I have gained entrance to five difference dance clubs by
showing off my moves to five different dance crews. I also was a back-up dancer
for the Black Eyed Peas. I played my guitar to become part of a world famous
band, I played my guitar to unite rival gangs in a city, I played my guitar to
set free a demigod, and I played my guitar to stop zombies from invading a
city. I tested a teleportation device for a science company. When the tests
succeeded, the company tried to trap me to prevent their secret from escaping,
and when I tried to escape, they tried to kill me. I helped detain an asylum
when a few inmates tried to take control of the asylum in a coup. I
accidentally killed my father in the utopian society he attempted to erect, and
then went after the man who made me kill my father. All of this is possible
through the world of video games.
Video games have evolved over the years in many aspects. They have evolved graphically. Video games have gone from eight-bit graphs to 1080p graphics. Video games have evolved in game play. Video games have gone from linear games, jumping from platform to platform, to games where players can explore worlds and make choices. Video games have also evolved in storytelling. Video games now have cut scenes, with animation and voice actors. With this evolving have come new worlds, new choices and new decisions. With new worlds, choices, and decisions, video games have earned a second glance.
Probably the most tell-tale sign on how much video games
have evolved is how much time is spent examining video games. If someone
attempted to study video games a mere decade ago, that person would come up
with very little resources. When video games grew in popularity, however, and
when video games clearly became a part of culture, video games had to be
re-analyzed. Naturally, when the secular world analyzes something, the
Christian must analyze it as well. In the past, when Christians analyzed video
games, they seemed to take the five ways American Christians have handled
culture, according to Andy Crouch in his book Culture Making. Christians
have condemned video games, refusing to play them because they are sinful.
Christians have critiqued video games. They willingly watched video games, but
only saw their faith as conflicting with the video game world. On the other
end, Christians have consumed video games, not even thinking about what video
games have done to their faith. Christians have copied video games, making
their own video games, and yet still missing the point. This paper will argue
that none of those methods work the best. Instead, the best method is the
method that examines the morals in the game, compare and contrast them to
Christianity, and when possible, make the Christian choice within the video
game. But first, in order to see why this is the best method, all other methods
must be examined to see where they fall short.
Gaming is Culture
Video games cannot be denied as part of the culture. Surveys
show that eighty-seven percent students in grades four to twelve play video
games. These students will play video games for at least an hour a day. Video
games cannot be limited to a single culture, either. In India China Australia United States Canada Canada
Critiques and Condemnation
If the fundamentalists would have a doctrine on video games, they would declare them evil and avoid them at all costs. If neo-evangelicals wanted to analyze video games, they would watch from a distance and criticize them for all the times that the game disagreed with their faith. The commonality between these two views lies in their negative outlook. The negative bias against video games is nothing new to anyone involved in video games, the makers and the players alike. This section of this blog will look at some of the complaints about video games and will show that they are merely criticism and condemnation is not the appropriate answer to video games.
Escapism
The Webster-Merriam Dictionary defines escapism as “habitual diversion of the mind to purely
imaginative activity or entertainment as an escape from reality or routine.” In
terms of video games, a video gamer commits escapism when he or she uses video
games in order to live out life in a fantasy world instead of facing reality.
Escapism has negative effects to the human psyche. First, escapism can cause
denial when video games won’t face what’s happening in reality, but try to live
out their fantasy world in reality. Second, escapism can lead to self-hatred.
Gamers hate their real self, wishing to be their fantasy self. The worst
effects of escapism hurt Christian gamers the most. Escapism can cause players
to refuse to recognize any sin or evil in the world. The players rather escape
to a world of happiness and perfection than rather deal with the sin of the
suffering of the world, locally or globally.
Recently, studies show
video games might not provide escapism as people thought. Instead, video games
further equip the player for the real world. Educational video games help
children advance in school. Math Blasters teach children math, Where
in the World is Carmen San Diego teaches children geography, and Oregon Trail teaches history. Education video
games help children so much in school that businesses look into making job
training into games in order to train employe3s effectively. Even the military
has taken advanced of this “gamification.” They created a video game out of
basic training because they realized the best performers at basic training were
those who played first person shooter games, such as Halo and Call of
Duty.
