Abstract
This paper focuses on the appropriation of Christianity within video games and how video games utilise Christianity as a narrative and background for the video games in-world history and story. It critically looks at how Christianity can be viewed through many concepts within the games and looks at whether the Christianity is appropriate to the ideals and beliefs of Christianity. Throughout the paper the games are looked through a lens, of symbols that affects the viewer’s positively which is taken from popular forms of media and the people, symbols, that are shown throughout that medium.
I. Introduction
Often video games draw upon real world examples of religion in order to build on the game’s world within the game or are these religions used as a centerpiece of the story. Most of the time these games use Christianity as a main reference for the religion’s purpose within said games. Games such as Dragon Age: Inquisition (Bioware, 2014), Mass Effect 3 (Bioware, 2012) and That Dragon, Cancer (Numinous Games, 2016) utilise the themes within Christianity for the story and plots throughout their game narrative and design. What parts of Christianity are being portrayed in these video games and how are these religions appropriate to their main influence, Christianity? Before we can look at the influences of Christianity in video games we need to look at the role that media plays within our society, how media affects us in our daily lives and how Christianity fits into media itself. We will take a look at how media provides life symbols to consumers and how these life symbols affect and influence the viewers and whether these influences have a positive effect on both the consumer and those around the consumer. What will be focused on throughout this text is if media has positive life symbols and if they use Christianity through these mediums. The next part will look at video games and if they have used Christianity appropriately and where specific games have fallen and where they have done justice in portraying Christianity appropriately. Throughout the process there will be references to Biblical scriptures to strengthen and provide evidence of appropriate or inappropriate use of Christianity.
II. Media, Society and Christianity
The use of media plays a large part in today’s society and affects the lives of all those who absorb the information presented through the various forms of media. Whether people use social media or read the newspaper and watch television, the participants are constantly absorbing new information and often taking in the journalist’s personal views and perceptions of stories. Media also consists of the movies and television shows we watch, what happens on the screen provides a story and knowledge about the world we live in or the world we have and what we could live in. Media provides people with many platforms to get stories and information across to millions around the world.
Media in the past, prior to the creation of the internet, was a form of communication and a way to inform a country or people of the occurrences within their country and, with a large delay, issues that are happening around the world. With the internet and World Wide Web people are now able to gain access to information and knowledge faster than before. People are now able to see what is going on in other countries and know the truth of certain matters, rather than relying on rumors and possibilities, which could be further from the truth, as what would have been common prior to the internet. An example could be any World War where the affected or participating countries would utilise media as a form of propaganda to get the people of the country to enlist into fighting in the wars.
A question which Professor Stewart Hoover asked in his 1997 paper on Religion in a Media Age (S. Hoover, 1997), how does “popular media contribute meaningful symbols to life”. Professor Hoover researched how effective popular media is in the average household. Hoovers purpose behind the research was to discover the “extent to which traditional sources of symbolic input”, which consisted of churches, education centers, families and communities, are affected by the symbols, ideology and values of the new media age. Hoover finalises that the public is not in full control of what symbols are shown in media but rather the consumer is given the media to which they can take in. He suggests that the creators of the content, to which the media is displaying, should be “considered” for the effects that content could have on different people and make it appropriate in a way that is not unrealistic or oppressive to others of different beliefs.
Now in order for something to contribute meaningfully to a persons life, that something would need to be of importance to the person and help that person grow into a better human being that can positively contribute and affect the community around them and possibly have an affect on the world. Such people who have had a positive effect on humanity are: Abraham Lincoln (1809 – 1865) who is considered the “most influential American President”, he inspired many and removed slavery in America; Jesus Christ (c.5BC – 30AD) a Prophet and a teacher of love, forgiveness and faith; Mother Teresa (1910 – 1997) devoted and compassionate she inspired many thousands, she lived in poverty and helped improve the lives of others. These are a few of many people who have worked hard and put their lives on the line for the sake of others well being, they added a meaningful change to the lives of the people around them. These are factors that can be seen to many as having a meaningful impact on a person’s life. Abraham Lincoln, Jesus Christ and Mother Teresa devoted their lives to serving others.
