According to Hanan Greenberg writing for Ynet News, the Israel Defense Forces asks all incoming personnel a rather personal question. They ask them if they, you know, like to roll, dream about twenties, have a good imagination, are, well, gamers. Yes, pretty much all Israeli citizens have to serve in the Israeli army and they will be asked, upon entry, whether they like to play Dungeons & Dragons. If they do, then it is off to the military shrink with them because anyone who likes to fantasize about being a cleric or magic-user or, goodness, a warrior definitely needs military-grade psychiatric help. Apparently, admitting your taste for dice won’t get you out of military service, but it will get you out of any really interesting military service as they army which defends the holy land does not give high security clearances to people who enjoy fantasy worlds. Apparently army security officials feel that an interest in D&D indicates weak character and poor grip on reality and they are even more concerned about LARPers who they fear may dress up as witches and roleplay in Israel’s nonexistent forests. Well, who isn’t more concerned about Live Action Role Playing games than about things which involve a twenty-sided? Ahem. The final word is that those who admin Israel’s defense feel that RPG enthusiasts are likely to have cloudy judgement and “Many of them are from the former Soviet Union, where the game is very popular.” I did not even know there was a Hebrew version of the game until I researched it and now they are telling me it is actually popular where Russia used to be? I guess I’d get on finding out the truth on this, but my years of running lawful good clerics have clouded my mind.
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