The Israeli Army frowns on folks who play D&D.
Does the Israel Defense Forces believe incoming recruits and soldiers who play Dungeons and Dragons are unfit for elite units? Ynet has learned that 18-year-olds who tell recruiters they play the popular fantasy game are automatically given low security clearance.
“They’re detached from reality and suscepitble [sic] to influence,” the army says.
Fans of the popular roleplaying game had spoken of rumors of this strange policy by the IDF, but now the army has confirmed that it has a negative image of teens who play the game and labels them as problematic in regard to their draft status.
So if you like fantasy games, go see the military psychologist.
Cool. I can’t wait for the Jack Chick crowd to get hold of this.
A security official tells Ynet there are specific criteria for deciding the level of a soldier’s security clearance. “One of the tests we do, either by asking soldiers directly or through information provided us, is to ask whether they take part in the game,” he says. “If a soldier answers in the affirmative, he is sent to a professional for an evaluation, usually a psychologist.”
More than half of the soldiers sent for evaluation receive low security clearances, thus preventing them from serving in sensitive IDF positions, he says.
[…] “These people have a tendency to be influenced by external factors which could cloud their judgment, a military official says. “They may be detached from reality or have a weak personality – elements which lower a person’s security clearance, allowing them to serve in the army, but not in sensitive positions.”
Of course. Because the gamers I know — my best friends, not to mention my wife — are all folks with weak personalities that are easily influenced. Especially, of course, while playing, the pushovers that they are.
Yeesh.
(via Solonor)
Full Frontal Nerdity was all over this issue this week.
Ah, yes.
Have you ever noticed that people who don’t play D&D are very easily influenced by articles about D&D players?
Heh.
I translate this whole thing to mean they prefer people with no imagination in sensitive positions. Less imagination, fewer questions asked about policy. They want obedience, not evaluation.
I suspect it is less analytical, more of the “Hey, Marcia, come see the Satanist!” sort of thing.
Most possibly a combo of te two.
Also, the Dork Tower now has a carton on the subject.
And a cartoon, too.