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British Broadcasting Corporation.    "The Great 1980 Dungeons and Dragons Panic." British Broadcasting Corporation. 10 April 2014.  Web. 30 September 2016.

Ley, David J. "Dungeons and Dragons, Satan, and Psychology." Psychology Today. 6 April 2014. Web. 2 October 2016.

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G.  Connection to Arthur Miller's play The Crucible

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G.  Connection to Arthur Miller's play The Crucible

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Just like in The Crucible, teenage diversion was misunderstood by adults.  Religious authorities in each case blamed Satanic forces.

In each case, a so-called expert was called in--Rev. Hale in The Crucible and Dr. Redecki in real life--hoped to help but actually made matters worse.

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Role-playing games were a new phenomenon in the 1980s, and few people were familiar with the concept.  Games like D&D featuring magic spells, demons, and other aspects of the occult were viewed with suspicion.  People fear the unknown.

At the same time, The US was gripped by a panic over Satanic Ritual Abuse. A 1984 TV news program reported that 8% of Americans were practicing Satanists. There was a real fear that America's youth were the target of dark forces.

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BADD was publicly embarrassed by its numerous false claims about the game's effects, and Patricia Pulling was exposed as a fraud.  Dr. Radecki was convicted of sexually abusing his own patients.

By the 1990s, a generation of D&D players had grown up with no ill effects.  Numerous psychological studies denied the link between gaming and suicide.  One study even showed that the suicide rate was higher among non-gamers.

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D&D creator Gary Gygax and the game's publisher TSR were forced to to defend themselves from a series of expensive, highly-publicized lawsuits.  After a TV movie starring Tom Hanks called Mazes and Monsters came out, Gygax received death threats.  He had to hire bodyguards.  He was so frustrated that he sold his ownership stake in the company in 1986

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Conservative Christian groups criticized the game for its inclusion of magic and demons.  Some claimed that players were likely to commit suicide if their characters died.  Psychotherapist Thomas Redecki claimed that teens were especially vulnerable to role-playing because they had trouble distinguishing fantasy from reality.

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The news and talk show circuit picked up the story.  Patricia Pulling went on 60 Minutes and argued  that the game promoted “demonology, witchcraft, voodoo, murder, rape, blasphemy, suicide….”  1980s talk shows Donahue, Sally
Jessy Raphael, and
Geraldo hosted shows urging parents to protect teens from the game.

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In 1980, mentally troubled Michigan State student James Egbert had a psychological break.  He later committed suicide.  A private investigator blamed D&D.  Three years later, troubled high school student Irving Pulling committed suicide. His mother, Patricia, believed D&D was responsible.   She formed Bothered About Dungeons and Dragons (BADD) to fight the game.