At the start of reality television when people’s lives would be taken out of the privacy of their homes and put on television for the world to see, what was displayed and was meaningful and entertaining. If you look at the shows like Real World (MTV, 1992) and True Life (MTV, 1998), they both started out wanting to show important parts of people’s lives in a form of educating the viewers of the real life struggles that people go through. The initial idea behind these television series was to not in anyway making people celebrities and idols to the public, whereas if you look at the now ever so famous shows such as Keeping up with the Kardashians (E!, 2007) and Jersey Shore (MTV, 2009). These four shows which debuted in different centuries display completely different content and unlike the two shows from the twentieth century the two shows from the twenty-first century have the same cast throughout their seasons all four tackle the same issues, the struggles that people go through in their daily lives.
The question now is how meaningful are the “symbols” or human idols, that are displayed in the previously suggested television shows at all meaningful to a persons life? Do the viewers learn anything from what they are viewing on the screen? During the nineties reality television shows, such as Real World (MTV, 1992) and True Life (MTV, 1998), would tackle issues involving issues in the lives of the teenagers at the time and drugs and women in the Military, issues that are considered meaningful, these issues were informative and would have helped inform and develop a persons understanding of those in similar situations and informed civilians of the state and how challenging the army is for women. Current Television shows, such as Keeping up with the Kardashians (E!, 2007) and Jersey Shore (MTV, 2009), which came out at the beginning of the twenty-first century in no way would be as meaningful as Real World (MTV, 1992) and True Life (MTV, 1998). Keeping up with the Kardashians (E!, 2007) and Jersey Shore (MTV, 2009) are solely focused on a set group of people and their personal issues. The main audience for these later shows are focused towards teenagers and young adults, the teenagers that view the content which is portrayed on these shows would not at all help them in their lives or encourage development of a mature adult in the modern society. Rather it would teach teenagers to act as immature grown ups and to not take on any responsibility as any grown adult should. This is due to the fact that the symbols and what is being absorbed by the viewing audience is not at all meaningful to their lives and in no way do the television shows enhance their maturity or display the responsibilities that are required of them as an adult.
Shows like Jersey Shore (MTV, 2009) and Keeping up with the Kardashians (E!, 2007) show the wild-side and unaccepted part of society, where the people on the show, the cast, constantly argue about pointless situations, drink constantly and ‘get wasted’ or over-intoxicated to the point where walking is impossible. These shows are unaccepted by most of civilised society due to the uncivilised behaviour portrayed throughout. The shows portray a false reality, a hollywood-realism , which has often over-exaggerated scenarios and over dramatised situations in the casts lives. The amount of drama that is created throughout these shows is unrepresentative of real-life drama, it encourages teenagers to go out seeking drama because they are lead to believe that the require a large amount of drama throughout their life. In Proverbs 15:14, from the Holy Bible (New Living Translation, NLT), it says “A wise person is hungry for knowledge, While the fool feeds on trash”, older people would consider Keeping up with the Kardashians (E!, 2007) and Jersey Shore (MTV, 2009) to be “trash”, due to the shows content and lack of meaningful contribution to a young persons life and well-being. The difference between the “fool” and the “wise” person is that the wiser knows that it is more beneficial for them to watch or read something that will grow and develop their understanding of the world and things of the spirit, through educational and knowledge filled sources. The fool would not think about the media and ideals in which they absorb consciously, often they would not consider the messages that are being shown on the show and they would start to consider these messages and ideals as ‘normal’ and that ‘everyone does it’, when in fact not ‘everyone does’.
The wiser person would consider shows like Mythbusters (Peter Rees, 2003) from The Discovery Channel (Discovery Communications, 1982) and Touched by an Angel (John Masius, 1994) from CBS (William Paley, 1927) fruitful and great for as educational programs for learning about the world and how things work relating to general science, physics and life myths and the troubles that all people face in their lives and how true the people onscreen are to the people in reality.
