Our first themed month was a success! Over the course of April (and the very beginning of May) we published 12 articles on religion and/or theology in games. We received a variety of wonderful guest articles in addition to our regular staff’s work, and it was a pleasure to read and publish all of the great pieces!
In case you missed them the first time around, here’s a runthrough of all the articles we posted this month:
1. Bill Coberly explains why his experiences with BioShock Infinite paralleled his experience with the little church he went to the weekend before he played it.
2. Guest writer Joshua Wise proposes an Empirical Metaphysic, suggesting that certain out-of-fashion doctrines of Christianity might be salvaged if we make an analogy between God/creation and player-or-designer/videogame.
3. Hannah DuVoix became uncomfortable with Skyrim’s fondness for making the player raid sacred spaces such as tombs.
4. Guest writer Tobe Cooper reads Final Fantasy X as a Catholic dystopia.
5. Guest writer Anne Winters explains how her development in her faith mirrors her struggles with getting better at videogames.
6. Matt Schanuel compares God’s creation of the world at the beginning of Genesis with creating a world or setting in various games, both video- and tabletop.
7. Guest designer Raymond Neilson puts together an insightful game about Mormonism, agency, and the most interesting games he played in 2012.
8. Aaron Gotzon provides a thorough and enjoyable history of “Bible Games,” or videogames created by evangelical Christianity as an alternative to mainstream games.
9. Guest writer Ethan Gach explores the themes and dangers of messianism both within Earthbound itself and in its fanbase’s treatment of the classic game.
10. Guest writer Michael Elliott explores the Qun, a fascinating religion from the Dragon Age series, and explores its similarities and differences with Buddhism and, particularly, Taoism.
11. Jim Ralph writes a lengthy and introspective piece comparing the differences between religious views of God and the views that players have of characters and events in games.
12. Guest writer Oscar Strik explains that while games talk a lot about religion, they rarely talk about the transcendent, or the Holy, and explores why that might be.
I enjoyed posting each and every one of these articles, and I hope you enjoyed reading them! Go ahead and read through any you might have missed, and don’t hesitate to leave comments if you have something to add!
May will be a regular “variety” month, but we have other ideas for themed months coming up! As always, thanks very much for reading the site, and you can reach me at editor@ontologicalgeek.com if you have any comments, questions, or concerns.
Thanks,
–Bill Coberly
Editor-in-Chief