Alright folks this one has been a long time coming
It's one of the first episodes we've thought about doing, but we kept getting thwarted by the lack of material on this subject
So it just kind of sat on the back burner for a little while
That is until last year, when we auctioned off the ability to chose an episode topic
at the childs play charity auction
And ofcourse it's winner: Rob
Requested religion in games
So
Without question this has been been one of the hardest episodes to write in terms of research
We've spend this entire year looking for a modern game that can really serve as an exemplar for religion in games
And we just couldn't find one
But we didn't come up empty handed by any means
In fact doing this caused us to realize
Perhaps we were framing the question wrong
it opened our eyes and let us to looking at the topic in a whole new way
So let's finally do this thing
Religion simply isn't a single monolithic idea
Like sexuality
Like issues of gender or race, like any grand idea
Moral, philosophical, scientific
It has many facets and many levels on which it can be explored
The problem with how discussions of how religion in games usually takes shape
And even how we were thinking discussing the topic originally
Is in concidering religion as one indivisible, irreducible concept
Doing so often leads to conversations on religion in games becoming scattered
We try to sweep up too many despaired into one generalized whole
Or equally disastrous we each use the term "Religion in Games"
To talk about completely different specific aspects of the larger concept of religion
Resulting in a tangled frusterating mess of a conversation
So after a year of prep
Here is how we came to break it down
This isn't exhaustive or by any means the only way to view the approaches games take to religion
But it's the one we found the most useful
Games seem to explore religion on three different levels
They can explore at the mechanics of religion
The lore of religion
Or faith, the heart of religion
To date we've each seen explored within games to varying degrees
And with varying degrees of success
So rather than trying to tackle how games adress religion as a whole
We are going to look at each of these approaches in concidering how religion is adressed in games
And what value it provides to us as players
First let's talk about how video games use the lore or trappings of religion
As this is by far the most common way that games utilize religious concepts
Just ask yourself: How many times have you encountered Shiva in a video game
Or Beelzebub, Odin or Abaddon, Amaterasu or Zeus
It happens so often we don't even really register it anymore
But why do we see it so often?
What benefit does this provide us?
Now how do video games use the mythology behind religion in order to improve the experience
How do they use it to create more meaningful play
unfortunately outside the tangential learning opportunities
That such inclusion clearly provides
Most of the examples we can sight seem to only use the lore of religion because it's cool
They rarely use more than the surface elements of the religious mythos
Opting instead to mostly stick to borrowing names and character designs
So why is that done?
What does using religious figures provides the designer or the player if we're only gonna take their most surface aspects
It's because these figures have stood the test of time
There is something resident, something compelling about them
There is something about each of these figures that has attracted millions of people over generations
And speaks to us on a very innate human level
Wether or not we actually believe in them
So it's just easier to grab these characters than to try and create your own and hope they have the same appeal
There is also something in us, most of us anyway
That is intrigued by these ancient traditions that perks up when a call out to them was made
Calling a monster Cerberus rather than three-headed dog beasty is to many of us simply more engaging
These figures have a certain cache
A certain intellectual property value
In the same way Master Chief or Solid Snake does
So we use them
The problem is that this approach misses out on so much
These figures are resident, because they have extreme symbolic value
They exemplify aspects of human nature or represent parts of our psychics
So it's a shame we rarely see games attempt to explore the meaning in this symbolism
It's a huge loss, because game narrative is compressed as it is
We need every tool available to us to convey meaning
And here is one we simply letting fall by the wayside on a regular basis
Even if you don't believe in these things
Even if you haven't grown up with tradition that some of these symbols are drawn from
The genius of these myths is that they're simple to convey, but provides us with lots to explore
Take for example
The tower of babel, used so well in xenogears
There is plenty of meaning for all of us regardless of belief
In the story of a man trying to become godlike through his technology and his industry
Or the arc myth in Halo
I mean Halo is chock full judeo christian references
Right down to it's name
And the name of it's character John one seventeen
These myths, this religious lore can provide us with so much more than cool critters and neat names
if we're simply consistence about it
But alright, so that's how games seem to utilize the lore of religion
Now let's talk about how they play with the mechanics of religion
And when I talk about the mechanics of religion, I'm talking about how religion functions on a practical real world level
What it's results are and it's here where we perhaps succeed the best
From games like Crusader Kings 2 to Civilization V Gods and kings expansion
We've explored how religion effects us on a grand scale
How it pushes us as societies towards specific attitude and approaches to daily life
How it shapes our cultural world view
And determinants what intellectual avenues we explore
How it helps us understand our place in the world as peoples
And defines how we see others
How it drives us into conflict
And brings us together
The large social ramifications of religion and the mechanics of how religion spreads
Are something I say we've done some justice to
We looked at it's goods and it's ills
We even got them to ask some tough questions in games about the effects of organized religion
And the role of religion in a state
We haven't shied away here from an honest exploration
And in doing so it's added a great deal to a great number of games
But we also do a decent job at exploring the practical effects of religion on a more immediate level
Games like The Witcher and Dragon Age discuss how religion can make us the most selfless
Or be preverded to justify the most henis ills
Games allow us to explore how religion can change us as individuals
And how it can effect how we respond to the world
So here at least when dealing with the pratical side of religion
religion devorced from spirituality or religion as in effects society or in the choices we make
Games are on the right path
We're using religion to both more engaging and to explore ideas that stay relevant as the machine gets turned off
We don't do enough and too often the meaning behind these exploration gets subsumed in the fact that they surve as game systems to be exploided
But here at least we take are taking the right steps
Which leaves us with the hardest question
The question of faith
And we'll be tackeling that one next week
See ya then