Religion and Videogames
Now that it’s Good Friday, I think I’ll take this opportunity do a little bit of research into the relation between religion and the video game industry.
The first Christian video game was one made by Wisdom Tree called Bible Adventures.This was launched in 1991 for Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). The game was a simple side-scrolling game which was further divided into 3 mini-
games; namely Noah’s Ark, Baby Moses and David and Goliath. All games involved side-scrolling elements and borrowed, of course, from platform games like Mario, etc.
Since then, many other games were developed with a “themed-element” or involved characters or concepts based on the Bible and other prominent Christian beliefs. Some notable titles for the newer platforms/game systems include The Bible Game which was released (and was the first) for both PS2 and the Xbox. The Bible Game, according to Wikipedia is
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aimed at Christians and is “family-friendly”. There are a variety of trivia questions related to the Old Testament. The main two modes are “TV gameshow” and “challenge games”. The latter lets you choose any minigame. In the Game Boy Advance version players explore different maps searching for demons. When the player finds one, they must hit the demon with their bible. At this point the demon challenges you to bible trivia in exchange for a piece of key (which opens the end level destination, the church).
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Of course, not all games designed with Christian flavor evoke the same amount of approval from the press or critics of the industry. Case in point is a news report from BBC about a game called Left Behind: Eternal Forces. According to that report, critics call it a “religious warfare. The way to win is to convert or kill. You have both the Inquisition and the Crusades,” The controversial game is is based on a wildly successful series of novels about the struggles on earth after true believers ascend to heaven. Players can command the army of good – the Tribulation Force – against the anti-Christ’s Global Community. Of course, the game’s developers claim that their purpose is to convert players to true believers by immersing them in an interactive environment with lessons from the Bible.
Whatever happens to that debate, it is clear that the Christian community is eyeing video games as a valid medium to “reach out” and acquire followers or simply teach them about the fundamentals of faiths. Where this journey will lead is, of course, up to the game developers of this new genre and the levels of acceptance of gamers who will ultimately play these games.
Peace!
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