So, as an avid gamer and an outspoken atheist, I always take notice when religion comes up in games. What I have found surprising, however, is how overwhelmingly negative religion is portrayed in most games. So, I wanted to ask around, and see just how many games have anti-religious sentiment, mainly out of curiosity. So, post a game that you've played that has anti-theist themes in them. To start of when an easy one, God of War is all about murdering the Greek pantheon in the most brutal way possible. One of my favorites, personally :twisted:.
Mass effect lore has religions being shaken to pieces and losing most of its sway when aliens were discovered (and after some moves by cerberus)
Dragon age has many religious people looking like crazies, the church is corrupt, and it seems more like a military occupation in some areas and less like a religion
In diablo the angelic figures that represent what the church maintained is good are instead shown to be vain and see humanity less as a race to guard and more of a tool to fight the demons
Those are a few off the top of my head
Mass Effect has a line from commander Shepard where she says, "I have a little faith." And the fact that she has a specialist in the third series that is definitely a lesbian is against the Christian right. And then there is Liara a mono gender noted for their sexual promiscuous ways with any species. And the synthetic with the great camel toe and exaggerated figure is very sexy and wants to know if she can make moral changes in her programming to love the pilot. I love this game more than any other. They even have a homosexual relationship in the third series. Liara's dad tells her if sex for her is civil she isn't doing it right. And in the third series Aria kisses commander Shepard on the mouth, as a female, saying she never knew she'd have another partner. I can't wait until the knew game comes out where you can play other characters. Best video game ever in my opinion. If you have a very good graphics computer the graphics in the three series are awesome. Solitary
Mass Effect caused quite a stir with some religious people, that ultimately led to nothing, just trolling. The only issue I take with that trilogy is the giant shit the developers took on its ending that later on needed fixing and the fixing was not much of a fix.
How about a classic of the genre, Doom and Doom 2. You've got two whole games with a storyline centering around demonic forces, and the final boss as an "easter egg" is one of the developers at id Software, John Romero's head on a stick, hidden behind a demon's face, uttering the words "to win the game, you must kill me, John Romero". I like to think of it as one giant troll if you regard it from that angle.
Quote from: "Shol'va"Mass Effect caused quite a stir with some religious people, that ultimately led to nothing, just trolling. The only issue I take with that trilogy is the giant shit the developers took on its ending that later on needed fixing and the fixing was not much of a fix.
How about a classic of the genre, Doom and Doom 2. You've got two whole games with a storyline centering around demonic forces, and the final boss as an "easter egg" is one of the developers at id Software, John Romero's head on a stick, hidden behind a demon's face, uttering the words "to win the game, you must kill me, John Romero". I like to think of it as one giant troll if you regard it from that angle.
Don't even mention that ending
Oh crap, I forgot to not speak of the unspeakable.
Mass Effect is a fantastic trilogy. I've been wanting to do a replay with a fem Shepard for a long time.
I love mass effect, it's my favorite game series ever. But that ending was very unfitting for the game.
Most people view Citadel DLC as the spiritual ending of the game, and it works well, very nostalgic.
Still...ending was terrible
If you do a femshep romance Garrus!
Team alien FTW
I actually liked the ending to Mass Effect 3. Better than the crappy endings of the first two games. Shepard stares into space dramatically! THE END.
Another great one is Dead Space(The first one is the only good one, BTW). Those crazy space scientologists and their death wishes.
Altman be praised.
Quote from: "Insult to Rocks"I actually liked the ending to Mass Effect 3. Better than the crappy endings of the first two games. Shepard stares into space dramatically! THE END.
Another great one is Dead Space(The first one is the only good one, BTW). Those crazy space scientologists and their death wishes.
Altman be praised.
No
I like dead space though, it's a good representation of religious fanatics
Quote from: "Insult to Rocks"So, as an avid gamer and an outspoken atheist, I always take notice when religion comes up in games. What I have found surprising, however, is how overwhelmingly negative religion is portrayed in most games. So, I wanted to ask around, and see just how many games have anti-religious sentiment, mainly out of curiosity. So, post a game that you've played that has anti-theist themes in them.
While not anti-religious per se, Medieval 2 Total War had an interesting take on it. Both Christians and Muslims are unrepentantly zealous and aggressively proselytize each other (any religious sentiment in a province other than its "native" religion quickly leads to civil unrest). Christian nations are beholden to the Pope, who occasionally calls for Crusades, and not staying in his good graces can quickly get your entire nation excommunicated and almost certainly destroyed by rival Christian kingdoms. Muslim nations, in contrast, are more or less left to their own devices. Christian royalty can become targeted by the inquisition (which tends to end badly for them). But you can also work your own influence into the Vatican, getting your people promoted to Cardinal or even Pope and using his influence to hurt your rivals (failing that, it's not impossible to have the Pope assassinated).
