I am starting a new series to be part of my blogging portfolio which will include a fulsome survey of gaming ethics, spiritual growth, and metaphysics. I think the whole concept of an ethical gamer is somewhat contradictory to the point of being oxymoronic which is why this is important. It's controversial, but I am probing for interest, and I need your "sincere" input. I understand we are on less than amicable terms, but I hope to get some good faith out of this experience.
First, I am interested in the religious/spiritual background of the community. I was born Lutheran, but I am becoming more detached from Christianity every day. I am finding myself more inclined to share views with the Gnostic-Pantheistic worldview. Are you religious by heart or are most of you atheist? All metaphysical belief systems are encouraged which is why I decided to abandon the title "Christian gamer." Christianity is a narrow doctrine whereas "ethical" is less intrusive which also invites agnostics and atheists.
The purpose of the series is to introduce and explain tough subjects which usually escape the radar of the jejune gamer. For example, I will explain why I decided to boycott GTA4 purely out of ethical reasons, why 2012 is the last year of gaming, and other challenging topics. This isn't flamebaiting, I am as honest as I can be.
I hope you will follow my series despite the lack of ornateness in terms of pictures and such. If there already is such a series by another blogger please let me know. I don't wish to compete if the content proposed is essentially the same.
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To answer your question, I wasn't raised religious, but I quickly became that way for about 3 years after attending a Baptist school in Tennessee. Not sure if this is really what you're asking for or not, but I didn't see it change my opinions or stances on games at all. I still played a lot of them, and I didn't find myself becoming offended or put off by any game content. It's probably worth mentioning that I didn't play a whole lot in that period because, well, it was college.
Anyway, I've since lost all of those religious leanings and consider myself to be agnostic. It's been that way for a good few years now, and I feel like that's sort of where I've settled.
I have to say that I like this idea. Perhaps it's beating a dead horse at this point, but I'd be more likely to read it and enjoy if it were similar to tone to this post: slightly more conversational. I don't mean to direct your style; just stating personal preference, I suppose. Like they say, eschew obfuscation.
Like Kauza I consider myself Agnostic, though my family was Catholic. Oddly enough I don't think of myself as an Atheist because I'm open to the idea of there being some sort of afterlife, we'd all like there to be something more to it then an eternity as worm food, but I'm not sold enough on the idea that I want to devote my life towards worshiping a potentially fictitious deity in the hopes of gaining afterlife achievement awards.
I'm all in favor of you having dropped the term "Christian Gamer" since I don't think you have to be religious to be an ethical person. In a way I consider it more noble to be ethical without the promise of a reward for it. Being a good person, just for the sake of being a good person, how novel.
Like I said, I'm willing to give you a chance here with this because the idea is interesting, but I don't intend to hang around if you start back up with the pretentious thesaurus talk.
I majored in Philosophy/Religious Studies in college, and found the most interesting faiths to be Judaism and Islam, although I studied everything from Mormons to Sikhs. Religion in general is fascinating to me.
Also, why didn't you just blog like this in the first place?
But, I'm willing to read the resulting articles and jump in later, if we're on reasonable ground here. Its nice to see you're writing more true-to-self here.
... like Magnalon I too am quite accepting of varied religions and find many to be very interesting.
Gaming ethics can't help but relate to religious/political beliefs - so it should provide interesting discussions!
I wasn't raised religiously or anything. Probably helps fuel my lack of care towards these issues, but yeah. Anyway, have you checked out the Shin Megami Tensei series? It deals quite a bit with religious issues (moreso in the non-Persona titles), and from what I know of the first games, the views of Heaven and Hell are presented in the Law and Chaos alignments. The ultimate goal of the Law side is a perfect utopia for a chosen few (and eradication of everyone else unworthy), whereas the goal for the Chaos side is pure unadulterated freedom (but also anarchy).
I've read a number of people who claim to be fairly religious actually be fine with SMT because, as we all know, it's a fictional work. There is questionable stuff, as you ally with and make use of demons, and more than a few times, you're going against God himself, and one game takes that to the literal level. The most recent one, Devil Survivor, not only has you allying with demons in order to overcome God's ordeal, but you're able to walk the path of righteousness or evil if you so wish. I wish I've had more actual exposure to the series as a whole, but I'm sure someone else can chime in for me.
I dunno. I like the stories because they give me a different view on things. You always hear that God is great and that Satan and the forces of Hell are the exact opposite of God and therefore you should hate them. Not to say that I believe otherwise--remember, I don't care--but it's something different and different's nice.