If video games do have
any escapism, it can be positive. In other words, video games can provide
psychological needs video games might not receive in the real world. People
need to feel like they are in control, and video games can put a person in
charge of a person or a bunch of people. People need to feel successful at
something. When a gamer completes a game, a feeling of satisfaction comes over
a person. People also need to feel like they belong to a common community.
Massive multiplayer online role playing games create a community of video
gamers playing the same game, working together for the same goal. So video
games might not simply be a tool to escape from the real world, but rather a
tool to dive further into the real world.
Violence
Research hasn’t always been consistent on the correlation
between video game violence and violence in real life. One study has saw that
when people played violent video games, the part of the brain associated with
anger and hatred becomes very active. On the other hand, many surveys have
shown that in past years, the popularity of video games have increased, while
violence has decreased in general. Those supporting video games credit video
games as a healthy method to releasing anger, just like punching a pillow,
while those against video games, claim the statistic is a mere correlation
fallacy. A better interpretation of the studies and statistics conclude that
while violent video games can fuel the rage within a person, the video game
itself cannot induce a person to violence.
No one should shun video games because of violence. First of
all, not all video games have violence in them. The ERSB rates games, taking
into consideration the amount of violence within a video game. Games rated EC,
E and E10 rarely have violence. If they do, the ERSB describes the violence as
“mild violence” or “fantasy violence,” which is similar to the violence in
Loony Tunes. Even games rated T and have violence keep the violence fairly
mild, maybe not using blood. When games become rated M, then games become
violent, but the M stands for “mature” and is not intended for an audience
below the age of seventeen. Second, just because a game has violence available
as an option, it does not mean violence is the only option. Players can
actively choose a non-violent method. In fact, games like Mirror’s Edge
and Call of Duty Black Ops give out pacifism achievements, which are
rewards for not harming a single player. But even if a video games has
violence, and makes the gamer participate in violence, don’t throw it out into
the trash. These violent games can open the door for discussion on Christians
and their views on just war and justifying violence. A good game to bring about
such conversion would be the original God of War trilogy. In the first God
of War game, the violence has an opportunity to be justified, as the god
kills to avenge his fallen loved ones and seek repentance in his own
wrongdoing. When the series progresses into God of War 2 and God of
War 3, the mood changes. The god kills merely for revenge and to satisfy
his own anger. This game alone not only opens a door for just violence among humans,
but also can lead a discussion about the times when Yahweh is “violent” in the
Bible.
The first question anyone needs to ask when it comes to
video games is, “Why is there sex and nudity in video games?” First, sex indeed
sells. People will indeed buy video games just to see nudity and sex. Video
game creators will take advantage of this market, making games like Leisure
Suit Larry and Duke Nukem Forever, because the creators will know
people will buy the game just for the sexual content. Second, when the creators
see their games as forms of art, they put nudity in their games to demonstrate
their artistic advance. Medieval and Renaissance artists did this in their
painting and sculpting. In a time before photographs, artists painted and
sculpted nude bodies to demonstrate how realistic they can portray bodies. The
same philosophy stands true for video games. Back in the days of eight-bit
graphics, the difference between a male torso and a female torso was rectangle
torso for males and triangle torso for females. The nudity allows the game
programmers to show off every curve of the human body. Third, the medium of
video games is still young, and thus is immature. Film went the same direction
early in its life. Early movies contain scenes of random nudity, men and women
dressing and undressing, fully exposed to the camera, for no reason at all. The
best explanation any film analyst would attempt to give is that film, in its
youth, tried experimenting with what it could get away with in society. Video
games might be participating in the same experiment, seeing how people respond
to their use of nudity and sexuality. Fourth, and most importantly, video games
use sexuality to show dynamic relationships. In the game Heavy Rain, if
