Reality is Broken An Examination of How Video Games Have Reshaped Our World

How Video Games Have Reshaped Our World1

Reality is Broken

An Examination of How Video Games Have Reshaped Our World

Jared M. Arthur

Bryan College

PSY 490: Senior Seminar

PhD Steve Bradshaw

November 13, 2012


As Christians there are certain responsibilities that we are

entrusted with throughout the Bible. We are mandated to love and

spread the gospel. We are mandated to take care of those in need.

We are mandated to exemplify Jesus Christ through our thoughts

and actions. We are called to interact with our culture, more

specifically our community. One part of our culture that has been

growing steadily over the past fifty or so years is video games.

How can Christians interact with this medium, and how does it

interact with them? In order to answer those questions first you

must understand what video games and gamers are.

There are an estimated 667 million gamers worldwide with

over one third of them being in the United States (McGonigal, pg.

3). That is around ten percent of the world’s population. Video

games are one of the largest growing industries in the world with

expected revenue of around $68 billion this year. Yet, despite

all of these things many people have this idea that video games

are just a child’s toy, a waste of time, and even an escape from

reality. It is true that some games are designed to be played by


children, it is true that a some people can waste insane amounts

of time when playing games interferes with other things in their

life, and yes it is true that some people will escape reality by

playing video games. One thing you cannot say, however, is that

video games do not impact us and our world every day.

The past couple of decades have seen news headlines that

brand video games as causing violence in both children and

adults. Churches and family organizations have called them out as

destroyers of the family. Governments and companies have tried to

ban, tax, censor, and sometimes even outright remove games and

specific aspects of games. However, on the flip side of the issue

there are supporters of games that believe just the opposite of

what governments and companies may say and do. These supporters

believe that games may be able to cure diseases, bring the family

together, build a stronger economy, and even maybe bring about

world peace.

While I suspect that both sides have some truth to them,

there is no denying that video games have changed the face of

humanity. They have changed the way we think, interact with one

another, and behave. Over the next several pages I will explore


the ways video games have caused a shift in the psychology of

humanity. Hopefully with over a decade of experience as a gamer I

can shed some light on some confusing or controversial topics. At

the very least you will be more informed in the end.

The Definition of Gaming

In order to understand how video games affect us, we must

first understand what a video game truly is. Many say that a

video game is defined by how new and inventive it is, the type of

gameplay that it exemplifies, the quality of its graphics, or the

originality of its story. While it is true that these things are

all elements of video games, they do not define what a video game

is. When you strip away all of the different technical

complexities, buzzwords, and genre differences you are left with

four defining characteristics that make up a video game: a goal,

rules, a working feedback system, and voluntary participation

(McGonigal, pg, 20).

The goal is a specific outcome that a player will work to

achieve. It focuses the player’s attention and continuously

orients the player’s participation throughout the entire game. It


is what will provide the player with a sense of purpose, and thus

fuel the desire to continue playing (McGonigal, pg, 21).

The rules place limitations on a player, therefore limiting

how they can reach their goal. By limiting, or even altogether

removing, the most obvious or efficient ways to accomplish a

task, the rules push players to explore previously uncharted

realms of possibility. Depending on the type of game they are

playing the rules will foster creativity, ingenuity, and/or

strategic thinking (McGonigal, pg, 21).

A working feedback system will tell the player how close he

or she is to achieving their goal. This most often take the form

of points, levels, or experience; however, the feedback types are

not limited to such finite constructs. Feedback can be delivered

in an almost infinite number of ways to a player, and when

working properly it serves to motivate a player to continue

playing (McGonigal, pg, 21).

Voluntary participation requires that everyone who is

playing the game knowingly and willingly accepts the goal, rules,

and the feedback system. Knowledge of all of these both

establishes a common ground for multiple players to work


together, and provides a safe and fun environment for these

players. This will help ensure that they will continue to play.

This applies to the single player game and experience as well. It

is not as pertinent however, as the single player typically is

not put into the type of situations that require voluntary

participation. Simply playing the single player game means that a

player is voluntarily participating (McGonigal, pg, 22).

