Welcome to God Hates Games

Does God hate games?

Well maybe you might think he does, maybe not, or maybe you think he just hates games journalists¹.

As videogames become much of a part of our generation's leisure time as cinema and TV for the last there's an increasing focus on the morality of games.

Mostly this comes in the form of criticism from the older generation who don't understand the medium, figures like Jack Thompson and Keith Vaz would have in the past have been attacking rock and roll, jazz, the hula hoop or short skirts.

Today though we need a more broader look at the place of videogames as an art form. An art form that looks here to stay. And like all forms of media/art it can be the conduit of good and bad.

Over the next few weeks I'm setting up a new videogames news blog that is dedicated to investigating the relationship between religion and videogames, most probably with a focus on Christianity - because that's where you'll find most interfering busybodies².

My perspective will be as a Christian and a videogames journalist - I hope I can see both sides of the stories I will cover and try to uncover why in many cases there seems to be such a misunderstanding from both sides.

Just look at the Manchester Cathedral fiasco with the Sony game Resistance Fall of Man. One could argue that it was a bit unfair for Sony to feature part of a level in a war-torn representation of the Cathedral without asking permission. However the Cathedral's shrill response³ was very misjudged by the clergy there who missed a very great opportunity to engage with the game playing generation.

I'll also be taking a look at the kind of games being sold to Christian audiences by Christian game developers. Are customers getting a good deal? What makes a good religious videogame?

It's issues such as the two examples above that I hope to get to the bottom of, talking to the players and taking a Christian slant on the world of games. And no, this isn't going to be one of your regular "you'll burn in hell if you play Grand Theft Auto" kind of sites. Free speech in art, publishing, online, media and the like are sacrosanct, as will be religious tolerance and a fair deal for all sides of the stories covered.

So look out for the new site in the next few weeks.

What's it called?

www.godhatesgames.com ⁴

Snappy aint it?

_{¹Something I've suspected for a while.
²Buddhist complaints about Grand Theft Auto 0 - Christians 23423768484.
³Which would have no doubt given the message to gamers that the church is a pointless out-of-touch anachronism.
⁴We're still waiting for the DNS records to be updated, so this link may not work right now.}