the player chooses for Ethan Mars to engage in sexual intercourse with Madison
Page, Ethan forgives Madison
The appropriate response to sex in video games has much
similarity to the response to violence in video games. First, video game
ratings take into consideration sexual content. Games with EC, E and E10
ratings will have no sexual content, or even nudity. Games rated T will have
revealing clothing at the most, but no sexual acts. Only the games rated M will
have sex in them. People who want to enjoy games without sex should then avoid
M rated games, as well as pursue caution in T rated games. Second, just because
a game has sex does not mean the player’s character has to engage in sex. For
the games with the most explicit sex scenes, gamers have to go out of their way
to find these scenes. For the games that present sex up front, players have the
option, most of the time, to turn down sex. Either way, players do have a say
in their character’s sexual life. Third, and most importantly, allow sex in
video games to open the door for theological discuss and try to create a
theology of sex in video games. Christians should discuss with other Christians
if sex in video is both permission and beneficial to the Christian. Christians
should ask themselves what the sex signifies, and if the creators could have
communicated the message in a better way. Once Christians have developed their
philosophy, the Christian video gamer should attempt to live this out in his
video game life. If the game chooses to live a life of celibacy, he should try
to get his character to live the same way. If he cannot make his character live
this way, maybe he shouldn’t be playing the game. As long as Christians
properly deal with sex in video games, the excuse to not play video games
because of sex should cease to exist.
Addiction
Critics of video games have often tagged video games as
addictive. Even teenagers playing video games admit that they have spent too
much time playing video games while they should have been doing homework.
Indeed, video game players may not be good stewards of their time if they use a
lot of their playing video games. At the same time, while video games can be
addicting, video games themselves are not addicting. Unlike drugs, nothing in
video games draws the human to need to play video games. With self-discipline
and self-control, any person can fight off a video game addiction.
Humanity in Video Games
In newer video games, players don’t have to pick a character
already made for them, but can make their own character and play as that
character. It doesn’t matter what kind of game, for even music video games,
like the Rock Band franchise, utilize a character creator. These
character creators would like to get their players to believe humans can have a
perfect body, with the tweak of a bar on the game screen. The character creator
reflects the culture’s attitude of the body. For example, in Rock Band
and Rock Band 2, when a player increases “weight,” it does not add
pounds to the body. For men, their muscle mass increases, and for women, their
breast size increases. While players can use character creators to make the
character look similar to themselves, most do no. Most gamers choose to make
their character how they want to. One person recalled that his character in Rock
Band started to look like himself, but as the game progressed and he
unlocked new clothing and makeup, he ended up looking like a member of Sergeant
Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band with a ZZ Top beard. Character creation can
leave a gamer unhappy about their bodies and their personalities. They could
think that God made them incorrectly, which could lead them to deny any image
of God in them altogether.
At the same time, perhaps video games help players experience
the image of God even more. The image of God puts titles on both God and man.
God is the creator and mankind is the creation. In the image of God, God gives
humans the ability to create. When players make an avatar in their game, they
have become the creators, and their avatar the creation. Gamers who make
avatars get to share in the experience of creating, just like God did when he
created man. Humans also experience the image of God when in community. In
community, humans get relationship just like God gets in the trinity. Video
games with multiplayer provide a chance to enhance community with other players
locally and globally. While video games can give Christians a bad view of
humanity by distorting the image of God, video games can help the Christian
enhance the image of God in life.
Consummation
Opposite of condemning and criticizing, Christians can
consume video games. Consummation of video games means playing video games and
taking in everything about the video game, without filtering anything from the
video game. Consummation of video games sees video games as mere entertainment,
so video games shouldn’t be examined deeply or filtered for any reason.
