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It’s easy to suggest that this is the same scaremongering around media and new technologies occurred in the past, but I think that’s a mistake. The Internet, we

It’s easy to suggest that this is the same scaremongering around media and new technologies occurred in the past, but I think that’s a mistake. The Internet, web forums, social media, etc. are different because of how people interact with them and because many of them use algorithms and dark patterns to manipulate and drive further engagement. To make matters worse, malicious actors have demonstrably used them to manipulate public opinion and distribute propaganda. Studies around illusory truth have shown that familiarity can overcome rationality and critical thinking. IOW, no matter how much you know something to be a lie, if you hear it often enough, you’ll begin to believe it. That’s all to say I think it’s important to be wary of how technology influences your life and consider how to cultivate balance in life that includes time away from devices to contemplate as well as to escape the machine.

card_zero 1y ago
Dungeons and Dragons was different, because it encouraged the confusion of fantasy with reality. But in the case of algorithm-driven social media feeds the difference is different, I take it? The scale is bigger, I think that's the key thing. I can vaguely imagine an alternate history where D&D is as popular as TikTok, and then Russia and China are publishing their own Monster Manuals full of propaganda, and laws start to appear limiting it to over 18s due to the potential for brain rot as proven by studies.
- rightbyte 1y ago
  > Dungeons and Dragons was different, because it encouraged the confusion of fantasy with reality What. DnD isn't larping. Or what do you mean.
  - card_zero 1y ago
    I tried to source who said this, presumably in the 80s, but struggled. The phrase "rumors regarding players having difficulty separating fantasy from reality" appears on Wikipedia, in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_%26_Dragons#Moral_panic https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_%26_Dragons#Moral_pan... but the sources aren't good (the page from theGamer is unrelated, maybe spam). https://web.archive.org/web/20200626110749/http://www.ptgptb.org/0004/hist4.html https://web.archive.org/web/20200626110749/http://www.ptgptb... has a good history of the topic, but without mention of the fantasy/reality claim. The panic made it out to be a satanic cult that induces suicide and murder. This psychiatrist was involved: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Radecki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Radecki ... however, I can't find the claim about the blurring of fantasy and reality, so maybe nobody made it, although it's kind of the theme of Mazes and Monsters.
    - rightbyte 1y ago
      I mean, you are supposed to play the character and pretend to be it. But most people don't even role play that much. I have a really hard time seeing that what is fundamentally a dice rolling game would induce psychosis etc.
  - subscribed 1y ago
    What. Even larping is not confusing. Are you claiming that actors in the film/ play actually are confused and they think they REALLY ARE the characters they play?
    - rightbyte 1y ago
      No, but actors don't decide what their characters do. Also I don't claim larping is "confusing" to any extent, just that it would be relatively more confusing than DnD for people with a bad grasp on reality.

card_zero 1y ago

Dungeons and Dragons was different, because it encouraged the confusion of fantasy with reality. But in the case of algorithm-driven social media feeds the difference is different, I take it? The scale is bigger, I think that's the key thing. I can vaguely imagine an alternate history where D&D is as popular as TikTok, and then Russia and China are publishing their own Monster Manuals full of propaganda, and laws start to appear limiting it to over 18s due to the potential for brain rot as proven by studies.

rightbyte 1y ago
> Dungeons and Dragons was different, because it encouraged the confusion of fantasy with reality What. DnD isn't larping. Or what do you mean.
- card_zero 1y ago
  I tried to source who said this, presumably in the 80s, but struggled. The phrase "rumors regarding players having difficulty separating fantasy from reality" appears on Wikipedia, in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_%26_Dragons#Moral_panic https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_%26_Dragons#Moral_pan... but the sources aren't good (the page from theGamer is unrelated, maybe spam). https://web.archive.org/web/20200626110749/http://www.ptgptb.org/0004/hist4.html https://web.archive.org/web/20200626110749/http://www.ptgptb... has a good history of the topic, but without mention of the fantasy/reality claim. The panic made it out to be a satanic cult that induces suicide and murder. This psychiatrist was involved: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Radecki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Radecki ... however, I can't find the claim about the blurring of fantasy and reality, so maybe nobody made it, although it's kind of the theme of Mazes and Monsters.
  - rightbyte 1y ago
    I mean, you are supposed to play the character and pretend to be it. But most people don't even role play that much. I have a really hard time seeing that what is fundamentally a dice rolling game would induce psychosis etc.
- subscribed 1y ago
  What. Even larping is not confusing. Are you claiming that actors in the film/ play actually are confused and they think they REALLY ARE the characters they play?
  - rightbyte 1y ago
    No, but actors don't decide what their characters do. Also I don't claim larping is "confusing" to any extent, just that it would be relatively more confusing than DnD for people with a bad grasp on reality.