Dungeons and Dragons

[NerdGirl]

I played Dungeons and Dragons for about a year, and I actually found it to be a very positive thing. The only reason we stopped is because the guy who set everything up got to be to busy to do it anymore. There were 6 of us who played (2 girls, 4 guys), and we played once every 2 months on a Saturday night. We would start at about 5 PM and finish at about 10 PM. We didn't really use the manuals very much - a couple of the guys had played before, so they more or less just explained the rules to everyone. We would only spend the first 10-20 minutes of each night setting up our characters. None of us took it too seriously - it was just a fun thing to do outside of school (we were all grad students from the same department). I thought it was way more fun and social than just sitting around watching movies or playing video games. Also, most of our quests didn't involve a lot of killing of enemies. I remember one in particular where an old professor hired us to find a magical book from a library that for some reason was underwater or something, and then for some reason the library was also on fire, and we had to fight garbage cans and things like that. Anyway, my point is that Dungeons and Dragons doesn't have to be a negative thing, depending on how you play it and who you play it with. And it could even be a group date thing, because girls like it too, and I think it's way better than a movie date. Actually, the other girl I played with and one of the guys are now a couple, and they first got to know each other when we were playing. I can see how it could get addictive, but I think if you play it really informally like we did, the addictiveness potential is almost zero.

[Yarjka]

Dungeons & Dragons gives you pretty much complete control over the game, so it can be as positive or negative an experience as you (collectively) make it. I thought I knew what D&D was like, and then I played it with a few different groups of people and realized that the experience is extremely varied depending on who is involved.

[Cuddlefish]

My dad didn't let me play it because it was an 'evil influence'. Whatever, Dad.

I really do love my father, but he had some weird ideas on what might make us turn to the Devil.