The Escapist (website)
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| Available in | English |
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| Owner | William J. Walton |
| Created by | William J. Walton |
| Website | www |
| Launched | 1995 |
The Escapist is a web resource site that advocates and supports role-playing games (RPGs) as a social and educational activity, and works to educate the public on the true nature of gaming and dispel myths and misunderstandings about the hobby. It is one of a handful of sites that promote RPGs as an activity rather than advocating or supporting any specific game systems.
The site was created in December 1995 by William J. Walton and has been regularly updated for more than a decade. Originally titled The Gaming Advocacy Website, it began as a research project for a technical writing class. In April 1996, the site was expanded into an online zine devoted to role-playing and collectible card games, and shortly after, the rest of the material was scrapped and the site focused entirely on gaming advocacy.
Other examples of independent RPG Advocacy sites which have been cited in the media include the Shakespearean Eclectic Archive and the GAMA "Gaming & Education" site. Such sites counter the efforts of anti-game advocates including Patricia Pulling.
When Ed Healy was helping the owners of the website Gaming Outpost with business development, he came up with the idea of creating a network of cobranded RPG sites, which would all feed into the Outpost; The Escapist soon came aboard but work stalled after that and Healy ultimately created Hephaestus' Forge.
From the site's main page:
Tabletop role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons are an engaging and intellectually stimulating activity that promote teamwork, problem solving, and creative thinking. Even better, in hands of a parent, guardian, or educator, they can be a fantastic teaching tool.
Unfortunately, the role-playing hobby has acquired a reputation for being geeky, dangerous, occultic, satanic, and even causing players to be prone to suicide or homicide. Only one of these is accurate — sure, it's a bit geeky, but that's the worst thing that can be said about it. The rest of those claims are pure urban legend.
The Escapist is dedicated to fighting misconceptions and misrepresentations about the RPG industry, and undoing damage caused by sensationalistic reporting and religious campaigns against the hobby.
The Escapist contains several projects that are each devoted to a different aspect of roleplaying advocacy:
The site also has regular features of interest to the gaming community:
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