Talash, who is a former-Soviet, Israeli gamer tells me (via private email, posted with permission):
this is in fact ancient news. there was some discussion about this a year ago or so. for the record, there are a lot of roleplayers whom i know who hold key positions in the army, including intelligence, combat units and others. there was a debate, however, as to whether one should declare that he's a roleplayer upon being drafted. you might go to roleplay.org.il and search the forums for references to this.
The discussion to which he referes (actually from early 2005) can be found here.
10:45 PM, December 08, 2006
[Image] UPDATE: Mad Latinist has confirmed this story via an Israeli contact, who says that this is "ancient news", and who claims to know "a lot" of role-players in "key positions in the army". Those of you who read Hebrew can go here and do a search for the topic.
Via GamePolitics.com, we have this Feb 2005 article from ynetnews.comDoes 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 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. While I doubt this will ever affect me directly, I must declare my solidarity with my fellow Israeli gamers. This sounds like a pretty stupid policy. What other hobbies do they screen for? Do they have any evidence that D&D players are more of a security risk than people who collect stamps, build model railroads, play a lot of golf, or windsurf? Maybe if the Israeli army had more D&D players, they could come up with more creative solutions when combatting Hezbollah. Once again, I must take the vaunted reputation of the Israeli military down a notch or two. I don't know; maybe they read this post and generalized too much.
Here's a tidbit from that article I didn't know: Many of them are from the former Soviet Union, where the game [D&D] is very popular.Well, here's a shout-out to all my fellow D&Ders in the former Soviet Union. I didn't know you existed! I hope you're having as much fun with it as we are here. Too bad you can't be in sensitive postions in the Israeli military.
"No Israeli army security clearance for me"
1 Comment -
Talash, who is a former-Soviet, Israeli gamer tells me (via private email, posted with permission):
this is in fact ancient news. there was some discussion about this a year ago or so. for the record, there are a lot of roleplayers whom i know who hold key positions in the army, including intelligence, combat units and others. there was a debate, however, as to whether one should declare that he's a roleplayer upon being drafted. you might go to roleplay.org.il and search the forums for references to this.
The discussion to which he referes (actually from early 2005) can be found here.
10:45 PM, December 08, 2006