God Hates Games

Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod has addressed the issue of whether the church should consider killings carried out in videogames a sin.

The following question and answer appear on the Synod's website:

Q: Ok I'm very sure that killing/suicide stealing and anything like that is not accounted as an actual sin if it's only in video games. But I'm still not very sure, when I play video games, I'm not murdering at heart because I would never try to take the life of any living thing. And whatever is a video game can't die because it's not alive in the first place, video games are a false alternate reality. Even if the people in video games were able to die, they're not humans or animals just computer generated data or artificial intelligence. I'm pretty convinced it's not a sin but please I just need some confirmation.

A: As normally defined, taking the life of another in video games (as in acting or in any other fantasy situation) is not a sin against God's prohibition to murder. If, however, what is done in the video game is an expression of hatred or callous disregard for human life, then the heart and motives are wrong, and then it is sin in God's eyes. But if this activity is pure entertainment and not an expression of lovelessness against any fellow human being, it isn't murder.

For the record, however, obsession with video games can involve other departures from God's will for his dearly loved and redeemed people. Typically, this can involve a colossal misuse of valuable time and also end up diverting time and attention from more useful and valuable pursuits that better glorify God and serve our neighbor. The same, of course, is true of a lot of forms of entertainment or diversions from useful labor or education (e.g., watching TV, movies, constantly listening to music but doing little other than that).

It seems that Electronic Arts isn't too keen on fostering free discussions of its Digital Rights Management (DRM) policies on the Spore forums.

Take a look at the following two posts, both from official moderators.

SecuROM as been discussed and discussed so much and it causes arguments in threads. If you want to talk about DRM SecuROM then please use another fansite forum. If there is any change you will be able to read it on the official Spore site.

Please do not continue to post theses thread or you account may be at risk of banning which in some cases would mean you would need to buy a new copy to play Spore.

However another moderator clarified:

You are not going to lose your game for posting a comment. It is okay to discuss issues on this forum as long as it’s done in a respectful manner and there are no personal attacks. This includes the DRM and other controversial issues. Just keep it civil.

Sources: Shacknews, Kotaku, Videogaming247.

British Member of Parliament Keith Vaz is under investigation once again for allegations of sleaze.

The campaigner against violent games (and often games of any type) is alleged to have attempted to use his position to influence a court case.

[Vaz] is facing demands for a sleaze inquiry after intervening in a court case on behalf of a party donor... Vaz, chairman of the influential home affairs select committee, urged the High Court to delay proceedings involving a friend from whom he and his family had received lavish hospitality...

At a critical point in the case, 51-year-old Mr Vaz wrote to the High Court asking the presiding judge to adjourn proceedings pending the outcome of complaints by [Vaz's friend] about how the case had been previously handled, involving hotly contested allegations of racism and bias.

Legal sources said the judge was furious at what he perceived to be 'political interference'.

Source: The Daily Mail.

The hatred towards science and knowledge among religious zealots is rarer than you think, but they tend to be the loudest voices. And while evolution is widely accepted by religious groups across the globe there are always some crackpots willing to undo the good work of others.

The latest of these loud voices began recently with the website www.antispore.com which believes that the newly released Spore is evil in furthering the teaching of evolution - based on the site owners twisted view of Christian teaching.

"I created this blog to find support for and follow my progress in letting Electronic Arts know that their biggest attack on Christian values to date will not be tolerated," writes the blog's creator. "We can not allow the gaming industry to invade our homes and poison the minds of our children. After all, their billions in revenue and all the advertising in the world are no match for the power of God."

It's hard to know how to take sites like this. The viewpoint is far from mainstream Christian teaching yet panders to the ill-informed belief of many 'net users, which makes me think it may be a satirical site. Whatever the case - it's bound to drive some sales of Spore.

My colleague over at Boomtown, Adam Hall, has written an excellent review of the controversial PC evolution game Spore.

Spore isn't entirely without fault, though. Yes, it is a refreshing change of pace for strategy gaming. Yes, the game is solid as a rock in terms of stability (not one crash or stutter in 15+ hours play) and it has the most fluid and vibrant art and graphical style, but some people might be a little underwhelmed by the pace at which it progresses. Though billions of years pass in the game, the player's experience with each stage before Space is relatively fleeting and, though functional as logical progress, is quite frankly soulless. It's great fun creating unique things, but there's always a forceful and unnatural hand edging you forward, breaking the feeling of complete control...

...But the bigger picture is what's important here. Spore is greater than the sum of its parts and for that reason it's worthy of all the commendation is has and will receive. Gamers are accustom to boundaries, and that makes Spore all the more revolutionary when they realise the creative freedom they have to manipulate their own experience.

You can read the whole review over at Boomtown.net.

This morning sees the publication of Dr Tanya Byron's investigation into issues surrounding the protection of children from adult material in videogames and the internet. And while there are some good recommendations it already sounds a bit of a mess, because once again non-gamers have made major assumtions about those who enjoy this particular medium.

But first let's look at the reports major recommendations:

• The creation of a unified game rating system rather than the current UK dual BBFC/PEGI system.
• The creation of a website for parents where they can find our more information about online safety.
• A comprehensive public information and awareness campaign on child internet safety.
• Clear and consistent guidance for industry on how games should be advertised.
• High profile efforts to increase parents understanding of age ratings and improved parental controls.

I think the first and last items are the ones we should look at in details. Currently games a covered by an age voluntary system called PEGI which puts age recommendations and content details on game boxes. Certain games also have to be rated by the British Board of Film Classification due to their stronger content.

The practical upshot of this is that you can't buy a game in the UK without clear age guidence labelling on it. Now I do agree to some extent with Byron's report suggesting just one labelling system should be used - but I do think this is getting away from the real issue here.

The issue being the stupidity of parents.

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This is a repost of a story that first appeared back when this site was called grumpygamer.biz. I thought it was worth saving for posterity. I've reposted it here in its entirety on the correct date, and will also add comments received too.

I've had a rather odd afternoon today. Jack Thompson has been pestering me. Normally he pesters the Florida Bar, videogame publishers and websites that give money to charity because he's to cheap to keep his promises. But today I was the target of his anger. Why should this be so?

Well, you see last week I played Canis Canem Edit, a game otherwise known as Bully. Rockstar Games had invited me over to take a look at the game and having played the PS2 title in question I wrote up my impressions of the game here at Boomtown.net.

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