Religion in Video Games

[Ravenseeker]

Let's talk about religion in video games.

Before everyone rips me apart for not using the search bar hear me out. I'm taking a class at my university that delves into how religion can coexist with digital technology and in a digital culture. For our final we must create a project that discusses a type of religion found in this culture. So, naturally I picked video games.

Now my question to everyone is what instances have you witnessed religion in video games. I'm looking for good and bad examples of how to do religion in games. But, I also want to know who do you guys think has taken divine status has both characters and developers. Basically which person/character has become more than who they are.

Thanks for the help everyone!

 

[AITH]

Well the most recent (and rather absurd) version of religion in video games was the worship of the Founding Fathers in Bioshock Infinite. Some might see it as deep or profound, but I felt it was too over the top so it wound up ringing hollow. In terms of a "person/character becoming something more due to religion" that one's probably a good bet because of Comstock. I have to warn you though that they never really explain why Comstock believed in his racist beliefs and only presented religion as a catalyst. So while it might be a good source for you, you will have to fill in a lot of the blanks yourself and they will be extremist beliefs.

Farcry 3 had tribal culture religion and metaphoric demons that needed an uprising against. Typically, such religions focus more on physical strength and domination rather tha salvation so if you're looking for more of a wild child source, FC 3 would be a good one.

Elder Scrolls has extensive religious lore tying a parallel a bit closer to Greek mythos with warring factions and gods that represent various traits.

Fallout 3 has the Church of Atom that began worshiping an undetonated atomic bomb due to it's power to change things.

 

[DoPo]

Before everyone rips me apart for not using the search bar hear me out.

And funnily, you should have used the search bar, for just last week somebody asked a very similar question [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.405331-Religion-in-games-What-games-are-worth-playing] which was also for a academic project and it was also focused on religion.

I suppose it might not be exactly the same thing you need, however I suppose you would find useful stuff there. And do come back and say how to expand on the suggestions there.

 

[Sp3ratus]

I'm not really sure what you mean by:

But, I also want to know who do you guys think has taken divine status has both characters and developers. Basically which person/character has become more than who they are.

Are you asking for characters have been elevated in status because of religion in that particular game or what?

Anyway, I have a few examples of religion done well(imo), in games.

First is the Dragon Age series, which has several religious beliefs held by several different cultural groups. Take something like that Chantry. There are two interpretations of that, one held by most of Thedas(ruled by the White Divine) and one held by the Tevinter Imperium(ruled by the Black Divine). The main difference between the two is their interpretation of how magic should be handled. There are also other things like the White Divine always being female and the Black Divine always being male, which is an interesting contrast.

Other than that, there are of course the Old Gods, the Qun, the Elven Patheon and so on. It's quite diverse and should be worth looking at.

Next one is Crusader Kings 2. CK2 is much more grounded in reality, seeing as it's a digitalised version of Europe and the Middle East from 1066-1453. Here, religion plays a significant role as well, because it affects how your vassals think of you and enables you to declare holy war on someone, who's not of your religion(most of the time, anyway). There are also several heresies beyond the main ones. Other than that, there are churches than can be built and taxes, sons who can be sent to become priests and become ineligble to inherit your title, you can get excommunicated and so on. It's really quite cool and also something worth checking out.

 

[Ravenseeker]

I'm not really sure what you mean by:

But, I also want to know who do you guys think has taken divine status has both characters and developers. Basically which person/character has become more than who they are.

Are you asking for characters have been elevated in status because of religion in that particular game or what?

Anyway, I have a few examples of religion done well(imo), in games.

First is the Dragon Age series, which has several religious beliefs held by several different cultural groups. Take something like that Chantry. There are two interpretations of that, one held by most of Thedas(ruled by the White Divine) and one held by the Tevinter Imperium(ruled by the Black Divine). The main difference between the two is their interpretation of how magic should be handled. There are also other things like the White Divine always being female and the Black Divine always being male, which is an interesting contrast.

Other than that, there are of course the Old Gods, the Qun, the Elven Patheon and so on. It's quite diverse and should be worth looking at.

Next one is Crusader Kings 2. CK2 is much more grounded in reality, seeing as it's a digitalised version of Europe and the Middle East from 1066-1453. Here, religion plays a significant role as well, because it affects how your vassals think of you and enables you to declare holy war on someone, who's not of your religion(most of the time, anyway). There are also several heresies beyond the main ones. Other than that, there are churches than can be built and taxes, sons who can be sent to become priests and become ineligble to inherit your title, you can get excommunicated and so on. It's really quite cool and also something worth checking out.

Basically I'm asking what characters or developers have transcended their games and become more than just who they are in video game culture. Characters like Mario, developers like Miamoto, or companies like Nintendo who have rabid followers who swear they do no wrong. COD can be here as well.

As for your examples I hadn't though of Crusader Kings 2 (mainly because it kicked my ass when I played it) but you do bring up a good point on how religion is used in gaming...

 

[viranimus]

Xeno Gears

Xeno Saga are both HEAVILY influenced by religious context.

