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The representation of religion in video games.
- Thread starter disastermouse
- Start date
Stereogatari
Banned
It is my dream to create a game based on the colourful Sufi Islamic mythology, which is much more interesting than the rigid orthodox version of Islam. It's more comparable to Eastern religions in its message. The artwork would be similar to Turco-Persian miniature paintings:
Vulcano's assistant
Banned
Vire
Member
This sounds like an amazing idea and setting. Shame that we are stuck with incredibly bland games like Watch Dogs instead in the AAA space.
lord_of_flood
Member
I like the way mainline SMT handles it, where it applies religious themes to interesting moral questions. Gets me thinking about a lot of things, whether it applies directly to religion or not.
Och btw if you mud find C2:N. Filled it with Zoroastrianism.
Hmm. Never really thought about SMT as nothing more than a dickish and shallow portrayal of Demons, Angels and tons of various lore.
Mara is god, god is Mara. All live Ens Pi-sama!!
Hmm. Never really thought about SMT as nothing more than a dickish and shallow portrayal of Demons, Angels and tons of various lore.
Mara is god, god is Mara. All live Ens Pi-sama!!
Stereogatari
Banned
Indeed. I hope I can make the dream a reality one day.
Here is one of my favourite miniature paintings, makes you wonder where the idea of Ho-Oh in Pokemon comes from
And another. The cool creature here is supposed to be a crocodile:
Jap. Paradox as always handles Religion like it is. With no holding back:
Yeesh. That's from the Sons of Abraham DLC, right?
encephalon
Member
Interesting how Xenosaga seemingly decided to shift gears and change what they were doing with God in the third game (despite the "vision" in Episode I and its follow up in the initial write up for Episode II).
disastermouse
Banned
I kind of already discussed this. Religious themes are prevalent in certain mental illnesses and I think BoI addresses mental illness more than religion.
Auto-Reply
Member
Makes me wonder why there is no game based on Scientology out there? They did make a
movie!
terrible
soulassssns
Banned
Not sure if it is unwelcomed or not but, I feel that if it is not required for the story that the creators of the game are attempting to tell then time should not be wasted on it.
Indeed; one of the primary motifs of the Halo trilogy is the danger of blind faith in an established cause. Halo has plenty of references to Christianity, too. There's some Japanese honour code thrown in there somewhere; which I'm sure has some indirect form of faith based origin in one aspect of it.
I always see it as I see the use of religion in anime. Always a fancy backdrop and with cartoontish caricatures as representation of most religions. I assume most creators are of course more secular or atheist, so does bother me to see representation that's usually always negative of a religion I follow, but it is what it is. Personally I really liked FFX's use of it.
unapersson
Member
I'm not sure I agree, maybe insomuch as a lot of fundamentalism borders on mental illness (voices from god etc.), but it does use quite a bit of religious imagery through the game. The opening of the game is clearly a version of the story of God telling Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. It's not as if the bible and even contemporary Christianity isn't filled with examples of people hearing voices from God and acting on them. What's the dividing line between religion and mental illness?
Xenogears and Xenosaga do a great job. Sure you don't have an accurate rappresentation of religion but they took elements from Christianity and Judaism. Sometimes those are only reference, or names, sometimes are themes that you can find in the games. Xenosaga has a lot of inspiration from apocrypha scriptures for example.
Xenoblade is kind of different since it's missing any religious inspiration but got a pervasive religious feeling about the origin of mankind and escathology. The Xeno series by the why it's all about human free will > god.
Xenoblade is kind of different since it's missing any religious inspiration but got a pervasive religious feeling about the origin of mankind and escathology. The Xeno series by the why it's all about human free will > god.
Dude, there's poop and blood all over the place and you fight grotesque monsters that seem to be made by someone who is insane
mickagau33
Member
Well the games I've played where a religious theme appear are mostly Jrpg...and in most of the cases it's very bad, very immature. Like something written by a snooty teenager. And most of the time it's always "religion gone bad in humans' hands".
Last time I remember playing something with a "decent" religious focus at some point was Dragon Quest VI and Nevan, who was clearly tied to Buddhism. It was not too over the top, with subtle references. Well it's true that most of the time, Buddhism-inspired religion in videogames imply gaining special powers to kill other beings...which is like the opposite of Buddhism.
Last time I remember playing something with a "decent" religious focus at some point was Dragon Quest VI and Nevan, who was clearly tied to Buddhism. It was not too over the top, with subtle references. Well it's true that most of the time, Buddhism-inspired religion in videogames imply gaining special powers to kill other beings...which is like the opposite of Buddhism.
EricTheCleric
Member
sounds about right...
Religion is a mechanic in real world as well
disastermouse
Banned
Is war 'fun'? Or the death of a family member? Or discrimination?
These are all themes covered by games.
plasmawave
Banned
FFX captured the hypocrisy of religion perfectly. Machine rules!
Sapphire Dreams
Member
Isn't the Ultima series all about religion?
BumblebeeCody
Member
I have a shrine of Reggie in the back of my wardrobe if that counts.
Yup but I don't like/play them when too serious.
I like Gears, do not like Cod, for example.
I loved TLoU but for me is sci-fi not a story grounded on reality so its impact was somehow lesser to my experience.
And discrimination is something not yet treated as it deserves, in games. Or I did not find any game doing it right.
I don't think I've ever played a game were it was represented in a positive way.
Nearly in every RPG (especially Final Fantasies) the ruling religious class is corrupt and exploits its authority to suppress the people in one way or another.
Which is of course pretty acurate come to think of it..
Nearly in every RPG (especially Final Fantasies) the ruling religious class is corrupt and exploits its authority to suppress the people in one way or another.
