White Dwarves Not Welcome

The 9th US Circuit of Appeals has shot down a prisoner in Oregon who argued for the right to receive the magazine for role-playing game White Dwarf. Prison officials had said that:

"Roleplaying games are prohibited…to prevent inmates from placing themselves in fantasy roles that reduce accountability and substitute raw power for legitimate authority."

The court said the prisoner might have a case under Oregon's state constitution.

[Thanks to reader Mark A. Siefert for the link.]

Comments

[dhex]

huh.

weirdness.

there's a difference between raw power and legitimate authority?

[Sleepy]

Gee, next they'll be banning dwarf tossing.

[yelowd]

Man, if I was in jail I wouldn't dare try and order "white Dwarf" rpg. It seems like it would be like high school all over again, except this time instead of the jocks giving the guy a wedgy they turn him into their boyslave.

[Mark S.]

A slight correction: White Dwarf is not a role-playing game but a magazine for Games Workshop's line of miniature wargames. (An easy mistake, I admit.)

[Mark S.]

On that note: I hope the 9th Circuit is visited by loyal Space Marines of the Ultramarine chapter and Inquisitors of the Ordo Malleus, who will dispense the justice of the beneficent Emperor of Mankind with bolt gun and power sword! ALL HAIL THE EMPEROR! NO MERCY TO TRAITORS, MUTANTS, AND HERETICS!!!

Sorry, gamer humor. Why are you looking at me like that?

[Evil Lord Glaxo]

Your planet is next, Mark S.

[Umbriel]

Precisely, brendon! They should also yank out all that exercise equipment, and supply the inmates with plenty of soda and snacks. Forget reform -- our goal should be to turn hardened criminals into flabby introverts who'd rather fantasize about being daring and heroic thieves and barbarians than actually go out and steal or pillage anything.

[speedwell]

Here's another thought... I participated in a debate in college in the ealy 90's in which I had to point out the benefits of rolegaming (against the student leader of Campus Crusade, who was taking the "cursed tool of Satan" side). Ran across a very interesting paper by a college out West in which they took a bunch of semi-retarded kids and had them play D&D for several weeks. Turns out that after the rolegaming, the kids made great gains in verbal and mathematical skills. Most important, that showed a significant increase in something called "internalization of locus of control." Which basically means they perceived themselves more as actors and less as passive victims. I'd call that a pretty good outcome if it can be expected to hold true for prisoners as well.

[JimInNoVA]

So mountain dew and cheetos in every prison? I like it. Along with massive stacks of books featuring women in chainmail bikinis on the cover.

I can see the bidding war to provide RPG services to the prison market already. One contract to rule them all, one...ok I'll stop.

PS: get them a comic book subscription and make prison uniforms come with red velvet capes.

[Dan]

Which basically means they perceived themselves more as actors and less as passive victims. I'd call that a pretty good outcome if it can be expected to hold true for prisoners as well.

Convict a guy for stabbing someone and taking their stuff; send him to jail, where he spends the next ten years pretending to stab things and take their stuff. I'm not sure that the outcome of that will necessarily be "pretty good." Criminal don't have a problem with passivity; they have, generally speaking, problems with poor impulse control and antisocial tendencies; those aren't problems RPGs cure.

Of course, they aren't problems RPGs worsen, either; the ban seems pointless to me. Particularly since, as has been noted, White Dwarf isn't a roleplaying game, but a magazine (although I believe it *does* cover the Warhammer Fantasy RPG, in addition to the miniatures game).

[Mo]

Maybe they can force prisoners to choose characters of a certain alignment. Give rewards for good roleplaying. Sociopaths playing as paladins and clerics would be interesting, to say the least. Otherwise you might end up with all evil parties filled with rogues and dark knights.

[Larry Edelstein]

I always liked the feeling of puissance I got when I was playing an RPG as a kid...it was a welcome relief to my day-to-day frustration with my job.

Ah, that's right, I wasn't a kid...that was just last week.

[Steve Jackson]

Who'd knew so many libertarians were old RPGers? You'd never guess that from all the libertarian yearning for a fantasy world, their strict adherance to a system of rules, and the realization that every GM is incompetent - I mean government.

[Dan]

Who'd knew so many libertarians were old RPGers? You'd never guess that from all the libertarian yearning for a fantasy world, their strict adherance to a system of rules, and the realization that every GM is incompetent - I mean government.

What rules do libertarians strictly adhere to? The usual complaint about libertarianism is that it's a tiny step above Anarchism.

[JimInNoVA]

Better than a public school, where the reasoning would be "that 2 inch tall plastic axe is a replica weapon."

Subvert legitimate athourity, buy a roleplaying game!

[J. Alexander Lowman]

Yeah, you wouldn't want to give anyone a chill hobby that would help them increase their vocabulary. Better to let them role-play being another guy's bitch...much more healthy.

(Of course, we all know that sodomy and all that doesn't happen as much as they make out in the movies, but hey, I'm an old rpg'er, so I think that they should let 'em have that small comfort.)

[Sir Real]

"There will be NO thought crimes while I'm warden, damn it!"

If the prison is opposed to "fantasy roles that reduce accountability and substitute raw power for legitimate authority." , they had better stop prisoners from studying to be clergy immediately...

[Pavel]

9th Circuit Court fails saving throw against Inexplicable Idiocy.

Do they allow former convincts in the military? Wouldn't want them to believe in the efficacy of raw power over legitimate authority.

[Mark S.]

Will the REAL Steve Jackson please stand up?

[Xavier]

"So mountain dew and cheetos in every prison? I like it. Along with massive stacks of books featuring women in chainmail bikinis on the cover."

If prison was actually like that, I'd be begging the warden to let me in. Mountain Dew and chainmail bikinis do not make for a good social deterrent.

[Steve Jackson]

Praxeology

[Haider Asad]

EMAIL: [e-mail]
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DATE: 05/20/2004 04:57:59
No cause is so right that one cannot find a fool following it.