Mythbusters (Peter Rees, 2003) would be considered as “meaningful” as it educates the viewers on principles of physics and chemistry and many other alley ways of science. Jamie Hyneman, Adam Savage and the rest of the group look many common and uncommon myths throughout the world and explore the reasons to how they did and could have come about and then try and prove or disprove whether those myths are true or not. The cast on Mythbusters (Peter Rees, 2003) contribute to lives of the viewers by informing and possibly inspiring the viewers to further their knowledge of the world and the development of science and technology. The cast could be considered as meaningful symbols due to their knowledge and understanding of the world and science. They are able to inspire people to want to know more of science and inspire designers within the world wide community as the cast provide knowledge of the basics of science chemistry and engineering. They explain and help develop the viewer’s understanding of the topics and reasonings to why certain things happen when they do and why certain actions happen or don’t happen. The cast can be considered as positive role models for young viewers to strive towards being scientists, engineers, special effects artists or many other great and influential careers.
Mythbusters (Peter Rees, 2003) influences the viewers in a way that develops the community and builds the knowledge of those watching for the greater good of the community. Touched by an Angel (John Masius,1994) is a religious story based program that focuses on the daily lives of ordinary people who are being watched over by ‘Angels’. Every episode consists of different people in different situations, going through different challenges. These challenges vary from struggling with alcoholism to helping the poor and homeless. Throughout the episodes the Angels are the same but the people whom the Angels are sent to help are different.
Throughout Touched by an Angel (John Masius,1994) there is a topic which is touched upon and the Angels are instructed by God to help a person or group of people through a difficult time in their life and possibly change their life for the better. The idea of what was constant throughout the episodes is a message that ‘we should all look out for each other, and help someone when they are down’. In Matthew 22:39 it says “A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’”, this one of the two laws that the Christian faith teaches. Whether you are a believer or not this is a rule that most of society would like to believe they do, being kind to people they meet everyday. However Christianity takes this further as explained by Nancy Missler the “Greek word for “love” used in both the commandments, is the verb agapao” (Koinonia House, 2006), which means to fully give yourself over to something. So the way that we read the passage now is that we need to fully give ourselves, not to our physical neighbor but everyone we see even our enemies, to everyone as much as we give ourselves to God. The Angels in Touched by an Angel (John Masius,1994) fully give themselves to the people they are told to look after and protect. The Angels would look after a group of orphaned street kids, by giving them food and providing them with essentials, what the Angels never did though was force the help upon those they were sent to help. They only gave them help when they accepted it but they would not stop trying until they knew their job was done.
The Angels of Touched by an Angel (John Masius,1994) were persistent and knew that the people were in need of help. These Angels are good representations of “meaningful symbols” of role models that can contribute to the viewers lives in a positive way. They teach core community and life values of caring for those less fortunate and for those going through hard times. The Angels teach the viewers to think of the situations that the people around them could be in, whether they are unable to keep their job because they’re going through a hard time after losing a loved one or if they’re struggling with a form of addiction. From thinking of the possible scenarios that people are going through they teach the viewer ways in which these people could be helped. These ways may be just the simple act of talking with them or providing them with food or clothes or even a place to sleep. Touched by an Angel (John Masius,1994) talks about real world issues and problems, it demonstrates the reality that humanity is “self-centred … [wants] to take advantage of other lives, to exploit the whole universe” (C.S.Lewis, 1952, Mere Christianity, p. 178). In this Lewis talks about how a tin toy soldier, if it were given life, were to oppose the change, that it would take to become a “real little man” (C.S.Lewis, 1952, Mere Christianity, p. 179), as the soldier would see the change as spoiling the tin. The soldier would have to come to the realisation that it is not the biggest and most intelligent being but rather small and somewhat insignificant in regards to the child or ‘creator’. Now when Lewis is talking about being self-centred, he means being self focused and thinking mostly about what the individual himself wants and not giving thought to those around them, sure the odd occurrence of an act of kindness may be expressed but the question that remains is, was that for their personal benefit, did it make the actor feel empowered and bigger? Or was it solely for the benefit of the other individual, did the actor do it not to feel bigger than the actee but rather to personally help the actee with their situation? Lewis talks about the individual wanting to reap the benefits and gain as much as they can with giving as little they can by exploiting every opportunity they can without a lot of thought to the impact it could have to those around them. Now everyone human being is like this, it may not be on the largest of scales as trying to rule the universe type of idea, but it can be seen in the small things like reaping the benefits of a ‘bargain’ for Christmas shopping or the so called sale of food items. In these terms it would be the consumer being convinced that what they’re buying is at a reasonable price and they are reaping the benefits, when in actual fact the seller is actually still making a large profit off of those items. The exploitation can be seen on both sides, often one is just more noticeable than the other. Touched by an Angel touches upon the ways of a self-centered humanity, not always in a direct way but the idea and thought is there. Touched by an Angel (John Masius,1994) also touches on the reality that despite these things people can still be kind, loving and caring to all types of people, not matter their, age, gender or race. Touched by an Angel (John Masius,1994) focuses on a group of people working together to make the world a better place for everyone.