This definition may surprise you for what it lacks. As

before, all of the things that you think of defining a video game

are merely there to enhance or reinforce the four key aspects of

a game. Even winning (something that many Americans are obsessed

with) is in the game simply to reinforce the four key aspects of

gaming. “Winning” is often times the goal of a game, which you

achieve by progressing through the story (the feedback portion),

and the way in which you must overcome all challenges are

governed by the rules of the game. Finally your understanding of

the rules is your voluntary participation because you abide by

them to reach the end goal of winning.

Already some basic behavioral psychology can be observed

just by peeling away the external layers to get to gaming’s core.


Here a game appears to be simply a system of reinforcement to

teach a desired behavior. While this is often true of games,

there is much more yet to come.

Gaming For Fun

Personally, playing video games is one of the most fun

things I can do. Sitting down to relax for an hour or two of

blasting away alien invaders in Mass Effect, exploring the realms

of Azeroth in World of Warcraft, or quietly building a castle in the

sandbox world of Minecraft sounds like the most fun way to spend a

Saturday to me. Are games really just simple tools used to relax

the mind and create a fun environment? What really makes a video

game (or any activity for that matter) fun? The answer might

surprise you. The answer is twofold: work and stress (McGonigal,

pg, 28).

Working is something that we must all do every day. We have

chores to do around our homes, we have actual jobs to go to, we

may have school to attend, and countless other responsibilities

depending on what stage of life we are in. Usually, these things

do not bring us happiness because often times we do not choose

them. Take your job for example. In your career you must often


start at the bottom (a position you do not want) to get to the

top (a position you do). Even then though, when we get that job

we always wanted we often times then want something more. Even if

you truly enjoy your job, you must still often do things you do

not want simply because you were arbitrarily told to do so. Also,

in any endeavor in the real world we always face the fear of

failure. The “what ifs” in life can sometimes cause more stress

than really living through some stressful events. All of these

things cause us stress, which in turn makes us unhappy. That then

leads to more stress, and a vicious cycle has the potential to

start.

Now contrast that to a video game. Video games will make you

work to reach your end goal. You may be forced to spend some time

thinking outside of the box to solve a particularly tough puzzle

in an adventure game. You may be forced to do seemingly tedious

busy work in order to level up your character in Skyrim, or you

may be made to march for hours across a deserted wasteland in

order discover a tiny shack to advance your quest. All of those

things may sound dreary, but you enjoy them. The reason you enjoy

them is freedom of choice(McGonigal, pg, 33).


Whenever you pick up a game and dive into it, you have done

so because you have chosen to play it. That choice is what makes

all the difference in the world. In choosing to do the work the

game asks you to do, you no longer are being forced to overcome

an obstacle. You are challenging yourself to become better at

what you are doing. There is nothing more engaging than working

at or with something you enjoy. Game designers call this the

“flow” and it is the sweet spot they are all trying to hit

(McGonigal, pg, 40). Designers more broadly define it as a point

at which beating a game or quitting become unacceptable outcomes.

When experiencing “flow” the player’s only desire is to become

better at what they are doing.

Many psychological studies have proven this concept through

the use of ESM (experiencing sampling method). Essentially

researchers will interrupt participants in the study with a text,

phone call, or email, and will ask them what they are doing. The

participants must then reply with a brief description of their

activity and how they are feeling. Typical activities that you

would assume to be the most fun are often the most depressing.

People who are watching TV, having a lazy day, or resting often


describe feelings of minor depression or very low motivation. On

the other hand people who are performing activities such as

gaming, or other hobbies, will report some stress, but

accompanied feelings of excitement, exhilaration, and happiness.

This stress is known as eustress in the psychological world, and

is defined as positive stress. This type of stress essentially

gives a person a positive stressful feeling that comes along with

achieving something (McGonigal, pg, 45).

Social Facilitation

Many a non gamer throughout the years has said that video

games isolate and destroy people’s social lives. In a traditional

sense of what social friendship is that may be true. The days

where all of the neighborhood kids play together are starting to

become a thing of the past. The more true statement is that

gaming has shifted what the traditional social paradigm is to

something new and not constrained by physical location.

