Dr. Thomas Radecki

Dr. Radecki, a psychiatrist and at the time chair for National Coalition on TV Violence, became involved in the role-playing game debate and with B.A.D.D. specifically (Patricia Pulling became a director at NCTV in 1984), because of the effects he felt it caused in people who played it. He is often quoted as saying:

"The evidence in these cases is really quite impressive. There is no doubt in my mind that the game Dungeons and Dragons is causing young men to kill themselves and others. The game is one of non-stop combat and violence. It is clear to me that this game is desensitizing players to violence and also causing an increased tendency to violent behavior."

Throughout the 1980's Dr. Radecki made many statements in which he found that numerous video games, movies, television programs, animated cartoons, action toys, role-playing games, and books, contained very high levels of violence and that they caused violent behavior in their players, viewers and readers. His criteria for violent acts included: tickling, snowball fights, and fist shaking - he found that The Smurfs averaged 13 violent acts per hour. There was no scale to the violent acts: tickling was every bit as violent as murder. In 1987, the Missouri Court of Appeals allowed Dr. Radecki to testify as an expert on the game Dungeons & Dragons on behalf of Darren Molitor (who was convicted of murder in 1985, and believed that the game had encouraged his violent behavior). In the trial Dr. Radecki said:

"But the tendency toward that type of behavior could certainly very easily be increased by D&D played, when the two people have played together. There's more of a desensitization of playing with violence between the two of them and it's certainly possible that you-know, certainly likely, indeed, that there is a desensitization towards playing with violence or even commission of intentional violent behavior between the two."

The court was unconvinced, stating that his testimony was an example of his "inability to apply his perception of the general effect of playing Dungeons and Dragons to the particularized mental state of the defendant". The court further denounced his testimony because he had not even talked to the defendant to determine his state of mind. Dr. Radecki would often cite in his credentials his faculty position at the University of Illinois School of Medicine. It seems that he was never on the faculty, however he was given the honorary status "clinical faculty" which is given to doctors who are accredited to practice at a teaching hospital. It does not involve any faculty duties. His status was removed in 1985. In 1992, the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation revoked his medical license for "engaging in immoral conduct of an unprofessional nature with a patient". Dr. Radecki resigned from NCTV turning it over to his colleague, Carole Lieberman. The IDPR later rejected Dr. Radecki's request for early reinstatement of his license following complaints about his Surrogate Parenting Institute. Dr. Radecki is now involved with Doctors & Lawyers for a Drug Free Youth and only shows up in the media when publicizing the results of his sting operations on alcohol stores and outlets.

Other Opposition

All other opposition to role-playing games seems to come from a small number of conservative Christians who object to role-playing games (and fantasy games in particular) because it encourages thinking that disagrees with the Christian worldview.

The arguments go like this:

• Because players are free to create whatever characters they wish in any setting they can imagine there is no way that a system of absolute morality can be guaranteed. That it is possible to create and play a game where an immoral use of power, sex, violence, etc., is acceptable.

• Games can be run which disagree with the biblical teaching that there is only one true God and that this God is moral, not amoral, and that most games have unbiblical views of God, the creation, man, and life after death.
• Games may include such fantasy pastimes as magic and the casting of spells, protective inscriptions, astral projection, attempts to communicate with the dead, conjuring and summoning of deities and demons, use of psychic powers, and in some games even occult alignment with demons or gods.
• By playing role-playing games adults and children are led into imagined experiences that create memories, build new values, guide their thinking and mold their understanding of reality.

The conclusion of the above points is that by playing role-playing games players fantasize about a non-Christian or anti-Christian worldview and that this encourages them to cast aside their real world Christian morals in favor of game immorals.

Patricia Pulling and B.A.D.D.

Not long after the death of her son Patricia Pulling set up B.A.D.D. (Bothered About Dungeons and Dragons) an organization that set out to prove a link between role-playing games, suicide and Satanism.

During its years of activity B.A.D.D made many public accusations, assertions, and recommendations that one can, at best, consider questionable. For example: it recommended to United States law enforcement agencies in it's profile and questionnaire: "The Who What When Where and How of teen Satanism" that (amongst other things) officers "Keep an open mind", "Stay objective", but also that "If individual is involved in satanic activity, he/she will deny a great deal to protect other members of the group as well as the satanic philosophy". Which is the same as saying: Keep an open mind but don't believe anything they say.

In 1989 Patricia Pulling published "The Devil's Web: Who Is Stalking Your Children for Satan?" a book which seems (please note: I have not read this book, only its reviews, the book is currently out of print) to warn parents and society in general of the dangers inherent in allowing children to listen to heavy metal music, and play role-playing games, and that allowing children to do so could lead to schizophrenia, Satanism, murder, and suicide.

In 1990 Michael A. Stackpole, a novelist and game designer, published a review of Patricia Pulling and B.A.D.D.'s activities in which he described the book as: "a monument to illogical thinking and innuendo". I recommend reading his paper [ see references ].

On October 15 1997, Pat Pulling, 47, died of cancer in Richmond, Virginia. B.A.D.D. is currently inactive.