Study Says Videogames "Problematize" Religion as Violent Pages PREV 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 NEXT | |
I'm more insulted by his selection of games here. What about GoW, where you kill the entire greek pantheon? DMC4, with its brainwashed zealots? Bayonetta, where you fight god at the end? I seem to recall Breath of Fire 3 had a war which was ordained by god to kill all the dragons. And of course, FFX, with its evil Yevonite religion that is also the primary government who've been hiding the truth from everyone for 1000 years. But instead, this guy picks Mass Effect and a game SET DURING THE CRUSADES? Of course there's going to be religious conflict in AC, that's the entire setting. I dunno where he gets it from ME though. FF13 didn't have much to do with religion either, yeah there were powerful godlike beings, but nobody really worshipped them. | |
I think the distinction is that people have killed in the name of Christianity. No one has killed in the name of atheism. Like, there are atheists who have killed, but it wasn't because of their atheism. It was usually an extreme devotion to something else, like say communism. | |
Perhaps Games paint religion as violent because history shows that's exactly what they are? Just a thought. | |
Haha, I like how you just assume I haven't read any other religious texts despite knowing very little about me other than that I'm willing to read religious texts. I believe Christianity over other religions because it's the most believable, both in its tenants and its creation. Believing in Christianity, for me, is like believing Columbus sailed across the Pacific or Genghis Khan invaded central Asia. The Bible is not merely a religious text, but a book of history, written by many different sources. Looking into the archeological and historical evidence for the resurrection, the least preposterous explanation is that Jesus died and was resurrected three days later. When we look at other religious texts and their creation, what do we see? Islam/Mormonism: One guy, alone, in a cave, writing philosophy. Hinduism: Creation-myth focused religion with central tenants that claim the existence of creatures on Earth (e.g., rakshasa) that no one has ever found. Jainism: One guy teaching a philosophy with a creation-myth focus with central tenants that have been disproven (the universe has always existed, Jainism has always been a religion, etc.). Scientology: One science fiction writer who had previously publicly stated that he could make up a ridiculous religion and people would still follow it. Beyond that, you officially can't read Dianetics until you've given them thousands of dollars and advanced through their ranks which screams scam (Wikileaks put up the whole thing a while back, though). Also, I'm a psychologist, which basically makes me Satan in Scientology cosmology. | |
*sigh* for some reason, religion/the order one of the two things Invisible war did right | |
Some religious, right-wing fundamentalists say games are violent. It balances out i guess. | |
The sample size is statistically irrelevant. He needed to look at far more games to draw proper conclusions. However, I think anecdotally he is probably correct. The first reason is probably that videogames had and indeed largely still do have a core nerd audience. This audience tends to be better educated, and this correlates with scepticism about religious dogma. Note that I do not deny that there will be nerds with beliefs. Just that I doubt that there are many nerds who also faithfully refuse to eat meat on Fridays. A second reason (and I would be grateful if someone could finish this thought for me :P) would be to do with the essence of narratives in videogames, the player as a force etc. A third reason: if the player character was particularly religious, you risk alienating some of your audience. It is harder to distance oneself from a main character whose beliefs and actions you disagree with than it is in an non-interactive medium. So to keep the player engaged, the character can't have too contraversial views. Finally I would add that religion ISN'T always problematic. Many RPGs treat temples as places of healing and to pick up healing magic and stat bonuses through communion with the gods, as they largely were in Oblivion. That's superficial, but it doesn't say religion is destructive. | |
Oblivion, really? | |
Could someone please explain how Mass Effect uses religion as a source of violence? Does the guy think that robots genetically altering an entire race and turning them into slaves is the foundation of a religion? Really can't say I see the connection there at all. The Reapers aren't religious figures...they're alien robot overlords that want to destroy everything, not be worshipped. I mean the only religious things I can think of in the ME series is Ashley stating that she's a Christian and Thane explaining why he prays to various gods before starting a mission. Oblivion is kinda on the fence...technically you're not up against an entire religion, you're up against a creepy cult complete with matching robes, an insane leader, and a hideout inside a cave. I'll give him Assassin's Creed and Castlevania (though I never played the latter, most Castlevania games haven't so much been a struggle against a religion as they've been against a struggle against a being that denies religion), never played FF13 so I can't say anything about it, but at least to my knowledge the only FFs that centered around the world's religion was 10 and Tactics. I dunno, I'm not saying there aren't examples of what this MU student brought up, I just don't think it's nearly as widespread as he seems to be trying to make it. | |
Who put all these egg shells on the thread floor. I'm afraid to say anything because someone might get offended. I will say, games are just entertainment, maybe it's best to not read into it too much. | |
