In the modern era people can dispose of time and money as they please. “Almost half of the US population, . . . plays at least three hours a day” and spends twenty-two billion USD on the video game industry (The ESA). Video Games, “game[s] which we play thanks to an audiovisual apparatus” (Esposito), reveal how the developers view the world. Christians should respond to worldviews by analyzing what the developer communicates, then scripturally replying to it. However, to understand the message, a Christian must know that video games communicate through rules and narratives. Christians should understand how video games communicate, analyze them, then scripturally respond to them.
Video games all communicate a worldview, which—according to Albert Wolters—is “a comprehensive framework of our basic belief about things”. Rules in video games, mainly developed by programmers, universally communicate a worldview. Every game has rules, whether dropping blocks in “Tetris”, winning by accruing the most points in “Pong”, or gaining experience points by killing monsters in “World of Warcraft”. In Persuasive Games, Ian Bogost believes that games create arguments by controlling behavior (Bogost, 29). Players implicitly interact with ideas by letting games shape how they play—play being “free space of movement within a more rigid structure” (Bogost, 42). For example, in “Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic” players must acquire “Light Side Points” for the good ending. “KotOR” implicitly forces players to behave morally in order to successfully achieve the canonical ending. The game argues that the proper ending comes from good moral choices.
Rules not only shape how people play, but they implicitly shape how players view reality. Chris Skagg, a video game developer, says that “every rule implies an underlying assumption or statement about the game’s vision of its self-contained reality.” Therefore, every game communicates reality to the player (Skaggs, Chris). Again in “KotOR”, the rules implicitly inform players what counts as “good” and “bad”. Players can apply that belief of right and wrong into reality. Shannon Annarella touches on this theme in “The Many Lives of Gamers”. In “LIM”, developed by Merritt Kopas, rules force the player to blend his block with others or suffer, however, blending in to long hurts (Anarella, Shannon). Merritt Kopas, who is queer, communicates not only what it feels like to be gay, but that it isn’t a choice. LIM conflicts with Genesis 1:27, which says God created mankind as both male and female. Whether playing complex game like “KotOR” or a simple game like “LIM”, rules will communicate how the player should interpret reality. Not only do video games communicate through rules, but they also communicate through narrative.
Video games communicate a worldview through narrative. Narratives, partially developed by creative writing teams, communicate in many ways, but images and story will be specifically examined. Images primarily communicate on a visceral level. Bogost says people “holistically and heuristically” understand images (Bogost, 22). A developer can quickly convey a mood by painting images. Beholder, developed by Alawar Premium, conveys a dystopic world without much hope by depicting the world in dark shades. In Janet Burroway’s book “Imaginative Writing, The Elements of Craft”, she reveals the power of setting by saying, “More often, the setting is suggestive of a larger meaning, reaching out from a particular place and time toward a cosmic or universal reading” (Burroway, 141). Now, Burroway refers to stories in books, but her comments apply to video games. For example, Bioshock Infinite transitions from a beautiful golden hued floating Utopian city to a man’s head being smashed into a rotating saw. Rus McLaughlin argues that the excessive violent images in Bioshock emphasize the later redemption of the protagonist and the theme of no morality in extremes (McLaughlin). However, Bioshock’s violent medium is dangerous, because, according to Genesis 6:11, God judged the pre-flood world for being “filled with violence”. The visceral nature of images will sub-consciously impact the player. Video game developers use images to communicate their worldviews implicitly or very explicitly.
Second, stories in a narrative communicate a developer’s worldview. Janet Burroway points out the use of connections and disconnection in narrative stories. She references how Cinderella is a series of losses and gains of power (Burroway, 175). In Cinderella, the final switch ends with the evil family member’s punishment, and a happy life for the good princess. Cinderella teaches right and wrong, and that the reader should make right choices. “Destiny 2” by Bungie makes use of gains and losses of power. The player’s character starts extremely powerful, but then loses all his power to the evil Dominus Ghaul, forcing the player to regain his abilities. Throughout the game the player goes from relative strength against normal enemies to relative weakness against bosses. The player continues the cycle until finally triumphing over Ghaul. Destiny 2’s story lauds Ghaul’s downfall and communicates the proper response to evil.
