A Game about Religion

[KazeAizen]

So here is a question I want to pose to you my fellow escapists. How do you think gamers would respond to a game about religion? I don't mean in the superficial angels vs. demons, god vs. devil, heaven vs. hell type. I mean that the main character's journey through the game is either finding religion, more specifically Christianity and even more specific Roman Catholicism, or growing away from religion. Of course should the player gravitate towards religion on their journey it would be casting the church in a very positive light. So how do you think we as a community and you yourself might respond to a game taking on that subject matter? This is of course assuming that the game is good etc etc. Would we as a community condemn such a game or welcome the change in pace of religion represented in games?

 

[RJ 17]

It'd likely have to be extremely story driven in order to pull it off right. And considering the gaming community, I think the whole "finding/losing religion" thing would have to be a side-plot/mechanic to the whole thing. I doubt that people would like a game where you're just going through someone's life hitting buttons at certain events to say "This increases my faith" or "This increases my doubt".

Sounds like it'd be a David Cage game, and we all know how popular that...ahem..."gentlemen" is...

 

[KazeAizen]

It'd likely have to be extremely story driven in order to pull it off right. And considering the gaming community, I think the whole "finding/losing religion" thing would have to be a side-plot/mechanic to the whole thing. I doubt that people would like a game where you're just going through someone's life hitting buttons at certain events to say "This increases my faith" or "This increases my doubt".

Sounds like it'd be a David Cage game, and we all know how popular that...ahem..."gentlemen" is...

David Cage? Yeah I'm ignorant. I'm not sure how it would be pulled off. I'm just curious if people would mind or not because a lot of gamers have issues with the church. I know there are several who don't but the most vocal and most visible are the ones that do and they would just rather the whole institution go away. I'm not talking gameplay, mechanics, etc. for this. Just kind of saying "Here's a concept that is kind of controversial for gamers. Would you like it or not?"

 

[RJ 17]

It'd likely have to be extremely story driven in order to pull it off right. And considering the gaming community, I think the whole "finding/losing religion" thing would have to be a side-plot/mechanic to the whole thing. I doubt that people would like a game where you're just going through someone's life hitting buttons at certain events to say "This increases my faith" or "This increases my doubt".

Sounds like it'd be a David Cage game, and we all know how popular that...ahem..."gentlemen" is...

David Cage? Yeah I'm ignorant.

David Cage is the "creative genius" that brought us such games as Heavy Rain and, more recently, Beyond Two Souls. If you've never played those games, basically you're literally playing a movie. There's no real "gameplay", just a series of "Hit this button to make this decision in this situation, hit this button to make this other decision for this situation."

All you really need to know is that most gamers consider him to be a monumental prick and an exceedingly pretentious writer.

 

[KazeAizen]

It'd likely have to be extremely story driven in order to pull it off right. And considering the gaming community, I think the whole "finding/losing religion" thing would have to be a side-plot/mechanic to the whole thing. I doubt that people would like a game where you're just going through someone's life hitting buttons at certain events to say "This increases my faith" or "This increases my doubt".

Sounds like it'd be a David Cage game, and we all know how popular that...ahem..."gentlemen" is...

David Cage? Yeah I'm ignorant.

David Cage is the "creative genius" that brought us such games as Heavy Rain and, more recently, Beyond Two Souls. If you've never played those games, basically you're literally playing a movie. There's no real "gameplay", just a series of "Hit this button to make this decision in this situation, hit this button to make this other decision for this situation."

All you really need to know is that most gamers consider him to be a monumental prick and an exceedingly pretentious writer.

And I agree. I do know of those two games. Yeah so it is true what they say then? Good thing I avoided them.

 

[Mikejames]

I suppose it depends on just how the story and character are implemented.

Just being religious doesn't mean you'll automatically enjoy a plot that tries to center around it. Likewise, being of a different ideology doesn't mean you have to instantly detest anything that tries to bring the topic up.

 

[RJ 17]

It'd likely have to be extremely story driven in order to pull it off right. And considering the gaming community, I think the whole "finding/losing religion" thing would have to be a side-plot/mechanic to the whole thing. I doubt that people would like a game where you're just going through someone's life hitting buttons at certain events to say "This increases my faith" or "This increases my doubt".

Sounds like it'd be a David Cage game, and we all know how popular that...ahem..."gentlemen" is...

David Cage? Yeah I'm ignorant.

David Cage is the "creative genius" that brought us such games as Heavy Rain and, more recently, Beyond Two Souls. If you've never played those games, basically you're literally playing a movie. There's no real "gameplay", just a series of "Hit this button to make this decision in this situation, hit this button to make this other decision for this situation."

All you really need to know is that most gamers consider him to be a monumental prick and an exceedingly pretentious writer.

And I agree. I do know of those two games. Yeah so it is true what they say then? Good thing I avoided them.

I've never played them, so I can't speak from personal experience. The general consensus though is that Heavy Rain got mixed results (some people enjoyed it because it was something new and fresh, other's really didn't like it) but Beyond Two Souls has basically been universally damned. There's actually a topic on the forum "Did Beyond Two Souls Get Judged Too Harshly?" Go there and read some of the responses to get the opinions of people who actually have played the games. But yeah, basically from the sound of things you (and I ) can count ourselves fortunate for having avoided David Cage's work.

