| Game Reviews From a Parental Perspective! | |
|
|
|
| Home | Forums | Review Archive | Columns | Feature Articles |
|
Home >
Feature Articles > Features > Game with God Part II
Real-time strategy games like Empire Earth or Age of Empires have to take a more superficial approach. Priests can perform miracles and function as healers, and they can even convert enemy units to your side. Age of Empires 2: The Age of Kings also uses religion as a historical backdrop for the campaigns featuring Frederick Barbarossa and the Muslim Emperor Saladin. Peter Molyneux's ground breaking Populous games, and his most recent effort, Black & White, are filled with religious and spiritual concepts. In both games you take the role of a god and have direct control over certain powers or miracles. The people, however, have a mind of their own. They can be swayed by your miracles, and you could guide them, but only to a point and only at the expense of your own powers. In Populous your power is derived from masses of worshipers. Neglect them and they would abandon you. In Black & White you could choose the kind of god you'd be, and even how kind or cruel your massive Creature (an animistic avatar) would be. You could be evil or good. Shades of gray are available as well, making Black & White the most successful game at capturing a sense of moral free will. The similarities to existing organized religions are intentionally shallow, however. "We had to avoid any reference to any existing religions but if you examine the many religions of the world you find that many of them have similar concepts and beliefs," explains Molyneux. SimCity and Tropico also feature religious structures that affect how people feel. But the two games, while similar, take completely different approaches. In Tropico the player chooses where to place churches and whether or not to hire priests. "In SimCity churches are built by the sims (not the player) near their residential areas," notes creator Will Wright. While in Tropico, religion is a faction you must appease with churches, cathedrals, and the hiring of priests. Both games offer different consequences for ignoring religion. "You have the option of going the opposite way and ignoring or suppressing religion," says Steinmeyer. "This can be a successful strategy in Tropico, as it has been in real life for [Fidel] Castro, who has been in power for 40 years, suppressing religion for most of that time." Tropico is about pleasing segments of your population, and the religious faction is a crucial segment, while SimCity asks you to leave your citizens to fulfill their own spiritual needs. Then there's The Sims, a game billed as a "life-simulator", but the lives it simulates are bereft of both religion and spirituality. As Computer Games Magazine's Editor-in-Chief Steve Bauman noted in his review of the game "The sims of the game are essentially a Godless race that worships capitalism and capitalism alone." The sim-people derive joy, comfort, and entertainment from objects. Could they not meditate or pray instead, and derive the same benefits? Wright explains: "The Sims is lacking religion for the same reasons that SimCity lacks any references to race. How do we represent this subject without offending too many people? Who are we offending by leaving it out?" He goes on to say: "For The Sims we knew that players would be creating custom content for the game so we left this part of the game empty for them to fill." We were unable to find any custom content addressing this, which could imply a lack of demand on the part of consumers. "Surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off" Proverbs 23:18 It appears that using religion and spiritual concepts in games makes for better games, as most of those mentioned previously are classics. But there's a lot of risk to consider first. "Obviously it's a sensitive area for a lot of folks and as a developer, you have to realize that there are a wide range of beliefs and practices. There's a lot of potential to offend if done improperly." Steinmeyer observes. Will Wright believes the main danger lies in "[M]is-representing or offending an entire belief system." Adding, "Most religions contain many fractured internal groups￠[Protestant and Catholic Christians, Sunni and Suffi Muslims]" which, in Wright's view, makes the risks of misrepresentation even greater. But for some, the risks are worthwhile. When asked, the developers we spoke to offered their own ideas of how they might tackle the subject in the future. "With Ultima, I created a simple ethical structure (the eight virtues). Over the last few years I've given a lot of thought to structuring one not just for gaming convenience, but rather one that I truly believe in," says Richard Garriott. "I think that will not only please me on a personal level, but will (also) make even more compelling storylines. Right now with my new game Tabula Rasa, we're debating how to manifest that within the game itself." Peter Molyneux said, "We have a very ambitious plan for the Black & White series to take it right up to the modern day when in a lot of cultures, gods are not so significant." Adding that "￠[T]he idea of playing an all powerful being is something that I find totally amazing and is certainly a theme we'll continue with in future games." Jane Jensen has retired from making games recently, instead concentrating on her career as a novelist. This retirement may not be permanent: "I hope to make another game at some point. I'm very interested in the Victorian era Spiritualist craze -- rapping tables, 'ectoplasm', etc." Phil Steinmeyer remarked that PopTop doesn't have any projects like this in mind but he can imagine a strategy game involving "[H]ow missionaries spread, or attempted to spread Christianity to the non-European world￠ [Or how] other religions have also spread themselves (like Islam) with methods quite different from Christianity." Perhaps similarly inspired, Sid Meier teased, "I've been thinking that a game based on the travels, letters, adventures, and influence of Paul in the 1st century could be really interesting, but I haven't gotten around to making that game yet." Meier is referring to Saul, converted on the road to Damascus when struck by what he called a great light. Saul became Paul and went on to spread Christianity. Perhaps such a game would mirror Paul's efforts (or The Prophet Muhammad's, or Gautama Buddha's), traveling from hard drive to hard drive, influencing gamers and developers alike, and changing the way they incorporate religious concepts in their games. Or maybe some of these Christian themed developers, like N'Lightning, could break into other genres. Creating the evangelical games that their faithful want, but with gameplay quality even secular gamers could enjoy. Or perhaps other churches, other religions such as Islam, Buddhism, Judaism, or even other facets of Christianity will enter the market. So long as their gameplay trumps any evangelical goals, such games would no doubt be welcome. Care to Comment? on this article? Visit our Guest Friendly message board! A similar but shorter version of this story appeared in the May 2002 issue of Computer Games Magazine, it's been reprinted here with kind permission.
|
Read the GamerDad 2007 Holiday Guide!
|
Please Note: GamerDad is not intended to be read by anyone under 18. We stay clean, but be warned! Content Management System developed by Redbird Solutions. |
