Title: The Wendorf "Vampire" Murders' connection to Roleplaying, A Statement by the Interactive Literature Foundation

Source: rec.games.frp.advocacy, 12/11/96, as posted by Gordon Olmstead-Dean, president of the Interactive Literature Foundation.

NOTICE: The following material is copyrighted as indicated in the body of text.  It has been posted to this web page for archival purposes, and in doing so, no claim of authorship is expressed or implied, nor is a profit being made from the use of the material.

From jgdean@mnsinc.com Wed Dec 11 09:25:15 1996
Newsgroups: alt.games.whitewolf, rec.games.frp.storyteller, alt.games.vampire.the.masquerade, rec.games.frp.live-action, alt.true-crime, rec.games.frp.advocacy

Subject: "Vampire" Murders - ILF Statement
From: Gordon Olmstead-Dean <jgdean@mnsinc.com
Date: Wed, 11 Dec 1996 11:25:15 -0500
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The Wendorf "Vampire" Murders' connection to Roleplaying

A Statement by the Interactive Literature Foundation
PO Box 196, Merrifield VA 22116-0196

President       J. Gordon Olmstead-Dean 
Phone:         703/912-9877 eve
202/606-0745 work 
Fax: 703/642-5479
e-mail        jgdean@mnsinc.com

The Interactive Literature Foundation (ILF), a non-profit corporation,
based in the Commonwealth of Virginia.  The ILF is filing for IRS
501(c)(3) status as a charitable educational institution.  The ILF
primarily seeks to educate the public on the existence of Interactive
Literature (IL) and opportunities for participation, and to facilitate
education and co-education by artists on techniques of IL art.  Our
organization's Board of Directors had defined "Interactive Literature"
as "any dynamic art in which multiple participants interact concurrently
to create a story."  This includes many role-playing activities which
are usually marketed as "games," including White Wolf Corporation's
Vampire: the Masquerade, and Mind's Eye Theatre.  Our interest in these
"games" is when they are used as the basis for live interactive drama.

The Murders

Richard and Naomi Wendorf were found beaten to death on November 25,
1996, at their home in Eustis, Florida. According to an Associated Press
report on Thursday, December 5, 1996,  Dana Cooper, Roderick Ferrell,
Scott Anderson and Jennifer and Heather Wendorf face first-degree murder
charges and Sarah Remington is charged with being an accessory to
murder.   According to the AP report "Investigators believe the
teenagers became attracted vampires because of a best-selling
role-playing game.  Police say the youths drank their own blood and that
of  mutilated animals."

As might be expected this has raised a number of questions about whether
or not roleplaying games in general, and White Wolf's  Vampire: the
Masquerade, and Mind's Eye Theatre. are inherently "dangerous" material,
which predispose youths towards antisocial behavior.

The ILF presents three basic facts in regards to role-playing of all
types:

1) The connection between roleplaying and criminal or suicidal behavior,
and the practice of Satanism, is fictional, and has been scientifically
disproved by accredited organizations, including the Center for Disease
Control.

2) Roleplay, particularly live-action roleplay is a nascent form of art
and entertainment.  Live roleplay is already well-established and
widespread, and it will become increasingly significant in the next
decade.

3) Live roleplay has been accepted by educators as an excellent way to
educate students, particularly in the area of history and sociology,
however its acceptance in actual school environments has been hindered
by media sensationalism about roleplaying, primarily stemming from a
1979 incident at the University of Michigan.

1. The Criminal Connection

The ILF is profoundly concerned that live role play not be made into
"the D&D of the 90's" by an overzealous press.  Already attempts by
American educators to introduce role play into our schools have been
nearly eradicated by parents, law enforcement officials, and
conservative educators who have paranoia and suspicion about anything
related to "role-playing" because of a series of overly- hyped press
reports concerning the disappearance of James Egbert III from the
University of Michigan in 1979, which was tentatively connected with the
roleplaying game "Dungeons and Dragons," produced by TSR.The
disappearance turned out to  be unrelated to roleplaying, or the TSR
product, but the role play angle was highlighted in the  title of The
Dungeon Master, a 1984 book by the detective who found  Egbert, and in
Rona Jaffe's Monsters and Mazes, an entirely fictional  book "inspired"
by the case.  Unfortunately, because of the media hype and
sensationalism, more people are familiar with these versions than with
the facts of the case.

