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Essay: Video Games: a form of Media or a Liberal Tool? (view source)
Revision as of 05:12, June 17, 2011
, 05:12, June 17, 2011I hope I did this Essay right...
Video Games: A form of Media, or a Liberal Tool?
An Essay by Mark Andrew Harris [[User:MHarris|MHarris]]
:::From it's invention, Video Games have been a means in which to entertain people like the Radio and Television before it. From the moment when the first 'beep' and 'boop' came from the televisions of homes everywhere, people have challenged themselves and others in matches of skill and wit. As time passed and the computers powering the games grew more powerful, stories started to get woven into the entertainment as players took up the roles of soldiers, knights, merchants, bards, other people, animals and even gods to fill their time and find entertainment. Though the longer people have played video games (gamed) the more questions raised about the effect on the Gamers in question. Specifically, if the games aren't trying to infuse Liberal ideas into the players. I will be addressing and with any luck, putting those doubts in their place.
::: What I want to do before I began is lay out two facts so I won't have to repeat them for each issue.
*They are just games.
*They are works of Fiction.
==Anti-God?==
::: The first thing I want to address the attacks that because God (specifically the Christian/Jewish God) Is not included in the games, the games are trying to promote Atheism or at least demote Christianity or more so attempting to promote paganism. A lot of games don't include God as a major figure, only have God as a minor figure, or have different gods. This is mainly because God is ether hard to include effectively in the games or because the inclusion of God is not such a need as to warrant it. Looking at the Call of Duty games for one, to have a Chaplin fighting along soldiers is not going to help the player, nor is it true in history that they would be everywhere a soldier is.
::: In the case of supposedly promoting paganism, the critics point to fantasy games such as Pokemon which have beings that are classified as 'gods'. (There is the evolution issue, but that shall be handled later on) What should be noted is that these 'gods' are capture-able like other Pokemon and also are defeat-able, their godlike status is just because of how powerful they are. Several other games use multilevel gods because of how they can be used to grant different abilities. It is a function of the game, not an attempt to promote paganism.
::: Another game that raised a lot of questions about Gaming's ideas for or against Christianity and monotheism in general is the game Black & White and others like it were you play as a god. This writer wonders how such a game can do so. The player is a new born god brought to life by a prayer. From then on, they can choose to do good acts or evil ones as guided by their advisers, an old man on a cloud representative of Good, and a nude devil representing Evil. From an outsiders perspective, this might seem like a very anti-God game. A man putting themselves on the same level as God? Preposterous! But players instead find little of putting themselves on the same line as God. They haven't made the people they are guiding, they aren't able to do things just by thinking it, they have to rely on the beings they are guiding to give them power to do anything worthwhile.
::: I conclude by pointing to many other works of fiction outside of Video Games that don't include God in anyway and a lack of any solid proof that they games directly made people turn away from their beliefs. Video Games are a form of media like computers, television or radio that is used to entertain people and if the developers and producers can see a profit or a good reason to promote Christianity, then they will.
(This is a work in progress as I attempt to do research into these issues. It is proving difficult as no one of major influence has touched or thought of this as an issue. The next thing I will address is that Video Games are promoting Liberal ideas.)
An Essay by Mark Andrew Harris [[User:MHarris|MHarris]]
:::From it's invention, Video Games have been a means in which to entertain people like the Radio and Television before it. From the moment when the first 'beep' and 'boop' came from the televisions of homes everywhere, people have challenged themselves and others in matches of skill and wit. As time passed and the computers powering the games grew more powerful, stories started to get woven into the entertainment as players took up the roles of soldiers, knights, merchants, bards, other people, animals and even gods to fill their time and find entertainment. Though the longer people have played video games (gamed) the more questions raised about the effect on the Gamers in question. Specifically, if the games aren't trying to infuse Liberal ideas into the players. I will be addressing and with any luck, putting those doubts in their place.
::: What I want to do before I began is lay out two facts so I won't have to repeat them for each issue.
*They are just games.
*They are works of Fiction.
==Anti-God?==
::: The first thing I want to address the attacks that because God (specifically the Christian/Jewish God) Is not included in the games, the games are trying to promote Atheism or at least demote Christianity or more so attempting to promote paganism. A lot of games don't include God as a major figure, only have God as a minor figure, or have different gods. This is mainly because God is ether hard to include effectively in the games or because the inclusion of God is not such a need as to warrant it. Looking at the Call of Duty games for one, to have a Chaplin fighting along soldiers is not going to help the player, nor is it true in history that they would be everywhere a soldier is.
::: In the case of supposedly promoting paganism, the critics point to fantasy games such as Pokemon which have beings that are classified as 'gods'. (There is the evolution issue, but that shall be handled later on) What should be noted is that these 'gods' are capture-able like other Pokemon and also are defeat-able, their godlike status is just because of how powerful they are. Several other games use multilevel gods because of how they can be used to grant different abilities. It is a function of the game, not an attempt to promote paganism.
::: Another game that raised a lot of questions about Gaming's ideas for or against Christianity and monotheism in general is the game Black & White and others like it were you play as a god. This writer wonders how such a game can do so. The player is a new born god brought to life by a prayer. From then on, they can choose to do good acts or evil ones as guided by their advisers, an old man on a cloud representative of Good, and a nude devil representing Evil. From an outsiders perspective, this might seem like a very anti-God game. A man putting themselves on the same level as God? Preposterous! But players instead find little of putting themselves on the same line as God. They haven't made the people they are guiding, they aren't able to do things just by thinking it, they have to rely on the beings they are guiding to give them power to do anything worthwhile.
::: I conclude by pointing to many other works of fiction outside of Video Games that don't include God in anyway and a lack of any solid proof that they games directly made people turn away from their beliefs. Video Games are a form of media like computers, television or radio that is used to entertain people and if the developers and producers can see a profit or a good reason to promote Christianity, then they will.
(This is a work in progress as I attempt to do research into these issues. It is proving difficult as no one of major influence has touched or thought of this as an issue. The next thing I will address is that Video Games are promoting Liberal ideas.)