in games today we see a rise in the way topics are feed into our brain. Whether it be through VR, a console or even its story and characters it is all a way to drive the message of the Dev/person creating the game to an audience. The discussion of religion is always a heavy bite to chew, when you have politics involved, who is more ethical than who and so on. Today I will be discussing religion in video games and how it affects the story/psychology of it. I am very happy to say I’ve built myself a comfy little niche on YouTube where I can discuss psychology, medicine and storytelling in a way that can healthily trigger people. Even though every so often, I will get people who get unhealthily triggered. It’s not my problem that you get offended.
The question we have to ask ourselves is Why religion is as “trigger happy” as it is when it comes to gaming? There are several possibilities, one being that religion is a thought provoking subject and can be used to guide the way a game is written ie. Plotline, NPC side quests and so on. Another possibility is that developers or their writers will see a trend in gaming and they will think “this is a great idea, lets make our own version!” There are other points but it would take a long time to get into them so I want to tackle ones that we can easily digest today. I want to tread lightly with this subject since I do respect those who practice religion and want this to be a space where we can easily communicate with one another in the healthiest way possible. This is how religion affects gaming from a psychoanalytic standpoint, not how “I feel about religion” very different.
Religion in gaming has been the focal point for a few years now. The first game I play that had religious connotations was the first Outlast game. I was really intrigued by the game and thought, “allot of games are going to have this cult-esque movement” purely because it is something that has this somewhat unknown factor to it. Cults have always been a point of interest to game devs and writers because it’s a way to tackle religion without being offensive. We can all agree that cults are scary and we should never belong to one? Yes? So on that you have a mutual agreement with a majority. Other games including the evil within two, the elder scrolls, fight of gods and I am Jesus Christ (yes that is an actual game) all of them vastly different in story line and structure, but use different parts of religion as their guide book to create a game that captures people. Some doing it more poorly than others but we will get into that.
When writing a story, whether it has a in depth plot line or something really basic you always run the risk of being offensive. Not that cool edgy offensive, I mean the type of offensive that makes you look like an idiot. This is what the creator of I am Jesus Christ did. Now, you guys know me well enough to know that I will call people out on the things they do, and this game is tactless, weird and downright offensive and im not even a Christian. With this game you can resurrect people, heal people, perform miracles and so on. I feel like to those whom practice Christianity is it abhorrent to see something like this made. Let me go one step further and ask you this, what if someone made a game about Kwanza? Hanukkah? It would be just as offensive because (even though I am not religious and don’t particularly like religion) it’s a slap in the face to the history behind it. When I see the game outlast, I don’t see a mockery of faith but more so a mockery of cultist ideals.
Which I know we don’t mind because who do you see lining up to be a part of the westboro Baptist church? No one? Exactly. Since psychological horror games can be a pleasurable experience we tend to, as humans like to push those boundaries even further which is why so many games go too far until we just become in a way desensitized to the fear its self in the game because we know it can’t hurt us in real life. Out adrenaline rushes, hearts palpitate, and we get a sort of arousal to an extent from feeling scared, and like a drug you either want more of it or none of it. It’s almost like we feel what the character feels through a series of fight or flight responses that will then trigger our dopamine response when we beat the boss or get away from the creepy men chasing you.
The bottom line with all of this is that religion is the vehicle used to drive a point or theory in a game. However the developer decides to create that vehicle is entirely up to them but having class when approaching it would be nice. And its not just this type of game, in the elder scrolls the people in that game worshiped a monotheistic character called the all maker, in a 2d fighting game fight of gods “gods” from different religions fight… its like mortal kombat, but with gods. So there is allot of controversy in just these subsections of games alone, some being more trigger happy than others but when comes to games that delve into history, mythology and religion there is a fine line the game developers like to dance back and forth over. A dance that is daring, a leaves us, the players confused and pondering.
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