Consummation could also mean finding any good in video games, and that good
would outweigh any kind of evil video games could contain. Therefore, liberal
Christians would probably take the consummation side when it comes to video
games. Other Christians should not jump quickly to consummation. Despite all
said above, video games do indeed have escapism, violence, sex, addiction and
bad views of humanity. These issues in video games should not stop a Christian
from play video games, but a Christian should not ignore them either. If
Christian gamers intake these issues the wrong way, they could fall into
temptation and sin. Christians still need to guard themselves from temptation.
Consuming video games blindly does not protect the Christian from the
temptation they need to guard themselves from.
Copying
When it comes down to Andy Crouch’s views on how to handle
culture, two remain to be discussed: copying and creating. When it comes to
video games, copying and creating have become one and the same. Every time
Christians attempt to make video games, they become a direct copy of a secular
game or become a game similar to a secular game in the same genre. An early
example would be Exodus, a game for the Nintendo Game Boy, created in
1991. Essentially, Exodus copied Pac-Man. Instead of Pac-Man,
Moses marches through a maze. Instead of ghosts, Moses avoids Egyptians. In
game play, Exodus only differs from Pac-Man by making the player
answer questions about the book of Exodus. Exodus, simply, was a
Christian Pac-Man. Many games would follow suit. When Guitar Hero
and Rock Band become popular in 2008, Guitar Praise came out the
same year. Virtually, Guitar Praise played just like Guitar Hero,
except the players played Christian praise and worship songs. Once again, the
game merely mirrored a secular game in a Christian way.
While not all Christian video games copy secular games by
mirroring them and Christianizing them, Christian video games have tried to be
unique by copying a video game genre. Catechumen, released on the PC in
2000, is a good example. The game starts out with an archangel declaring the
Romans as pagans and demon-possessed. The archangel gives the player in the
game a literal sword, which he calls “the sword of the spirit,” to fight the
Romans. The game ultimately becomes a first person shooter, as the player, from
the first person point of view, shoots blue beams from his sword to convert the
Roman. While this game tries to provide an alternative to violent video games
by replacing blood and bullets with beams, this game ends up giving a
metaphorical view of Christianity. No Christian wields a literal sword to
evangelize the gospel. Even in metaphorical terms, the game does not produce a
positive message about Christians.
Left Behind: Eternal Forces attempted to become a unique Christian game in 2006. Tim LaHaye fully funded the game based off his book, hoping to turn Christians from secular video games to a more Christian video game. While LaHaye might have thought the game was a good idea, both pastors and video game critics found faults with the game. The game starts out with the goal to convert followers of the Antichrist to Christianity. To tell which characters are Christian, antichristian, or neutral, a “health bar” appears the head of every character. Christians get green bars, the neutral get gray bars and those who side with the Antichrist get red bars. In order to convert a person to Christianity, the player must lower the red bar or gray bar. First, no one should turn converting people to the Christian faith a game. The world contains millions of people suffering in their sin, needing to know Jesus. Second, even if evangelism became a game, no one can measure a person’s spiritual life with a health bar. Naturally, after evangelism comes discipleship. The game provides five roles for the player and the characters he has converted: evangelist, soldier, builder, healer and worshipper. In the original game, however, women could not become evangelists or soldiers. Tim LaHaye, coming from a fundamentalist Baptist background, believed strongly that women should not become leaders in the church or state, even if it meant becoming an evangelist or a solider. Later patches of the game allowed women to become all five occupations, but by that time, the game already damaged its reputation in the country. While Christians can debate on women leadership, they should not bring the debate into the secular community. When the soldiers mature spiritually, their job becomes fighting the Antichrist’s army, in the form of the police. Now the Christians understand that the “police” here represent the minions of an evil man bring evil upon the earth, like Hitler and the Nazi party. In the secular mind, however, the non-Christian simply sees another game like Grand Theft Auto, teaching children to fight and mistreat the police. Once again, this game makes sense in the Christian community, but fails in the secular community.
