Role-playing games can prepare youth

Let's flash back to 1974. The Vietnam War would soon be ending. Ecology was gaining influence. And two pioneering men developed a fantasy role-playing game known as Dungeons & Dragons.

That was 36 years ago. Today, Wikipedia reports that "as of 2006, Dungeons & Dragons remains the best-known and best-selling role-playing game."

When I first started playing D&D in the early 1980s, there was an outcry from right-wing religious leaders that the game was fostering satanic ideals and teen violence. Yet, D&D only grew in popularity.

The success of D&D can be attributed to the diversity of people it attracts. It is a game that requires social interaction and thought, a game that has possibilities for the future.

As new games appear and older generations express concern over the morality of simulated realities, perhaps people should remember that these games foster math skills, tolerance, creativity and the examination of the consequences of behavior. Beasts and deities from mythology, as those used in Dungeons & Dragons, are interesting; however, the catalog of creatures from other worlds will certainly defy our expectations.

D&D has set a high standard, although I hope that someone will capitalize on this situation and help prepare our youth for the alliances and enemies of tomorrow - the realities of aliens and advanced technologies.

Willis Lambertson

Barrington