The internet in general has rewritten the social rulebook.

Social media, video chat, and discussion forums have opened the

floodgates on a new form of mass communication never before seen

in the world. Video games provided a new type of social


interaction before the internet by creating a new social niche

for the traditional nerdy kid to express him/her self. When

gaming was paired with the internet though, quite literally a

whole new way of communicating was introduced to the world.

People had the ability to both talk to and work with other

individuals from around the globe who shared common personality

traits, interests, and goals. Let’s take a look at a World of

Warcraft, a very popular online game, to get an idea of what the

online social world looks like.

World of Warcraft (WoW) was launched in 2004 with a reported

starting member base of 250,000 players. By the beginning of 2012

the number of active players was reported at just over 12

million. Let me clarify that number just a bit. There are 12

million people every single day that log into WoW to play for an

average of 2 hours per day. That number does not include trial

accounts, users who do not play at least 5 days a week, and it

does not count users who control multiple accounts under the same

email address. These players have collectively played for just

over 50 billion hours of game time. That translates to almost 6

million years worth of time (McGonigal, pg, 52).


Take just a moment to process that information. The knee

jerk reaction to that from many non gamers is most often

something along the lines of angry contempt. Questions they most

often ask are: why aren’t these people doing something more

productive with their lives, why will they not just go make

friends, or why can they not take all of that time and invest it

in something that matters? The reaction to those questions;

however, reveals the truth of this new social forum.

Why aren’t these people being more productive? Actually they

are being productive. WoW is game driven by productivity. It is a

game where you are constantly given tasks to do and told to

complete them. This productivity is rewarded with experience,

items, money, and the opportunity to further yourself in the

game. While a non gamer may see this as wasteful, to the gamer

this is when they are most productive. A comparative example to a

non gamer would be reading a fiction book. The story of the book

does not reflect any sort of productivity on its own. You do not

“work” when you are reading it, nor are you doing anything else

except reading. Yet, reading a good fiction book can stimulate

the mind, increase your vocabulary, and make a reader feel happy.


The reader is being productive simply by reading the book, much

like the gamer being productive simply by playing the game.

Why will they not just go make friends? Social psychology

presents the theory that proximity is what breeds liking, which

in turn is what leads to friendship (Meyers, pg 397). We are

often closer friends with people we work with, attend school

with, or live next door to, than those who we do not. In the

gaming world our physical bodies no longer matter in relation to

our proximity to one another. For example, someone physically

living in New York can walk up to someone physically living in

London and virtually offer to complete a quest with them. In the

game world you are in the same virtual place with people who

share similar interests with you, which is as effective as living

in the same physical place as those people. Therefore making

friends is just as easy as if you were sitting across the table

from one another. In fact it is actually often much easier. Video

games, particularly online game like WoW, help to remove social

awkwardness that comes from our differences and perceived

weaknesses. If I cannot see you, then I cannot judge you based on

anything that you aren’t willing to present to me. The same works


in reverse. Things like weight, style, age, gender, and many

other perceived failings that limit our interaction with people

mostly to completely go away (McGonigal, pg, 89).

Why can they not take all of that time and invest it in

something that matters? The fact is that the people who invest

time in a game are doing so because it matters to them. All

people have hobbies, jobs, or habits that they really care about.

Yet, to another person these same things may appear to be

wasteful or not matter. Being a gamer is an identity to a lot of

people, and the things they do in the game world matter to them.

The goals these people reach and what they accomplish are a

source of great pride and joy to them. (McGonigal, pg, 91)

WoW is not the only game that functions like this, and there

are a plethora of other games that allow players to interact with

each other in ways that are different from WoW. The truth is that

there are millions of relationships being made every day in

cyberspace, and they are just as strong as those that are made in

the “real world”.

