The Committee for the Advancement of Role-Playing Games
http://www.car-pga.org/
(EDIT BELOW MATERIAL)
About CAR-PGa
CAR-PGa is the Committee for the Advancement of Role-Playing Games, an international network of researchers into all aspects of role-playing games (RPGs). In the 1980s, there was a major campaign attacking RPGs. Because of the inaction of the game publishers' organization at that time, CAR-PGa was formed to find out what the problem was. CAR-PGa members' research showed that the charges—the same ones that are repeated to this day—had absolutely no foundation in fact. Today, CAR-PGa's primary focus has shifted from game defense to a study of all aspects of RPGs: Material is collected by members and sent to the Chair, who catalogs it and publishes a notice of the new acquisitions in the Newsletter along with other game information. When an attack on RPGs resurfaces, CAR-PGa makes sure that its members know about it and they check the relevant research and records of historical attacks, investigate the specific circumstances of the renewed attack, and respond with the hard facts.
Membership is dues-free, but work is expected from our members. This can include a number of things: writing a letter to the editor of the local newspaper or writing a peer-reviewed paper for a scholarly publication; keeping a watch on the mass media for any story that may affect gamers; collecting material from anti-gamer organizations; an appearance on local TV or radio; finding us a grant; recruiting more active members; etc. Beyond that, we only ask that members keep us informed of these things, sending us copies of material produced or found so we can make it available to the rest of the group, and keep us informed of any changes in the membership-form data.
