BADD

From RationalWiki
Jump to: navigation, search

BADD, which stands for "Bothered about Dungeons and Dragons" was an organization founded by Patricia Pulling (June 30, 1948 - September 18, 1997). The organization was founded after Pulling's son Irving "Bink" Pulling committed suicide in 1982. It continued until her death in 1997.

Pulling blamed her son's suicide on D&D, saying her son was cursed in the game shortly before his death.[citation needed] She filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the publishers of the game shortly thereafter.[citation needed] (It should be noted that she first filed the lawsuit against her son's high school principal.)[citation needed]

It should come as no surprise that these lawsuits were dismissed.

In 1984, BADD was formed. Its targets were "violent-occult related rock music, role-playing games that utilize occult mythology and the worship of occult gods in role playing situations like Dungeons & Dragons, teen satanism involving murder and suicide, and pornography as it is affecting adolescent behavior and reshaping attitudes and values in a negative manner[1]." The main focus was D&D.

In its heyday, BADD spread to Canada, England, and Australia, as well as giving lectures across the United States. It presented itself as a referral system for anyone concerned about violent entertainment.

Although BADD obtained some success and support from the church, even serving as legal council and eye witness in gaming-related lawsuits, it has largely been debunked. Based on Pulling's estimates, around 500 gamers would commit suicide a year (the actual number BADD documented is around 7 gaming related suicides a year)[2]. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control would later declare no causal link between fantasy gaming and suicide.[citation needed]

Most of her points and ideas (not to mention credentials) were well and truly ripped to pieces by sci-fi writer Michael Stackpole[3].

In 1997, Pulling died of cancer and BADD faded from memory. The anti-RPG hype all but died with her. Just kidding! These people never change. Pulling also wrote The Devil's Web: Who Is Stalking Your Children For Satan? which shows how little she knew about what she was fighting.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] Footnotes

  1. http://www.holysmoke.org/wb/wb0017.htm A BADD pamphlet
  2. http://www.cale.com/paper.htm A paper arguing against BADD and anti-D&D voices
  3. The Pulling Report
Personal tools
Namespaces

Variants
Actions
Navigation
Community
Tools
support