I had the opportunity to take my kids to an old beachside arcade that I remember going to as a kid. Apparently it had the same game machines as when I remember being there last, it was great! The games only cost a quarter and were the great classic games. I played Ms. Pac Man myself. Although I thought it was great, my kids were underwhelmed to say the least. Eventually they came around and recognized the true history lesson they were having the opportunity to live out! Ok, maybe they just found some games they thought were funny enough to be amusing, but we had a good time.
I should not be surprised that they were less than impressed when I consider the level of sophistication that the video games that they experience have achieved. I must admit I am awed at the technological advancements. I am also, however, astounded at some of the content in these new video games and am left wondering how it could ever be classified as entertainment! Someone recently showed me a brief edited clip from a current video game to give me just a glimpse of what is out there. He said it took him 4 hours to edit the clip so as to find enough footage to give us a taste but to avoid the really graphic stuff. I remember thinking that if sex with a prostitute in the front seat of a car, along with colourful play by play commentary by the prostitute herself, followed by her murder in order to get the money back was not the really graphic stuff I don’t want to know what is! Unfortunately, it seems that we have taken these amazing technical advancements and in many cases used them to present explicit language, explicit sexuality and extreme violence in the most extremely realistic presentation we have ever been able to create.
I want to avoid coming out with a blanket “this is the Christian response” type post but there are a few significant questions (Ok, there are innumerable questions but here are a few to start with) that I think we who claim to follow Christ should be asking ourselves when it comes to such material.
Firstly, is this the kind of material that we want to be promoting? When we play it, talk about it, invite others and specifically when we buy it, we are promoting it. Our culture runs on supply and demand, and when we become part of the demand we are implicitly asking for more of this to be produced.
Secondly, how is this affecting us? Sadly I think that there are many who would say that they don’t agree with the content, but that they know it is just a game at that it does not affect them. I am not one to claim that just because you played a violent video game you are going to go out a kill someone. But, let’s be realistic, if we claim that we can sit and engage with this stuff for hours on end and then not be affected we are just kidding ourselves. At the very least it desensitizes us. The mere fact that some of us could watch this type of sex and violence and claim that it does not affect us is proof in itself. These are not documentaries trying to open our eyes to the realities around us. They are not ever satires meant to graphically point out the foolishness of it. These are games glorifying depravity and evil and inviting us to play along. They are glorifying things that break God’s heart about our world, and if our hearts are not broken as well, then I would argue that we have become desensitized. This brings me to my last question.
How does this affect my witness? When we are desensitized to the things that break God’s heart, when we choose to engage in it and even worse when we can laugh at it, how well are we representing God? As Christians is it not our job to represent God’s heart to the world around us, to be ambassadors of the kingdom and to have God make His appeal through us to be reconciled unto Himself? We should be heart broken about what breaks God’s heart. We should be angry when evil is glorified and we should be motivated to respond!
Video games, along with all other forms of media and entertainment, are extremely influential in shaping our worldview. We should be asking ourselves what is the effect of exposing our culture, our kids and let’s not forget ourselves to such extremely realistic portrayals of pornography (yes, I would call watching and listening to sex with a prostitute porn), violence and explicit material.
I should not be surprised that they were less than impressed when I consider the level of sophistication that the video games that they experience have achieved. I must admit I am awed at the technological advancements. I am also, however, astounded at some of the content in these new video games and am left wondering how it could ever be classified as entertainment! Someone recently showed me a brief edited clip from a current video game to give me just a glimpse of what is out there. He said it took him 4 hours to edit the clip so as to find enough footage to give us a taste but to avoid the really graphic stuff. I remember thinking that if sex with a prostitute in the front seat of a car, along with colourful play by play commentary by the prostitute herself, followed by her murder in order to get the money back was not the really graphic stuff I don’t want to know what is! Unfortunately, it seems that we have taken these amazing technical advancements and in many cases used them to present explicit language, explicit sexuality and extreme violence in the most extremely realistic presentation we have ever been able to create.
I want to avoid coming out with a blanket “this is the Christian response” type post but there are a few significant questions (Ok, there are innumerable questions but here are a few to start with) that I think we who claim to follow Christ should be asking ourselves when it comes to such material.
Firstly, is this the kind of material that we want to be promoting? When we play it, talk about it, invite others and specifically when we buy it, we are promoting it. Our culture runs on supply and demand, and when we become part of the demand we are implicitly asking for more of this to be produced.
Secondly, how is this affecting us? Sadly I think that there are many who would say that they don’t agree with the content, but that they know it is just a game at that it does not affect them. I am not one to claim that just because you played a violent video game you are going to go out a kill someone. But, let’s be realistic, if we claim that we can sit and engage with this stuff for hours on end and then not be affected we are just kidding ourselves. At the very least it desensitizes us. The mere fact that some of us could watch this type of sex and violence and claim that it does not affect us is proof in itself. These are not documentaries trying to open our eyes to the realities around us. They are not ever satires meant to graphically point out the foolishness of it. These are games glorifying depravity and evil and inviting us to play along. They are glorifying things that break God’s heart about our world, and if our hearts are not broken as well, then I would argue that we have become desensitized. This brings me to my last question.
How does this affect my witness? When we are desensitized to the things that break God’s heart, when we choose to engage in it and even worse when we can laugh at it, how well are we representing God? As Christians is it not our job to represent God’s heart to the world around us, to be ambassadors of the kingdom and to have God make His appeal through us to be reconciled unto Himself? We should be heart broken about what breaks God’s heart. We should be angry when evil is glorified and we should be motivated to respond!
Video games, along with all other forms of media and entertainment, are extremely influential in shaping our worldview. We should be asking ourselves what is the effect of exposing our culture, our kids and let’s not forget ourselves to such extremely realistic portrayals of pornography (yes, I would call watching and listening to sex with a prostitute porn), violence and explicit material.
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