Penny Arcade sums up this whole “D&D in Prison” story pretty well…
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Once again, the guys hit the nail on the head, in my opinion. I think I agree with them on this issue.
“The story about a prisoner deprived of his Dungeon Master’s Guide and custom campaign world resonated. It sucks when the guards are all coming down on your shit, and, like, taking your stuff, but it also sucks pretty bad to be beaten to death with a sledgehammer, which is what this guy did to get in there. Tends to dilute the sympathy.”
Yeah, but was it his fault he happened to find a a Hammer of Utter Thrashing, +5, in the Dungeon room. Why would he not use it? Or perhaps the Hammer was cursed, and he didn’t have enough gold to pay to have it removed. We have to consider the Dungeon Delver’s bad luck. Of course, if was his fault his charisma wasn’t high enough to talk himself out of being arrested.
I honestly believe that the PA guys are being deliberately coy about the issue. On the one hand, its very easy for a hobby gamer to cry foul over banning D&D especially if they’ve never met someone who committed first degree homicide. Holkins (Tycho) seems to be trying to dial down this knee-jerk inclination of gamers to sympathize with any D&D player.
I think the meat of the issue is when one defines a prison a punitive institution or a correctional facility, or at the very least, when a charged felon should be allowed to engage in recreation and when it is proper for him to surrender certain freedoms in exchange for the crime(s) he’s committed.
.-= Matthew Arcilla´s last blog ..What Are The Grapple Rules for Shower Rape? =-.