Religious gamers: what is your feeling about praying to deities in games?

[P-Tux7]

Hi, this topic is inspired by not only Nintendo's former ban on religion in games but also the years I went to a Christian private school.
So a lot of Christians I've seen or even talked to have mentioned liking games like Zelda: Breath of the Wild. That game, and this is hardly spoilers, lets you pray to Hylia in order to get upgrades (more HP/stamina). I've always been confused about that, though. A lot of monotheistic religions have rules such as "Thou shalt have no other God before me"; how does this gel up with praying to them in games? I've heard explanations along the lines of "God knows that I don't worship them", but if you're having fun playing the games, isn't that sort of a celebration of it? Not to mention that God is ALWAYS watching you, even when you're playing a video game.
I mean I understand reading books with deities in them is one thing, but what do you religious users think about games where you as the player actively engage in plots like that?

Please note that I'm sincerely asking this question and would love to hear opinions about it; please don't make a reply along the lines of "WHY WOULD ONE FICTIONAL CHARACTER GET MAD THAT I'M PRAYING TO ANOTHER ONE LMAO". The idea of a sovereign God is important to a lot of people's lives and I feel that a question about how that applies to imagination and game-playing has merit. A lot of people don't bring up their religion in gaming-related circles, but I'd like this thread to shed some light on what the religious users here think without any judgment.

 

[Figments]

I would assume most would look at it as just a game. Much in the same way you read or watch characters praying to different deities all the time.

 

[Deleted member 1481]

As a christian, It's only a game. Doesn't bother me at all.

 

[Deleted member 21709]

I don't like to shoot guns in real life either, I'm fine with religion in games.

 

[hey it's that dog]

God probably knows you aren't literally worshipping Hylia or whatever, right?

 

[InspectaDekka]

Baptised in the Church of England...but now I'm atheist so I dunno why I would even reply but I guess my atheism is on a level of say an orthodox believer.

I honestly don't care because...well why should I? I'm not the character, and plus most games have some fucking awesome lore and mythology in that world.

 

[Chuck Bass]

I personally worry less about that and more about idolizing games and characters.

 

[TheGarlic]

I get that some people take this stuff pretty seriously, but I know that I am not genuinely practicing this religion. Honestly the hours long playtime I spend on any game is more of an idol than the fake deity I accept to pray to for an item.

 

[Mariolee]

I get that some people take this stuff pretty seriously, but I know that I am not genuinely practicing this religion. Honestly the hours long playtime I spend on any game is more of an idol than the fake deity I accept to pray to for an item.

Click to shrink...

This is basically where I'm at as a Christian.

 

[theLusitanian]

At the time the combination of Xenogears, FFT and Neon Genesis Evangelion broke any belief in God I had. I went from a confused Roman Catholic teenager to strongly agnostic borderline atheist. I was already trying to reconcile creation from a religious standpoint vs creation from a science standpoint, but the ability of those games to tell a compelling story about how religion can arise from lies sealed the deal for me.

 

[Zimmy64]

I've never really thought about it before. I know there's quite a bit more agency in games than other forms of entertainment (literature and movies) but at the end of the day the character exists in a world outside of me. It's really no different than reading Greek/Roman Mythology. I'm Christian and would never disparage someone of faith but taking some of that stuff too seriously can sometimes have negative consequences for cultural/aesthetic literacy. My mom, for example, who went to a super strict protestant private High School/Academy told me she regrets she was never taught Greek/Roman mythology or culture beyond the bare history. I thought that was crazy (as someone interested in history and now philosophy). The Judeo-Christian strand is only half of the West's cultural inheritance, you still need the Greco-Roman strand.

 

[MerluzaSamus]

As someone who was raised on a monastery, it never bothered me since I was a kid.
I actually found it quite ironic. After all, I was going from real world praying, to a virtual one... escapism be damned

 

[Aaronrules380]

I mean, it can't be worse than literally killing christian god in SMT lol

 

[Shoot]

I am Muslim and have never had a problem 'worshipping' random deities in games. I am not actually worshipping them. I only go to the Hylia statue to increase my stats so I am completely comfortable with the idea. It is just roleplaying.

 

[GayAnimeDad]

If they identify with their character enough to consider its actions their own I’d hate to see what would happen if they played a Shin Megami Tensei game.

