This article written by Amadeo Plaza
What if religion in video games was a good thing? What if it added an immense amount of breadth to the plots, in a time when genuinely enthralling narratives are falling by the wayside? Now, what if I were to tell you that religion has already done that? Many of our most heralded games had religious tones, whether real or fictionalized. Either way, the religious nature of these games did nothing but strengthen the storytelling.
Religion isn’t a popular topic in video games. Generally speaking, when a player hears of a game with religious underpinnings, they tune it out, entirely ignoring what could be a quality title. Unfortunately for advocates of religious games, most of their software is in fact poorly developed because of the major game publishers’ reluctance to get involved in a game that focuses on such hot-button topics.
Tod Hollenshead, CEO of iD Software said in an interview with CNN Money, “People tend to take religion extremely personally and therefore have more opportunity to be offended. If you make, say, a Christian based game, are you going to make it a Protestant game? If so, that might offend the Catholics.”
Game publishers are right to fear getting into such hot water. There’s already so much attention on the medium regarding the “safety of our children,” so this would only add fuel to an already roaring fire. But several publishers in the past, many of them the industry’s most prominent players, have dabbled in religion, and the games were better off for it.
Sierra Entertainment’s last adventure game, Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned started out as a tale about vampires, but soon turned into a telling about the Knights Templar, the Cathars, the Holy Grail, and ultimately, a mystery that dates back to the birth of Jesus Christ. Now, before any snarky remarks are made about it being the last adventure game they published, let it be known that it was well received and its story highly acclaimed, thanks to lead designer of the series, Jane Jensen. Jensen is no stranger to infusing dark tones into her stories, but Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned was the epitome of that, and much of that was attributed by the exploration of Christian themes.
To bring things a little closer to home, Halo’s overarching story relies heavily on themes of religion, albeit a fictional one. Halo offers a level elusive depth that the casual gamer may not pick up on at first. The whole reason the theocratic Covenant wage their war is because they believe the humans to be an insult to the gods, and the Covenant is their instrument to wipe them from the universe. Furthermore, in Halo 2, the High Prophet of Regret believes that activating the Halo Installations, a move ensuring the destruction of life in the universe, would light the path to the gods. These simple examples only scratch the surface of the Halo lore, and the level of religion infused into the story.
So, that’s Bungie, one of the West’s most prominent game developers. But even to the East, the Japanese are well known for injecting religion into their games. An industry top-choice, several games from Square-Enix’s stable revolve around dogmatic themes, especially fan-favorites Final Fantasy X and Xenogears; from the former’s Yevonite religion, laced with the divine punishment of Sin for their vanity, to the latter’s “attacks” on some of the world’s religions through controversial themes including science versus religion and corruption in the church.
Xenogears, specifically, created such a stir among those who picked the game’s religion apart, that an exhaustive one-to-one discussion on social networking site myLot regarding the game took place only four weeks ago. User “theprogamer” strongly defended Xenogear’s use of religion saying,“ To all of this I say, so what? Things of religious nature, mythology, folklore are all used in fiction. There are also other references from real life used in Xenogears and other fictions. Everyone missed the talk of philosophy, psychology; despite some errors or disputes with ideas presented, was the use of said disciplines not respectful or insulting?”
Theprogamer shares our sentiments for the use of religion in video games. No game developer is out to insult or offend anyone. And the use of religion shouldn’t be something they should be shying away from. Although it’s understandable as to why they would rather not deal with the possibility of shaking a hornets’ nest, it’s clear that many of our games’ best stories are attributed to by religion.
So, our proposal to developers and gamers: shake free of your preconceptions about the use of the Church, Temple, or Mosque in video games. They are works of fiction, sometimes exploring these avenues for the sole purpose of entertainment, and others for social commentary. Either way, it doesn’t always mean the consequences will or should be negative. Take a leap of faith and join some of the finest games with stories of the highest standard.
What if religion in video games was a good thing? What if it added an immense amount of breadth to the plots, in a time when genuinely enthralling narratives are falling by the wayside? Now, what if I were to tell you that religion has already done that? Many of our most heralded games had religious tones, whether real or fictionalized. Either way, the religious nature of these games did nothing but strengthen the storytelling.
Jane Jensen's Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned was perhaps the darkest installment in the series, exploring the history of vampires, Knights Templar, the Cathars, and even the Holy Grail. Although it was never preachy, there were heavy religious Christian allusions throughout the game.
Tod Hollenshead, CEO of iD Software said in an interview with CNN Money, “People tend to take religion extremely personally and therefore have more opportunity to be offended. If you make, say, a Christian based game, are you going to make it a Protestant game? If so, that might offend the Catholics.”
Game publishers are right to fear getting into such hot water. There’s already so much attention on the medium regarding the “safety of our children,” so this would only add fuel to an already roaring fire. But several publishers in the past, many of them the industry’s most prominent players, have dabbled in religion, and the games were better off for it.
Sierra Entertainment’s last adventure game, Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned started out as a tale about vampires, but soon turned into a telling about the Knights Templar, the Cathars, the Holy Grail, and ultimately, a mystery that dates back to the birth of Jesus Christ. Now, before any snarky remarks are made about it being the last adventure game they published, let it be known that it was well received and its story highly acclaimed, thanks to lead designer of the series, Jane Jensen. Jensen is no stranger to infusing dark tones into her stories, but Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned was the epitome of that, and much of that was attributed by the exploration of Christian themes.
To bring things a little closer to home, Halo’s overarching story relies heavily on themes of religion, albeit a fictional one. Halo offers a level elusive depth that the casual gamer may not pick up on at first. The whole reason the theocratic Covenant wage their war is because they believe the humans to be an insult to the gods, and the Covenant is their instrument to wipe them from the universe. Furthermore, in Halo 2, the High Prophet of Regret believes that activating the Halo Installations, a move ensuring the destruction of life in the universe, would light the path to the gods. These simple examples only scratch the surface of the Halo lore, and the level of religion infused into the story.
Xenogears is widely considered to harbor one of the most comprehensive plots in a video game, and is considered to be a crown achievement in story telling. The game sheds light on major hot-button issues such as corruption in the Church, the origin of man, religious conversion, and even makes an allusion to the story of Cain and Abel. If there's any game to turn to for a good example, it's Xenogears.
Xenogears, specifically, created such a stir among those who picked the game’s religion apart, that an exhaustive one-to-one discussion on social networking site myLot regarding the game took place only four weeks ago. User “theprogamer” strongly defended Xenogear’s use of religion saying,“ To all of this I say, so what? Things of religious nature, mythology, folklore are all used in fiction. There are also other references from real life used in Xenogears and other fictions. Everyone missed the talk of philosophy, psychology; despite some errors or disputes with ideas presented, was the use of said disciplines not respectful or insulting?”
Theprogamer shares our sentiments for the use of religion in video games. No game developer is out to insult or offend anyone. And the use of religion shouldn’t be something they should be shying away from. Although it’s understandable as to why they would rather not deal with the possibility of shaking a hornets’ nest, it’s clear that many of our games’ best stories are attributed to by religion.
So, our proposal to developers and gamers: shake free of your preconceptions about the use of the Church, Temple, or Mosque in video games. They are works of fiction, sometimes exploring these avenues for the sole purpose of entertainment, and others for social commentary. Either way, it doesn’t always mean the consequences will or should be negative. Take a leap of faith and join some of the finest games with stories of the highest standard.
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