Now religion has been a part of humanity ever since the birth of humanity’s creation, so it is not something that can easily be forgotten or removed. So it is not hard to see why religion would be a part of many peoples lives and how it could be a part of today’s media and how it plays a role in many people’s lives. Christianity in particular, being one of the largest religious groups containing many sects within itself, has spread itself across so many different types of mediums throughout humanity. Christianity can be seen in artwork from 1498, the painting of The Last Supper (Leonardo Da Vinci, 1498) to today with radio stations and television channels, dedicated to Christianity and its beliefs, all across the world broadcasting The Word, the tellings and scriptures from the Bible, music, preachings and sermons of Biblical scriptures. So it should be no surprise that religion, Christianity in particular, can be seen in video games. With developers wanting to explore the reason or purpose of religion in the world or to tell of their personal experiences of religion and the faith. Touched by an Angel is John Masius’ version of presenting and demonstrating the faith and beliefs of the Christian faith. The purpose for any religion or group using media is to spread their ideals, beliefs and stories. Religious groups use media to create meaningful and positive symbols for the community and believers or followers of that religious group. The media is used to send messages across to as many people as possible for those people who believe, those new to the faith and for those who don’t know of the religion.
III. Christianity and Video Games
Now knowing that religion has deep roots in the history of humanity, it is easy to see why there is religion in media around us, especially on television, radio and now in video games. The video games industry is a new form of media that is very common in many households across the world, to date. Video game developers draw upon real world examples of religion as a reference for the religions inside the games themselves. The most commonly used and referenced religion within video games is Christianity. Game developers utilise the themes and ideals of Christianity and what it represents to influence the story and gameplay of their games. Games such as the Dragon Age (Bioware, 2009 – 2015) series and the Mass Effect (Bioware, 2007 – 2012) series have Christianity references within their digital worlds to create tension and as a reference for the stories and plot within the games. This tension builds a background story for the world and provides a more deep and meaningful story for the player to engage with. That Dragon, Cancer (Numinous Games, 2016) is a story game that focuses on a family’s faith journey, as Christians, and their newborn sons battle with cancer. Now the question is, are these games presenting “meaningful [life] symbols” (S.Hoover, 1997) to the players? Are they using Christianity appropriately, in the sense that it is portraying Christianity for what it truly is.
Now Dragon Age: Inquisition (Bioware, 2015) and Mass Effect 3 (Bioware, 2012) have all used references to and themes from Christianity and to popular sects within the Christian community. These game developers have all placed ideas of the Christian beliefs and community in their games to build story and history as a means to send a message across to the players. Dragon Age: Inquisition (Bioware, 2015) has a clear reference to Christianity as a base religion for the religions in-game and the history of the game worlds. While Mass Effect 3’s (Bioware, 2012) ending describes the end of the famous, main character, Commander Shepherd who gives his life to save the lives of every other being in the universe. Dragon Age: Inquisition (Bioware, 2015) and Mass Effect 3 (Bioware, 2012) also have a choice system as a part of the game which allows the players to play many different behaviours and attitudes towards different characters within the games. These choices allow the player to be as heroic or anti-heroic as they desire, Dragon Age: Inquisition (Bioware, 2015) specifically allows the player to be an almost Christ-like figure to the people in the game world.
