Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Here Come the Hypocrites

There is a new video game out and you do not have to worry about me writing about another game, this is different. I have no intention of playing this game to be honest. It is getting bad reviews and just does not interest me that much, but I find the protest that is coming for this game hypocritical. The hypocrites are not my usual target though. This time the ones protesting a video game’s content are on the left.

The game in question is based on the popular Christian book series “Left Behind” and is called “Left Behind: Eternal Forces.” It is a real time strategy game that allows players to join the Tribulation Forces who fight for G-d or the Global Community Peacekeepers who help the anti-Christ and duke it out in the ultimate End of the World videogame for the whole enchilada. There are many groups who want Wal-Mart to remove the game from their shelves due to the fact that this game’s central play is either making people convert to your side or killing them. The game is designed so that the forces of good ultimately win which means the forces of good are being made to mostly kill the non-believers. How middle ages, but I really have no problems with that personally.

I mean I play games where I kill cops and sell drugs and have body counts in the thousands by the time the game is over and I do not believe in any of those things so why should I really worry that a game is having Christians kill their opponents? Is not killing the central aspect of most games and are they not usually based on a popular movie or story? Do we not constantly say that video games have no impact on real life behavior when we defend our GTA and Mortal Kombats? Why then should these same people now be concerned about this?

Maybe it is the Wal-Mart aspect of the equation and not the game or maybe it is the Christian aspect and not the game. Both of these things do tend to bring out the ugly side of the left and this time they are together in one package. Both of these things usually do something to warrant the protest to be perfectly frank, but not this time. Wal-Mart is not the only place selling this game and, to be honest, I doubt real Christians are really in love with this concept either. “Thou Shall Not Kill” does not leave much wiggle room when you think about it. The pseudo-power-hungry fanatics however…

The funny part of this entire story is that people are overlooking the part where this is a multiplayer game. This means one person can play as G-d and the other as the anti-Christ. The G-d side has the advantage of course, but the anti-Christ has better weapons. The game is also getting really bad reviews and is $35, so this is much ado about nothing and this game will be in the cheap bin in no time.

3 comments:

Serena said...

I'm not into gaming so I hadn't even heard about that. Just from reading your post, though, I can certainly see where the hypocrisy factor comes into play. It does occur to me that the naysayers are conveniently overlooking the fact that people have been committing bloody murder in the name of one religion or another for thousands of years.

Unknown said...

To me this is just another war video game. Instead of Americans fighting Nazis or one race of aliens fighting another this is Christians fighting anti-Christ. It is a situation that is unique to say the least and is going after a market that is ignored. There are 15 year old Christian boys out there who may be Christian in life, but ARE boys when they play. Boys like war games. It is that simple to me. I am the least violent person I know and even I find ways to kill the Sims which is a game you are not supposed to die in.

rkfinnell said...

Have you ever seen some of the tracts they pass around to people? Full of violence and it is suppose to sway you to God.
Some "Christians" are already a little touched and it isn't by God.