BADD

BADD stands for "Bothered about Dungeons and Dragons" and was an organization founded by Patricia Pulling (June 30, 1948 - September 18, 1997). The organization was founded after Pulling's son Irving "Bink" Pulling committed suicide in 1982. It continued until her death in 1997.

Pulling blamed her son's suicide on D&D, saying her son was "cursed" in the game shortly before his death.[1] She filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the publishers of the game shortly thereafter.[1] (It should be noted that she first filed the lawsuit against her son's high school principal.)[1]

It should come as no surprise that these lawsuits were dismissed.

In 1984, BADD was formed. Its targets were "violent-occult related rock music, role-playing games that utilize occult mythology and the worship of occult gods in role playing situations like Dungeons & Dragons, teen satanism involving murder and suicide, and pornography as it is affecting adolescent behavior and reshaping attitudes and values in a negative manner[2]." The main focus was D&D.

In its heyday, BADD spread to Canada, England, and Australia, as well as giving lectures across the United States. It presented itself as a referral system for anyone concerned about violent entertainment.

Although BADD obtained some success and support from the church, even serving as legal council and eyewitness testimony in gaming-related lawsuits, it has largely been debunked. Based on Pulling's estimates, around 500 gamers would commit suicide a year (the actual number BADD documented is around 7 gaming related suicides a year)[3]. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control would later declare no causal link between fantasy gaming and suicide.[1]

Most of her points and ideas (not to mention credentials) were well and truly ripped to pieces by sci-fi writer Michael Stackpole[4].

In 1997, Pulling died of cancer and BADD faded from memory. The anti-RPG hype all but died with her. Just kidding! These people never change. Pulling also wrote The Devil's Web: Who Is Stalking Your Children For Satan? which shows how little she knew about what she was fighting.

See also

References
  1. The great 1980s Dungeons & Dragons panic
  2. http://www.holysmoke.org/wb/wb0017.htm A BADD pamphlet
  3. http://www.cale.com/paper.htm A paper arguing against BADD and anti-D&D voices
  4. The Pulling Report
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