 

[emb]

It doesn't really bother me. It's a clear enough abstraction; I don't feel like there's any aspect of worship in things like saving my game. Especially since the fictional worlds in most cases don't try to directly model real life. I don't have a problem accepting that a fictional world has different deities and theology, just like I'm find suspending disbelief to slow down time to aim arrows.

If anything, games like Zelda tend to have a more positive take on faith and that's kinda nice.

 

[P-Tux7]

I mean, it can't be worse than literally killing christian god in SMT lol

Click to shrink...

I mean he forgave the people who did that 2000 years ago so I guess you're right :P

 

[Regiruler]

I consider myself pretty Catholic and this is barely a top 20 concern.

It would highly depend on what the deity your praying to stands for, which may be a reflection on what the entire game stands for depending on the context and whether it's depicted as a good deity in-universe.

Something super weaksauce like Hylia doesn't even register. Palutena tips the meter somewhat (moreso because of some of her failings which I don't really think are idiomatic of what a "goddess of light" should be) but gods in the Kid Icarus universe are a bit complex.

 

[Hanbei]

I don't really care. It's the character that prays to said deity, not myself.

 

[mindatlarge]

As a Christian, I'd look at something like that as an area you could apply biblical principle but not a clear defined law from the bible to say either way.

 

[Wein Cruz]

Sounds like some stuff that I used to contemplate when the Pastor said some shit about games that week that made me feel guilty.

Glad that part of my life is behind me.

 

[StallionDan]

Some people have issue with some things....

https://kotaku.com/some-dont-like-bioshocks-forced-baptism-enough-to-as-473178476

 

[Aaronrules380]

I mean he forgave the people who did that 2000 years ago so I guess you're right :P

Click to shrink...

I mean that was Jesus, not YHVH lol

 

[julian]

As a Jewish person, the heavy Christian imagery in a lot of JRPGs always bothered me growing up. As if being bombarded with Christmas shit everywhere wasn’t already a way to make me feel unwelcome, games (my typical escape in life) often required I go find the building with the big cross and talk to the priest.

Then I grew up and learned Japanese people didn’t really care that much about Christianity and just liked the imagery.

 

[Marukoban]

It doesn't bother me in the least, even if have to kill some "God" in the game (happens all the time in JRPG). It's just a game ....

 

[Kyry]

Back when I was living with religious parents, games like that were out of the question.
Something like Zelda might have passed the parent test, but certainly not SMT/Persona or Xenogears.

 

[Stairmaster_]

As a Christian, I just see it as a game. I actually think it's nice when it allows me to identify with characters more, like in the Trails games, where the dominant religion seems to be heavily based on Catholicism for the most part.

 

[AshenOne]

As a Muslim, Islam is barely used in the wrong meanings with games these days aside from the games that portray Radical islam as the original teachings of the holy book and call it exremism then we got a problem. But most games these days don't try and go and insulting Islam.

As for praying to deities in games, i just press a button and don't take stuff literally.. nor do i believe one bit in what my character is doing in a game, i just go with the flow and think of it was a game script AS LONG AS it goes go on the extreme side and includes insulting deities, Prophets in Islam. The praying to deities in games are so full of fiction that i can't take them seriously tbh.

 

[Hate]

It’s a game.

 

[Jamie]

No issues at all. I'm guessing if you DID, and you were a huge fan of Dragon Quest, you'd have to relied on those autosaves like a mother.

 

[Deleted member 3058]

My feeling is: my parents returned the original Phantasy Star for the Master System back to Blockbuster because of the church in the game (it was sacrilegious!!! ) and it sucked since I was enjoying the game.

 

[selo]

Doesn't bother me. I did drew the line though, in this game called omikron the nomad soul, where the character addressed the player behind the pc to transfer my soul and accept by pressing any key. As a kid, this did bum me out and I uninstalled without accepting.

Also, things where it's outright satanism I avoid.

 

[Deadpool_X]

I'm a Christian and it doesn't bother me. I understand it's fiction and doesn't affect my faith.

 

[HockeyBird]

The bible also says Thou shall not kill. If you interpret having fun in a game where a fiction character prayers to another god as celebrating that fictional god, then that must also mean that if you enjoy a game where you kill someone, then that means you celebrating kill others in violation of God's commandments. Right OP?

