On Religious Violence And Videogame Violence

Thanks to the IGDA for its 'Culture Clash' column discussing the violent nature of many religious texts, and how that relates to religious criticism of game violence. The piece references The Passion Of The Christ, mentioning: "The film's portrayal of the delight these men took in administering the scourging draws an alarming parallel to some claims that video games desensitize young people to violence." It then goes on to argue: "The history of opposition to games is a long one, and religion is often used to justify that opposition, though naysayers tend to ignore the fact that religion itself is a major source of violent acts", before concluding: "Frankly, the arguments for and against violence in games, as in any entertainment media, must be assessed in context or not at all."

Comments

An idea for a game.

[tai_Dasher]

GTA: The Second Coming
You'll play jesus come again (voiced by Willem DeFoe), wreaking havoc in Jerusalem by converting people.
Using a shotgun and a Katana.
You'll get to drive a flaming chariot and turn water into funk.

Sodom and Gomorrah 2.0 now with beastiality..

[Anonymous Coward]

It actually might be really funny to do a bare knuckled version of the bible in one of the role-playing engines like Neverwinter Nights. Start off in eden, with gratuitous sex and nudity. Eve would be super-hot and 3d, IYKWIMAITTYD. The player could have sex with her whenever and however they wanted as long as they stayed away from the pooper, and she wouldn't kiss *it* as long as they didn't take the apple. Just render the whole bible like that interactively, in all the gory detail, in Sodom you could do anything, animals, any people, trees, kill them, f-them, their corpses, while burning, whatever. What could the morality police get pissed off about. It'd be the ultimate GTA, and so depraved Ron Jermy would blush. You could crucify Jesus yourself. And stab him with the lance. Dogs and cats could live together in domestic partnerships. It'd be sweet. And kids could play it in Sunday school. It'd be so depraved it'd flip back over to wholesome.

Seems pretty underhanded....

[Kick the Donkey]

There's a burgeoning Christian development community that sees opportunity in creating mainstream video games that speak to their beliefs and values, realizing that the consumer base is available and that gaming would be an effective tool to build interest among young people.

Oh boy! I can't wait for Coverting the Heathens IV: This time, its Biblical ;) Maybe the lead developer on that game would be Ned Flanders. That does sound a little scary, though. Religions are having trouble reaching youths, so they try to use ulterior methods for getting their message across. To me, it seems like they don't respect people's intelligence enough; they think people can't evaluate the message on its own merits. They have to sneak it in, when people are least expecting it. Pretty underhanded, no?

Re:Christ vs. Doom

[Haeleth]

I think, though, that there still is a fundamental difference between media like Passion of the Christ and a violent game . . . in most games the violence either exists for the sake of violence itself (Doom; because its fun to blow up enemies)

Let me tell you a little story.

Once there were some people who, in the course of a foolish experiment, accidentally opened a way for the forces of hell to enter the world. Demons roamed the earth. Then one man came along and fought them. He descended into the very depths of hell, fighting demons all the way, and defeated the lord of all demons before making his escape.

Is that the plot for Doom, or is it the classic Christian stories of the Garden of Eden and the Harrowing of Hell? Why, it could be either! The only major differences between the two are that Christ doesn't use rocket launchers, while the Doom guy doesn't rescue the souls of virtuous Jews.

Now tell me again how violence in video games is different from violence in religious stories? ;)

Clockwork Orange

[n1ywb]

Does anybody else have stuck in their head now the image of Alex in Centurian garb whipping Jesus?

It had been arranged by the prison charlie, as part of my further education to read him the Bible. I didn't so much like the latter part of the book which is more like all preachy talking, than fighting and the old in-out. I liked the parts where these old yahoodies tolchock each other and then drink their Hebrew vino and, then getting on to the bed with their wives' handmaidens. That kept me going.
Biblical fighting shot. Alex slashing away. Blood spurting.
Alex lying with three semi-nude handmaidens.
Christ being whipped on by Alex, dressed as a Legionary.
"Move on there. Move on."
I read all about the scourging and the crowning with thorns and all that, and I could viddy myself helping in and even taking charge of the tolchocking and the nailing in, being dressed in the height of Roman fashion.

Re:correction

[Anonymous Coward]

In re your training idea: it depends on how easy it is to download a wallhack in real life.

Re:Points Raised

[Lars T.]

There are people out there opposed to games, and they'll be opposed to them even when the only games available are "Pink Pony Princesses in Powder Puff World."

And why wouldn't they? The title is:

• A slur against homosexuals
• A gender stereotype
• Abuses animals for recreation
• Propagates Monarchy
• Promotes drug use

Re:Christ vs. Doom

[keoghp]

God mode by default - nice

Re:but of course

[bigman2003]

You must be an all-knowing AC.

How is it that you can assure us that "no knight of the crusades had anything more holy than his own enrichment in mind?"

Who are you- Mel Gibson?

Re:correction

[fuzzybunny]

Ya you're absolutely right, but in most western countries, it's considered a bit of a faux pas to nail someone with a rocket launcher in public unless he's carrying a bomb.