Emotional Activation


When we have any kind of emotion for something we form a

stronger connection with it in our minds. Even anger or hatred of

something will build a stronger connection to whatever that thing

is in our lives. Feeling emotions toward something means we can

have emotional responses to it. When someone we love betrays us

we feel hurt. When someone we have our eye on accepts our

invitation to dinner we feel joy. When something we have created

gets broken we feel pain. When something we enjoy using gets lost

we may feel despair. Can games make us feel emotional responses

using these real world principles? Can humans really build

emotional connections to a software and graphics?

Game designers spend millions and millions of dollars every

year trying to build what they call “an immersive experience”

(McGonigal, pg, 95). The immersive experience is an ideal player

experience where that the player feels like they are a part of

the game. The storyline, characters, graphics, rules, feedback

system, and goals are used to immerse a player in the inner

workings of the game. The designers want the player to feel

connected to the characters and what the characters feel. Games

go about this in several ways with the three most common of them


being personal character creation, real world similarity, and an

intricate storyline. Often times the three work in tandem to

attempt to create the most engaging experience possible for the

player.

Personal character creation is the most common and easiest

to accomplish method of immersing a character in the gaming

experience. Many games allow the player to create their own

character in the game. Players can change their race (depending

on the game this can be as simple as black or white, or as

complex as human race verses alien race), sex, age, body

features, and back story. Not all games allow players to do all

of these things, but game designers hope that by allowing the

player to have a hand in deciding at least some of their

character’s traits then the player will automatically be more

invested in the gaming experience because the player will feel

like a part of his/her self is in the game world (McGonigal, pg,

104).

Real world similarity is the concept of using plausible

events that can compare to a players real life to extract an

emotional response from them. It can be something simple such as


a love interest, something harsh like a loved one’s death, or

intricate like a betrayal or a cataclysmic event. No matter what

the case though, the designer is attempting to connect the player

to the game in a deep emotional way. A good example of this is in

from a popular title, Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2. In this game one

of the first levels involves a terrorist attack on a crowded

airport. This game came out during a time when the fear and

paranoia of terrorists was at its height after September 11. By

including this level the designers were hoping to use the state

of the culture to fuel player’s emotional connection with the

game, characters, and situation presented by the story


Finally, intricate storylines in games work the same way

they do in books or movies. The player is immersed as a character

in the story (typically the main character). This character has a

back story, a personality, and people around him or her that all

work together to create the atmosphere of the game. When created

well the game world will become as real to the players as their

own world. Players can see and feel what the character sees and

feels, in much the same way that readers feel what the characters


in a book can feel. Typically this is done best by large games

with huge stories. Games like Skyrim, Mass Effect, or Fallout all are

large enough games that the stories in them can be quite complex.

This complexity allows for all of the aspects of real life to

become jumbled together, like they are in the real world, for the

player, and make it more similar to real life for them


Connection through Creation

When a person build something with their own hands a part of

their self goes into whatever they have built. The same goes for

when a person writes something, draws something, or even just

imagines something. A person becomes connected to that thing they

have created because it represents a part of who they are. It

becomes sentimental. Can games give you this same kind of

connection?

For some time now there have been a few games out there that

allow players to truly create something. The Sims and Sim City are

the most notable of the 90’s and early 2000’s, but they were not

quite what players were looking for. While these games allowed

you to design, create, and build something (a city and person


respectively), they were missing that particular connection that

comes from true creation because much of what players created in

these games was predesigned for you. That’s where Minecraft comes

in.

In Minecraft the player starts with nothing but the clothes

on their back. Players must gather all of their resources in

order to do anything in the game. First players gather wood to

make some basic tools and a basic shelter. Then players mine some

stronger materials in order to make better tools, which allow the

players to mine stronger materials which let players make better

tools. The cycle caps off after a few levels, and then leaves the

player with the strongest tools in the game.

As mentioned earlier the first of the four things that make

up video games was a goal. In Minecraft the only goal the player

ha is to be creative. Once players have some good tools and a

basic understanding of how the game is played then they can

literally build anything they want. There are thousands of photo

albums online dedicated to the amazing things created in

Minecraft. People have created everything from famous buildings

like the Taj Majal, Statue of Liberty, and Big Ben to giant


sprawling castles, mansions, and even working theme parks. In

Minecraft players literally can create anything that they set

their mind to (McGonigal, pg, 124).

