Christian entertainment, specifically videogames. Can/should we play them?

[Ana the Ist]

Alright, name a game where you have to "pledge your sworn allegiance to fake and unreal characters". Don't have to give a list, just name one.

-CryptoLutheran

Ahhh...I totally missed the response to my post. I guess it doesn't matter, I got hit with the old "I'm not going to back up my statement with any facts, if you want to know the truth, you should go out and try to back up my statement with facts" response.

Little does he know...I actually have played every video game ever.

 

[Jon Osterman]

You've played a lot of them, but you haven't played all of them. So mathematically, the probability of you not playing one of those games including that type of thing is rather significant, so why are you challenging me as if I don't know what I'm talking about? Your "curiosity" is based on pure assumption, not reason. If you truly wish to know, go search it out for yourself.

It was you who said "many video games often ask you as the player to pledge your sworn allegiance to fake and unreal characters" so it is perfectly reasonable to ask you which games you had in mind.

 

[Note]

Ahhh...I totally missed the response to my post. I guess it doesn't matter, I got hit with the old "I'm not going to back up my statement with any facts, if you want to know the truth, you should go out and try to back up my statement with facts" response.

Little does he know...I actually have played every video game ever.

What about the video games I developed? I also tested and written some video games (some fun Christian and non Christian) that are not mainstream but are still on the market after 10 years.

I hope you are being sarcastic because if you claim to have played every video game, that is currently impossible unless you are given access to "every" video game from the very first game from the 1940s, to every game made, known and unknown, on every type of device from the old oscilloscopes (again, 1950s), desktops, mobile devices, and non-commercial systems. I did my research on all this stuff LONG before the Internet was public.

I am a gamer. I was a semifinalist in the 1990 Nintendo World Championships. I did not play every Nintendo game, or every game, prior to that and definitely not after.

Please choose your words carefully. That is like me saying I am fully human, or I have watched every movie made. Just, not possible.

Maybe you played "every" game you touched. Not "every" game ever, ever made.

 

[Call me Nic]

Alright, name a game where you have to "pledge your sworn allegiance to fake and unreal characters". Don't have to give a list, just name one.

-CryptoLutheran

Fallout 4.

You have to, for the main campaign, swear an allegiance to one of four factions, which causes you to have to utterly wipe out some of the other, if not all, competing factions. One of the ways to destroy one faction is by nuking them (destroying the Institute). Another is by going into their headquarters and murdering all of them ruthlessly (destroying the Railroad). And then destroying the Brotherhood of Steel is by blowing up their zeppelin war machine thing, and then going to war with them.

Either way, you swear your allegiance to them in game, which then proceeds to utter violence against the others you do not ally with.

Which is what my entire argument was about: of why video games like that are not edifying to the Christian seeing as how they imagine wicked thoughts against other simulated creatures as well as produce a form of idolatry. No, you're not really murdering people, no you're not really swearing allegiance to them in real life, but you're doing it in your heart by playing those video games, and that is not what a Christian is supposed to be doing.

There. You have your one.

 

[Call me Nic]

It was you who said "many video games often ask you as the player to pledge your sworn allegiance to fake and unreal characters" so it is perfectly reasonable to ask you which games you had in mind.

And I just provided it.

 

[Note]

I am not sure if you all mean "swearing your allegiance" to a game/faction/character as in that you are going to worship fictional, digital things that go away when you turn it off, or if you mean that, for example, you swear by the code of the Deceptions and you will battle anyone who is an Autobot?
Yea, when I play games I got my favorite classes and such, but I have no idea how anyone can worship a game over God.
Now, I do know of times when people copied what they saw in games (I think I mentioned this before) and acted out those same scenarios, causing fatalities in real life. That is mental help issues right there.

 

[ViaCrucis]

Fallout 4.

You have to, for the main campaign, swear an allegiance to one of four factions, which causes you to have to utterly wipe out some of the other, if not all, competing factions. One of the ways to destroy one faction is by nuking them (destroying the Institute). Another is by going into their headquarters and murdering all of them ruthlessly (destroying the Railroad). And then destroying the Brotherhood of Steel is by blowing up their zeppelin war machine thing, and then going to war with them.

Either way, you swear your allegiance to them in game, which then proceeds to utter violence against the others you do not ally with.