The take-home lesson is that religion is simply a tool to exert power over others.
Quote from: "Hydra009"Quote from: "Insult to Rocks"So, as an avid gamer and an outspoken atheist, I always take notice when religion comes up in games. What I have found surprising, however, is how overwhelmingly negative religion is portrayed in most games. So, I wanted to ask around, and see just how many games have anti-religious sentiment, mainly out of curiosity. So, post a game that you've played that has anti-theist themes in them.
While not anti-religious per se, Medieval 2 Total War had an interesting take on it. Both Christians and Muslims are unrepentantly zealous and aggressively proselytize each other (any religious sentiment in a province other than its "native" religion quickly leads to civil unrest). Christian nations are beholden to the Pope, who occasionally calls for Crusades, and not staying in his good graces can quickly get your entire nation excommunicated and almost certainly destroyed by rival Christian kingdoms. Muslim nations, in contrast, are more or less left to their own devices. Christian royalty can become targeted by the inquisition (which tends to end badly for them). But you can also work your own influence into the Vatican, getting your people promoted to Cardinal or even Pope and using his influence to hurt your rivals (failing that, it's not impossible to have the Pope assassinated).
The take-home lesson is that religion is simply a tool to exert power over others.
To be totally fair, the medieval era was kinda like that. It's also know as "The Dark Ages" for a reason.
I have an old PC game "Mafia". One of the episodes is a shootout in a Catholic Church. The Mafia guy pays off the reluctant priest for "church repairs" with an envelope of hard cash (I can't remember, but I think it was supposed to be "keep quiet" money). The priest takes it, but acts like he doesn't approve of blood money, but of course he takes it.
I've also noticed that quite a few protagonists in games, TV, and film claim to not believe in god. I guess this is supposed to give them an edgy quality, since they're somewhat bad ass heroes. Dexter comes to mind. And of course in the Avengers, the only hero that seemed to have any spirituality was Captain America, who was usually portrayed as the odd man out or kind of a tag along that no one paid much attention to. He was reawakened from his cyber sleep and still carried a lot of old time 1940s mindset.
Here's one that's actually fairly anti-religious: Sins of a Solar Empire.
It's a space RTS game depicting a three-way war. Humanity has colonized much of the galaxy and simply call themselves Traders (their military is the Trader Emergency Coalition or TEC) and as the name implies, is heavily into interstellar trade, with emphasis on industry and engineering as well as a consumerist culture. One thing is notable in its absence: religion. The implication is that this is a thoroughly secular society.
It wasn't always this way. One world, a barren desert planet, was fervently religious and its populous dabbled in genetic engineering and a whole range of unspecified social and scientific taboos. The narrator's voice quickly turns to a mixture of disgust and hatred in describing how his Trader ancestors exiled this "sinful society of deviants" into the depths of space. But these religious fanatics did not simply die, they continued their experiments, perfected their technology, and returned as a theocracy of linked psychics at the helm of a vast fleet of warships hellbent on a crusade of revenge. Creepy doesn't even begin to describe them (//https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLWM_bxcZLI). *shudders*
While it's not stated outright, the military struggle between the Advent and the TEC is also a clash of theocracy versus secularism.
In my opinion being an "outspoken atheist" has it's drawbacks. Atheism is not a religion, and if you are an "outspoken atheist" on the Internet you are not going to have much fun in most scenarios, unless you are the type that likes to laugh at religious nuts. I laugh a little, but mostly get disappointed when I see the fundies slamming their keyboards in spiteful rage over their mental delusions.
Bioshock Infinite wasn't mentioned yet, really? The entire game is basically a f.u. to he corrupt history of the church in America and the xenophobia, racism and elitism it promoted in American history.
In RuneScape, a god of balance called Guthix put up a barrier around the players world Gielinor (the main realm) to prevent other war-like gods from interfering with the inhabitants of Gielinor. These Edicts of Guthix hold the peace for thousands of years until a Majarrat called Sliske murders Guthix in a quest, The World Wakes. The Edicts of Guthix are broken and the other gods, that were held out by Guthix, return. This marks the end of the 5th Age of Gielinor.
Anyways, all the gods had followers and those who followed Guthix broke off and formed The Godless. In the game you can choose between 8 factions, where The Godless is one of them.
This is the origin story up to the 5th Age:
[youtube:3nr92q10]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TB88piitm9o[/youtube:3nr92q10]
Since I can't believe no-one has mentioned this yet: In Shin-Megami Tensai 2, you get to kill Yahweh if you so wish....