When you ask any of these people about their work they are

always proud of what they have done. The sense of achievement

they feel is enormous, and rightly so. While the actual time of

completion can vary by hundreds of hours depending on the

project, the most reported number is 200 hours. Just stop for a

moment and think about that. If you spent 200 hours completing a

project or working on your favorite hobby what emotions would you

feel? What would you think about afterwards? Once you have done

that you will understand how games really can inspire happiness

and emotional connection to a machine.

Challenging Our Humanity

Happiness, contentment, pride, and emotional healthiness are

good qualities to have in life. They are good things to strive

for, and work towards, but can games reach us on an even deeper

level? Can a game really strike a chord deep down in our being

somewhere? A chord that makes us consider who we are, what our


purpose in life is, and/or what can we do to change the world? In

short, yes.

When video games were relatively new, they weren’t trying to

touch your core. They were simply trying to entertain you, and

survive as a new medium. However; over time as the gaming

industry grew, brave developers tried to reach out to individuals

in a deeper way. Sadly most classic games were poor at this. Many

were misunderstood, or their questions ignored altogether. Some

got it right though. Take the classic game of Missile Command.

This 1980’s release came out during the closing years of the cold

war. A time in our history that is marked by a clear fear of the

Soviets invading and reigning down nuclear fire all over the

world. You as the player are in control of several missile silos

and are charged with defending several military bases, and

several cities from Russian invasion (McGonigal, pg, 149). When

you start, the game is easy. Enemy bombers and missiles are few

in number and travel slowly, but as you progress they both become

more frequent and faster in speed. No matter how good you are,

you will eventually be faced with a choice. With your dwindling

supply of missiles do you continue attempting to defend all of


your cities, or do you let some of them die in order to preserve

your military strength? Right there a true issue about humanity

is being asked. What to you is most important? Are winning,

surviving, and strength most important, or are people and the

lives they lead what is most important?

Through the natural development of better stories and higher

technological capacities games have gotten even better at asking

us these questions. In the widely popular Mass Effect Series the

player takes the role of Commander Shepard (this is how Shepard’s

name is spelled in game), a man (or woman, that choice is made by

the player) who is responsible for the fate of the Galaxy. The

story is an intricately woven arc across three games where every

choice the player makes builds upon the previous one. There are

consequences for every action the player takes, and there are

hundreds of specialized endings that match every decision the

player has made. While the story is too grand and filled with too

many decisions to describe them all, there is one that really

sticks out as truly being a question that strikes at the heart of

humanity (McGonigal, pg, 221).


In the final game at the very end the player is given a

choice that is really the culmination of all of the player’s

choices before. As the player you and you alone have the ability

to decide the fate of the Reapers, a race of machines that is

trying to wipe out the entire galaxy and every being who inhabits

it. The Reapers have been systematically wiping out all galactic

life for millions of years. Every time an organic species reaches

the correct level of technological development the Reapers come

in and wipe them out. They are brutal, fierce, and efficient.

However, if you have played the game well and explored the entire

galaxy then you know that the Reapers are merely slaves of a much

older alien race that almost nothing is known about. You are

given four choices: destroy them, assimilate them, join to them,

or do nothing.

If you choose the destruction option then you will wipe them

out forever. It kills every single reaper in existence. You will

finally get the revenge you have so long sought after because of

all of the suffering and hurt they have caused to you and the

galaxy. Is this justice to them though? While they are brutal,


they are still slaves to the will of a more brutal master. Is it

right to punish the child for the sins of the father?

If you choose to assimilate them, then Commander Shepard

fuses himself with the Reaper High Commander. In doing so he

gains his own immortality and gains control over every reaper in

the galaxy. Is this the correct action though? Can one man be

trusted with more power than the entire galaxy combined? What

about the Reapers as well? Is it just to trade one slave master

for another?