Which is what my entire argument was about: of why video games like that are not edifying to the Christian seeing as how they imagine wicked thoughts against other simulated creatures as well as produce a form of idolatry. No, you're not really murdering people, no you're not really swearing allegiance to them in real life, but you're doing it in your heart by playing those video games, and that is not what a Christian is supposed to be doing.

There. You have your one.

See, when you said you have to swear allegiance to something, it sounded like you were talking about an actual person having to swear allegiance. What you are talking about here isn't that. In Fallout 4 the lone survivor of Vault 111 can align themselves with one (or more) of the several factions; but the lone survivor isn't real.

I guess here's the thing, when I play a video game I don't confuse my personal identity with a fictional character. I am me, and I am not a fictional character.

Is that a problem you personally struggle with? Not being able to make a distinction between reality and fiction?

-CryptoLutheran

 

[Ana the Ist]

What about the video games I developed? I also tested and written some video games (some fun Christian and non Christian) that are not mainstream but are still on the market after 10 years.

I hope you are being sarcastic because if you claim to have played every video game, that is currently impossible unless you are given access to "every" video game from the very first game from the 1940s, to every game made, known and unknown, on every type of device from the old oscilloscopes (again, 1950s), desktops, mobile devices, and non-commercial systems. I did my research on all this stuff LONG before the Internet was public.

I am a gamer. I was a semifinalist in the 1990 Nintendo World Championships. I did not play every Nintendo game, or every game, prior to that and definitely not after.

Please choose your words carefully. That is like me saying I am fully human, or I have watched every movie made. Just, not possible.

Maybe you played "every" game you touched. Not "every" game ever, ever made.

Christian games huh? Did you make The Binding of Isaac 2: Isaac's Revenge?

If so, I'm a fan.

 

[Ana the Ist]

Fallout 4.

You have to, for the main campaign, swear an allegiance to one of four factions, which causes you to have to utterly wipe out some of the other, if not all, competing factions. One of the ways to destroy one faction is by nuking them (destroying the Institute). Another is by going into their headquarters and murdering all of them ruthlessly (destroying the Railroad). And then destroying the Brotherhood of Steel is by blowing up their zeppelin war machine thing, and then going to war with them.

Either way, you swear your allegiance to them in game, which then proceeds to utter violence against the others you do not ally with.

Which is what my entire argument was about: of why video games like that are not edifying to the Christian seeing as how they imagine wicked thoughts against other simulated creatures as well as produce a form of idolatry. No, you're not really murdering people, no you're not really swearing allegiance to them in real life, but you're doing it in your heart by playing those video games, and that is not what a Christian is supposed to be doing.

There. You have your one.

I too thought you meant actually swearing allegiance...this is rather disappointing.

It's not as if when people play Street Fighter V they think they've actually entered a fighting tournament.

 

[Note]

Christian games huh? Did you make The Binding of Isaac 2: Isaac's Revenge?

If so, I'm a fan.

No. Sorry. For Christian games, I helped bug test (the game) and wrote the lessons to several Interactive Parables Bible games from Graceworks Interactive. Been a few years though. I enjoyed them very much. Simple, but fun to jump around the mazes, answering questions, collecting them jewels and crowns.

 

[Note]

I too thought you meant actually swearing allegiance...this is rather disappointing.

It's not as if when people play Street Fighter V they think they've actually entered a fighting tournament.

Not going to lie, but if Sonya Blade was talking to me from the Mortal Kombat game, I would so want to date her!!! If she fits my criteria, that is.
But I will deny it like the dude in "Pixels" if someone caught me talking to her on the screen.

 

[Nithavela]

Hi, I became a Christian early last month and since then I haven't played any videogames. I didn't really miss them in a big way until recently. Recently I have been wanting to play some of the games I own. I've been arguing with myself about whether they're good for a Christian to play...

Then, I searched google for answers and found this post: https://www.jeffwofford.com/?p=1754

I would like to discuss the question and the post here.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+15:11-13&version=NIV

 

[EvangAlived]

Hi, I became a Christian early last month and since then I haven't played any videogames. I didn't really miss them in a big way until recently. Recently I have been wanting to play some of the games I own. I've been arguing with myself about whether they're good for a Christian to play...

Then, I searched google for answers and found this post: https://www.jeffwofford.com/?p=1754

I would like to discuss the question and the post here.

This LINK might be helpful.