Not all Christian video games merely copy a game or copy a
game genre. Bible Champions: The Resurrection created a video game which
cannot easily be placed in a category. Players choose either a boy character or
a girl character. The character becomes a citizen of first century Israel
When Christians try to copy video games, either quite literally
or merely the genre, problems occur, as listed above. Therefore, most
Christians resort to simply making Bible trivia video games. The video game
simply asks the player questions on the Bible, and the player tries to answer
correctly. The Bible Game, created for the Play Station 2 in 2005,
stands above the rest as an exceptional example. Not only does the game include
Bible trivia, but also fun mini-games that incorporate Bible stories with
contemporary Christian music.
Creating Video Game Theology
Christians shouldn’t condemn or criticize video games
because every game has a silver lining. Christians shouldn’t consume video
games blindly because video games have escapism, violence, sex, addiction and
bad views of humanity, which can corrupt a Christian who is not on guard.
Christians try to create their own games, but every time, they end up becoming
mere copies of secular video games. Therefore, none of these approaches work.
Instead, Christians should try less to put their theology into video games and
should develop theology that comes out of video games. Instead of video games
and the Bible clashing, the Bible should correlate and correct what video games
teach in their stories. The correct process first looks at what the video game
teaches, then compares it to the Bible. In the places the Bible agrees with the
video game, the Christian should support it, but then when the Bible disagrees
with the video game, the Christian should be cautious about it. This process
can be best done through the stories and the moral choices presented in games.
Most Games Have Narrative
Not all games have stories. Most games that do not have
stories usually are quiz games or puzzle, but being a puzzle game or quiz does
not automatically mean a game does not have a story. Puzzle Quest, a
simple puzzle game, has a fantasy story. Most games do have stories. With the
advance in technology, such as cut scenes, video game stories have become more
obvious in video games. This does not mean older video games did not have stories.
The original Super Mario Bros., created in 1985, tells a story about a
plumber trying to save a princess while he survives in a changed world. The
1980 game Missile Command tells a story about defending the home country
from a nuclear war. As simple as these stories are, these games still have
stories, and the stories enrich the game.
Not an Allegory
When a Christian wants to make a theology about a video
game, he may be tempted to make an allegorical interpretation. In an
allegorical interpretation of Pac-Man, Pac-Man represents the Christian,
the maze represents life, and the dots represent the days of that life. Just as
Pac-Man munches down on the dots, Christians chomp by at the days that go by.
The ghosts represent demons, both literally and metaphorically for the demons
in life each person faces. The power-up dots represent the spiritual high
because they can help fight off demons and only last a short time. While this
allegory might seem to work, it ignores a serious hermeneutical rule. In Bible hermeneutics,
the Christian reading the Bible needs to consider the author’s original intent
in the Bible book. In the same way, Christians should not force a theology into
a video game that the video game creator did not intend. A correct video game
hermeneutic looks at how the creator viewed the game, and then compares to
Biblical theology.
Types of Narrative
Video games tell narrative not only through cut scenes, but
also through game play. The type of narrative depends on how the game tells its
story through game play. Video game narrative can be placed in three
categories: linear, binary and embodies games. Linear games have a set story
from beginning to end, with little to nothing that the player can do to change
the story, such as the Call of Duty games. Binary stories give the
player two choices. The game already determines the good choice and the evil
choice, and the player merely chooses good or evil. Good choices bring about a
good ending, while evil choices bring about an evil ending. A binary game, as
the name hints, gives a game narrative only two endings in the narrative. Bioshock
and Dragon Age II are a couple binary story games. The most endings come
in embodied games. Embodied games give players multiple choices. The game does
not tell the player which choices are good or evil, but lets the player decide
for himself. The game, in turn, has multiple endings. Endings do not get
labeled “good” or “evil.” Endings simply change based on choice. While binary
stories are better than linear stories, embodied stories are the best stories
because the game personally connects with the player. What makes a narrative so
great is the choices the gamer makes in the game, especially moral choices.