If you choose to join to them (not with them) then Commander

Shepard sacrifices himself in order to “upload” his DNA to the

Reaper Commander. In doing so he combines his DNA with the Reaper

creating a Human and Machine Hybrid. This effect spreads to all

of the reapers, and changes them into Human Reaper hybrids. This

essentially frees them from the slavery, and creates a new race

of being. While this sounds like the best answer, is it right

that a life form that his murdered Trillions of lives be let off

with a free pass? Is it right that Shepard, who has sacrificed

everything else, be asked to sacrifice his life too?


Finally the fourth choice is to do nothing. In doing nothing

you allow the Reapers to win because you pass up the only

opportunity you have to save the galaxy. While trillions are

suffering, is it really your place or right to choose the fate of

another life? Can you really make the decision with the

possibility of wiping them all out? On the other side of this

decision though, your inaction will cost at least hundreds of

billions, perhaps trillions of lives. Are you making the right

choice by doing nothing?

When that choice is brought before anyone who has invested

the time and effort it takes to really play the game it will stop

them in their tracks. As the player you have spent potentially

hundreds of hours of your life fighting these creatures. You have

seen suffering, sorrow, and pain brought about by their hand.

Yet, a small glimmer of compassion for them surfaces. They are

not their own masters. They were not given the choice to decide

what to do or not to do. They were simply made to do. That

reaches the very deepest and hardest to reach place in our

hearts. Do we deliver justice, or do we deliver grace? When I

reached this point in the game series I stopped playing for


almost three whole days to consider the question I just asked. I

had a literal hatred for these creatures, which do not even

exist. Yet, in the final hours I saw the possibility of their

redemption. Ultimately I chose the show them grace and mercy. I

sacrificed myself so that they may be free.

Deus Ex Machina (The God in the Machine)

It is estimated that 90% of the world’s population has some

form of religious belief. Whether or not you personally believe

in the God of the Bible, Allah, reincarnation, or one of the over

four thousand other religious systems is mostly a product of the

culture you were raised in. All forms of media deal with it in

some level, and most tend to delve into it very deeply. Most

religions have books, documentary films, and droves of dedicated

scholars who spend their time trying to explain it or build a

connection to it. How have video games faired when trying to

portray religious views? Broadly speaking there are three basic

types of video games that attempt to explore religion and

religious belief. There are educational games, literal games, and

allegorical games. There is also a fourth way, called the

religious cameo, that isn’t a religious game but merely an


incorporation of religion into a game in some way (McGonigal, pg,

296).

Religious educational games are the most prominent of the

three types. These are used in Sunday school classes, homes, and

higher education centers alike. The main purpose of these games

is one of education from the perspective that an individual is a

member of that religion. They are poorly designed for teaching

broader theology in any religion, and are the most useful at an

elementary school level. These games are designed to be simple,

easy, and fun to play while conveying a real educational message.

This type of game is most prominent in the Christian faith


Literal religious games take a particular religious story,

event, or belief and turn it into a video game. These games try

to remain as true to the original religious story as they can,

but may add some more mainstream gaming elements in order to make

it into a fun and playable game. Dante’s Inferno originally was a

part of the Divine Comedy. Dante is guided through the nine

circles of Hell by the poet Virgil to show him his sins and begin

his path to redemption. In a “modern update” of Dante’s Inferno the


player follows basically the same story. However, instead of a

guided tour, the player must fight his or her way through the

nine circles of Hell in order to break free from sins hold. This

is the second most popular type of religious game, and these

games can be useful for teaching a religious truth as long as

enough of the original content and meaning is left in the story

so that it can speak truth. Often times however, games created

this way sacrifice much of the original religious truth in order

to either be more politically correct or be mainstream enough

that a larger audience will want to purchase and play the games


Finally, allegorical games are the rarest of the types of

religious games. These games are the worst at teaching basic

religious doctrine or truth, but because of the way a religious

truth can be present in allegory they are the best at creating

deep and reflective religious thought. Very few try to make an

allegorical game because they are dangerous for the designing

company. When fashioned properly they can convey an amazing sense

of a particular religious meaning, truth, or deeper spiritual

awakening. When fashioned poorly they can cause serious backlash,


contempt, and sink a company for good. Mass Effect is one of the

best religiously allegorical games that has been released to

date. Commander Shepard portrays Jesus Christ, while the reapers

portray our sins. In the end Shepard chooses what to do about our

sins, and one of the possible endings is him sacrificing himself

so that all may be saved from the tyranny of the Reapers. In

order to reach that ending you must have played all three games

from a good and selfless character type, which resembles Jesus’