So too is Chrono Trigger which I have been told (but I really do not see) is a retelling of the new testament. There is also another but I might mention it later.

 

[Trueflame]

So you're asking about characters/developers that have become so famous that they are in a sense, "worshiped" by their fans?

That could be any number of people or characters. You mentioned Miamoto, but also Nobuo Uematsu, Solid Snake, numerous Final Fantasy characters. EA has, perversely, taken on a role more akin to the devil, but that should still certainly count.

Unless you're asking about actual examples of religions within video games, in which case there is the Chantry and Templars in Dragon Age, the Yevon religion in FFX, Kratos in God of War, the precursors, in a way, in the Jak games.

EDIT: Xenogears, as mentioned above, is an excellent example, I can't believe I didn't think of it. The final boss of the game is the being that is literally your god, because it gave birth to all the humans on that planet. Not to mention that throughout the story you deal with all sorts of religious references and undertones, as well as further religions like the Nisan sect.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

Basically I'm asking what characters or developers have transcended their games and become more than just who they are in video game culture. Characters like Mario, developers like Miamoto, or companies like Nintendo who have rabid followers who swear they do no wrong. COD can be here as well.

As for your examples I hadn't though of Crusader Kings 2 (mainly because it kicked my ass when I played it) but you do bring up a good point on how religion is used in gaming...

SEE: vALVE. Seems like vALVE is reached at least demi-god status among gamers and EA/Origin is the anti-vALVE(christ).
I am not downing vALVE btw, just mentioning how revered they are amongst gamers.
Also, Mojang/Notch seems to have gathered a great following, printing what seems to be the holy-bible of video games digitally in Minecraft.
As a side note, geek/gamer culture also has a lot to offer in your project by way of things like Lord of the Rings and Star Wars and Star Trek. People nearly literally worship those things... Also there's a Jedi Church...

 

[MysticSlayer]

Well, if the image in this article [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/122710-Valves-Business-Saw-a-50-Increase-In-2012] is any indication, Valve and Gabe Newell have sort of been elevated to almost deific figures in gaming culture. Sure, some push back has been happening lately, but Valve is still, in general gaming culture, a company that supposedly can do no wrong (or at least is very close to it). They are often used as an example of how to run a gaming company, and their positives are talked about vastly more than their negatives, with their negatives either being pushed aside or turned into a positive. Just look at Steam. It is a DRM that requires an online connection to install games and log into your account so you can play them. Yet, it is uncontested on PC and most people love it.*

On the other end of the spectrum, you have EA and John Riccitello (or Activision and Bobby Kotick). Both of them are viewed almost as devils and defending them is akin to blasphemy of all that is holy in gaming. The fact that EA just got voted worst company in America for the second time in a row sort of shows just how hated that company is.


*Before people lash out at this comment, just let me make myself clear, I am not saying that love for Steam is unjustified or that it is anywhere near as bad as the always-online DRM of systems like SimCity, Diablo 3, or UPlay. I'm just pointing out that it comes dangerously close to going into unwanted territory and yet most people don't seem to care at all, likely due to our faith in Valve to not take that extra step.

 

[ItsNotRudy]

SEE: vALVE. Seems like vALVE is reached at least demi-god status among gamers and EA/Origin is the anti-vALVE(christ).
I am not downing vALVE btw, just mentioning how revered they are amongst gamers.
Also, Mojang/Notch seems to have gathered a great following, printing what seems to be the holy-bible of video games digitally in Minecraft.
As a side note, geek/gamer culture also has a lot to offer in your project by way of things like Lord of the Rings and Star Wars and Star Trek. People nearly literally worship those things... Also there's a Jedi Church...

VALVe* if you're going to wrongly use logo typography in writing (it's still all caps in the logo)

And the following of producers is not what OP meant.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

VALVe* if you're going to wrongly use logo typography in writing (it's still all caps in the logo)

And the following of producers is not what OP meant.

A: Thanks for the snarky reply about a mistake, next time I'll make sure to correct it just for you. Or not.
B: You may want to re-read the quote in my previous post that was the OP followup... I'll repost the important part here for you:

"Basically I'm asking what characters or developers have transcended their games and become more than just who they are in video game culture. Characters like Mario, developers like Miamoto, or companies like Nintendo who have rabid followers who swear they do no wrong."

 

[viggih7]

Go play through Honest Hearts in Fallout:New Vegas, since it gives what is probably the most accurate depiction of Mormonism in Videogames(note: I'm not a mormon but other mormons have informed my opinion) )It should give you some ideas of how these two mix. Also because Joshua Graham is such a Boss

 

[MrHide-Patten]

Well the most recent (and rather absurd) version of religion in video games was the worship of the Founding Fathers in Bioshock Infinite. Some might see it as deep or profound, but I felt it was too over the top so it wound up ringing hollow. In terms of a "person/character becoming something more due to religion" that one's probably a good bet because of Comstock. I have to warn you though that they never really explain why Comstock believed in his racist beliefs and only presented religion as a catalyst. So while it might be a good source for you, you will have to fill in a lot of the blanks yourself and they will be extremist beliefs.

