D&D had many sources of inspiration beyond Papa Tolkien, The only real aspect that you could strongly argue came from only LOTR was the concept of the halfling. Almost every other aspect of the game had been used repeatedly even before LOTR was written. Do remember that Tolkien's primary occupation was professor of English literature. He borrowed from the traditional myth cycle so heavily that every author writing fantasy around the time of LOTR 25th anniversary was accused of copying him and it wasn't until Donaldson wrote his Thomas Covenant novels that anyone writing "epic" fantasy got a fair shake.

The magic system owed greatly to Jack Vance, the system of alignments was influence by Moorcock, and we could go on for quite awhile. Even the concept of magic rings which many have pointed at as Tolkien's invention was in fact rooted much further back in traditional myths of the Norse and Germanic peoples. (The Ring of the Nibelung being the best example)

I remember that piece of junk. A second rate book based on a tragic incident that was blown out of proportion by the media and latched onto by a fringe of religious conservatives in order to attack the new hobby. The only reason it got picked up for a movie was that with the controversy it was sure to garner ratings. The individual at the center of the drama in both the book/movie and the real incident it was based on had serious emotional issues prior to participating in roleplaying games.

The only good it did was to make people within the hobby who lead games pay closer attention to the activities of their players away from the table. I myself asked a few players who were letting other parts of their lives slip to take a step back and remember that no game was worth letting studies or relationships slip..

I began gaming in 1978 and after entering the Navy started a group of players at each location I was stationed. While I was stationed at NAS Memphis the group I started was actually appreciated by the barracks master-at-arms because instead of getting drunk and getting in trouble the only trouble he ever had with us was mediating an arrangement with the ping-pong players over use of the table. (we had a rather large group of players)

I was stationed at a base in the Florida panhandle when the anti-RPG movement got into high gear and we got it with both barrels due to the fact our base was in an area full of highly reactionary conservative churches (most with names that included the word independent in them) that outnumbered almost every other type of organization. In fact in the 5 mile trip from base to town you could count 25-30 churches or signs for churches. (this in a town with a non-military population of less than 200,000) During my time there I was both privately and publicly accused of everything from being a Satanist to being a practicing warlock along with anyone else that did not make a secret of their participation in roleplaying games. The highlight(?) of this campaign of hate was the publication of a pamphlet that was circulated in the area supposedly identifying a cabal of warlocks intent on destroying the community. Twelve names were on that list and the only thing any of the people on it had in common was their hobby. Most of us didn't even know the others existed. It got enough circulation that on one occasion I was asked to leave a restaurant in the middle of a meal because the owner was made aware of my identity and told me he did not want "my kind" in his establishment. The only amusing part of this story was the fact that a few of the names on the "list" turned out to be naval officers with no sense of humor. A civil charge of slander and defamation of character was made against the individuals who were identified as authoring the pamphlet. Since both of the individuals involved could not substantiate their claims (in fact neither author had any first hand knowledge of the contents of Dungeons & Dragons or even realized that several people on their list didn't even play D&D) the justice hearing the case found against them and assessed damages.

Given the amount of ignorant nonsense spread around at the time and incidents like my encounter with the restaurant owner I have a low tolerance for people trying to resurrect the propaganda of that period. (for anything other than ridicule) I have had the pleasure of gaming with many good and honest people over the 35+ years I have followed my hobby and I am honored to count most of them as my friends.

Okay, I am done with my soapbox. Thank you for your patience with my rant.

Actually, a number of studies pointed out higher math and reasoning skills in those individuals who did game as opposed to peers who did not. Likewise there was significant development in creative talents such as literature and music as well as art. In my own groups we had a large number of individuals who went on to pursue careers in literature, music or art, either teaching or creating the same. Not to mention a high number of friends who are now successful IT professionals. To be quite frank I am hard pressed to remember anyone I had in my games who is not presently successful in their field.

While the concept is thought out it over looks a few items that could effect a failure to launch.
First off in order to create a sufficient amount of disruption in the surveillance collection there will need to be a massive buy in of users fairly quickly.This means that they will need to create a very large interest in their product very quickly to get enough users to make a difference.
This kind of effort to promote the product effectively will also draw attention from the very people it is meant to thwart as well as the individuals that their program is suppose to be trying to intercept.
That bring me to my last point.
There is no chance that either the US or British government will allow this app to go public. Both governments have proven quite well in recent months that they have no problem using any method fair or foul to deal with people who wish to bypass their efforts.If we do not see attempts to shut down the developers before the release of the application then we will find legislation brought to law or existing laws interpreted to outlaw this network and application.


I didn't make this world, i just try to live in it.

With all that has come to light in the last year it is amazing that it has taken this long for the security service of a major nation to realize this might be an issue.

Perhaps if they were not there then they would not have gotten shot?
I am not advocating violence against the TSA agents, I am advocating the removal from our airports of a useless group of people sucking up our tax dollars and delivering nothing constructive in return.
The TSA serves no real purpose other than to inflict themselves on citizens that are trying to go about their own business. They have yet to catch one terrorist and the reports of things that they say that they are supposed to catch that get past them keeps growing. They have almost replaced the IRS as the single most hated agency of the government. Their entire justification for continued existence is based on the imagination of Homeland Security. As long as they can keep us scared with "what ifs"then they can continue to harass us and make travel as difficult as possible.
In the end each time we passively submit to these intrusions we tell the government that we serve them instead of the other way around.

“They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” Ben Franklin