perfect and sinless life. Shepard is also a play on the word

shepherd. In the Bible Jesus is referred to as the good shepherd,

and the Christian people who follow him are referred to as his

flock. In Mass Effect over the course of the game the player

builds up a group of followers to help defeat the reapers


The fourth way is the religious cameo. Many games will

incorporate an element of a religion into it. These can be

portraying of a religious truth, but most simply fit well with

the game design. For instance the most common religious input is

to include a Jesus type character. One who ultimately sacrifices

himself or herself for some greater good. That character does not


have to be the player character, but will often be a main

character that is important to the games story in some way. One

other common way that a religious cameo can show up in games is

the use of a karma system. Often times games will keep track of a

players good and bad deeds and give them a karma score. This

running score will reflect how other game characters will treat

the player’s character in game, and can have an effect on the

game itself (bad choices having bad effects and vice versa)


Christian Gaming

As you have seen video games have permeated almost, if not

all, of the different facets of our culture. They have changed a

great deal of people’s social lives, emotions, the way we work,

play, view religion, and even the way we view our own humanity.

What does that mean that we as Christians should think about it?

What does that mean that we as Christians should do about it?

What does that mean for the future of Christianity?

What we as Christians think about video games is a very

broad and hard to define answer. There are many different

denominations of Christianity, and many different types of


people. The general consensus in the past has been that video

games are “of the devil”. These flashing lights and fancy

graphics bring all sorts of violence, foul language, and sexual

content into our households to our children. Video games have

been blamed by the church for rises in violence, sexual deviance,

and homosexuality in America’s youth. Sometimes they still wave

that flag when a new raw and misunderstood video game comes out.

I have raised some counterpoints to that assumption, but

ultimately the choice of what to think about video games comes

down to you and your personal theology. However we as Christians

are encouraged to engage with the culture that is around us, and

in order to do that we must think carefully about gaming and the

gaming sub culture.

In Acts 17:16-34 Paul is in Athens waiting on some of the

other disciples. The Bible says “his spirit was provoked within

him as he saw that the city was full of idols.” Basically he was

moved by all that was around him. In order to really think about

games in a theological manner we must be moved by what we see.

Once Paul was moved he took action. This passage goes on to

describe how Paul engaged with those in Athens about their


religions and gods. He learned from them, and in turn they

allowed him to teach them about the true God. This is what the

church must do with video games today. That sounds like a big

task, and it is. It isn’t impossible though.

First, the church needs to develop a basic understand of

what games and gamers are. There are a lot of books out there

which describe games and the history of gaming. I’m sure there

are a lot of gamers in congregations as well. Church leaders

could also try some of these games out to really gain some

firsthand experience at what it means to be a gamer. Second the

church needs to work on engaging their youth with games. A

Nintendo Wii can go a long way to bring children, even adults,

into a church sanctuary. Many consoles have educational games to

play on them. This simple action would show that the church is

taking this cultural shift seriously, and would help to bring in

a larger number of young people simply by having a “modern

church”. Third, the church needs to voice a real opinion on

games. Some games do deserve contempt, but many games do not. If

the church could gain some influence with the video game

production companies a lot could be accomplished in the way of


introducing real Christian values into games. If the church would

also support the development of a Christian video game industry

then true Christian video games could be developed without

industry backlash. Currently only one Christian video game

company, Digital Praise, exists, and it is a very small company

compared to most of the industries’ leading developers. That’s

not to say that they cannot affectively change gaming culture,

but it is much harder for them to do so. Finally the church needs

to realize that the gaming industry is going to continue to

affect the youth of the future in different ways, and there is

nothing they can do to stop it. Like all industries it will

evolve over time to meet the needs of the changing world around

it. The church must be dynamic and be willing to change the way

it views and handles game development over time.

