I don't like religions, any religions, for whatever silly and misanthropic reasons I keep hidden deep in my head.
So it's all good I think.
So it's all good I think.
Anti-Religious Sentiment in Video Games (have you noticed?)
- Thread starter Yeslek Ssomllur
- Start date
Woo there buddy lets not get crazy there. Halo has not sold more than starcraft and defintly less then a bible. Anyway i think the use of organized religon as villians in video games is like they use american conspiracy theories, american PMC, or russia and germany as villians. Its not really a they're evil thing as much as lack of imagination to make new villians. Large organisation always makes good villians and religion is just used that way cause its easy and fits.Yeslek Ssomllur said:
Atheism is a misnomer.Z(ombie)fan said:
It's not a form of faith or religion.
Living rationally should never be considered a faith.
Not that I'm saying that religion is bad, this is not a competition, I'm just saying that Atheism is often mistaken for some form of radicalism.
There are assholes who call themselves athiests when they are actually just Anti-Religion.
But this is kind of a dead argument since the only folks that get any airtime are the crazies. And no I'm not talking about Dawkins or Hitchens as they both get turned into caricatures and there statements are torn out of context so hard that you think people are trying to generate a new form of matter.
I mean those folks who stand outside churches with masks on holding up signs that say something like "You are all being misled!"
It's just people looking for optimism down a different avenue, as long as that optimism doesn't result in the direct hinderance of another persons optimism or happiness I'm all for it.
Few villains are as scary as those that have complete faith in there cause. The problem is that when you do that people immediately say you are making a religious enemy. "Well alright would you prefer I have a villain who is only doing it for the money? Oh wait...overdone. How about a villain doing it just because he's an asshole? Oh wait...overdone. How about a villain that does it because he's misunderstood?...overdone far more than anything else."clankwise said:
We like villains that we can relate to. I'd figure that 24 hour news is more to blame for always putting the psychos on a pedestal
. But that's just a random thought with no real support.
Well, yes *****-slapping would probably be more correct. I'm not exactly sure he was the worst Pope ever, since he didn't launch any Crusades, although him giving the Church's blessing to enslave the new world would certainly rank him among the worst.x434343 said:
The problem with "religion" not ruling one's life is that it's conceptually absolutist and "the one way", making it fairly hard for a 100 % "religious" person to not let it rule significant parts of it at least (including some to me and many others profoundly unethical views on various minorities). Only "cherry-picking" - completely undermining the conceptual absolutism - will allow you to be a "moderate", and by then your views will be a personalized belief inspired by the religion.
As a so-called religious nut, I have a couple things to say on this topic:
1) It's their legal right. Within Christianity, one of the core values taught is that the laws of the land must be obeyed and, whether I agree with their stance or not, I won't do anything to defame them.
2) My faith is strong enough to endure that. Anyway, we haven't had the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_sex_abuse_cases] best [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_inquisition] of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crusades] histories, some [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Coalition_of_America] of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Catholic_Church] our [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Family_Association] organizations have a tendency to take things much too far, and some [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_palin] of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Robertson] the people that are produced are... well vocal idiots. We deserve the ridicule.
3) It's not as though these tones don't fit. Hell, in Dragon Age, the chantry is essentially an expy of the Catholic Church of medieval Europe.
1) It's their legal right. Within Christianity, one of the core values taught is that the laws of the land must be obeyed and, whether I agree with their stance or not, I won't do anything to defame them.
2) My faith is strong enough to endure that. Anyway, we haven't had the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_sex_abuse_cases] best [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_inquisition] of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crusades] histories, some [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Coalition_of_America] of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Catholic_Church] our [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Family_Association] organizations have a tendency to take things much too far, and some [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_palin] of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Robertson] the people that are produced are... well vocal idiots. We deserve the ridicule.
3) It's not as though these tones don't fit. Hell, in Dragon Age, the chantry is essentially an expy of the Catholic Church of medieval Europe.
It's a nice change of pace from living in the bible belt...
I heard there is some bashing in Assassin's Creed, somewhere with NPC's talking.
