Court Rules D&D Promotes Gang Activity

[joneb1999]

There are dozens of problems with the United States' prison system, and apparently the age old role playing game, Dungeons and Dragons just got added to that list.



On Wednesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that the seemingly-innocent board game invites a world of trouble.


No, it won't make inmates believe they are dragon-slaying knights sent to save a princess; instead, it helps prisoners organize themselves into gangs that inhibit prison security. As ridiculous as this may sound, the Courts argued that the structure of the game mimics the organization of a gang and therefore promotes gang activity.


Bruce Muraski, disruptive group coordinator for the Waupun Correctional Institute in Wisconsin stated, "During D&D games, one player is denoted the 'Dungeon Master.' The Dungeon Master is tasked with giving directions to other players, which Muraski testified mimics the organization of a gang."


The prisoner involved in the case, Kevin Singer, argued that the confiscation of D&D was a violation of his first amendment rights and that the game in no way promotes or encourages gang activity. Singer argues that it does the opposite and deters prisoners from joining gangs.


Despite the fact that Singer brought witness testimony from 11 other inmates all stating they have never heard of D&D leading to gang-related activity, the judges upheld their ruling. The judges claimed all of the witness testimony was irrelevant and all that was important was the fact that it was reasonable for prison officials to believe D&D may lead to gangs in the future.


Now, instead of playing harmless board games, prison inmates will have to find other things to do, such as form gangs and stab eachother. Great idea Appeals Court, we applaud your perseverance in solving the world's prison issues, one board game at a time.


Luckily for Dungeons and Dragons fans worldwide, this ruling only applies to prisons. So as long as you keep the dungeon-exploring, mythical creature slaying antics within the boundaries of the law, you won't have to worry about your imaginary swords and booty getting confiscated by the government.

http://www.tomsguide.com/us/dungeons...news-9895.html

[Aurora1979]

lol. brilliant.

Glad to see the U.S court judges are just as mental as the judges we have here in the U.K.

The law truely is an ass

[pSINNa]

What a joke.

I sincerely hope i never see this level of idiocy brought to an Australian courtroom, though to be fair, I did see John Howard elected as Prime Minister here not too long ago, and that demonstrated a level of stupidity on par with .... well.. actuallly, there's nothing on earth to equal how stupid that was xD.

[SaisMatters]

So in prison playing D+D makes us cool gang members, but outside of prison playing D+D makes me "White and Nerdy" and usually resulted in me loosing my lunch money and shoes? lol, SEND ME TO PRISON!

[hityawithastick]

What.

[unionyes]

Can you imagine the named items in a prisoner run campaign?

Soap of Levitation....if dropped, it floats back up in the air.
Shiv of Invisibility....grants a +3 bonus to Remain Undetected during cell shakedowns.
Portable Hole...at last a more dignified way to sneak your dice past the guards.
Grease Clickie......hahahahaha.


Also, any Disease Immunity items would be sought after, and it may be the only player base in existence that actually thinks Close Wounds is a useful spell.

But all jokes aside, it's just crazy to ban D+D in prison. With the rationale that the judges provided (that having someone, in this case the Dungeon Master, provide direction mimics the formation of a gang), that someone refuses a work assignment because having to take direction from the boss also mimics the formation of a gang.

[Yajerman01]

I guess the next board game son the chopping block will be:

1. Chess. A game using pawns to overtake an opponents king, i.e. a Gang leader using his chronies to knock out another rival gang member.

2. Risk. Yet another Tactic to take out another rival.

3. Hungry Hippo. An agressive challenge to consume as many items as you can grab. This will undoubtedly create an environment that will cause prison memebers to steal others food in a frantic fashion.

4. Operation: Sheds insight on how to pick things up/remove parts without getting caught.

5. Scrabble. This will eventually lead to inmates gaining intellectual prowless. We dotn want smart criminals!

I can go on and on, butr we get the point.

Next thing to go will be TV shows since they promote gang-like mentality, take the Mickey Mouse Club or the He-man cartoon shows.... ugh

[joneb1999]

4. Operation: Sheds insight on how to pick things up/remove parts without getting caught.

Like your cell mates kidney.

[chrisgina39]

then
patty cake because of working together gaining strength

then plasic knifes and forks and french fries and hand and air in the hands of chuck noris fist and air is deadly



and everyone knows dnd encourages cults, rap music, saintisim, chihuahuas, canibalisim, human sacrificing, clowns, murder, girl scouts, evil rituals, pop dance music, torture, bag pipes, explosives and tickling

[EyeRekon]

Shaddup if you know whats good for yoos! Homeboy!

[eonfreon]

While they can ban the use of D&D products I don't know how they can ban the actual playing of D&D.

Any "DM" who knows enough about the rules can sort of make up his own game. It's all imagination and paper after all.

I've played D&D without books and dice. I just winged it. This Monster is hard to hit you'll need a 15 or higher. As for "dice", any system for random generation works. Cut up pieces of paper and write numbers on it. Put it in a hat and shake it up. Pull one piece out without looking. Voila! Randomly generated numbers.

Another ill-thought ruling. I wonder how much money was wasted with this.

There is real gang activity in prison. And this ruling won't make an iota of difference. It'll just make people that might have been pacified by being able to play a game, no longer pacified. Bored people can become troublemakers quite easily.

[424ever]

i cant help but wonder if any of the inmates chose lawful good for their alignment? lol

[katana_one]

Yeah, this has case has been going on for over a year. There was a thread about it here on the forums back then, too.

http://abovethelaw.com/2010/01/seven...ison-security/

[Qindark]

"During D&D games, one player is denoted the 'Dungeon Master.' The Dungeon Master is tasked with giving directions to other players, which Muraski testified mimics the organization of a gang."

Wait, as a DM, I never gave directions to players. I gave them a situation and they provided their own direction. Just more misrepresentation of the game.

[Cam_Neely]

http://abovethelaw.com/2010/01/seven...ison-security/

HAHA
"The Seventh Circuit just made a Lawful Evil decision here."

[Chai]

When I was growing up the judges and the school board in Green Bay WI (population ~100,000) ruled that we had a "gang problem" and budgeted for a task force....

Apparently some kids from the burbs were driving around the parking lot of Bay Park Square mall in their mommy and daddy's BMW with the stereo blasting hip hop turned up to 11, all wearing the same teams basketball get up, and now GB has a gang issue ZOMG!!!

Id like to drop some of these people off in the Congo region in Africa, or ShengDong province in China, and pick them up ina month or so. They would then have a pretty clear understanding of what a "gang problem" is.