As an organization that supports and promotes live-action drama and
theater, whether in the form of teenagers' "games" or more mature
dramas, ILF members are deeply involved in live-action games and events
of all sorts.  The ILF membership includes medical doctors, CPA's, U.S.
military officers, government employees, students, computer engineers,
artists, and many others.  The  active membership, includes teens and
adults.

In general, the roleplaying community can be characterized as being made
up of individuals who are intelligent, creative, and imaginative. 
Roleplayers are often among the most intelligent students, and have
broad interests in literature, history, and music.  It has been unusual
for me to encounter roleplayers who had an obsession with roleplay.  In
almost all cases roleplayers have several hobbies or interests.

The case against role play is entirely fictional, but parents are still
told  that it provokes anti-social behavior, and suicide.  The "teen
suicide"  myth is especially robust, despite evidence to the contrary
from the medical and scientific community. The Center for Disease
Control conducted an extensive study of teen suicide and found no 
evidence to link role-playing games with suicide.  Investigations by the 
Association of Gifted and Creative Children (Dublin, CA), the Albert 
Einstein College of Medicine (the Bronx, NY), and the American 
Association of Suicidology (Denver, CO) have likewise found no 
evidence that games encourage suicide.  A list of these studies and 
other information about roleplaying games was compiled in 1991 by 
Loren K. Wiseman and Michael A. Stackpole of the Game Manufacturers
Association.

No scientific study has ever linked roleplay to either criminal behavior
or suicide.  The myth that there is a link is maintained by the tendency
of the media to focus on roleplay if a criminal or suicide victim is
engaged in it.  The fact is that hundreds of thousands of crimes and
suicides occur annually, and there are hundreds of thousands of
roleplayers, yet it is still a spectacular and newsworthy event when
roleplaying is connected with a crime or suicide.

Obviously, in the Wendorf case, the youths were at least familiar with
the Vampire role-playing material.  The question that emerges is whether
or not the material is responsible for their behavior.  Clearly, the
idea is preposterous.  When five people commit a heinous criminal act
and attribute it to fictional work which is read by hundreds of
thousands of others, we have to decide whether it is the work or the
individual that is to blame.  The youths in the Wendorf case exhibited
extreme sociopathic behavior.  Vampire constitutes neither a reason or
an excuse.  Whatever sad reasons may lie behind this crime, the youths
identification with Vampire is incidental to the act, not contributory. 
If we are to condemn every work of literature or art in Western
civilization which has ever been perused by, or cited by, a criminal, we
would have to condemn a great deal of our culture.

2) Roleplay as a form of Art and Entertainment

The ILF believes that live role play is an important art, whether
presented a light entertainment, or as a form of serious drama.   Role
play will become increasingly important as a form of entertainment art,
as the rise of virtual reality systems becomes more widespread, and
standards such as VRML (Virtual Reality Markup Language) become more
sophisticated, allowing many users to interact concurrently.  Already
primitive text based role play is a common phenomenon on computer
networks, and primitive Virtual Reality is supported through the
Internet. 

3) Roleplay as a form of Education

The ILF has assembled reference information indicating that Roleplay is
an excellent educational tool. 

Outside the United States, live role play is used extensively as a
method of teaching, and is described in such books as John Fairclough's
A Teacher's Guide to History through Role play, published by the highly
respected English Heritage Foundation.  In the past ten years, dozens of
papers have been published in psychological journals, describing the
usefulness of live role play for teaching in areas as diverse as
counselor training, aircrew training, community decision making,
substance abuse control, and improving the school attendance of disabled
youths.  In 1995 Holcombe, Wolery, and Katzenmeyer published an article
in The Journal of Child and Family Studies which described the use of
roleplaying teaching children to avoid sexual molestation or abduction.