 

[Khamsinvera]

Killing people in games don’t bother me, why the heck should praying in shrines be any different?

Honestly, never even thought about it until this thread.

 

[HK-47]

I never really thought about when I was religious growing up. It’s all fiction to me now and I quite like games that put a lot of effort into their mythology and religion, regardless of whether god is a known entity that definitely exists or is vague like real life.

 

[Zimmy64]

Also, at the risk of sounding like your pastor/priest it's not like God (the Christian God and most Gods in modern religions I'd wager) is waiting for any opportunity to "get you" and hit you with a technicality. He's not waiting around and when you finally pray to the Hylia statue to get an item he's not like "we finally got him." As other have said making video games an idol is more problematic than having agency in a story where other Gods are present and influence a make believe world. I want to be careful because although God is not one to damn/withhold blessing/impact another's life negatively for mere technicalities I feel like a lot of fair weather/causal Christians are always excessively looking for loopholes and fooling themselves. Even if you don't take, say the Bible, absolutely literally there are clear principles and there are certain things that are objectively incompatible with those principles.

Sorry if that came off kinda ranty/preachy. Besides being Christian I also find Philosophy of Religion compelling so I find your question very interesting.

 

[Savinowned]

I'm a pretty heavily practicing Christian and I've never had an issue with this, mainly because I feel like it's rare I've played anything that is particularly sacrilegious.

 

[DanFodio]

It disturbs me. Worship is for Allah alone.

 

[RROCKMAN]

Nope, treat it the same as if I was reading a greek epic, like the Iliad and The Odyssey.

I play JRPGs too, but because of my religion a lot of the bits where they throw in Judeo-Christianity or kill god makes me roll my eyes right out my skull primarily because I know exactly what they are referencing, how they are butchering it, and the general goofiness just instantly ruins my suspension of disbelief.

So stuff like Xenogears and Xenosaga is like bile to me and I was only able to stand Xenoblade because Takahashi finally learned this thing called subtlety (if only the character designers picked this up as well) and didn’t try to say, oh this characters has Mary Magdalene’s soul inside her (like how am I supposed to take Kos-Mos seriously) and instead went with the allegorical approach.

But let me tell you, the kill god save the world stchick got old real fast for me

 

[HeRinger]

No offense but it feels like a silly question. When you play Uncharted 4 are you celebrating mass murdering? I mean, you are having fun, so you are probably a murderer on some level. Sorry the snark, but that's what the question feels like, lol.

 

[Orbit]

i am Christian. the way i see it, if the God I believe in is sending me to hell because of me praying in a fictionalized world to a fictionalized deity, then i obviously do not want to believe in that God. same goes for homosexuality: if the God I 'worship' truly condemns people to hell for being who they are, then I obviously do not want to believe in that God. All of the deitys are man's interpretation of them. Men (humans) are selfish, self-serving bastards, so i do not adhere strictly to a lot of the BS of the church. i adhere to loving one another, doing right by people, and spreading good vibes all around.

 

[Zelda]

I've just accepted that I'm probably going to hell anyway so fuck it.

 

[AlexFlame116]

It's a story made for a video game and I know what I believe in so to me it's of no importance. If anything I look for similarities and differences between the in-game deity and the being that I believe in.

 

[Arthoneceron]

Believing in a onipotent and omniscient being that promises a good afterlife after a life of sacrifices goes against the principles of my religion/philosophy and it should be the same for anyone that proposes itself to enter in an universe made up by another people or group of people. Everything is related to the evolution of the spirit.

I pratice a strand of spiritism called Umbanda, which it's a brazilian strand for the Christianism and the Kardecism.

 

[MattWhite924]

It never really bothered me at all. They're just games.

 

[Wulfric]

It's make believe bro. If this bothered me, you could never play through a bunch of RPGs.

Praise be to Yevon.

 

[Dr. Lucien Sanchez]

I wonder if anybody gets upset at killing god in a fair few Japanese games

 

[alundra311]

I can't believe this is a real question. LOL.

I don't really care about it. It's just a game.

 

[Baked Pigeon]

"Thou shalt have no other God before me" simply means that you don't idolize something more than God himself. It's not exactly referring to a false God in a different religion.