The Reprehensible Moral Universe of Erik Sofge

Published March 11th, 2008

Recently, one of the creators of Dungeons&Dragons died. Along with Dave Arneson, Gary Gygax created a game that has come to influence millions upon millions of people in one way or another, and very often, in very positive ways. I am one of those people who, thanks to Gary Gygax, has met life-long friends and found a comfortable place through D&D.

Transitioning to a new middle school in a new neighborhood was difficult, very difficult for me. And when the few friends I had made there pretty much abandoned me in high school, I had to start all over. And it was not easy - meeting and making new friends is very difficult for me, always has been. But, somehow, I was able to find a few like-minded individuals in high school and we started playing D&D together. And those friends, the core of that group, are my closest friends in the world and I am still close with them today. Without D&D to bring us together, I don’t know if that would have happened. And I don’t know if I would have made many friends at all without it. I certainly would have been far more unhappy than I was in high school.

In college I played some D&D too, and they were some of the few fun times I had that year. I am still in touch with a few of those players today. And in the past year, struggling for friends in Burbank (only having met a couple people in the year alone I spent) I sought to join a D&D group. So every other Sunday, I meet up with some like-minded people who are fun to play a game with. I feel more at home in Burbank since joining that group.

Why do I bring all this up? Well, last week at Slate Jonathan Rubin wrote a pretty decent eulogy of Gary Gygax. I don’t agree with everything he says, but for the most part it’s a decent and respectful discussion of Gary Gygax and how he has touched millions. In particular, one passage turned out to be very important to what I’m posting on today:

“The genius of D&D is the way it parcels out rules and fantasy. The game tethers the imagination just enough to keep you focused on an imaginary world (main goal: slaying nasty things for profit) without putting limits on what you could do inside that world. Dungeons & Dragons is like the greatest Etch A Sketch on earth: It gives you the tools to create whatever you want.”

Rubin is exactly right. D&D gives you the tools to do whatever you want in a fantasy world. So it was incredibly irritating and disappointing to read, just a week later, a pathetic and ignorant hit piece on Gygax and D&D on Slate.

The article was written by Erik Sofge, and he titles it “Orc Holocaust: The Reprehensible Moral Universe of Gary Gygax’s Dungeons&Dragons.” He goes on and on about how violent the game is, and how the only way to advance your character is by murdering and killing your enemies. He claims there is no way for a character to gain experience points by doing good things, or by doing anything but acting like a mass murderer.

Erik Sofge is a moron. An idiot. And he has no idea what he is talking about.

If Erik Sofge’s exposure to D&D was of this nature - it was not the fault of the game. It was simply the people he played with. If they were bloodthirsty players who exhibited no morals and slaughtered sleeping orcs by the thousands, then that’s just the way they played the game. The game isn’t morally reprehensible, it was those players. If Erik Sofge envisioned his character as good, and did not oppose them - then he is morally reprehensible. If the DM did not give Erik Sofge’s character points for trying to be good, then he is a bad DM, and Erik Sofge should have found a different group to play with. Because - as Rubin pointed out - you can play D&D any way you like. There are infinite ways to play, and infinite ways to advance your character. You can advance without ever killing an innocent being, or ever killing at all. Erik Sofge simply found himself in group that didn’t match his personal playing style, and ignorantly swore off the entire game system. Talk about baby out with the bathwater. It’s like saying you hate all movies because you saw Rambo and it was too violent. So all movies must be bad, the concept of a “movie” itself is morally reprehensible, because you can make a violent movie. Idiot.

Erik Sofge also complains that D&D is bad because “it plays like a video game” -  yet most fantasy role-playing video games are based on D&D, not the other way around! There weren’t many video games for D&D to play like in 1976. So Sofge can’t even get his logic right, he’s too busy being self-righteous and pontificating on something he obviously knows nothing about. This is a pathetic hit piece on a man and a game that has brought enjoyment and positive social interaction to millions of people, and Erik Sofge should be embarrassed and ashamed by his vitriolic ignorance. Indeed, Slate’s discussion forum has lit up over this article - mostly people telling Sofge he’s way off base.

I hope Erik Sofge reads the comments, and maybe takes a second look at a game he swore off over one experience that didn’t fit his play style. You can play D&D however you want - it does not dictate. It’s all about the DM and the players. As Rubin notes, it’s not as much a rigid game as it is a tool to build a game world. Sofge doesn’t realize this - he thinks D&D is a rigid box covered in blood. And he’s wrong.

Last Sunday at the end of our session, we rose a toast to Gary Gygax. Thanks Gary, wherever you are - I owe you for the hours of fun I’ve had and the most valuable friends I’ve ever met.

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