[[This

http://www.info-sectes.org/roles/cartes.htm]] would be funny if it wasn’t sad.

Short summary: We’re informing you about the dangers of cults. In particular, be wary of role playing games like //Dungeon and Dragon//, and of collectible cards like //Pokemon// and //Magic: The gathering//. They’ll turn your children away from Jesus.

It’s even worse than the ‘mainstream’ criticism against role playing games. Usually, players are pointed at because they immerse themselves into imaginary worlds, to the point where they lose touch with the real world, and then act all nutty in real life when something happens in the imaginary world. Like, committing suicide because their character has died.

This type of criticism has mostly moved on away from role playing games (role playing games are old news now, and too many people have played them for the rumor to keep going) to move to on-line games such as //World of Warcraft// and //Second Life//.

This point of view about Pokemon and Magic will appear laughable to anyone who actually plays, or has played, those games.

Of course, there //are// some players who go overboard and sacrifice their lives (figuratively usually). In other times they’d have read too many books ([[Werther

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sorrows_of_Young_Werther#Cultural_Impact]] anyone?), or been too far in the practice of whatever. The point is that these are a tiny minority.

For most players, games are just that: games. Just like books are just that: books. And Harry Potter is just that: an imaginary character.

But the ironic part is that it’s not what is being reproached to all these things here. This article doesn’t point to Magic or Harry Potter because they send their users to imaginary worlds. They point to them because they feel like players and readers are being put in touch with a part of the //real// world that should be left alone, namely witches, witchcraft and, of course, Satan.

Most players know perfectly well where the real world starts and where it ends. It takes some religious nut who has already lost grip with those boundaries to come up with stuff like that. It’s even more ironic when you think that religions are pretty much the same as cults, except they have become socially acceptable. And religions have //directly// caused much suffering and the death of millions.

Indeed, you’ll notice that this Web site attacks anything that isn’t Catholicism: Mormons are a cult, Islam is a cult. Of course the author forgets that Catholicism is a cult as well. And that he’s lost touch with reality, as there really is no such thing as magic, witches, spells or devil.

On a related note, [[Gary Gygax

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Gygax]], the inventor of Dungeon and Dragon, passed away a couple of days ago. Now that’s sad.