Total win right here, so true. | |
True, it is probably the case that Stalin, Pol Pot etc. did not, in fact, shout "For Atheism!" whilst doing what they did best, but the intent was there. In the case of Stalin, he actively tried to eradicate the Russian orthodoxy during his purges (except during the war, but that's another thing). Pol Pot, again, tried to destroy Cambodia's culture, its traditions and its religion. People have killed, essenially, for Atheism. And getting bogged down in how overt the declaration is, or over semantics involving literal definitions, is not the best way to have an intelligent discussion on the matter. | |
Yeah my answer was a bit poorly worded, but you're right in the sense that it comes down to the lack of evidence suggesting that there is no god(s). Like I mentioned before, atheists are the negative of the burden of proof analysis, so it's not possible to prove '100% accurately' that there is no god, but the lack of evidence suggests that outcome. The problem is that some theists 'move the goal posts' to an extent as in your example and attempt to explain god(s) in horribly abstract, supernatural or metaphysical terms which really has no evidence for either side, it all just becomes blind theorizing. | |
It's as if video games represent religion in the exact same ways as films, books, television etc etc. Religion or should I say religious people in many many circumstances do either participate in or promote violence in the name of their religion. And video games should be portraying this as much as possible. | |
The intent was not there*! Intent implies that while they didn't say "for atheism!" they meant or thought "for atheism!" and they didn't. Stalin actively tried to kill the orthodoxy because communist thought at the time said that religion was part of the evil capitalist scheme and only served to keep the people down. They did it "for Communism!". By your logic, Allan Legere is a raging atheist because he killed a priest. the failing of course comes when you realize he didn't do it based on atheism, he did it for something else. Not every decision is related to religion or atheism in that way. | |
Or Devil Survivor on NDS where you can give God the middle finger and rescue humanity with your own power, not siding with either him or the evil forces. | |
Nice to see it's the other way around for a change :P Also, he missed a pretty big one: the Halo series. I mean the whole reason the Covenant are fighting the humans and want to light the Halo rings is that they believe that's the way to heaven. | |
I'm as critical of religion as any freethinker, but this has little to do with views on religion and everything to do with games themselves. Perrault said it himself in the article: "I believe they are only using religion to create stimulating plot points in their story lines. If you look at videogames across the board, most of them involve violence in some fashion because violence is conflict and conflict is exciting," he continued. "Religion appears to get tied in with violence because that makes for a compelling narrative." (emphasis mine) I think it's safe to say the overwhelming majority of games that aren't sports, puzzle or edutainment make combat or violence very central to their gameplay or story. So of course religion is often portrayed as violent. So are corporations, various ethnic groups, popular movements across the political spectrum, governments of all stripes, the wealthy, the poor, the mentally balanced and mentally ill, the educated, the ignorant, the successful, the unemployed, anthropomorphic turtles, robots, wild animals, and so on. It'd be easier listing groups, organizations and institutions that haven't been portrayed as violent at some point in video games. | |
We can get into the whole evolution debate if you would like but we do not have proof that they evolved into humans we know that they evolved into human like not necessarily human itself though since we did not observe it and that is the only definitive proof there is. | |
Quarians and the Geth. Well mostly the Geth. They pretty much make Shepard out to be Jesus since he killed a Reaper who some of them revere as God's. | |
Religion is a tool used to justifiy violent. It has been since man got religion. I grew up Catholic and went to Catholic school all my life, and we never learned about the Crusades but we learned a shit load about how other religions do similar acts. I hold a lot of the moral beliefs from religions around the world, but I'd never endorse a religion. People should be free to believe what they want as long as it leads to a morally good life. | |
I'm going to say what's probably already been said. It's not just video games that associates religion with violence. History pretty much does too, except that history does a waaaaaaaaaay better job of it. | |
Yeah... it's already been said, but really, history "problematizes" religion as violent. | |
I have to agree with this, I know religion has been used to start wars but today in America Christian organizations are the biggest fund raisers for very noble causes. I don't think we need to get rid of the violent zealot archetype in games I just think it should be easier to point out positive religious role models with in the medium. | |
Well that's a pretty meaningless observation really. | |
The Heretics (though I do see that's a religious term, in the case of the Geth it's not implying a religion, simply that they go against the "norm" of Geth society) don't worship the Reapers as gods, they simply see them as the pinnacle of synthetic evolution and as such want to emulate them. I just don't see it. I'm pretty sure that Mass Effect is much more about politics than it is about religious violence. | |
