All of the religions they included except Hinduism are effectively dead religions. Equating Kali with 'dead' gods is problematic because it insinuates that Hinduism itself is a dead religion, and shows a lack of respect for it and its worshippers. Dead religions get exploited frequently by media such as video games to an extent living religions usually do not because few people get upset when they are insultingly misrepresented. Sticking Kali in a thong would definately constitute comoditizing her in a way that could easily be seen as insulting or at least distastefull to hindus. This combined with the fact that Kali was the only 'modern' god represented in their roster shows that the devs have a lack of respect for hinduism, and hindu culture. Sticking Jesus, Mohommed and Buddha in would help alleviate this problem, I think-but as it stands this is definately culturally insensitive at best.
Hindus Criticize Smite For "Trivializing" Their Religion
- Thread starter Andy Chalk
- Start date
Well, Mohammed kind of was a warrior. I mean, after converting his bands to Islam how do you think control was gained over so much of the middle east? He started a guerilla war and his descendants basically conquered all that shit.Although, like Jesus, he's basically described as an ordinary guy. "Average height, brown hair, dark eyes, somewhat lighter than average skin." Seriously guess if I'm trying to describe Mohammed, Jesus or the guy who works at your local grocery store.CentralScrtnzr said:
Why did they even include a god from a living religion? You want a game with a bunch of gods in it, use DEAD religions, like Greek, Norse, and Egyptian mythologies, etc. Don't try and stir up controversy by throwing in gods that a lot of people actually still worship.
um..you guys keep saying dead religions....but you DO realise that many Pagans all over the world still worship the likes of Athena and Osiris and Odin ect?
many use them are reprisentations, true but they arent dead gods till no one remembers them or worships them.
that being said.
i have to agree that the probabl reason no one included the one-gods is just that. they are one gods. most dont have a physical form. some wont even allow any form of image.
pantheons are much more appealing becasue they have multiple deities to choose from.
oh, and the native american and other native tribes deites are ALSO still worshipped.
but i can also understand why worshipers could feel slighted by their particular deites being included in a war game.
however games are supposed to be entertaining, so its highly likely that any deity that is more interesting than a car salesperson, is going to be considered.
as to champions in LotR...well the Balrog comes instantly to mind, which also adds Gandalf. perhaps also the Witch King?
Thrall will keep the Lore lovers happy. THATS why he will last lol.
*edit
oooh, have any of you guys realised....after the census Jedi is a RECOGNISED RELIGEON....
I VOTE WE GET THE DARK SIDE VERSUS THE LIGHT SIDE IN A SCRAP....oh wait, we allready have that with Soul Calibur XD
many use them are reprisentations, true but they arent dead gods till no one remembers them or worships them.
that being said.
i have to agree that the probabl reason no one included the one-gods is just that. they are one gods. most dont have a physical form. some wont even allow any form of image.
pantheons are much more appealing becasue they have multiple deities to choose from.
oh, and the native american and other native tribes deites are ALSO still worshipped.
but i can also understand why worshipers could feel slighted by their particular deites being included in a war game.
however games are supposed to be entertaining, so its highly likely that any deity that is more interesting than a car salesperson, is going to be considered.
as to champions in LotR...well the Balrog comes instantly to mind, which also adds Gandalf. perhaps also the Witch King?
Thrall will keep the Lore lovers happy. THATS why he will last lol.
*edit
oooh, have any of you guys realised....after the census Jedi is a RECOGNISED RELIGEON....
I VOTE WE GET THE DARK SIDE VERSUS THE LIGHT SIDE IN A SCRAP....oh wait, we allready have that with Soul Calibur XD
Sick and tired of religions starting controversy because they're apparently too sacred to have their deities represented in any medium unless expressly allowed. Grow. The f***. Up. This is the 21st century, not everyone you know belongs to your religion, and even if they did they would be allowed to make a game featuring your gods in whatever light they decide. Good on the studio for sticking to its guns.
Also, as has already been said, for extra points make a playable Jesus. You could have the harbinger version where he pulls a sword out of his throat and wears bloodstained robes even. Jesus can be cool when he wants to be.
Lastly, I am an atheist, I am disappointed by the game's lack of a non-religion-derived character. Or at least that's what I would say if I were an oversensitive prick like our friend Zed.
Also, as has already been said, for extra points make a playable Jesus. You could have the harbinger version where he pulls a sword out of his throat and wears bloodstained robes even. Jesus can be cool when he wants to be.
Lastly, I am an atheist, I am disappointed by the game's lack of a non-religion-derived character. Or at least that's what I would say if I were an oversensitive prick like our friend Zed.
Frankly, I agree. I notice that all of the other religions in this game are mostly dead, though there are various pagan sects who worship the old gods - only Hinduism is being portrayed, and it still has a large following. Make a game with gods, sure, but either include every "current" religion or none at all. They could just as easily stick to ancient myth; they just want more attention for the game.Triforceformer said:
As I'm not generally interested in fighting games, I'll give this one a pass.
Speaking as someone who's currently looking into Hinduism, I've been pretty fascinated by the SMT portrayals. Their codex entries appear to be accurate, they're beautifully drawn, and they didn't just thoughtlessly stick a goddess in a bikini, unlike this game. They actually did research.Cheesepower5 said:
Hinduism is a good religion, or at least as good as any dogma about controlling people and imposing beliefs can get. The lore is fascinating, the culture is ancient and storied and it's really applaud-able that SMT is able to do it well at all. And to its credit, it handles pretty much everything more or less true to myth. With the odd visual pun or "I turned Hades into an anthropomorphic motorcycle because why the fuck not?" Either way, it works.Flight said:
http://games.adultswim.com/bible-fight-action-online-game.html
there is already a game where you can play as Jesus.
there is already a game where you can play as Jesus.
