Do your religious beliefs effect HOW you play games?

[xSqUiD]

Nope I just play them

 

[MJ Bond]

I'm always the do good guy in video games. Even when I try to take the "evil" side, it just won't hold. I'm always the guy out saving the day, rescuing the hostage, doing whatever, making sure my objectives are complete and everyone around me is happy. Well, you can't always make everyone happy, so sometimes I have to perform the Ryan Gosling finger point on them, but other than that it's cool.

 

[CounselorForChrist]

Thinking about this more, even though I am split down the middle in games. Being only good has an issue. And that is its not realistic. If I was a real life good guy, there would be times where my decisions would not be like in a game. My choices may be forcibly bad either way. Such as in the scenario of hostages, maybe the only solution involves some hostages dying.

Granted games aren't always supposed to be realistic in those terms. Mass Effect is one of those games. Your "good" decisions you made at the time sometimes backfire and have bad consequences later. Just as your evil decisions sometimes end up doing more good instead. Of course the one exception to either path is in real life when you die your dead. No more story of good guy or bad guy. Getting shot in the head doesn't make you lose some health until you find a box with a medical symbol on it lol. SO rushing in like a hero may just get you killed and everyone inside.

 

[MJ Bond]

Well I'll just rephrase it this way, I tried to go the evil way in a game and I just couldn't do it, it's too cruel and I had to switch back to the good side. I have enough faults in real life, I don't need to be going around burning villages or senselessly murdering and causing trouble in games or anything like that. Here's how I feel about it. Your true personality will come out in everything you do, even gaming. And the people that say they like to pretend they are what they aren't secretly have those desires deep down inside and are just denying and hiding them.

 

[CounselorForChrist]

Well we do all have that dark side of us. And for many gamers it is true how they play is how they think in real life. But the only way around that is being able to separate reality from non-reality. Then you can go into a gaming reality and have fun because your not playing based on some evil inside you.

One problem is in some games you can try to be good, but you may only have a choice of bad or bad. So its hard to say we can always be good when it forces us to choose bad or bad. One example I have use before is DLC for Mass Effect where you are working with a bounty hunter chasing down a intergalactic terrorist.

He runs through a factory of workers. After you get through the factory you run outside and see him just ahead of you running away. The bounty hunter your with lets you know he set off a bomb inside the factory and its burning down. The resulting decision is:
A. Go in and save as many as you can but let the terrorist get away.
B. Chase him and stop him, but it means letting the people inside die.

As a christian I paused my game and really had to think about it because logically both decisions would result in a bad decision. If he ran away he would kill thousands and thousands more until he ever got caught. But if I got him then I could stop thousands and thousands of future deaths even though it meant sacrificing the people in the building.

My friend was with me at the time and watched as I chose to go after the terrorist instead. The game pans away from the door as you hear people screaming. My friend crossed his arms and said I was a sick (insert swear word). He got so mad he went upstairs to cool off. He almost stopped talking to me over a decision in a video game. Looking back I'd make the same decision again. I real life? I have no idea what I would do. I want to save lives, but I don't want future lives to be taken.

 

[MJ Bond]

Yeah that is a real tough one. Too bad your friend didn't give you the chance to explain your reasoning.

I think after all the boots in my butt from Call of Duty, I had enough of shooting games for awhile... except N64 Goldeneye, which I continue to be good at.

 

[Mankin]

One reason I liked games like Dragon Age Origins and KOTOR 2 is that the decisions felt nuanced. There wasn't necessarily one bad or good choice. You had to think carefully about your actions and how they would affect others. The original KOTOR decisions were hilarious by comparison. "Should I help the old man or kill him and steal his money?"

 

[CounselorForChrist]

(BIOSHOCK 1& 2 spoilers)

Bioshock had a wonderful tearful ending if you were good. The bad ending... well was bad and made you depressed. I did harvest one "little sister" though in my good run. I regret it knowing they were normal kids (well as normal as one can get in rapture) before what happened to them. I felt for the big daddies too. And in the later games I enjoyed being one and protect the innocent.

