Gaming History 101

As the article implies, there are plenty of things that parents have to be scared of in terms of what content comes in contact with kids today.  This is nothing new.  In the 50s it was rock & roll, in the 90s it was video game violence, but in the 1980s the seed of evil was none other than D&D (Dungeons & Dragons for those not familiar with the pen-and-paper role playing game).  I am always fascinated by the counterculture of what parents fear and what kids get heavily involved in.  Of course, like all other concerns of the past, as time moves forward all world-ending plagues on the youth come off extremely tame in hindsight and this is no exception.  The wonderful people at the BBC have documented the rush of D&D fever in an article aptly named The Great 1980s Dungeons & Dragon Panic and I highly recommend anyone who’s interested in the stories behind pop culture check it out (link in the article title).