Also, about the end of the world thing. Look, don't make reference to my name, I know that already. =P I don't think the world's gonna end in a few years. The closest we got to that was 1999->2000, and only because so much of our world operates on computers and such. And even then, I don't think it would've ended civilization or anything like that. It's a bit jerkish for me to say, but if the Mayans were so great at predicting the course of history (or at least when it ends), why couldn't they do anything about their own downfall? I know the circumstances are different, but...
I'll see you all New Year's Eve 2012, okay? <3
I respect them all, and I've learned from them all, but like most of the others who have posted so far, I've settled into being comfortably agnostic.
As for an ethical gamer being oxymoronic, you'd have a pretty hard time convincing me of that. I know many gamers who are charitable and mostly altruistic in their own right.
Also, the scope of your lexicon is admirable, but even more so is your push to temper its use to better reach your intended audience. More of this approach, please!
I hope there's something after you die, but I think it's very unlikely. I don't think there's man/woman/thing in the sky though :]
And I believe there's life other than us in the universe. If there isn't, that's incredible, and rubbish too :)
End of Survey.
I'm sorr, but I can't help but feel this is going to be more pretentious twaddle by a poster who has shown nothing but arrogance in both his blog content and comments to date.
As with Tubatic, I'd like to be proven wrong and, if I am, will jump in wholeheartedly. I guess we'll see.
I've never been morally objected to most video games but I find some of the "rape games" to be a little too much. And although I would never ban the sale or presence of them I wouldn't recommend them to anyone.
Anyways, I'm currently not religious at all. In fact I'm not even secular, hedonistic, atheist, humanistic, or anything for that matter. I was raised Protestant, but realized I couldn't go that route. I guess going to a 99% asian church shows you all the loopholes in Christianity much quicker. When I was Christian I never let my religious views interfere with my gaming habits though.
Anyway, I was raised Christian since I was 4, I stopped following it around the time I was 12 and recently I've gone back again and found my faith, I'm a big believer in god.
I have no issues with any games, games are a medium like any other and hell, the bible has way more fucked up stuff than any game that's ever existed.
I believe there is a god, but the bible was written by humans so I find it...untrustworthy if anything.
1-It isn't a flamebait like your other ones
2-It was actually readable
3-You added me as a friend (WTF , are you into BDSM?)
So .. I was raised as a Lutheran , while I still have some connection to Lutherans , now I kinda of made my own religion (yeah , I know , RAD !).
I'm 100% sure that there is a God or some sort of stronger power , I'm not sure if this superior thing is controlling us or not (really , if you have the whole whole to take care for , why the hell would you care for simple human wishes? People ask things to God too often ...) I'm pretty sure that Jesus existed , even if he didn't ,the power that his figure had in those 2009 years is more than enough to make him exist ; I'm sure that there is an afterlife of some sort and well , that's about it ; feel free to make questions if I forgot somenthing ...
@chronos
Oh , c'mon dude , that one isn't THAT bad , at least not like the others , store your words to the eventual awfull flamebait post ...
"You should forum post about your PS3 hate,"
Not a good idea. First and foremost because the people there don't want to read it either. The forums aren't some sort of cesspool where everything not suited for the C-blogs can be dumped. And secondly I think you should show respect for people that love a PS3. You don't need to love it but Hate is ridiculous.
On this blog:
I think Darwin was a pretty cool dude.
Where I said "You" I should've written "People". Now it looks like I'm telling you to show some respect!
Well, games are just another medium of entertainment for the most part. Like movies, TV shows, books, and whatever else, some things can be thought-provoking. But yeah, there are some games that are up there with your run-of-the-mill comedy movies. You won't think much afterwards, but you're going to enjoy it, so there's little thinking involved. And then there are some games (which I'm unable to point out, my apologies) where you do think. Much like..gripping dramas or other such films.
I don't really like comparing games to the film industry but it's the best comparison I can make. And I'm going off topic, so again, sorry. XD
Actually, hang on. What about Pokemon? I heard there were some people that really blew things out of proportion because of the whole evolution issue. Can't remember if whatever group turned out to be a hoax or not, but you never know anymore.
I never said the blog was bad, I just said I don't think religious discussion has any place on a gaming website, especially one where a good portion of it's users and staff are Atheist/non-believers/heathens, It's just a waste of blog space when we could be reading Hoborg's view on games, yet he wastes his time on controversial topics that have nothing to do with them.
me and my God don't need a middleman. do you?
Haha I realized my mistake of dumping him on the forums quickly after. I should have said the GameFAQs forums: literally, he would LOVE it there.
Also, the PS3 is my favorite console of this generation: I'm just saying that he hates it.