Which is of course pretty acurate come to think of it..
EricTheCleric
Member
The Old Testament says hello
also God of War says sends its regards (being based off Mediterranean religions)
that said, there could be a lot of nonviolent games made out of of religious texts, there is a lot to be inspired of stories based off myth and fantasy
what really would be interesting is a game where actual religious life is a big part of the context
Palculator
Unconfirmed Member
That's awesome, I need to play this. Also, judging by the fact that the other ones being crucified seem to be giant robots, does that mean that little animal guy is around 300ft tall?
James Coote
Neo Member
Extra Credits did a whole episode on this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBVb2WECSLw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRNhNHXbUmk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBVb2WECSLw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRNhNHXbUmk
Totally agree with the original poster. I don't know why (almost) nobody else has questioned this..
It's pretty clear that every religion featured in videogames is a parody of itself. The same Bioshock is a very good example of this.
Seeing that only religion practitioners are aware of this (I'm Catholic, the default church of evil depicted on your standard RPG) I came to think it's more about general inexperience about religions in the sector than anything else.
Absurdly enough, the best example of a religion I have ever seen in a videogame comes front Silent Hill evil cultists. It's a good mix between ancient tribal religions and a twisted take on Christianity. Also, the reasons that the cultist cast in SH3 had to form part of that cult seemed pretty realistic to me. But there isn't an equally well portrayed good example.
Everything else are just poor made parodies.
It's pretty clear that every religion featured in videogames is a parody of itself. The same Bioshock is a very good example of this.
Seeing that only religion practitioners are aware of this (I'm Catholic, the default church of evil depicted on your standard RPG) I came to think it's more about general inexperience about religions in the sector than anything else.
Absurdly enough, the best example of a religion I have ever seen in a videogame comes front Silent Hill evil cultists. It's a good mix between ancient tribal religions and a twisted take on Christianity. Also, the reasons that the cultist cast in SH3 had to form part of that cult seemed pretty realistic to me. But there isn't an equally well portrayed good example.
Everything else are just poor made parodies.
MickeyKnox
Member
Should be treated with the same level of ridicule it deserves in the real world.
OP: I feel ya. Spirituality offers so much depth that is not even scratched in most video games.
Haha. I hope you hold violence and rape to the same standards in video games too.
Studying, responsive drinking, showing up in time at work - The Atheist Recommendation of The Year Video Game
Haha. I hope you hold violence and rape to the same standards in video games too.
Studying, responsive drinking, showing up in time at work - The Atheist Recommendation of The Year Video Game
disastermouse
Banned
Mass Effect tackles discrimination - albeit from the safe distance of a far future and using aliens instead of contemporary figures/groups.
Imp the Dimp
Member
The chaos path in Devil Survivor is absolutely remarkable in that regard. I challenge everyone interested in religious themes to give it a shot. Fantastic game as well.
unapersson
Member
The developer could well be insane for all I know, but the imagery of hell and demons are part of lots of religions. They're just not talked about much now as they seem a bit silly and aren't as presentable as the other bits. Anyway I thought the madness was in reference to the mother's religious mania rather than the developer
Gaming uses warfare a lot, but often doesn't deal with that particularly well or realistically either. I'm amazed at how often the player is used as some kind of superman that can soak up bullets and resolve complex military situations by finding an evil general and shooting him in the face.
If anything, my favourite depictions of religion are in the Total War games, where it's very much just a social trait/culture that spreads both through conquest and through the absorbing of one society into another. The fact that a faction leader might be religious of one flavour or another is no indication of how much of a bastard they are, they are all powerful leaders where thousands live and die from their decisions whether they are religious or not. I suppose the biggest issue in the medieval ones is that the pope can effectively call a crusade or ostracise a nation, but even then I often ignore them if it doesn't benefit me to do so. Religion is just geopolitics on that level.
The minute religion is reduced to healing spells (friendlies) and rituals to end the world (enemies) it loses all nuance about how religion actually defines and changes a society.
That1BlackGuy
Member
As a Theist myself I want more games with positive portrayals of religion (whether in-game religion or thematically based on real religions). I find it hard to believe that with the sheer diversity in people playing games, there are no prominent game developers who are tired of the God/Religion is evil trope and desire to tackle it from another perspective, even if neutral that'd be step up. In fairness, gaming in general doesn't deal with a lot of themes that well.
EricTheCleric
Member
Welcome to Hollywood
Doctor_Thomas
Member
I feel the reason a lot of developers do shy away from religion is because there is always the danger of causing offense and it's easier to just ignore it or insert a make believe religion that uses elements of real religions.
I also think when they depict someone of religion, they're either good to the point of being unrealistic or evil to the point of cartoon villain.
I also think when they depict someone of religion, they're either good to the point of being unrealistic or evil to the point of cartoon villain.
kingkaiser
Member
Kevin Sorbo approves of this post
So you want them to make stuff up?
Too bad the whole series on religion and faith in video games was marred by a really stupid argument in the comments section!
Comments sections. The true victor.
disastermouse
Banned
Let me clear something up - I'm a non-theist Buddhist. I don't believe in a deity - so people who think that all religious people believe in god(s) are usually, but not always correct.
What I think would be interesting is exploring via games the roles and purposes that religion serves that maybe aren't served very well by the modern world and what the impact of that would be in a story.
I mean, these are nebulous thoughts...I just think that a serious approach to religion could spark some interesting stories that could be compelling.
What I think would be interesting is exploring via games the roles and purposes that religion serves that maybe aren't served very well by the modern world and what the impact of that would be in a story.
I mean, these are nebulous thoughts...I just think that a serious approach to religion could spark some interesting stories that could be compelling.