Farcry 3 had tribal culture religion and metaphoric demons that needed an uprising against. Typically, such religions focus more on physical strength and domination rather tha salvation so if you're looking for more of a wild child source, FC 3 would be a good one.

Elder Scrolls has extensive religious lore tying a parallel a bit closer to Greek mythos with warring factions and gods that represent various traits.

Fallout 3 has the Church of Atom that began worshiping an undetonated atomic bomb due to it's power to change things.

Well Comstocks church was based off the Baptist church that was very prominent around the time period the game was set and they were typically incredibly racist.

Ironically not seeing the irony around worshipping a dead brown person.

 

[putowtin]

Avo and Skorm in Fable TLC

Playthrough the whole game and you can donate money to the Temple of Avo for good points and sacrifice followers and the Chapel of Skorm for evil points. Then find out that there was no Avo or Skorm, just a bloke who found two magical sites and decided to create fake religions to make money
(kinda how some folks feel about real life religions!)

 

[BrotherRool]

So Japan in particular has a very interesting perspective towards religion in video games and it shows up in a lot of their works.
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues/issue_280/8316-The-Devil-Went-Down-to-Nippon

A lot of the Final Fantasy games have religions that tend to be portrayed very negatively as institutional power houses, lying and manipulating the populace, very intolerant (and often working with very devilish powers). In FFX Wakka was a simple but devote person betrayed by the religious figures who led him astray. It will always been a false religion stealing life force from the earth, or crystals etc to gain power, even that or aligning with an actual vengeful deity that the player has to then kill off. FFX, FFXII

Bayonnetta does the standard 'Angels are really the bad guys' sort of plotline and is clearly taking a lot from catholic imagery and even

Spoiler

Kills God

This happens in Shi Megamai Tensei too.

And then you've got games like Okami which are built around very rich artistic mythical religions, but don't seem to focus much on the practitioners themselves and are very fable like. Lots of Crystal Dragon Jesus too.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CrystalDragonJesus

There's the 'God games' Black&White, Populus whose mechanics portray Gods manipulating the world as they see fit to their whims, with a focus on the manipulation over a cohesive philosophy or idea.

There's Bioshock Infinite with it's fairly anti-religion stance. (Although that was toned down a lot from what it was originally going to be apparently. A developer at irrational decided he couldn't make the game anymore and wanted to resign and Ken Levine sat down and talked to him and realised there was a whole side of the story he'd never even thought about because he'd never grown up in a particularly religious environment).


I'd though of another western game, but I'm afraid it's slipped my mind.



...I'm not sure if any of these games have ever done religion particularly well. A lot of it's surface level imagery and I can't say I've ever been moved in either way by most of these games. It's rarely tied in mechanically and they normally don't focus on the personal experiences, good or bad. Generally games seem to be fairly hostile and one of the things that shocked me most was that in Mass Effect 1 the game actually allowed you to choose if you wanted to be religious or not. That was pretty amazing and made me a lot more attached to the PC than I thought I would be.

But it shows the state of games, that the idea that you could have a choice or even that the main character would have a religion was a huge surprise to me. Most games dodge the question for fear of alienating the fan base.



Shepard is a good example of a character that reaches godhood too. More and more revolves around her and she has her own myth and legend of the universe-protector steadily ramping up through the games until she almost does reach practically godhood with the control option. Her position of arbiter of the way the universe will go feels very deistic and she literally rises to that in the end of the game.

Equally I think Revan reaches a deistic level in KotoR canon. There's something about the PC having the power to change the fate of the universe that does it.

Sephiroth is a non PC who reaches demonhood/godhood. His final battle song is called 'One-winged Angel' for a reason


I'm quite interested in that idea and I'll keep on thinking about characters that do that



EDIT: I forgot the Left Behind games! It's hard to judge how effective the games were, because the people behind the Left Behind series have a crazy 'I can't wait till all the heretics' die backwards set of beliefs so divorced from reality that in their novels they have nurses say lines like 'It's a shame all the babies are gone because now we can't have any more abortions'

In that respect a game where you can mechanically kill unbelievers and then regain everything lost by saying a quick prayer perfectly represents the crazyness of it's makers and their beliefs, but it's not a game I'd ever want anyone to play

 

[happyninja42]

I think saying that these are "religious icons" is a bit misleading. Extreme fandom about something isn't the same as worship, not in the way I understand you are asking about. By that standard, everything would be considered a religious focus, because I'm sure you could find someone out there that REALLY loves pretty much anything. But do we think that Miamoto is a supernatural being that can provide divine intervention if we pray to him at an altar of our gaming console? Do you think people kneel at their beds every night and pray to the Holy Plumber Mario and his Celestial Sibling Luigi for grace and guidance in the day tomorrow? I seriously doubt it. At least not in a serious sense, I'm sure somebody's probably done it so they could take a picture of it and stick it on a Demotivational Poster website or something.