 

[GenetoJean]

I dont enjoy playing evil and I do think my religion has a lot to do with it.

 

[Thunder Peel]

I'm always the do good guy in video games. Even when I try to take the "evil" side, it just won't hold. I'm always the guy out saving the day, rescuing the hostage, doing whatever, making sure my objectives are complete and everyone around me is happy. Well, you can't always make everyone happy, so sometimes I have to perform the Ryan Gosling finger point on them, but other than that it's cool.

This is me as well. There's just something about playing as the hero and overcoming the odds that appeals to me. I guess that's why I never really got into games like GTA; just running around and causing mayhem to innocent civilians isn't my idea of a good time. Everybody has their niche, I suppose!

 

[MJ Bond]

Yeah, I like being the good guy. Everyone should like being the good guy. Even in games like Mortal Kombat, I still like being the good guys trying to save the world.

 

[moerunamida]

In a game series I play, you can choose between siding with light and dark. I always choose dark. Im a baddie in RPGs lol

 

[JoshIcedogs]

Sometimes it does, mostly it does not.

 

[CounselorForChrist]

Lets face it, while we are not evil people in real life, games make the bad guys way more fun. Whether its their weapons, powers or even what they wear. Example star wars games. Being able to use the force to heal or jump as a jedi is BORING compared to using the force to shoot lightning, throw people..etc. And you get way cooler clothing and sabers.

In real life I would be a jedi, in the games I would be a sith.

 

[Spinnaker]

This is something Im curious enough to want to know but I dont want to de-rail the other thread.

Do your religious beliefs influence HOW you play certain games?

Like do you favor certain weapons or actions because of your religious beliefs?

Why or why not and most importantly how?

Not for me. I favor FPS games, with the occasional RPG/MMORPG now and then. I've known Christians who take issue with shooter games or games like World of Warcraft, but frankly none of that presents a problem for me.

 

[l1cocbdd]

I took this thread to mean how i relate to others and how i believe other people should treat one another. For the past several years i have been playing online games... MMOs like World of Warcraft, Call of Duty series, Battlefield and fighting games like Soul Calibur 5 etc. I noticed that it seems as though "Trolls" are becoming more prominent. I got cussed out the other day in a room i was playing with a pug on Soul Calibur by some stranger just because i beat him 3 times... he called me a cheater then kicked me from the room. I also notice a lot of people in Battlefield 3 and 4 doing a lot of intentionally annoying and rude in-game acts like team killing for entering a vehicle they wanted to use, or for camping where they wanted to camp as a sniper... and if you are a noob at a game, they play pranks and make a joke out of you... A lot of players have told me to just ignore stuff like that, they are just immature, but i think that if you are looking to unwind from a hard days work and entertain yourself with a game you shouldn't have to deal with that crap. Game servers need to be monitored for users like that more closely i think. Their policies are just too loose on that in my opinion. I believe as christians we should somehow set an example and not behave that way. so i'm a yes.

 

[MehGuy]

I like the play the role of the insane sadist when I play video games.

I've had good memories chasing the homeless with a pipe wrench on Deus Ex.

I've also have good memories of lighting people on fire in the Sims game, then forcing their children to watch. (I really can't believe some of the things that were programmed into that game, lol..)

 

[Savior2006]

Lets face it, while we are not evil people in real life, games make the bad guys way more fun. Whether its their weapons, powers or even what they wear. Example star wars games. Being able to use the force to heal or jump as a jedi is BORING compared to using the force to shoot lightning, throw people..etc. And you get way cooler clothing and sabers.

In real life I would be a jedi, in the games I would be a sith.

Honestly, I love the defensive powers that Jedi get. In Jedi Academy, Heal is one of the best powers you can have. In Knights of the Old Republic II, Stasis Field is again one of the best powers.

 

[gerbilwoman]

No, I feel God doesn't care unless the games causes you to commit real life sins. However, if you play with other players I do feel God would want you to treat them with respect.

 

[mcpon14]

Yes. In Max Payne, for example, I wouldn't shoot the rats because I believe in the sanctity of life in all animals.