Tom Rhodes, writing in Issue 66 of The Escapist shares Mirren's perspective on the religious significance of the mythology of games and suggests that gaming as a religion unto itself may be evolving because of such strong symbolism. "With the increasing influence that gaming is having on the collective psyche," he writes, "[social integration of games] can't be too far behind, and with it comes controversy. We may have never connected religion and gaming before in any strong way, but that day is arriving soon enough."
That day may already be here, but is videogaming a religion or a cult? Consulting our references, Webster defines a cult as a "great devotion to a person, idea, object, movement, or work" Again, Encarta goes a bit further defining a cult as "idolization of somebody or something: an extreme or excessive admiration for a person, philosophy of life, or activity" and "sociology elite group: a self-identified group of people who share a narrowly defined interest or perspective." And here we have conflict, since videogaming, based on definitions alone, could be either.
Idolization of Somebody
Last month marked the 10-year anniversary of the infamous Heaven's Gate mass suicide, a brutal act by a cult who all believed (or were led to believe) that a spaceship riding (invisibly) behind the comet Hale-Bopp would whisk them away to the extraterrestrial kingdom of heaven if their souls were freed from their bodies at the exact moment the comet passed overhead.
According to all definitions, anecdotal evidence and statements from former members, the Heaven's Gate community was a cult, and its members were mostly disaffected outsiders (computer geeks) who raised money for the cult by producing web sites and doing various computer consulting. Whatever trials and tribulations the 39 members of Heaven's Gate faced in their daily lives, their burdens were sufficient to convince them that a better life lay in store for them in the arms of an unknown alien race, about which the only evidence for existence lay in the mind of one man, Marshall Applewhite, aka "Do."
On March 26, 1997, following instructions from Do, the members of the cult, ate poisoned pudding and died. According to Harry Jones, writing for SignOnSandiego.com, family members of the cultists suggested they'd joined Heaven's Gate "searching for answers and goals. ... Applewhite offered a simpler, more focused way of life that also isolated group members from the outside world and fostered a shared belief system."
Which is very similar to what users experience upon entering the cult of gaming. I learned this firsthand, taking part in the ritual of adoration that was Shigeru Miyamoto's keynote speech at this year's GDC. As at most Nintendo keynote speeches, there was cheering, standing, yelling "Woo!' and shouting of encouraging pleas such as "You can do it!" and "We made it!" The looks on many of the faces were bordering on manic. There was clearlyadulation, identification and love for the man who made Zelda and the brand he represents. At the suggestion that Nintendo had finally beaten rival Sony, the crowd, literally, went wild.
Jim Munroe at The Cultural Gutter speaks of his confrontation with the obsessive fans of one particularly symbolic game: "When I posted my bad review of Zelda: The Legend of Windwaker (Nintendo, 2003) to this site it immediately inspired a flood of outraged comments ... over 8,000 words about a column that was about 800 words long. ... One of them said that one of my points 'bordered on blasphemy.'"
Wired columnist Clive Thompson, writing about his Final Fantasy "virginity" paints a similar picture:
