Christian Videogame Alternatives Explored

Thanks to the TNL forum regulars for pointing to a CBN article discussing the most suitable videogames for Christians (Google cache). The article discusses the "extreme violence, gratuitous sex, and satanic imagery found in many children's video games", and focuses instead on Christian-orientated games such as Ominous Horizons, where "the player takes on the role of a 15th-century Christian who fights demons, but without any blood or gore. The forces of evil - instead of dying - fall to their knees and pray." This N-Lightning-developed game has the player working as a medieval Paladin to return the Gutenberg Bible, which has been stolen by forces of evil, and the developer explains: "..you have a sword of the Spirit.. [that] shoots a burst of light which vaporizes any demonic opponents and the end result is that you know Christ is victorious."

Comments

The Bible?

[Anonymous Coward]

Last time I checked, Christians didn't have any problem reading a book full of violence and gore, so why should videogames be any different?

Re:The Bible?

[danbeck]

Last time I checked, Christians didn't have any problem reading a book full of violence and gore, so why should videogames be any different?

Who modded this insightful? This is such an old and tired argument by the same ignorant people, over and over again. Violence is not the real issue here.. it's gratuitous and extreme violence that is rewarded and has no consequences.

Violence is part of our world. People are violent every day. From the guys thinking ugly thoughts about a co-worker, to the guy yelling at a driver in traffic, to drive-bys in our inner-cities.

The difference between the violence in the Bible and the extreme violence you see in *some* of today's video games, is that in the former, it's painfully (no pun intended) obvious that the violence is wrong and there are concequences, often very serious.

The Bible doesn't give you all these examples of perfect people who live the life of the Simpson neighbor every day. These people were human. They did wrong things,they did violent things, but in the end they always came back to God and he forgave them for their hatred against other humans. Saul (who wrote much of the New Testiment) tortured and murdered many early Christians before he came to know Christ and became one of the greatest evangelists of all time. David was called a friend of God in the Bible. He murdered a man only for his wife.

What's my point here? Violence for the sake of violence (Duke Nukem Whenever) with no concequences is the real problem here, not Gordon Freeman saving the world from an alien invasion (or hopefully City 17 soon).

What happens is that a relative few start complaining about trash games like Duke Nukem Whenever and somehow that translates into every video game is bad.

And you, Mr Anonymous coward, are part of the problem of ignorance here. Go read the Bible, not only might it do you some good, but might be able to argue about it's contents in a intelligent fashion.

Re:The Bible?

[The J Kid]

You're right. Being a level headed Christian myself, these "Christian Video Games" & "Christian Movie Ratings" (with the everwonderfull 'Contains bare chested men' =) are just completely silly.

Thing is, they allways seem to originate from the States....what's up with that?

Sounds familiar...

[Bazzargh]

"This time, the entire forces of the netherworld have overrun Earth. To save her, you must descend into the stygian depths of Hell itself! Battle mightier, nastier, deadlier demons and monsters. Use more powerful weapons."

"Choose from eight powerful spiritual weapons. Each weapon has its own unique use. Maximize your firepower by learning each weaponâ(TM)s abilities...Encounter Satanâ(TM)s minions and banish them back to their evil realm. Evil lurks everywhere you turn....Descend deeper and deeper into the depths of the underworld. Your journey will take you into the very heart of evil, through 18 hand-crafted, highly detailed levels."

One of these is a blurb for Catechumen (one of N'Lightnings games). The other is part of the blurb for Doom II. Frankly there doesn't seem all that much different here, except for the marketing.

Well, at least its better to see people doing something creative, rather than campaigning to get games banned.

-Baz

What is christian?

[Stonehead]

What the newsposter describes as 'christian', is actually 'radically conservative christian', but that seems another US-ism... (how should you describe it otherwise?) In Europe - I live in the Netherlands - blood and gore in videogames is much less an issue. Of course bishops don't really like it and Rome will always be conservative, but at least the churches I know don't push their own 'christian-only' separated media.

I don't quite see the point

[ThePyro]

• If parents attempt to teach a child their values using video games then they're probably not going to be effective. Even less so if the child in question has no desire to play such games. This sort of learning must have a human teacher. What happens when the kid has a question that the game can't answer?
• That said, what happens when the game does answer the question... but answers it wrongly? I can't see Christian video games being less controverial than other games, simply because there are so many different views of what 'Christian' is. Do the games target Protestants, Catholics, or some other group entirely? If one of these games ever became semi-popular then someone, somewhere would hear about it and blast the game for bad theology. All the other parents would learn of the accusation and forbid their children from playing it (the truthfulness of accusation is irrelevant), and then we're back at square one.
• What's wrong with the tons of non-violent games out there alredy? Pretty much anything from Nintendo is rated G. Mario, Zelda, etc... Then there are tons of sports games, puzzle games, simulations (SimCity, etc.), and even games where robots beat each other up instead of humans. (Total Annihilation! Woo!) My point is, there are already TONS of G-rated games out there to choose from.

Games can entertain or they can attempt to teach you life lessons, but I can't see them being used for both without one or the other hurting. Let the kids play video games that are actually fun, and let parents teach values on their own time.

Re:I don't quite see the point

[follower_of_christ]

If parents attempt to teach a child their values using video games then they're probably not going to be effective.

As a Christian parent I agree with your take one hundred percent. The article really didn't say that there weren't any wholesome games out there, merely that there aren't as many as there used to be. Also, the amount of wholesome games being sold is decreasing. I myself don't use such tools to teach my children, but do try to find fun games that are also wholesome and good for their well being. I believe what the article was saying is that the mainstream games teach children negative lessons and that it's becoming hard to find games that don't.