And the fact that there are countless wars, both ongoing and past wars that have deep roots in religion got nothing to do with it? Saying that Assassins Creed makes religion seem violent is silly as saying the history books problematize religion in that era as violent. With the crusades and holy wars at the time it would just be stupid to make the church the good guys in games like this. I find this hilarious. | |
People's responses to this are depressingly formulaic. 40% bashing religion without making any actual points, 40% thinking it's about religion demonizing video games, and 20% actual discussion. I agree that in video games, religion is generally depicted as corrupt. You would have thought that there was never any corruption, greed, killing and evil before religion. Here's a new point of view - consider all the people that could have commited atrocities, but didn't because of religious teachings. All the people that, without teaches of an ultimate power, would treat life as a sandbox of chaos. I'm studying law, and the basis of much of our society and institutions is based on government. I think there is too much media demonizing religion these days, and more of it is unnecessary. In films, where there are only a couple of hours to set up the premise, having a predetermined faction is understandable, but games have the advantage of having hours to get you to feel emotion, so why all the insert-faction-here? The rebels are always good guys. The religion is always misguided. The aristocracy is always corrupt. The empire is always power hungry. The police are always over-violent. The business is always greedy. Can we have a change here, please? Any kind of change? Just listing this has made me never want to play a new Final Fantasy. I'm not going to try to covince you there is a God. But please, start believing in religion. EDIT: I'd also like to state that I'm saying that religion has a blank slate. It's allowed things that shouldn't have been. It's ruled with an iron fist. But. In this day of free thinking and individuality, there is a lot of accountability. This keeps religion in check, and allows people to ask questions, which will advance the path to understanding and comprehension. But these opportunities seem to be replaced with people saying "all religions are bad and wrong and stupid", and the reply occasionally being "believe or you're screwed". I hate humanity. We suck. But stop blaming religion for our actions. | |
Looks like one of those studies that tells you that accidents in the home happen most often in the bathroom or kitchen. Let's try something else. A University of Missouri doctoral student says many modern videogames "problematize" cannibalism by equating it with depravity in their stories. This despite that historically speaking cannibalism was most commonly tied to ceremony or medicine rather than because people taste like chicken. There's no such study that I'm aware of, it's just something I vaguely remember from sociology 101, the big difference being that cannibalism is commonly bashed openly in video games because there's no taboo on doing so, and no special interest groups that are pro-cannibalism in political circles (at least... not openly). | |
There are not enough Facepalm Posters in all of the Internet to convey how dumb this research project is. Nevermnind the fact that religions have been used as the main villain or "Boogeyman" scenario in movies, books, and plays for CENTURIES, but it's when video games got in on the troupe that it was just too far. This guy is either a douche, or someone begging for an Easy A by giving his Professor something he wanted to read in order to propagate his/her own worldview. | |
Probably mentioned a few times already, but really, MOST of the Final Fantasy series is essentially criticism about religion. Many of the final bosses are depicted as angelic or biblical and the plot usually stems from conflicts with churches or elder gods. Hell, Final Fantasy Tactics' final boss is basically Jesus from what I understand of the lore. The study is just a tad behind the times. | |
Could it maybe, just maybe be due to the fact that *gasp* religion leads to violence? | |
Personally, I think religion is doing a pretty good job of it itself. | |
Oh dear, look at that; A news item about a guy who somewhat stands up for religion. Duh, I wonder how well this will go over with the community? Anyway, the guy's absolutely right, though I don't really think it warranted an entire study. Everyone with functioning eyes and ears already came to this conclusion. Most game developers know that the majority of their fanbase dispises religion in every possible way, so why come up with some sort of new and interesting evil corp. when you can just say "they're religious" and be guaranteed the fans will hate them on the basis of their ideology alone? Preaching to the choir, ey Escapist! | |
| Pages PREV 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 NEXT | |
He has a point about videogame plot though I find a lot of less extreme (sometimes) parallels in real life religions anyway and I find it incredibly satisfying killing god. Reason for that is I find any god-like entity an affront to free will. I still hate hearing bible readings with some qoutes pretty much saying worship me or when you die suffer eternally in a fiery hell, the other I hate is at weddings where the priest says God fills you with love to love one another (I don't need someone 'allowing' me and deciding for me who to love, I can decide for myself). Anyway must stop bashing religion but if religious leaders do get worked up about this then I just think don't you have some real world problems to sort out?
Still religion makes a good plot device for conflict hence why it is used so frequently for plot. Though I wonder why he didn't mention darksiders where a few angels actually caused the end times because they wanted to restart the eternal war and demons merely took advantage of it.