Dragon Age: Inquisition (Bioware, 2015) is based in a fantasy world where dragons, spirits and many different kinds of intelligent beings roam-free. Each race has their own different belief system and each race disagrees with the other but one can be seen as close to Christianity, specifically the Catholic sect. Within the Dragon Age universe one of the main religions is the “Andrastian Chantry” (L.N.Holmes, 2015) which, like Christianity, is a monotheist religion, where the followers believe in a single God whereas the other races, like the real world, beliefs vary from polytheistic to atheist beliefs. The followers of the Andrastian Chantry believe that their “followers must spread the news of the maker” (L.N.Holmes, 2015) to all the beings in the world, which is an attribute taken from the Christian faith. In the real world Christians are called to spread The Word of the gospel and of the Good News of Jesus Christ, the eleven Disciples were told to “go and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19, Holy Bible). This was said after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ when the disciples were commanded by Jesus to go to a mountain near Galilee. The difference between the Chantry in Dragon Age: Inquisition (Bioware, 2015) and current Christianity is that no one died and was raised from the grave in Dragon Age: Inquisition (Bioware, 2015). This is where the Chantry and Christianity are different from each other. But when the player starts playing Dragon Age: Inquisition (Bioware, 2015),with the knowledge, one will be able to tell that already there are Christ like options in speech selection options when the player starts the story and merges out of the breach. The player is clearly shown that they exited the breach and was helped by a shining/glowing religious lady. The player has the option to deny or acknowledge the fact that they were assisted by a lady. The player has the option to say that they were indeed sent out of the breach to help the people of Thedas and to save Thedas. The fact that the player is given these options suggests that they are able to play as a Christ-like figure throughout the game allowing players to play out as if Jesus Christ was put into this world and sent to safe in the way that the main character is.
The portrayal of the main character, which the player has made and controls, within Dragon Age: Inquisition (Bioware, 2015) has the potential to be a reflection of the player. The main character acts as a reflection of the player’s mood, thoughts and emotional state at the time they are playing the game. When playing Dragon Age: Inquisition (Bioware, 2015) the player can unknowingly place their own values and morals onto the character they created and depending on how they treat the characters surrounding them these non-playable-characters or NPCs will react to the decisions and actions of the player. The characters reactions are shown to the player by UI (User-Interface) icons which says whether that character approves or disapproves of your decisions or reacts. These can get the player thinking of how they treat others and how they act as the character in-game. These elements would be able to get the player thinking of “Am I having a positive influence on these characters?” this in a way could have a positive impact on the player themself as it can make them to start thinking of how their actions can affect others around them in the real world. In a way the in-game character could influence the player and possibly make their character a meaningful life symbol which they will be able to learn off of.
Among the main character and supporting characters within Dragon Age: Inquisition (Bioware, 2015), other positive and meaningful life symbols within the game are the priestess’ of the Chantry who go out and help the people in need in the country and kingdom after the Breach opens into Thedas. These priestess’ display large amounts of courage and willpower as they go out into the dangerous wilderness to help the less fortunate who are hurt by the on-going war against both the demons from the Breach and other world groups such as the Templars and Magis. These Priestess’ can prove to be great inspirational characters by inspiring others to be better than they are and to help those in need. These Priestess’ are shown as great representations of the Christian faith and the ideas that the Christian faith portrays. The Priestess’ in Dragon Age: Inquisition (Bioware, 2015) are great representations of Mother Teresa, who was a Roman Catholic sister and missionary, even the way that the Priestess’ dress shouts out Catholic. It is easy to see that their design is heavily influenced by the Catholic sect of Christianity and they can easily be seen as nuns. In their design and portrayal the Priestess’ are portrayed accurately to what we can see in the real world. Their design and appearance obviously was changed to fit in with the game world but their portrayal and what they stand for are all accurate to the real world. Even though the main character is controlled and all the decisions are made by the player, there is still the option to be an almost Christ-like figure and it will never be accurate to what happened during the time of Jesus Christ during the Romans rule over Israel for the context of the game narrative and gameplay it fits and the player, if they search for it, is able to see the reference and the influence of Christian themes throughout the game.