 

[MysticSlayer]

Well, it isn't like there aren't Christian games out there. The problem is that they are more concerned with preaching to the audience rather than actually telling a compelling story. Even for all my ranting on Assassin's Creed 2 for being too preachy with its anti-religious message, it at least tried telling more of a story, at least in comparison to those games. For the most part, I think people just want a good story, and it doesn't matter if someone wants to explore religion while doing so so long as the story is good.

In any case, there are some games that have touched on religion. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow was basically all about Gabriel's redemption (minus the epilogue and DLC), and they were hardly subtle with the Christian imagery, even going so far as to him asking God for forgiveness for his sins while he is strangling Satan. Xenoblade Chronicles is, essentially, all about breaking from religion, and while I haven't played the other Xeno- games, I've heard that they have similar explorations. Dante's Inferno was similar to Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, but that comes with the territory of being based off of Inferno. I know both Oblivion and Skyrim at least explored the ideas of religion in their worlds, and the exploration had quite a few references to religious exploration in the real world. The Assassin's Creed games also explore religion heavily. Ultimately, it seems like the exploration of religion is hardly a problem for people. It is just the fact that trying to become too preachy while doing it at the expense of actual story, character, and world development stops people from enjoying it.

 

[lacktheknack]

I'm already planning it.

The base plot is about a woman with Alzheimer's, her degrading condition, and how it's affecting her family, based off personal experience. And, just like my experience, religion factors really, really heavily into it. Some pretty controversial imagery would be involved, too.

Of course, it remains a plan only, because while I know how I'd do it in RPGMaker, I don't have the skill needed for the tileset... yet.

Anyways, yes. I'd LOVE to see a game that delved deep into religious themes. The more gritty and bare, the better.

Heck, I'd be happy with another <link=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.828966-A-Religiously-Charged-Review-of-Captain-Bible-in-Dome-of-Darkness>Captain Bible at this point.

 

[TehCookie]

I don't think having religion as a plot point will change anything on how people judge it. If it's well told and good gameplay, people will enjoy it. If it's poorly executed people will dislike it. A lot of games already have religion in them, even if it's not specifically about gaining/losing faith in christianity.

Even Pokemon has a god, even if it doesn't tackle religious significance. Persona 3 had that cult near the end of the game. You can probably name several games with x divines, Guild Wars and Skyrim are the first two in my head. Tales of the Abyss is has destroying the future predicting bible people depend on to live and force them to face an unknown and uncertain future. Religion is almost never brought up when people are discussing it and there was never any controversy.

Unless it's specifically aiming to cause controversy I really don't see gamers caring much.

 

[Bonk4licious]

It's certainly an untouched topic, that's for sure. For me, I've battled a long time trying to find my own meaning out of religion, and I've come pretty far on how I feel about it, so I feel like it'd have to be really well thought out, the main character would have to have a truly inspirational journey, and it really couldn't be fantasy, or we wouldn't relate. I feel no matter what, many of us would relate and it's a game that could sell off of controversy but it needs quite a bit of direction, otherwise it'll just go unnoticed. Just like how a modern FPS can be terrible or amazing, based on the amount of engine work and care to detail, a religion game would truly have to be inspired and done well to get its proper recognition.

 

[nondescript]

If you're gonna do one, kudos to you and I wish you luck. I personally think Journey (thatgamecompany, PS3) is a very spiritual game, though not necessarily a "Christian" game, since there are no overt contextual references to Abrahamic faith. (If you haven't played it, do.)

As for how it would be received, I echo everyone - it obviously has to be well written and you'd want to really "flesh out" the characters so they felt like people (like the characters in, say, Walking Dead.) It still might be criticized as "heavy-handed" or "not inclusive", since we're so apt to criticize and many of us aren't or have lost faith in religions. But I wouldn't mind seeing one, for a change of pace.

 

[KazeAizen]

On its own it doesn't sound interesting enough to carry a game. It doesn't really sound like a game really honestly with just that said about it. And if the game is *about* it well I'm not sure what else you can add that doesn't shift the focus that would make it interesting enough.

Hmmm I'm getting a lot of interesting responses to this. The majority seem to be "If its a solid game then yeah." I've been trying to think of a way to incorporate religion on a spiritual level in games ever since that extra credits episode. This thread is for the purposes of "What would people think?" if such a game came around. I made another thread a long time ago that asked if religion should just be done away with or not and sadly i got the results I expected. A majority of the people said yes it should. A lot of people mention games with religion and experiences in them but the games don't tackle the issues of "How does one find God?" "How does one lose God?" etc.

 

[KazeAizen]

If you're gonna do one, kudos to you and I wish you luck. I personally think Journey (thatgamecompany, PS3) is a very spiritual game, though not necessarily a "Christian" game, since there are no overt contextual references to Abrahamic faith. (If you haven't played it, do.)

