Could bad things you do in games be construed as sins?

[renegade7]

I'll start by saying I'm an athiest but I was joking about this with a Christian friend of mine...say, for example, you play a 'bad guy' in Oblivion. You lie, cheat, deceive, and steal, and you commit all these wrongs against innocents. Or in EVE Online, if you pull off a massive corporate heist or global scam, and that's an online game where other people will be affected, but it's not real money being stolen. Obviously none of this is real, but the question of morality is still there if the first thing you do when free of constraints is start stealing and killing.

(Just for the record, I'm not bashing anyone's play style, I too love being a completely evil bastard in Oblivion)

So what do you think, can you go to Hell for doing bad things in videogames, if it's a question of morals?

UPDATE: Excellent points on both sides here, keep it up!

 

[Harkonnen64]

Not in the case of Oblivion, because it's just NPCs. Eve Online, however, could. Even though it's all virtual property, people still have an emotional attachment to it, and stealing/destroying hurts their feelings IRL.

 

[the spud]

As a fellow atheist, it may be hard for me to judge, but to me it seems like it would be no more sinful than anything else you do purely for entertainment. No one is influenced but you.

 

[Rabid Chipmunk]

I think any actions involving NPC's in videogames wouldn't be viewed as sins, since there's no one on the receiving end of your "crimes."

Being a dickhead on EVE Online, however, miiiiight be viewed as a venial sin, but I doubt anything more.

 

[PunkyMcGee]

If you want to get technical, playing too many video games is a sin in itself, according to some. It's the sin of sloth, I've heard.

 

[Dimitriov]

Well, I believe some ideologies would say you are wrong just to have contemplated those things, and that you would need to ask forgiveness or confess accordingly.

Don't have any personal experience though, and even if so it would be a theological question open to interpretation.

 

[Ashannon Blackthorn]

Hmmm... I think technically if we look at the Christian viewpoint, yes they would be. You have ot actively consider the choice between a good and a bad act and then you choose the bad act. I don't think they would differ between you doing it in real life or a game. Plus depending on how much you play you may hit sloth, if you get emotional you might run into wrath, if you're a jealous player you might envy others stuff in game and who knows, depending on your kinks you may eagerly embrace a bit o lust.

 

[shadow_Fox81]

no never, because games are an artistic medium. if a game puts in place a mechanic for wrong doing its posing the idea to the player of both self and world imposed moralities and the exploration of it.

its simply more about stimulating thought about morality rather than impressing it upon the player abrbitrarily.

(or at least thats how i see it)

 

[Black Arrow Officer]

Christian here, and I think video games are not sins. No ones getting harmed since it's a game, meant to be played for entertainment. I suppose if video games make you violent or take over your life it would constitute as a sin, but that's a whole different thing.

 

[Jordi]

I think that generally it would not be considered as sins. If you're playing a game like Oblivion, you are playing a role. If an actor plays a role in a play or movie, I don't think s/he will be held accountable for the sins of the character they're playing. It should be the same for games.

It can be a little different if you are playing online and negatively affecting other people. If you want to extend my metaphor, it would be more like actually harming the other members of the cast (i.e. you don't pretend to hurt them, but you actually do).
However, it depends on the nature of the game. In a shooter, you are technically negatively affecting everyone you "kill", but that is an essential part of the game. If you wouldn't (try to) do that, the game wouldn't be fun for everyone. On the other hand, if you are scamming or otherwise griefing players, I think that would be considered a sin, because in that case the game is merely the medium that you are using to hurt others.

 

[StrixMaxima]

If you want to be real anal about it, pretty much all modern entertainment is a sin, one way or another. That's what you get when applying millenia-old ethics nowadays.

 

[LilithSlave]

I'm pretty sure the intention to do sin, even in a fictional sense, is considered a sin by Christians and at least not looked highly upon.

It doesn't matter that it's fiction, this is Christianity we're talking about here. Sexual fantasy itself is considered a sin by many. And as such of course fantasy of cruelty would be considered an unhealthy and unGodly fantasy.

Again, this is Christianity we're dealing with here. This shouldn't even a question, it not only is, it obviously is an pushes way into the realm of unacceptable behavior by that religion. People who enjoy doing violent and generally unethical things in video games falls into the realm of "you need intervention, now". And many Christians in a social sense would find you very tainted by it. And a generally creepy person. They would view it beyond being a small sin, and instead a sign that you're person who needs help.

This is a religion, by the way, with a bad track record with both Pokemon and Harry Potter. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAdVItTk5UA] Something which teach Christian morals in a general sense, one of them being written by a Christian, and one being not due to being written by a member of a non-Christian culture. One being unaccepted because of an emphasis on magic, never accepted by the Christian community, having a history of considering things with magic or ghosts or other things that don't go along with a strict Christian doctrine demonic(and much of European culture has been destroyed because of it). And the other being not accepted because of it having too much Eastern culture involved in it for Christians to be comfortable with it.

 

[King of the Sandbox]

I'd say no (and not just because I'm not a big believer in hell and whatnot), mostly because if that were the case, then kids who play GI-Joes or whatever they have nowadays would take up half the entry line down there.

Then again, according to some faiths, even contemplating sin is a sin, so.... yeah.

 

[BristolBerserker]

If it's sin, it's a win.

 

[LilithSlave]

I'd say no (and not just because I'm not a big believer in hell and whatnot), mostly because if that were the case, then kids who play GI-Joes or whatever they have nowadays would take up half the entry line down there.

The concept of sin is not logical. The concept of religion is not logical.

It is a religion that demands a purity of mind and intentions, rather than just actions. It is not a moral philosophy like utilitarianism. It is not about what hurts people or is good. And in fact many of the teachings of Christianity are against morality. That is, several moral doctrines are violated by several teachings in Christianity.

 

[Aaron Frederick]

If it's sin, it's a win.

If youre religious, Sins are sins and theres no way to get around them except to NOT do them

If youre not, Then it doesnt matter because your "sins" never get tallied by some other persons imaginary friend

(Not flaming religions, im just tired of the religionaries knocking on my door)

 

[Jetsetneo]

Edit:Ahh, nothing to see here, I should know better than to comment on a religious thread on the Escapist.

 

[BLAHwhatever]

God's viewpoint on video games is kinda undefined. So.. should we launch a rocket with an xbox360 to heaven and wait for reactions?

 

[Saltyk]

Honestly, depending on who you talk to, it probably would be seen as a sin. More than a few people believe that having sexual thoughts about someone other than your significant other (whom you better be married to) is adultery. So, killing an NPC might well constitute a sin. Though, that might be a gray area since the victim isn't real. Of course, cheating actual players in a game like EVE would probably be a sin. You are, in a sense, no better to cheat someone out of virtual property than actual property.

Personally, I never really accepted the idea that thinking something was as bad as doing it. People think a lot in a given day. The number of things that cross my mind that I wouldn't actually do is pretty staggering.

 

[King of the Sandbox]

I'd say no (and not just because I'm not a big believer in hell and whatnot), mostly because if that were the case, then kids who play GI-Joes or whatever they have nowadays would take up half the entry line down there.

The concept of sin is not logical. The concept of religion is not logical.

It is a religion that demands a purity of mind and intentions, rather than just actions. It is not a moral philosophy like utilitarianism. It is not about what hurts people or is good. And in fact many of the teachings of Christianity are against morality. That is, several moral doctrines are violated by several teachings in Christianity.

Yeah... not logical. Kind of like the whole deathbed repentance deal. If I were a life-long Christian, I would call BS on that.