In this editorial, I ponder the impact of violence, sex, and gore in RPG illustrations and covers while also discussing the shift from keeping my RPG materials on display to storing them in a less exposed location. To be clear, the point of this isn't to simply rant about how the artwork is inappropriate but to convey how my perspectives have changed since I've become a husband and father and to open a conversation about dealing with the duality of the nature of the RPG hobby and being a spouse and parent who is considerate to his family. So please, for the duration of this editorial, rest any defenses you might have and hear me out.
Dismembered corpses. Half-naked women. Impaled combatants. These are the images that commonly populate many pages and covers of RPG books and magazines. There was a time when my worst reaction was embarrassment from accidentally leaving an issue of Dragon Magazine on my desk at work after some light, lunchtime reading. Having a half-naked, buxom mummy on the cover of Dragon Magazine wasn't really explainable and could be borderline grounds for sexual harassment in the workplace depending on how touchy someone else might be. These days, however, I feel a bit more apprehensive and guarded about such artwork, not because I am offended personally, but because I'm a husband and father.
I look at my collection of RPG books, their covers, and their interior art, and I see images that once stoked my imagination. Instead I now see these images as potentially jarring to a child or offensive to an in-law. High-fantasy art work that's composed of a lone figure travelling across an awe-inspiring scenery (imagine something from The Lord of the Rings) might be a conversation starter. A half-naked woman carrying a bloody spear... not so much. Additionally, violent images of a monster with blood on its mouth and claws after rending a human being are not images I care for my daughter to see as a young child.
With that said, I do understand that not everyone who plays RPGs is a parent or spouse. As I admitted earlier, it never bothered me before, and in fact I enjoyed the more gruesome images as I imagined my player's reactions if I were to present such imagery to them in my Greyhawk and Eberron campaigns. These days, however, I can't help but feel protective.
I liken this sentiment to an experience my wife and I had recently with the movie Superbad. We watched this movie in the theater before she was pregnant and laughed our asses off. We watched it again after our daughter was born, and still laughed our asses off, but were stunned by the thought of our daughter -- even as a teenager later in life -- watching this movie with us. "Not until she's 30!" my wife said exaggeratively. We saw it as a humorous reaction, but it's something I think every parent experiences. (We had the thought that parents aren't stodgy because that's who they are; they seem stodgy because they don't want their kids to be like them!)
As I've gotten older, I have to admit that I feel a bit more displaced by such gratuitous imagery, but I still don't feel outright offended; I only feel as though I'm no longer the target audience, or that some RPG publishers don't take into consideration that many gamers are older and have kids running around their homes and exploring their books.
The folks at Paizo Publishing (not intending to target them) once justified their covers based on the fact that their sales would always shoot up for those particular issues of Dragon. Some felt it was a rather cheap way to get sales. Rather than compelling buyers with content, Paizo compelled them with cleavage. Surely sex sells, but I've seen a large number of great RPGs that have stunning imagery without any sexual undertones or gratuitous violence. Take a look at the covers for all three Hellfrost books from Triple Ace Games as examples. The covers portray a fantastic, magical, threatening world without relying on sex or gore to sell the product.
With all of that said, I recognize that the responsibility really falls on the parents, and not the publisher. In other words, I can still enjoy the product, while being careful about leaving it lying around the house. Putting the books away and magazines out of reach and in a discrete location isn't necessarily going out of my way or compromising anything.
Another solution I've adopted is buying PDFs exclusively. PDFs are effectively always concealed, aren't typically left laying around on a coffee table or night stand, take up no space in my home, and are usually cheaper anyway. (Luckily I don't play D&D 4e, otherwise, I'd be stuck with printed hardcovers rather than my much more portable PDFs.)
I recently asked on FriendFeed/Twitter: "Parents, do you or your spouse worry about your kids seeing sexual or violent images of RPG books? If so, how do you prevent such exposure?" @anthonyayers responded with a rather sensible reply: "I lock mine in my game cabinet. With all the little fiddly bits in most of my games, I don't want them in the games anyway." His answer seemed reasonable to me, and I realized that I had already done the same myself, complete with child-proofing gear (my daughter is only 14 months old).
In any case, here are some follow-up questions for the rest of you:
- What are your own opinions about violent or sexual imagery on the cover and inside of RPG books and magazines?
- Parents and spouses, do you have concerns about displaying such content in your homes?
- Do any of you ever feel like you need to hide some of your RPG materials from non-gamers?