Do the games target Protestants, Catholics, or some other group entirely?

Protestants and Catholics have something in common. They both believe Christ died for their sins so that when they die, they can spend eternity with God. Their beliefs are common when considering eternal salvation. Neither will contradict the statement, "The only way to the father is through a relationship with Jesus Christ." Often times we butt heads when it comes to the Religion part, meaning some believe that the way to do Religion is by going to confessional and having a religious hierarchy, whereas the other might believe that churches don't belong in buildings; rather, in homes. There are variations of Christianity just like there are variations of all other religions. Now getting back to the point I believe the article is trying to make. There are fewer and fewer games out today that are wholesome and good for my children. I'll tell ya though.. I sure do love playing Gran Turismo 3 with my wife and kids and plan on getting 4 when it comes out. You'll never see Grand Theft Auto in my house though... hehe
For some reason, I'm thinking that picking up hookers, stealing cars, and running from the cops is not a good lesson for my kids to learn.

...and let parents teach values on their own time.

Another point I'd like to agree with in your post and offer alternative thought to as well. With the society increasing the way it is and the market pushing games like Grand Theft Auto the way it is, it's becoming increasingly difficult to not look like freaks. It would be nice to think that a parent can teach every lesson to a child and therefore have total dominance on the way they were raised, but in reality, children are taught many of their lessons from external sources that parents don't have control over. From my point of view, I have to minimize the negative impact that society can have on my child's mental development. I believe it's the parent's ultimate responsibility to teach children wholesome Christian values and not rely on video games to do it.

I can't see Christian video games being less controverial than other games, simply because there are so many different views of what 'Christian' is.

Well actually, society (in the US at least) still has it's Quaker roots and know right from wrong and define right and wrong from values that have heritage from those Quaker roots. A game like Grand Theft Auto and some of the "Break the Law" games are blatantly thumbing their nose to traditional morality which makes them VERY controversial and sadly generates a ton of free advertising. These games are designed that way from the beginning to generate revenue. SO... I'd say that a Christian game couldn't receive as much controversy as games like that unless it was labeled Christian and showed the opposite.

oh neat! some other ideas!

[kevin lyda]

how about a game where you travel through europe and gather what you need to fight in the crusades. once there you can kill all arab looking men, women and children! it could be called "grand theft holy lands!"

oh how about one where you apply different methods of torture to various non-believers to extract confessions of blasphamy, demon worship and sin! it could be called "simquisition!"

or "simquisition ii" where you extract confessions of whitchcraft from women and children in the new world!

god, this whole field is wide open!

"preacher-craft" where you wander around giving hate-filled speeches in tent revivals, on radio and tv. you gather wealth and gain health points from the suicides and murders of gays, lesbians, blacks, immigrants and non-believers.

Without any gore...

[DarkVein]

I don't know what it is, but it isn't Christian. Baptists are the only Christian group I can think of which seems to have this fixation, but even they don't have this insanity. I'm certain the people who think this game is a good idea do not read the bible, except for the "safe" sections. I bet they stick little post-it notes everywhere with the "happy" lines, neatly cropped from betwixt two "nasty" lines.

The message in the Bible is written within a world of disease, common prostitution, gorey punishments, and rationalized cruelty. Christ, within this world, sees everything, and learns from it. He makes a choice to counter the cruelty, and teaches others to help. He teaches that the evils pass if you don't reciprocate, or evils will become stronger with vengeful acts. A Christian who understands this message can take enlightened meaning and understanding from any situation, especially when things go wrong. A Christian wants to increase common well-being, decrease common suffering, and teach others to enjoy life and let transient suffering pass on and die.

Under no circumstances does this allow a Christian to insulate themselves with illusions and ignorance. Protecting yourself with magick illusions is a mighty sin.

For example, I had an interesting experience with GTA: Vice City. I was nearly through the book "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" when I started playing it. The game was nearly painful because I had no options to do anything except the way the story required. From reading the book, every situation I entered I could think of ways to improve the situation, but the character always took the violent route. The characters in Vice City were fleshed out, and the world seemed real. So, when I was or wasn't playing the game, I was thinking of ways to improve my character's situation by improving the situations around him. Your character in VC is such a brilliant and driven fuckup, it's hard not to think of better ways to go about everything. And, if nothing else, you're slightly more mentally and emotionally prepared to encounter such backwards situations, even if they don't involve gunfire.

Whatever these "Christians" are, they want to pretend bad things don't happen. That marks them as distinctly un-Christ-like.

I don't understand...

[010_digital_100]

How can they say that video games are sooo violent when religion has continuously been the most violent aspect in history.

More people have been killed in the name of God than in GTA:Vice City.

Has anyone ever heard of "The Crusades".....actually that might make a good game.

Marketing

[Ch3t]

This has nothing to do with sex and violence. Some marketing executive realized there was an untapped market. Do you really think a bunch of "Christians" got together and said, "Hey lets form a rock group" and thus Christian Rock was born? Somewhere a recording industry genius figured out the record companies weren't selling Rock and or a Roll(use Rev. Lovejoy voice) records to "Christian" teens. That's how Christian Rock was born and it's the same reason for this. The "Christian" kiddies aren't allowed to play mainstream games, so we'll make games they are allowed to play. There are Christian ISPs, Christian money market funds, and my favorite the Christian Outlet Store. What does one buy at a Christian Outlet Store? Factory-second Christians?

Re:But all the best games...

[Tibor the Hun]

that's good, god mode.

and what about other cheats, would it be all right to cheat in this game?
i mean you use cheats to help the holy cause. is that good or bad?

Re:Games?

[Babbster]

Don't forget the bonus round where you hunt "abortion doctors" with a sniper rifle.