Despite scientific reports from around the world that roleplaying is an
excellent method of teaching, educators in the United States, are
reluctant to attempt to introduce this excellent teaching tool. They
have been met with constant and bitter opposition because of paranoia
about the "evils" of roleplaying.

The games produced by White Wolf, while primarily recreational and not
an educational tool, are unusual in presenting an entertainment
containing elements of history, classical and modern literature, and
modern music that appeals to many teenagers.   Some adults disapprove of
art or entertainment that allows youths to explore moral choices, and
ethics.   Roleplaying games encourage teens to think for themselves,
rather than being fed "canned" entertainment from the television. 

Role play is a social phenomenon, and requires some thought and insight.
Imagination-oriented activities that get young people out of the house,
away from Nintendo and TV, and that require reading, math, and
socializing should be considered a positive pursuit.  The suggestion
that these games promote "unhealthy obsession" is simply silly - any
pursuit, from music to baseball cards, can be a teenage time sink that
drives dad crazy. 

White Wolf's Vampire Games

If the theme of White Wolf's games are occasionally violent and bloody,
they do no worse than television and movies.  A reading of the White
Wolf materials shows they encourage the participant to question his or
her actions, and the results, rather than simply accepting mindless
violence, which is the primary quality of passive entertainment like
television.

To suggest that the half-million individuals who play White Wolf games
are likely to exhibit criminal or sociopathic behavior is ridiculous. 
Vampire literature has been a part of our culture since the publication
of "Varney the Vampire" in the 1840s, and has been presented time and
time again to audiences by literary and film figures such as Bram
Stoker, Bela Lugosi, Frank Langella, and most recently Anne Rice and Tom
Cruise.  The Vampire myth is powerful because it contains an analogy of
cultural alienation.  Occasional miscreants adopted the Vampire theme in
sociopathic acts long before roleplaying was invented.   Literary
critics and Sociologists have pointed out that the Vampire myth contains
powerful elements of cultural alienation, which make it a particularly
important myth for modern human beings striving to cope with modern
culture.  The fact that the myth is embraced by a criminal does not make
it any less of a valid part of our culture, or suggest that normal
people should not explore the many lessons that can be learned through
this 

Role play is not dangerous.  Parents who do not supervise their children
are dangerous.  The Interactive Literature Foundation encourages parents
to ask questions about their teens' hobbies and activities.  Parents who
are concerned about their children or teenager's games should actually
read the game books, bearing in mind that they will be no more or less
graphic and violent than TV, movies, or a popular thriller.  Talk with
teens about moral and ethical attitudes.  And when it comes to
roleplaying groups, insist on information about location, responsible
adults, and times. 

What is the ILF?

Before now, other than the manufacturers, there has been no credible
clearinghouse for information on role play and roleplaying.  The ILF was
incorporated as an NPO to serve that need, and we hope that we can
provide information to the media in the future, when a sober,
businesslike, view of roleplaying activities is desired as a balance to
more radical views. 

ILF Contact Information

Gordon Olmstead-Dean, President
Work (U.S. Govt, OPM) 202/606-0745
Home 703/912-9877

Or to contact the ILF Secretary, Terilee Edwards-Hewitt at:
Home 703/642-5479

The ILF will supply representatives to speak at engagments or to the
press on any issue related to live roleplaying.
 
 

                        == Gordon Olmstead-Dean
                            jgdean@mnsinc.com
                            ILF President/CEO

The Interactive Literature Foundation is a non-profit organization
that exists exclusively to promote IL around the globe by spreading
information about IL, as a form of art, education, and entertainment.

ILF WWW Site - http://allison.clark.net/pub/arthur/ilfhome.html