As for how it would be received, I echo everyone - it obviously has to be well written and you'd want to really "flesh out" the characters so they felt like people (like the characters in, say, Walking Dead.) It still might be criticized as "heavy-handed" or "not inclusive", since we're so apt to criticize and many of us aren't or have lost faith in religions. But I wouldn't mind seeing one, for a change of pace.

Interesting point. Journey is a spiritual game but yeah not exactly the "Religion in games" angle that I'm talking about. Also it is on my to do list. With 1 million other games collecting dust on my shelf that I haven't had the chance to play yet .

Your final answer is the type of answer I've actually been looking for in this thread. Maybe I should've put in the OP "assuming it is good." So that way I could cut through the must have X, Y, and Z and just get to the meat. Like you said many people, especially gamers, have lost faith in religions. We need more games like the hypothetical one I'm talking about. Not shocking us or stirring up controversy because they can (looking at you Modern Warfare 2), but stirring up controversy to actually get people thinking about the bigger picture.

 

[nondescript]

On its own it doesn't sound interesting enough to carry a game. It doesn't really sound like a game really honestly with just that said about it. And if the game is *about* it well I'm not sure what else you can add that doesn't shift the focus that would make it interesting enough.

Hmmm I'm getting a lot of interesting responses to this. The majority seem to be "If its a solid game then yeah." I've been trying to think of a way to incorporate religion on a spiritual level in games ever since that extra credits episode. This thread is for the purposes of "What would people think?" if such a game came around. I made another thread a long time ago that asked if religion should just be done away with or not and sadly i got the results I expected. A majority of the people said yes it should. A lot of people mention games with religion and experiences in them but the games don't tackle the issues of "How does one find God?" "How does one lose God?" etc.

I think you might be tackling this from the wrong angle. A game, like any media, speaks to us on our level regardless of whether we are religious or not. Joss Whedon once said "all worthy work is open to interpretation the author did not intend." M. Night Shamalayan's "Signs" was about a priest reclaiming his faith, but it was also a story about alien attacks, but it was also about a family surviving two traumatic incidents. C.S. Lewis's Narnia Chronicles was about a group of children's adventures in a fantasy land, but it was also an allegory of Christ and his life and teachings, but it was also a reflection of his early childhood in Belfast. Both of these have been criticized, but they are decent films/books, and good examples.

 

[DudeistBelieve]

Looks like you all are forgetting about HEAVEN: The Game...


Amazing looking, isn't it? Well the actual gameplay is some lame point and click adventure, but God damn if that trailer for like a 1st person shooter who wouldn't want to play it??

As far a religion game.... I'm reminded of Darksiders, the opening levels where all hell breaks loose. How awesome would it be to play a game depicting the Rapture?

It would be a bit of a downer ending, cause of course everyone has to die, but I think it would be awesome just for the crazy shit alone.

And really? That's the only part of any religion that interests me. The stories that are filled with Crazy shit. Like the Angel comes down and says "you're naming your child Abraham" and the father goes "How do I know you're an angel?" and the angel is all "Excuse you? How do you know? Well how about you know cause now you won't be able to talk till the kid is born! BLAMO! Suck my non-existent Angel dick!"

Child was born, wife asked him what to name it, ************ wrote down Abraham. Underlined it three times.

Mind you the preacher I heard this from told the story very differently, but I promise the tone is the same. It's shit like that I'd want in a game, just the crazy stuff. Hell it's stuff like that that ALMOST makes me want to go back to church, I have no interest actually joining a religion but the stories are a blast.

The best part... oh you could have a moral choice system, except it's double blind and your never quite sure what the right answer is because The Devil and God are both in a battle for your soul.

 

[blazearmoru]

So here is a question I want to pose to you my fellow escapists. How do you think gamers would respond to a game about religion? I don't mean in the superficial angels vs. demons, god vs. devil, heaven vs. hell type. I mean that the main character's journey through the game is either finding religion, more specifically Christianity and even more specific Roman Catholicism, or growing away from religion. Of course should the player gravitate towards religion on their journey it would be casting the church in a very positive light. So how do you think we as a community and you yourself might respond to a game taking on that subject matter? This is of course assuming that the game is good etc etc. Would we as a community condemn such a game or welcome the change in pace of religion represented in games?

FINAL FANTASY X I feel had a huge theme about religion and it wasn't perfect but it was pretty close. And anyone who's still stuck on the terrible laugh voice acting, given the context they were supposed to be fake and therefor it is inconceivable that the instructions for the voice actors had anything to do with having the laugh be even remotely convincing.

 

[Candidus]

I play Crusader Kings 2. Religion isn't precisely a central theme but you can't forget it for a turn either. It permeates all matters. Surely this isn't what you have in mind, but I think it fits the bill. Except that it portrays the church in a somewhat authentic light rather than a positive one.

Beyond very specific period-based strategy games though, I'm not interested in what I perceive to be fantasy worship except in an adversarial fashion with regard to its vestigial presence in a handful of public policies (eg. Right to die). Which is by no means basis enough for me to engage with a game where it is the standalone, central theme.

I just wouldn't be able to appreciate it. And I don't see how it could be done without trying to preach to the player.
Edit: Or rather, I don't believe that it *would* be done without trying to preach to the player.