With the Pagan revivial religions such as the Norse, Druid etc pantheons there is no continuous unbroken period of worship. There were large stretches of time where these religions were not worshiped at all. The modern versions are reinterprutations of these religions, not an evolution of them. There is no cultural connection between the modern and ancient versions. As such, I would classify them as seperate religions. While I understand that no-ones culture is more 'authentic' than another, I do not have a great deal of respect for most revival religions because they are essentially taking the religion of another culture and comoditizing them into something that is acceptable for them to consume-exactly what this game is doing. The representations of the various 'dead' gods in this game should not be offensive to these groups because the devs are doing exactly what those worshippers are doing. Hinduism on the other hand, has existed unbroken for the duration of its existance. While it has undoubtedly changed over this period, it has done so at the behest of the culture in which it has developed.Silverbane7 said:
Various Native American religions are still worshipped, but are more or less in the same pot as Hinduism.
Lumping Hinduism in with a bunch of religions that are no longer worshipped is insulting because it implies that the developers don't acknowledge the existance of Hindus/Hindu gamers or don't value their opinion or culture. Including some figures from the Abrahamic faiths would go a long way to equalizing that by at least saying they value the input of all of the major religions equally (even if they then had Kali in a thong and jesus in a bananna hammock)
hm..i never realy considered whether or not the representations of the modern pagan worshiped versions would be thought of in the same way as the older mythical time versions of said gods and goddesses.
i think some of the revival is due to television shows that reminded folks (ie xena and hercules various gods ect) and some is the age old trying to be different.
and in a way, i kinda (personaly) agree with the poster saying at least their gods ar cool compared to ours. most modern religeons gods are so simple in appearance, its no wonder developers have to find alternatives.
while they could have gone on and used more fantasy based pantheons, i guess they are more worried about having to ask the estates of writers to do that....i expect it costs a lot of money to include gods from fiction when they are owned by (or managed by) living people (such as gods from fiction like LotR or Conan ect)
the reason i mentioned it (and incidentaly, had to regester to do so lol) was because the phrase Dead Gods is a pet peve of mine. i dont realy consider a God *dead* as such, untill they are forgotten totaly (probably because my first reading about such a thing came from ADnD and the Dragon supliment about dead gods as game mechanics..till then i had never even though that gods like Osiris and Thor might be considered *dead* lol)
i suppose the put Kali in a thong becasue she is depicted as a female, and we are used to seeing warrior women in fighting games depicted in scanty armour. prehaps if they gave her a more authentic set of armour? something at least more realistic for a goddess of war, than a string bikini? what warrior woman (or goddess) in her right mind would wear such scanty protection, unless she was totaly impervious to blows. i would prefer a decent set of enchanted (blessed) chainmail at least *grins* if it were me doing the fighting (rather than the playing. i suck at fighting games)
i think some of the revival is due to television shows that reminded folks (ie xena and hercules various gods ect) and some is the age old trying to be different.
and in a way, i kinda (personaly) agree with the poster saying at least their gods ar cool compared to ours. most modern religeons gods are so simple in appearance, its no wonder developers have to find alternatives.
while they could have gone on and used more fantasy based pantheons, i guess they are more worried about having to ask the estates of writers to do that....i expect it costs a lot of money to include gods from fiction when they are owned by (or managed by) living people (such as gods from fiction like LotR or Conan ect)
the reason i mentioned it (and incidentaly, had to regester to do so lol) was because the phrase Dead Gods is a pet peve of mine. i dont realy consider a God *dead* as such, untill they are forgotten totaly (probably because my first reading about such a thing came from ADnD and the Dragon supliment about dead gods as game mechanics..till then i had never even though that gods like Osiris and Thor might be considered *dead* lol)
i suppose the put Kali in a thong becasue she is depicted as a female, and we are used to seeing warrior women in fighting games depicted in scanty armour. prehaps if they gave her a more authentic set of armour? something at least more realistic for a goddess of war, than a string bikini? what warrior woman (or goddess) in her right mind would wear such scanty protection, unless she was totaly impervious to blows. i would prefer a decent set of enchanted (blessed) chainmail at least *grins* if it were me doing the fighting (rather than the playing. i suck at fighting games)
There's nothing to indicate that the point of the game is to piss off people of the Hindu faith. This isn't like with that whole Danish cartoon controversy where a bunch of cartoonists thought it would be fun to piss off a bunch of Muslims.albino boo said:
Aren't most of those people just atheists and agnostics dicking around with the census. Also, are we talking about Britain here?Silverbane7 said:
Probably because his story includes a lot of Buddhist ideals, monks, and I think Buddha himself in it would be my guess.aattss said:
It should come as no surprise that people will be upset if you put one of their figures of faith in a game they're gonna get mad. I seem to recall Christian groups getting uppity about Dante's Inferno game's whole concept. When they should've been getting upset cause it was not a very good game. That being said I think it is in somewhat poor taste to include figures from a very much active religion.
I'm going to leave before the dick waving competition going on in this thread makes me punch a wall.
Well its seems that the guy pissed off more about the fact that they are being controlled by a mere human rather than the fact that they are being depicted in a video game. If in was just a cutscenes then it would probably be different, though he's really just splitting hairs.jpz719 said: