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[FartOfWar]

CGW story on Christian communities who use PC games as an evangelizing platform

http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3146863&did=1

 

[Jenov]

Whoa, very trippy.

 

[Jerkface]

Place your hand on the screen and I shall cleanse ye of your frags.

 

[Shard]

I like how they kinda, sorta missed the point of the symbolism in Doom 3.

 

[Jonnyboy117]

"What's more damaging are games that show killing and then let the bodies disappear, desensitizing gamers to what's going on," explains Lyndon. "Although seeing hundreds of dead bodies in Left Behind: Eternal Forces at the end of a horrific battle wasn't our original intent, we can't help but stay away from desensitizing gamers. It's our hope that we don't end up with a Mature-rated game...but we might. Ultimately, our argument is that it's more humane to show the reality of death than to desensitize in the name of a lighter rating."

Very well said. I wish developers of military games felt the same way. Some of these WWII games really bother me. They expend great effort to record accurate reloading sounds for the various guns, then show men getting shot in the head only to fall down like dummies and disappear into nothingness. It shows a serious lack of perspective on what war is all about, and ultimately, these games tend to be overt glorifications of war with almost no depiction of the reality of battle.

 

[Pimpbaa]

I would not take it very well if someone started evangelizing in a game I play. Keep your religious beliefs to yourself please.

 

[Tiger]

I played in lan parties with a group of Chrisitan Halo guys back in 02' for a while. They were pretty cool and we had some great times. They didn't really push their beliefs on anyone though but they did occasionally talk about their church they attended.


They also didn't allow certain language in the house, which we found out the hard way one night. You should have seen the looks on their faces when a friend I had brought with shouted some obnoxious insult across the room after killing someone mid match. :lol


It was like all loud and stuff, but the moment he shouted that word you could have heard a pin drop. I shit u not. :lol

 

[Tellaerin]

I would not take it very well if someone started evangelizing in a game I play. Keep your religious beliefs to yourself please.

QFT.

 

[MaddenNFL64]

Friggin' Church clans now? All we now is a MMO based on the crusades, and we'll have a fully fledged virtual holy war on our hands .

Actually a Crusades game might not be bad at all... I'll be a muslim cuz they have scimitars. kewl.

 

[Dilbert]

The violence in videogames is fake; however, a symbol in any form is still the symbol. If I see a pentagram in a book and then I see it in a game, that symbol is just as real in the game as it is in the book, whereas real-life violence isn't anything like a videogame.

I've read this several times, and I still can't understand how this can possibly make sense. Can anyone help?

 

[FartOfWar]

I've read this several times, and I still can't understand how this can possibly make sense. Can anyone help?

We definitely saw what you're seeing, but decided to leave the direct quote in as it's pretty telling in terms of the speaker's thought process.

 

[DDayton]

The violence in videogames is fake; however, a symbol in any form is still the symbol. If I see a pentagram in a book and then I see it in a game, that symbol is just as real in the game as it is in the book, whereas real-life violence isn't anything like a videogame.

I've read this several times, and I still can't understand how this can possibly make sense. Can anyone help?

What he's saying is that...
A) Images/pictures/symbols have meaning and a power in the meaning they convey. A symbol/picture "does" something simply by being seen.
B) Violence has meaning in being enacted, primarily. While talking about punching someone has a meaning, the "essence" of violence only comes about by actually doing something.
C) An image in a video game carries the same meaning/message/power as that same image in real life would -- as they are the same thing. A swastika in a game IS a swastika. Actions, however, require real involvement -- hitting someone in a game is NOT the same as hitting the person in real life.

Essentially, images/icons/symbols carry the same meaning/message/essence regardless of the material they appear in, as the meaning is in the symbol itself. If a symbol is, in and of itself, evil, it remains evil no matter where it appears.

(I'm not saying I agree with it, mind you, but I understand what he was trying to say.)

 

[Dilbert]

David, thanks for the explanation.

If that's what the guy really meant, then I'd have some bones to pick with his stance. The notion that a symbol is inherently "evil" is comical. It's also contradictory to believe that seeing a pentagram (regardless of context) is supposed to have an impact...yet, seeing realistic simulated violence would not.

 

[Juice]

Very well said. I wish developers of military games felt the same way. Some of these WWII games really bother me. They expend great effort to record accurate reloading sounds for the various guns, then show men getting shot in the head only to fall down like dummies and disappear into nothingness. It shows a serious lack of perspective on what war is all about, and ultimately, these games tend to be overt glorifications of war with almost no depiction of the reality of battle.

I agree completely. Dumbing down violence as being insignificant or really, truly gamelike to get a lower rating/appease parents is really working against instilling any realistic ideas about violence in the minds of our kids. If we're going to make war games, we should also show the horror of war.

It'd make it more realistic, more authentic, and probably much more popular as a result.

The catch-22 is that any parent in their right mind wouldn't want to expose that to their child, even though if they're going to be exposed to violence it would be healthier if that violence well-demonstrated the consequences.

It's not about being gruesome and having blood coming out of every orifice, but using the power in modern gaming systems to show some personality on the faces of the people you're killing and keep the player aware of what they're doing. Not that they're doing anything wrong in playing the game out, but in realizing that war is hell and this is how it goes down.

Looking at my brother and his friends just now wrapping up high school and how obsessed with CoD2/BF1942-2 they are, they have this glorified image of war as being cool. I'd much rather our children be scared as hell of it.

 

[Jonnyboy117]

It's not about being gruesome and having blood coming out of every orifice, but using the power in modern gaming systems to show some personality on the faces of the people you're killing and keep the player aware of what they're doing. Not that they're doing anything wrong in playing the game out, but in realizing that war is hell and this is how it goes down.

Looking at my brother and his friends just now wrapping up high school and how obsessed with CoD2/BF1942-2 they are, they have this glorified image of war as being cool. I'd much rather our children be scared as hell of it.

Excerpt from "John Brown" by Bob Dylan:

"Don't you remember, Ma, when I went off to war
You thought it was the best thing I could do?
I was on the battleground, you were home . . . acting proud.
You wasn't there standing in my shoes."

"Oh, and I thought when I was there, God, what am I doing here?
I'm a-tryin' to kill somebody or die tryin'.
But the thing that scared me most was when my enemy came close
And I saw that his face looked just like mine."