The Inside Scoop on Gaming

RPGnet, TV Guide, 'Jesse', and WotC

09 Feb 1999

Say it ain't so!

So, one of our guest columnists, Spencer Lease, started up a protest about the recent negative portrayal of roleplayers on a recent episode of the TV show, "Jesse".

Now, Wizards of the Coast had approved the segment, a point which we'll get back to in a minute. But first, the slings and arrows of public whim.

While many people wrote nasty email to Spencer, saying 'Get a life', and others urged him on. Then, TV Guide did a short mention of him (and us) on their site. Their bit is excerpted below (thanks to Richard "MrMental" for pointing this out):

Watch your back, Jesse. Fantasy role-play gamers are up in arms over a recent episode of Christina Applegate's sitcom (Thursdays, 8:30 pm/ET, NBC).
In the Jan. 21 episode, Applegate's character attended a Dungeons & Dragons club meeting with her night-school math teacher. "I saw the episode and was highly offended," says Spencer M. Lease, a columnist for the RPG.net web site.
"When the Dungeon Master appeared," Lease complains, "the players got on their knees and apparently worshiped him." He has organized a protest against what he describes as "a general attack on the gaming community," urging players to contact the network and demand an apology. "If NBC refuses to apologize publicly," Lease warns, he is prepared to call for a nationwide boycott of the network. "We are not afraid to refrain from watching the network, picket local affiliates and generally embarrass NBC. If they remain stubborn after the first steps, we will probably continue the movement until the company collapses completely."
A spokesman for NBC said the network had no comment on the issue.

Okay, it ain't so

Shortly after, in response to the will of the masses, Spencer withdrew his campaign. To further comment on this, though, we got the inside scoop on WotC's approach. Said Peter Adkison, Janitor (or President, depending how you read things) of the company:

The staff here at WotC worked closely with the writers for the Jesse episode in question and we even granted approval to use some of our trademarked terms, like Dungeons & Dragons and Dungeon Master. While it's true the episode did portray D&D fans as geeks, there are many positive aspects to this show. They did NOT portray D&D fans as satanists, the portrayed the game as social, harmless, and having a math professor as a player is certainly a positive rolemodel for D&D players. On the whole, we're pleased with the exposure, and would be delighted if D&D was thought of by the masses merely as geeky and not geeky and satanic.

Our take

Well, our take is simple. We love the 'geeks, not satanists' line and think it's a great approach. We have to take baby steps here, folks, to get a better image for the hobby. And, what our columnists do on their own time is their own business--- we're in fact pleased that one of them likes diving into game-related controversy. Our own editorial stance remains neutral-- we print the News, and let you decide the Truth.

The following release was made publically available. We post it here for informational purposes. The actual ownership, accuracy copyright and credit is retained by the original author. It is provided under its original intent, as a press release.

RPGnet, TV Guide, 'Jesse', and WotC
RPGnet, TV Guide, 'Jesse', and WotC	RPGnet, TV Guide, 'Jesse', and WotC 09 Feb 1999 Say it ain't so! So, one of our guest columnists, Spencer Lease, started up a protest about the recent negative portrayal of roleplayers on a recent episode of the TV show, "Jesse". Now, Wizards of the Coast had approved the segment, a point which we'll get back to in a minute. But first, the slings and arrows of public whim. While many people wrote nasty email to Spencer, saying 'Get a life', and others urged him on. Then, TV Guide did a short mention of him (and us) on their site. Their bit is excerpted below (thanks to Richard "MrMental" for pointing this out): Watch your back, Jesse. Fantasy role-play gamers are up in arms over a recent episode of Christina Applegate's sitcom (Thursdays, 8:30 pm/ET, NBC). In the Jan. 21 episode, Applegate's character attended a Dungeons & Dragons club meeting with her night-school math teacher. "I saw the episode and was highly offended," says Spencer M. Lease, a columnist for the RPG.net web site. "When the Dungeon Master appeared," Lease complains, "the players got on their knees and apparently worshiped him." He has organized a protest against what he describes as "a general attack on the gaming community," urging players to contact the network and demand an apology. "If NBC refuses to apologize publicly," Lease warns, he is prepared to call for a nationwide boycott of the network. "We are not afraid to refrain from watching the network, picket local affiliates and generally embarrass NBC. If they remain stubborn after the first steps, we will probably continue the movement until the company collapses completely." A spokesman for NBC said the network had no comment on the issue. Okay, it ain't so Shortly after, in response to the will of the masses, Spencer withdrew his campaign. To further comment on this, though, we got the inside scoop on WotC's approach. Said Peter Adkison, Janitor (or President, depending how you read things) of the company: The staff here at WotC worked closely with the writers for the Jesse episode in question and we even granted approval to use some of our trademarked terms, like Dungeons & Dragons and Dungeon Master. While it's true the episode did portray D&D fans as geeks, there are many positive aspects to this show. They did NOT portray D&D fans as satanists, the portrayed the game as social, harmless, and having a math professor as a player is certainly a positive rolemodel for D&D players. On the whole, we're pleased with the exposure, and would be delighted if D&D was thought of by the masses merely as geeky and not geeky and satanic. Our take Well, our take is simple. We love the 'geeks, not satanists' line and think it's a great approach. We have to take baby steps here, folks, to get a better image for the hobby. And, what our columnists do on their own time is their own business--- we're in fact pleased that one of them likes diving into game-related controversy. Our own editorial stance remains neutral-- we print the News, and let you decide the Truth. The following release was made publically available. We post it here for informational purposes. The actual ownership, accuracy copyright and credit is retained by the original author. It is provided under its original intent, as a press release.