Posted by J.A. Laraque | 3 Comments
Dungeon Master says: Inmate can’t play Dungeons & Dragons
No longer are the days of inmates choosing normal hobbies in-between the shanking and the group showering like soap on a rope making. In the age of the gamer prisoners must have their fix of console and PC games and even cable television. Why workout and dig elaborate escape tunnels when you can file lawsuits and play D&D?
Well now at one Wisconsin prison the lawsuits are flying, but not the fireballs. Kevin T. Singer filed a lawsuit against officials at Wisconsin’s Waupun prison after a policy was initiated in 2004 to eradicate all Dungeons and Dragons game materials among concerns that playing it promotes gang-related activity.
The 33-year-old Singer is a devoted player of the fantasy role-playing game that involves recruiting others to play as a group. He argued that his First Amendment rights were being violated and demanded that Dungeons & Dragons material confiscated from his cell be returned.
But the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday that the prison’s policy was reasonable.
J.A. Take
Personally I don’t understand how working out with weights is ok and playing D&D is not. I go to the gym, I see some of those guys and it must be ten times worse in prison. However, I have also seen nerd rage so it is possible there could be a hybrid between nerd and prison rage that could become unstoppable.
Gang-related activity… that is one of those terms that are used far too often to keep three or more people from gathering, but this is prison and he is a murderer. Maybe they should let him play World of Warcraft, maybe all prisoners. We could give them their own server called the stockades. Could you imagine the AV and Trade channel chat?
How would you like to see prisoners act this out?
Thanks to Boston.com for the story and Youtube for the video.
I know it’s irrational but I really get angry at that “lightning bolt” guy. I mean, he just comes across as such a douche. If you’re going to LARP like that you should at least put some character in it. Imitate Gandalf or your favorite pre-McKellian(is that a word?) wizard. If not for the pure dramatic effect then for the realistic in game effect of spells having among the worst initiative ratings around (at least back in my good old AD&D days who knows what WotC did to it).
I agree with the prison. Lifting weights exerts energy, typically aggressions and stress, and so an inmate given the option to lift weights and exercise or to beat the fuck out of somebody – well the obvious choice is obvious. Nerd raging is bad enough, I can only imagine when the nerd is already a convicted murderer.
But let’s just get down to the real point here. It’s PRISON. You should NOT be allowed TV. NOT be allowed video games, or games at all. It’s a place for punishment and incarceration. Read a book, workout, spend some time in a hole and think about what you did and moreso, that any activity that would put you back IN the prison is too risky.
As it stands prisons here in the USA are a fucking joke when compared to those of other countries. Look at a prison in Brazil. They lump you in one cell with about 120 hardened criminals of differing nationalities from Nigerians to Asians, etc where there’s no AC, one meal a day, and you live in squaller among rats and other insects. You’re in a fucking cave essentially.
Did anyone else see the cartoon character from the horrible 80s D&D cartoon named Dungeonmaster saying ‘You can’t play!’?
Red robes, bad hair.
No?
I am very old.