Mass Effect 3 (Bioware, 2012) is similar to Dragon Age: Inquisition (Bioware, 2015) where players are able to control the main character, Commander Shepherd, and make decisions which can change the outcome of the story. Mass Effect 3 (Bioware, 2012) allows the player to impress themselves onto the main character and make decisions that they would make or decisions which they think Commander Shepherd would make. Like Dragon Age: Inquisition (Bioware, 2015) players are able to play an almost Christ-like heroin through Commander Shepherd through the choices they make and players would be able to connect emotionally with Commander Shepherd. Although at the end of the story players were frustrated and outraged by the outcome [Spoiler], Commander Shepherd gives his/her life for the safety of the universe. The reaction that the Mass Effect community is very similar to the reaction that the disciples and followers of Jesus Christ gave when He was taken by the roman army and Jewish Priests and was persecuted and hung on the cross by the rest of the Jewish community for the Jewish leaders were not happy that Jesus was placing Himself in high authority with God and that He was teaching ways that were they were uncomfortable with. Now Commander Shepherd did not go around the galaxy teaching of the Good News, rather protecting people from the threat of the Reaper attacks. The way that Jesus Christ and Commander Shepherd died were two very different and unlike Jesus, Commander Shepherd did not rise from the grave. In John 3:16 Jesus tells us “For this is how God loved the world: He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life”. Now Jesus saved the world from their sins and whoever believes that Jesus saved them and takes up the ways of Christ and follows Him shall live in eternal life, Commander Shepherd didn’t have a ministry but in a way he did have real world admirers who after watching the ending of Mass Effect 3 (Bioware, 2012) were outraged. The community was confused, just like the Hebrews whom thought the Messiah, Jesus Christ, would rid them of their enemies and take the throne to Jerusalem. The players wanted an ending where Commander Shepard destroyed the Reapers and lived to tell the tale, where the developers initially wanted for Shepard to sacrifice himself for the rest of the universe. The developers if anything wanted to teach the community that often in order to save the many one will have to sacrifice themselves for the majority and should be taken as an honor and should be seen as a glorious moment. In Matthew 10:39 Jesus teaches that “If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it”. Now Jesus was talking about when we “cling to” our earthly ways of life we will lose our eternal lives in Heaven, since we did not follow His direction and will for us and referring to us gaining our eternal lives by walking the path of Righteousness and walking in His direction and will for us, in a sense giving our lives as living sacrifices and sometimes that may mean going into areas where one may physically lose their lives for God which some would consider an honor in dying for our God as a display of Faith and love for our Holy Father. To un-believers this would be considered as ‘crazy’, ‘senseless’ and ‘foolish’ but us as believers would call it being selfless, as way of displaying our love for Christ, as in 1 Corinthians 13:5 we are told that love “It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking” (NIV).
Bioware has tried to portray what it would have been like to have a hero work so hard to bring a sense of peace into the universe and then for them to eventually die trying to do so. And like the followers of Christ the followers of Commander Shepherd grieved at the death of their hero only because they struggled to understand the value of the sacrifice that Bioware was trying to show to their Mass Effect community. Bioware was successful in portraying the idea of a heroic sacrifice for the masses from the perspective of an earthly based view or non-spiritual view, in this they were successful in being appropriate to Christianity and the history of Jesus Christ. However they failed in portraying a deeper philosophical meaning throughout the story.