Whether or not the church manages to adjust its views of

video games, does not stop the fact that video games are a part

of the foreseeable future. It is a future that I view going only

one of two directions. The first direction is that of positive

change. If the church successfully incorporates video games into

the way they present the message of God it will do several


things. It has the potential to boost the amount of church

members by including a larger demographic, it will present a more

modern and accepting church to the people both inside and outside

of the church, and it will provide one or more new avenues to

reach all people with the message of God. This positive future

does not guarantee a cultural revival or a mass exodus to change

the video game industry to one that reflects Christian values,

although those are possibilities. It will however, help guarantee

the survival of the church. If Christians show they are willing

to accept this part of our culture as something that can glorify

God, who’s to say they cannot do so with future cultural changes?

These acceptances show the world that Christians aren’t a bunch

of stuck up traditional losers, and in turn it sparks interest in

Christianity.

The second foreseeable future is one of slow role

acceptance. In this future the church rejects gaming, either

mostly or outright. In doing so they alienate a part of their

congregation which, as time passes, will grow larger and larger.

This unacceptance will contribute in pushing these newer

generation Christians away from their faith, and those who are


not Christians will be less likely to choose to participate in

Christianity. Over time as generations change there may be a

change in acceptance of games, but it will be too little too

late. The industry will have moved on from where it is today, and

the task of playing catch up will be monumental. While the

rejection of games will not lead to the demise of the church, it

could play a real role in doing so.

In the end only God knows the future, and all we can do is

speculate. Inwardly I fear that the second future may come true,

but mostly I am hopeful of the first future. The church has come

a long way in the past fifty or so years in the ways that it

integrates with modern culture. There is still a long way to go,

but progress of any amount is still progress. Only time will tell

what really happens with games and God, but I’m proud to be in

the generation that has the opportunity to make the change, and

game for God.

The Future of Gaming

Video games have come very far from where they began. They

have made an almost miraculous shift from simple toys to


rewriting culture as we know it. The next big question then must

be where do we go from here?

The answer to that is, good question. Technology is the most

likely determiner of the answer. The graphical capabilities of

modern computing hardware can currently deliver a gaming

experience that mirrors real life. The virtual looks as good, and

sometimes better, as the real thing. This level of visual

splendor combined with the better story writing talent is what

makes games so immersive and culture bending. The only way to go

any farther is to somehow place the gamer actually into the game.

Motion capture technology is part of the story, but the next leap

forward will most likely come from holographic technology.

Imagine if you could actually see the dragon fly over your

head. Image if you could feel the cold steel of your sword as you

prepare yourself to face it. Imagine the smells and feelings of a

real battle with a “real” dragon. The questions of how that would

affect us cannot be asked yet, but reflection upon the current

questions can give us a good idea.

The End……


Games have changed the world. Never before has an invention

so vastly changed how humans function. From our work to our play

video games rewrote the rule books of life. Whether or not you

personally feel this is a good thing is up to you. The evidence

has spoken for itself though. Games have given us a new way to

better communicate and grow with one another. They have given us

a new way to feel joy, even in some of life’s darkest moment.

They have changed the way we form emotional connections, both to

one another and now with inanimate objects. They have changed the

way religion can be taught and viewed. They have even given us a

new way to peer into our own souls.

There is no denying that video games are powerful, and no

denying that they will continue to be powerful for some time.

Whether or not that time is long or short lived will make itself

apparent in the future. For now all we can do is watch as the

world changes as we push the buttons on our controllers. We are a

gaming world. We are here to stay. We are here to play in our new

reality. Would you care to join us?


References

McGonigal, J. (2011). Reality is Broken Why Games Make Us Better and How

They Can Change

the World. London, England: Penguin Books.

Meyers, D. G. (2010). Social Psychology (10th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill.

Reality is Broken An Examination of How Video Games Have Reshaped Our World

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