At various times in the game’s history, especially during the game’s early years, Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) has received negative praise publicly for alleged promotion of negative acts such as murder, pornography, suicide, witchcraft, and even Satanism.
The fear of spreading these has caused a moral panic among many people of the society. Moreover, D&D has also been accused of portraying racism in some of its monsters, specifically, orcs and drow elves. All these were then fixed in the 5th edition supplemental rulebooks.
There were instances where D&D is banned, specifically by Wisconsin’s Waupun Prison and by the Idaho State Correctional Institution for “promoting gang-related activity” and as part of its blanket ban on RPGs, respectively. Additionally, D&D has also been criticized by some on religious grounds.
However, it was reported by The New York Times that the moral panic over D&D subsided in 2016.