Throughout the Christian faith, believers are tested in many different ways and struggles come our way that we alone are unable to deal with. That Dragon, Cancer (Numinous Games, 2016) is a narrative story game based on a married couple’s struggle with their newborn son being diagnosed with cancer and their journey, through this hard, in faith with God. That Dragon, Cancer (Numinous Games, 2016) depicts the true story of how as a family they dealt with their son’s cancer and how Amy Green (Mother) came to Christianity and how Ryan Green’s (Father) faith was tested and strengthened. That Dragon, Cancer (Numinous Games, 2016) shows the cruelty and dark reality of life, but it shows how through these dark times the spirit still yearns for nourishment. Ryan questioned God asking ‘Why is this happening? Why me? Why my son?’ but Ryan never gave up, he prayed and never stopped believing in God. Amy, seeing Ryans devotion and commitment to God, came to Christ. These two events within their lives not only brought them closer as a family but made their relationship with God stronger. These two events are the most accurate ways in which non-believers come to believing, through believers around them influencing them, and how believers strengthen their relationship with God, by going through times of spiritual trial and drought. Often on the normal occasion, of someone without any form of religious belief or faith, they would feel incredibly vulnerable and upset, some would use whatever time they had with the baby and do what they could to keep it alive for as long as they could. But Amy and Ryan Green both turn to God for help, this is a true representation of how Christians live out their lives, calling upon God when times get tough and putting their faith and trust in Him to make things work out according to His Will for them.
That Dragon, Cancer (Numinous Games, 2016) depicts the ways in which Christians are born (people coming to believing in Christ) and how they approach situations they are faced with which are often bigger than them. That Dragon, Cancer (Numinous Games, 2016) is an accurate representation of how Christianity works, how everyday normal believers put their lives and troubles in the hands of God. Calling upon God to help us through the hard times, but still enjoying and praising (Thanking God for the good things He has given to us) Him through the good. From a Christian perspective That Dragon, Cancer (Numinous Games, 2016) is a great meaningful symbol and representation of how Christians live their lives and how we could react to difficult challenges through the good and hard times.
IV. Conclusion
Throughout the existence of humanity there has always been the underlying connection between humanity and religion. So there should be no surprise that game development companies utilise the ideas and stories from religious scripts such as the Holy Bible in their games as a way to inform others of the story and history of the video game’s world. Religion has always been in the media which can be seen in all forms of media from Paintings to television and film so the obvious step would be the new medium of video games and electronic gaming. Obviously with every form of new media and an individual’s understanding of religious scripts there would be misinterpretation of the religious books and ideals. Which is what can be seen in the video games that were discussed earlier, some of these games have used physical representations of Christianity such as Dragon Age: Inquisitions (Bioware, 2015) Chantry Priestess’, whom represent nuns and people like Mother Teresa, and the deeper representations of sacrificing oneself for the safety of the many, Mass Effect 3 (Bioware, 2012), and representations of the daily Christian life when they are faced with times of hardship, That Dragon, Cancer (Numinous Games, 2016). Game developers take from religions what best suits the game they are making and look at aspects of the religion that suits the story and character(s) within their games, which creates inaccurate representations of Christianity. These inaccuracies can create corrupt views of Christians which players could then perceive as real and true representations of Christians and the way Christianity works. If game developers are utilising a religion, not just Christianity, a substantial amount of research should be made so that the religious group is represented appropriately else there should be numerous situations within the game where the player is reminded that the religious group, within the game, is only influenced by and not an attempt at portraying the specified real world religion. If development companies are able to develop strategies to portray in-game religions and real-world religions, within a game, appropriately, in ways that are true to the religions that have been used in their game, there would be more acceptance of religions being used within games. If a religion is being used then there should be some form of acknowledgement or illustration of the way that the religion works and some relevance to their real world missions and ideals. These few changes to the ways that game developers portray a religion would make a greater acceptance, from religious groups, towards video games. All that is required is that religions are portrayed in an appropriate way that shows their religious views, beliefs and rituals the way they are seen by that religious group and the significance that it holds for them.
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Jonathan Barkhuizen 