THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 15, 1996 TAG: 9609130009
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J4 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: 24 lines
Concerning the trial of the ``vampire'' defendant: I have to comment on this, especially after seeing the tack that the television news took on Tuesday night.
I am an author. I write books, coincidentally, and for the time being, for White Wolf, the company that publishes Vampire the Masquerade. The game does not encourage the type of behavior our ``vampire'' exhibits. They go to great lengths to remind people it is only a game, and to avoid the obvious sexual overtones of vampirism and the dark side of role-playing.
It is painfully obvious that people who feel disassociated with society comprise a large number of the troubled citizens arrested each year.
Dungeons and Dragons was not evil. Rock and Roll is not evil. Vampire, the role-playing game - guess what? Not evil. A troubled person will alway find an outlet, but the game does not cause them to become troubled, nor does it encourage it.
DAVID N. WILSON
Norfolk, Sept. 10, 1996 by CNB