Most Games Have Choices
Not all video games have moral choices, but more games might
have moral choices than a person thinks. Even the oldest video games have
choices. The original Super Mario Bros. makes player choose between the
short term goal of surviving each level and the long term goal of saving the
princess. Missile Commands makes players choose which cities to defend.
Players can focus all their defense on one city, or they can choose to split
their defense power on all cities. Good games have choices, but the better
games have moral choices. Players would play Missile Command differently
if the game told players one city was a penal colony, the second city was a
rehab for those addicted to drugs and alcohol, and the third city was a shelter
for abused and neglected women and children. Video games have utilized this
moral decision making for its benefits. In Bioshock, every level has a
“little sister,” a girl with special powers. The player can choose, to rescue
the little sister, freeing her from her powers and the plagues that come with
them, or the player can harvest the little sister, killing her. While freeing
the little sister is the right thing to do, the right choice doesn’t come
without temptation. Players who harvest little girls get a lot of special
power, while those who rescue little sisters only get a little power. The game
separates the adjectives “moral” and “beneficial” in its game choices. Many of
the best video games do so.
The Fable Trilogy
The Fable trilogy harnesses moral choices the best
for a video game. When Peter Molyneux set out to make a video game, he
concentrated on making his video game have moral choices. In the first Fable
game, players made moral choices through their quests. For example, helping
raiders attack a caravan would be an evil choice, but defending the caravan
from raiders would be a good choice. The choice didn’t matter in terms of game
play, for either way, the game rewarded the player the same way. On the
positive side, players could make moral choices without the game swaying their
decision on mere game play. On the negative side, by not giving a game play
lean towards the evil side, players had no temptation to go to the evil, unless
they wanted to be evil for the sake of being evil. Fable II fixed that
problem, or so they game thought. Fable II provided plenty of temptation
by giving advantages for going to the evil side, such as more money or more
experience points, for example. Fable II forces the player to truly
consider moral choices. The player must realize that sometimes being the good
guy does not get a person ahead in life. While Fable II made the moral
choices closer to the heart, the game still missed it by a bit. While watching
test audiences, the game creators realized that some gamers would choose the
evil choice merely because it gave a game play advantage. When the sequel came
around, the creators set out to fix it once more, and their idea was genius. In
Fable III, players play as a member of the royal family seeking to
become king. Instead of merely measuring actions by good and evil, the game also
measured acts as “popular” and “unpopular.” Good acts could be both popular and
unpopular, and evil acts could be both popular and popular. In this way, both
good and evil acts had separate yet equal advantages in disadvantages. By the
end of this game, the game leaves the player asking if they truly did the right
thing, despite the how popular their character was in the Fable world.
Conclusion
Indeed, video games are becoming part of the culture around
world. Since video games are a part of culture, they penetrate the lives of all
people as individuals. Because of video games, people can live out different
lives in worlds foreign to them. With video games impacting the people in the
world so strongly, Christians need to analyze video games and synthesize a
doctrine theology about them. Christians shouldn’t condemn or criticize video
games, for when they do, they cannot see the good in video games. Christians
should blindly consume video games, for when they do, they will be caught off
guard by temptation and sin. Christians shouldn’t attempt to create Christian
video games, for when they do, they create bad video games and bad theology
alongside it. Instead of creating video games, Christians should create a
theology about the video games. When a Christian plays a video game, the
Christian should first think about what messages the game conveys to the
player. Then, the Christian needs to ask himself if those messages agree with
the Bible. If they do, the player should use the game to engage discussion with
both the unsaved and the saved, for both evangelism and discipleship reasons.
If the games does not agree with the Bible, the player should figure out what
the Bible says is the right thing to do in that situation. Either way, the
Christian should try to live out a Christian life in the game that they play.
If the game does not provide any chance to live out that Christian life with
good Christian morals, then maybe the Christian should avoid playing that game.
Sex, violence, addiction and escapism do not make a video game bad. What makes
a video game bad is a game that forces a player to sin. What makes a video good
is a good story is the narrative, and the choices that come within the
narrative.
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