Feel free to answer in the comments below.
6 comment(s):
I just think back to when I was a kid. Did these things upset or disturb me when I was a child? No, they didn't and RPGs aren't really 'for kids' any more than anime or comics are really. Mind you, I've been reading 2000AD since I was about three years old (or at least looking at the pictures) so perhaps I'm skewed here.
There's cultural differences between nations here as well I think with some being far more squeamish than others. Europe is more tolerant than the UK which is more tolerant than the US.
I don't see much harm in a little violence or a little (or even a lot) of boobage and to me you answered your own questions with the words 'fired my imagination'.
The only reason I'd hide gaming stuff is from social embarassment. :)
You're exactly right, apresvie. Most of my concern is social embarrassment, too, but the concerns for my daughter have more to do with her age than the fact that she's a child in general. Exposing a child to violent and gory images before 4 years old can be impacting. It can even be impacting to a 10-year-old child. (Note that I'm focusing on violence and gore rather than nudity.)
In the end it makes me ask (humorously), "What the heck kind of game am I playing here?" :)
I agree with apresvie, in that it seems to me that American parents are much more squeamish about this sort of thing then they need to be.
Most of us, in our own childhoods, saw our first R-rated or especially violent affair at a fairly young age. My own daughter, 7, loves zombie movies. Besides the violence and gore, they also feature some gratuitous nudity from time to time, but is a boob really that objectionable?
1. I don't worry about them. As far as kids go, the kind of violence or half-nudity in RPG books I don't see as objectionable at all. As far as in-laws, they already think its weird that we play D&D, so the art isn't going to affect that position.
2. No.
3. No. I don't have them strewn about the house, but I have a game room, covered in posters with bookshelves full of gaming materials and a display case for some rare and cool stuff. When groups of non gamers come over, the game room often becomes a part of the party or gathering, for the space (and that I have a wet bar in it).
Regarding nudity (or near nudity), it's objectionable when you accidentally leave it on your desk at work or on the dining room table for your in-laws to see. My in-laws in particular are pretty conservative culturally. (I don't want to go into too much details of my personal life, but suffice to say that there is definitely a cultural difference, and one that's based on national origins as well as religious beliefs.)
As far as violence is concerned, at what age was your own daughter when she saw her first zombie movie? How gory was it? What was her reaction to it?
As far as my own game room, I don't have that luxury, and if I did, my in-laws would have some serious concerns. ;)
Her first was Land of the Dead, she was 5 or so. I netflixed it, being a big Romero fan myself. I watched it in the afternoon and she wandered into the room after it had been on for a bit and was just fascinated. After that came Shaun of the Dead, which she loved. Then we watched the trilogy - Night, Dawn, Day. She also loved the Dawn remake and 28 Days Later, finally took her to see a zombie movie in the theater when Zombieland came out. Non zombie films she liked - 30 Days of Night, the original Halloween, Trick 'r Treat (watched that on Halloween with a crowd of kids and parents and we all loved it, great flick), Hot Fuzz, Kill Bill.
The "of the Dead" films are generally considered (especially the original Dawn) as some of the most gory/violent films in cinematic history and she's seen them all and remains the cutest, sweetest little girl and not a violent psychopath at all :) She just loves zombies. Her reaction to an action or horror heavy movie is generally a low level of excitement, she'll cuddle up with a parent on the couch, cover her eyes during a part or two (but peek), get a bit talky. Just how I recall reacting as a kid enjoying horror movies.
There are limits, of course, movies that I don't think are appropriate for children (Twilight), but the violence of your typical horror or action movie is the same as your typical loony tunes cartoon, the trappings are just different. It's basic, easy to understand confrontation. Good guys, bad guys, a moral question or two. A good example of something I won't let her watch is The Devil's Rejects. The sadistic violence of that film is very human and very sick (but awesome).
If I'd heard that viewpoint from a fellow Brit, I'd have thought them ultraconservative or rabidly PC. In the UK, we're a little more relaxed, I think.
I grew up watching Nightmare on Elm Street type slasher flicks from about the age of ten, and I've hardly killed anyone. Remember yourself as a child - as soon as you found out Mom and Dad thought that this game/film/book was Too Old For You then, if you were anything like me, you wouldn't rest until you'd experienced it for yourself. On your own. And you couldn't talk to your parents about the experience and get some perspective, because you weren't meant to have watched or read it.
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