I found this on the Facebook page for my youth group: http://www.gamespot.com/featur​es/6338734/having-faith-in-you​r-games/index.html?tag=topslot​%3Btitle%3B5


This is what I commented

I was looking at this and being a gamer myself, I think current generation games do have certain elements of faith. I remember in the post-apocalyptic epic "Fallout 3" it starts when you're a little kid and you're dad says Rev 22:13 "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End." was your mom's favorite verse. (she died in labor). I think the whole game has faith elements throughout. Heck, Grand Theft Auto, which started as random carjacking, has evolved into GTA IV, which has a deep story about a Serbian immigrant, and he and a woman discuss the existence of God.


thoughts?

Religion has had a place in gaming for a long ass time, but in different ways.

Western gaming painted Christianity in a more pure light for a long time and the church as a place of rest, something Dragon Quest adopted since it exists in an old European setting where Christianity was responsible for people even being able to grow crops. Most JRPGs, however, usually use Christian stand ins as villains that act as good, having a more jaded view on the subject. They also paint the church as a puppet for a false god sometimes, like Mithos' plans in Tales of Symphonia. Sometimes it's just evil in general (FFX).

I like how Shin Megami Tensei deals with gods and mythology. These greater beings are only greater because they're stronger than man, otherwise they're just as diverse as people. The Christian God is seen as a trickster who gets people to worship him but brings order and a sense of peace, although he's also very unfair to those not with him (bringing to light the ideals of the Crusades). Satan is more of a force of pure chaos and freedom, but with no sense of morality. The various demons and lesser gods follow those that meet their qualifications, such as strength or simply an item.

I really like how it's handled in Persona 3 and 4.



These two examples feel human to me, flawed but understandable. I imagine if there is a god out there, it's similar in mindset, Just not as crazy.

Remember those shitty NES games based off of stories from the bible?

Star Tropics?

I think it makes for good flavouring in a character. The religious aspect made some of the Splicers in Bioshock really scary.

Likewise the Burned Man from New Vegas's mormonism makes him also a more interesting character to me. He sees himself as the sword of god, rather than just being the usual kind of wasteland badass.


And then you get to the fantasy religions. The Elder Scrolls man. The Pantheons of gods in those game are all interesting.

Thor: God of Thunder obviously has many aspects of religion in it even though it's based on a comic book. You've got Mjolnir, the Bifrost guarded by Heimdallr, etc...

Are we6 at the point where we could make a game that is......a bit like Assassins Creed...but you play as Paul, starting as the man who killed Christians, but then it gets more plot and dialogue driven like Mass Effect once you meet Jesus. The game could go through Easter until Paul is jailed......

Movies always depict the story of Jesus, maybe games can also?