Stories in narratives also communicate by letting the participant vicariously experience diverse incidents. Janet Burroway succinctly sums this up by saying, “if the story succeeds, . . . our capacity for empathy enlarge[s] by having lived in the character’s skin for the duration” (Burroway, 168). If books allow people to live in a character’s skin, video games allow people to live as the character. For example, “Life is Strange: Before the Storm”, developed by Square Enix, allows players to choose whether Chloe, the protagonist, starts a romantic relationship with another girl. The player works through what a dating relationship would be like, which fosters empathy and acceptance of gays. “Life is Strange” conflicts with the Bible by normalizing homosexuality. According to Romans 1:26-27 man’s rejection of God leads to homosexuality, and homosexuality is a sin that should not be commended. Stories powerfully communicate empathy for others.
Both rules and narratives implicitly and explicitly communicate what the developer believes or wants the player to believe. Up to now, the paper only examined parts of video games. Now, to demonstrate the application of analysis and response, the paper will examine and respond to “Tiny Echo” by Might and Delight.
“Tiny Echo” starts with an arrow falling from the sky into a dirty barren grey-colored landscape. The player moves the arrow around by “pointing and clicking”. As the arrow traverses the landscape, images of human like beings with smoke coming from their heads come into view. Each scene reveals a loss of beauty. Finally, the arrow comes to a large hole in the ground, where the combined smoke stacks form hands dropping white letters down the hole. The arrow follows the letters down, where a small female cyclops picks them up. The player then starts guiding her around the community of undergrowth dwellers, overcoming challenges to deliver the white letters. After each successful delivery, the shadow of the recipient takes the shadow of the letter, transporting the player to a sleepy version of the recipient. A white hand reaches out and snaps the recipient awake. Finally, at the end of the game all of the undergrowth creatures gather together; and their shadows fly up through the hole and restore the barren land to verdant health.
Tiny Echo’s developers deal with multiple themes, but specifically ones related to community service and paganism. First, “Tiny Echo” encourages players to help their surrounding community. For example, while guiding the cyclops, a player interacts with a small crying creature. The cyclops sits with the creature and just starts crying with it. The game utilizes images of two crying people to emotionally draw players into the world. It makes the players want to help others. “Tiny Echo” also utilizes rules to carry across an emphasis of the good of community service. To succeed the player must guide the cyclops to solve community problems in order to deliver letters, which is good! Not all video game themes are of the devil. Ephesians 4:32 says “Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you”. People, especially Christians, should be helping others in society. Christians and the world should love their neighbor.
Second, “Tiny Echo” implies the validity of Paganist beliefs. At the beginning of the game, many humanoid creatures seem to be praying. Black smoke, which represents the spirit, goes into the undergrowth. The humanoid spirits reach out to the undergrowth spirits, who answer the request and restore the land. Paganism, as defined by Tom Chesko, is “ancient spiritism, Wicca, Druidism, . . . and a host of other variations” (Hodges, 148). Tiny Echo focuses mainly on the divinity of nature, which corresponds with the paganist’s pantheistic “reverence for the natural world”, and that connection with nature is one way to connect with divinity (Hodges, 147-149). First, the reverence and worship of nature is wrong. In Exodus 20:3, God commands the Israelites that they “shalt have no other gods before me.” Worshipping the earth is a rejection and rebellion against God, which will send people to hell. Second, the paganist belief of multiple ways to divinity conflicts with Christianity. In John 14:6, Jesus says “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” “Tiny Echo” may say the way to better life and land is through nature spirits, but really the only way for hope and peace is through Christ.
Tiny Echo reveals two themes of paganism and community outreach through narrative and rules. Christians should understand how games communicate then interact with them. As God created man in His image. they will have truth in their worldview. Christians should accept the truth and discard the ungodly lies. In this world of video games, Christians can use discussion about games to present the gospel of peace to a lost and dying world.
Bibliography
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