of humor), but a teeny tiny part of me died inside when Wolowitz said, “But only the DM rolls the dice.” The dice are for everybody man…everybody gets to roll the dice.