Fallout 3, in Oasis, it is a huge bashing of Christianity.
Borderlands you destroy a religion.
I heard there is some bashing in Assassin's Creed, somewhere with NPC's talking.
Fallout 3, in Oasis, it is a huge bashing of Christianity.
Borderlands you destroy a religion.
I think video games are just reflecting a general rising anti-religious sentiment in our society. Atheism is on the rise especially among younger people(many of whom play video games). And with the church going up against science(evolution, etc...) more and more people are seeing the church as something that's irrational or outdated. I'm not going to say whether or not that's a bad thing, all I'm saying is people are turning away from religion in general and I believe that video games reflect that.
Yeah it was blatantly about Scientology. Anyone saying otherwise is just picking at a vendetta or just doesn't know much about Christianity and say the similar sounding name as their guide. :/Macgyvercas said:
Is it still a religion when the god physically exists? In terms of Borderlands I mean.Assassin Xaero said:
Atheism can be a faith. Believing that there is no god is faith. There is no proof that there isn't a god. Not believing in a god is just lack of any kind of faith. I belong to the later group. I believe that there isn't proof on either side, so why even bother with the notion of a god?theultimateend said:
Edit: Not that I have any problem with people who have faith. Everyone has a right to believe in whatever they want.
What I notice more is how much of a hate some video games seem to have for women.
Every damn time the "end of the world" is about to happen, the only women available are excuses for boobs and opportunities for the male lead to engage in some expositionary dialogue.
Then a "strong" female lead appears, but she's secretly weak and -must- be saved.
Anti-religion is fine, but what many fail to recognize is that video games are a facet of human culture, which is half of what programs us all (and thus these games that do this are programming people to see women this way).
Every damn time the "end of the world" is about to happen, the only women available are excuses for boobs and opportunities for the male lead to engage in some expositionary dialogue.
Then a "strong" female lead appears, but she's secretly weak and -must- be saved.
Anti-religion is fine, but what many fail to recognize is that video games are a facet of human culture, which is half of what programs us all (and thus these games that do this are programming people to see women this way).
It's pretty hard not to notice, and it isn't anything new. JRPGs in particular have very overtly shown an anti-organized religion slant pretty much since they started having stories.
Personally, I don't mind it at all (in fact, I sort of like it). It seems that games are one of the few places where it seems acceptable to parody or openly present religion in a less than glowing light.
Personally, I don't mind it at all (in fact, I sort of like it). It seems that games are one of the few places where it seems acceptable to parody or openly present religion in a less than glowing light.
You also forget the reference that "The Ark" is what the Forerunners built to save them from "The Flood".Yeslek Ssomllur said:
Meh, I'm a devout nondenominational christian, and I myself find them appealing. The great thing about being nondenominational is that I don't have to ascribe to what one church says I should believe, but can make up my own damn mind. Of course I got all the jibes at religion in gaming, especially the ones mocking Christianity. But you know what? Christianity deserves it. Its history is full of abuse and hate, just look at the crusades.
Religion itself isn't a problem, it's the people who follow it that make a religion crazy (with the possible exception of Scientology. Those guys are nuts). I support games that bring to the forefront just how ridiculous and insane fanaticism in religion can be. A lot of people want to casually sidestep and ignore this issue, but I disagree. When the whole world can accept just how retarded fanaticism is, maybe we can stop all this religious fighting, from backwater cults all the way to Jihads.
Religion itself isn't a problem, it's the people who follow it that make a religion crazy (with the possible exception of Scientology. Those guys are nuts). I support games that bring to the forefront just how ridiculous and insane fanaticism in religion can be. A lot of people want to casually sidestep and ignore this issue, but I disagree. When the whole world can accept just how retarded fanaticism is, maybe we can stop all this religious fighting, from backwater cults all the way to Jihads.
Who else has noticed the tons of similarities the Chantry from Dragon Age have to Christianity? A leader somehow related to a God, killed by another empire (Tevinter) and the whole religion spreads things about one God and being caring. I loved being a dick to the Chantry in Dragon Age.