The Religion of Gaming

The Night Journey looked like an incredibly intriguing game. I like Bill Viola’s outlook that “the game rewards you for slowing down and for introspection”. It’s amazing that he can create this vast world that, in its simplest terms, allows the player to explore the scenic, obscure environments. And in its most complex terms it mirrors a dream state in which decades Viola’s work is transcribed into a meaningful art-form. Watching the trailer move from game world to real video footage was absolutely astonishing. It’s like he’s taking his experiences, research and findings and creating a labyrinth of meaning and spirituality through the form of a video game. He’s a scientist, in a way, and he’s relaying the results of his experimentation through the tools of gaming rather than text and speech. I think the level of mystery and unknown makes for a style of play that will immerse the player in his world. He notes: “The more you do things mindfully, the more is revealed to you”. It’s like solving puzzles that aren’t really there - you have to look for them, but when they are discovered it’s like unearthing something truly meaningful - something real.

Religious games seem to prey on the problems that have arisen within and as a result of varied faith and beliefs over the years. It’s interesting to see what problems or flaws these developers feel religion has gone through and in some cases, still occur.

Pazzon was a fun little platformer with an interesting religious twist. I think it reflects on many of the acceptance issues that various religions have dealt with throughout history - and sadly, it’s pretty accurate. The priests claim that, although there are two beliefs that peacefully coexist, they still want to convert as many as they can to empower their own faith. And if they don’t want to convert - kill them. This strongly reflects the outlook of many religious conflicts in the past - The Crusades, Judaism and Christianity, etc.

Frank Ze’s “Life Games” were simple yet powerful. He, in the most blunt way possible, portrayed the overall afterlife concept that each specific belief entails. Atheists - nothing, Buddhists - reincarnation, Christianity - heaven or hell. I thought it was even a bit comical how blunt the message of each game was. Although, I couldn’t figure out why the elevators came back for the Christianity game - maybe I’m missing something?

The game “Faith Fighters” I just thought was hilarious - not to be crude or offensive but not only did it lower religious entities to cartoon-ish video game characters beating each other up, but it was just flat out fun. It reminded me of a goofy version of all other 2-D side-scrolling fighting games. What I did find interesting though was the mystery boss at the end - an alien with a nuke attack. I assume that it was a play on Scientology? Or perhaps Evolution? Since both of those concepts do or can include the existence of aliens.