Ever since the early days of video games there have been a large share of people who are convinced that they’re evil incarnate. Well, I guess it actually started around the same time that Mortal Kombat hit the shelves back in the early 1990s, when a bunch of angry parents watched a digital ninja man rip the spine out of another dude and suddenly began to worry that their kids might try to do that too. Violence, people argue, is always much worse when kids see it. The rest of us are well-grounded, down to earth adults, after all. Everyone knows all violent tendencies stop the moment you turn 18. It’s just something adults know.
It’s a matter of having “strong Christian values,” that are undermined by these… red pixels. Because where, exactly, do video games ever show any of those?
The argument made me think. How is religion portrayed in video games? It’s definitely present… I can remember toppling insane dragon cults and goddesses since Breath of Fire for the Super Nintendo. But then I remembered something kind of odd with the industry. There are no, and I mean absolutely no traces of competent benevolent gods anywhere to be found. (more…)
Filed under: Commentary, Games | Tagged: benevolent god, breath of fire, breath of fire 2, Dante's Inferno, dark cults, God, moral compass, Okami, Prince of Persia, religion, Shining Force 2, tophat, video games, Volcanon | Leave a Comment »
The God of Pixels
Ever since the early days of video games there have been a large share of people who are convinced that they’re evil incarnate. Well, I guess it actually started around the same time that Mortal Kombat hit the shelves back in the early 1990s, when a bunch of angry parents watched a digital ninja man rip the spine out of another dude and suddenly began to worry that their kids might try to do that too. Violence, people argue, is always much worse when kids see it. The rest of us are well-grounded, down to earth adults, after all. Everyone knows all violent tendencies stop the moment you turn 18. It’s just something adults know.
It’s a matter of having “strong Christian values,” that are undermined by these… red pixels. Because where, exactly, do video games ever show any of those?
The argument made me think. How is religion portrayed in video games? It’s definitely present… I can remember toppling insane dragon cults and goddesses since Breath of Fire for the Super Nintendo. But then I remembered something kind of odd with the industry. There are no, and I mean absolutely no traces of competent benevolent gods anywhere to be found. (more…)
Filed under: Commentary, Games | Tagged: benevolent god, breath of fire, breath of fire 2, Dante's Inferno, dark cults, God, moral compass, Okami, Prince of Persia, religion, Shining Force 2, tophat, video games, Volcanon | Leave a Comment »