Man, I really have to get this game. :twisted:
Fallout 3 (or 4 don't remember) has this "church of atom" and they pray to an atomic bomb that didn't explode, the radiation of the bomb has some effects on them mentally, so they keep worshiping the bomb :P. I think they feel good because of the radiation or they have mental problems because of it, one of those, or both don't remember.
Quote from: "Alloy Crow"Fallout 3 (or 4 don't remember) has this "church of atom" and they pray to an atomic bomb that didn't explode, the radiation of the bomb has some effects on them mentally, so they keep worshiping the bomb :P. I think they feel good because of the radiation or they have mental problems because of it, one of those, or both don't remember.
That would be 3, as 4 doesn't currently exist. :(
I do remember one thing from Everquest, you take different gods in order to get different diplomatic perks, and there was both agnostic and atheist as options. Agnostic out you on a neutral basis, and atheist got you hated by everyone
Just like real life!
Quote from: "Insult to rocks"Those crazy space scientologists and their death wishes.
Altman be praised.
I know why you wrote space scientologists, quite a fitting description, but for those that haven't played the game, the actual name of the religious views portrayed is unitology. And personally, every time I think of unitarians, I think unitologists.
Quote from: "Shol'va"Quote from: "Insult to rocks"Those crazy space scientologists and their death wishes.
Altman be praised.
I know why you wrote space scientologists, quite a fitting description, but for those that haven't played the game, the actual name of the religious views portrayed is unitology. And personally, every time I think of unitarians, I think unitologists.
At any rate; unitologists represent religious fanaticism at its finest. Yaaaaaayyy
As a side note, the movie for deadspace scared the crap out of me
Movie? What movie? Do you mean the game cinematics? Dead Space 2 and 3 are also great games. I'm hoping there will be more, the universe has so much potential.
Quote from: "Shiranu"Bioshock Infinite wasn't mentioned yet, really? The entire game is basically a f.u. to he corrupt history of the church in America and the xenophobia, racism and elitism it promoted in American history.
I LOVE Bioshock Infinite. Probably my favorite story based game ever.
Quote from: "Alloy Crow"Fallout 3 (or 4 don't remember) has this "church of atom" and they pray to an atomic bomb that didn't explode, the radiation of the bomb has some effects on them mentally, so they keep worshiping the bomb :P. I think they feel good because of the radiation or they have mental problems because of it, one of those, or both don't remember.
This actually reminds me of one of the
Planet of the Apes sequels.
QuoteWhile not anti-religious per se, Medieval 2 Total War had an interesting take on it. Both Christians and Muslims are unrepentantly zealous and aggressively proselytize each other (any religious sentiment in a province other than its "native" religion quickly leads to civil unrest). Christian nations are beholden to the Pope, who occasionally calls for Crusades, and not staying in his good graces can quickly get your entire nation excommunicated and almost certainly destroyed by rival Christian kingdoms. Muslim nations, in contrast, are more or less left to their own devices. Christian royalty can become targeted by the inquisition (which tends to end badly for them). But you can also work your own influence into the Vatican, getting your people promoted to Cardinal or even Pope and using his influence to hurt your rivals (failing that, it's not impossible to have the Pope assassinated).
The take-home lesson is that religion is simply a tool to exert power over others.
I love how, while playing Medieval 2, you were always looking at the favor meter with the Pope and thinking "nice, Country X is losing favor... the moment they get excommunicated I'm going to kill everyone and take their land."
Just like in the real world. It really was just a tool to be used to acquire more power.
In Rise of Nations, you advance a civilization through the ages, from antiquity to modernity. You can build a temple and research religion, then monotheism, and then existentialism. It is the final upgrade.
If I remember correctly in Empire Earth you could build a temple and then train Priests to convert enemy units. Unless those units were near a University in which case the Priests' conversion powers stopped working and they became completely useless :)
I love Aveline Vallen in Dragon Age 2. Even though her late husband was a pious Templar, she herself never believes in afterlife and deities.
Quote from: "Shol'va"Movie? What movie? Do you mean the game cinematics? Dead Space 2 and 3 are also great games. I'm hoping there will be more, the universe has so much potential.
Dead space: Downfall
It's a cartoon that talks about the colony and the ishimura before the necromorphs. When they find the original marker and whatnot
And of course there's murder and mayhem and graphic violence
Watch it!
Hehe, I remember in Castelvania for the DS there's a mission where you have to rip out the eyes out of a statue of the Virgin Mary. And after you did it blood would come out so it'd look like she were crying blood.
Borderlands series has SLIGHT atheist/anti theist stuff in it that i enjoy :D
In Mass Effect Shepard says I have a little faith, and asks Ashley if she is a religious fanatic, and if she has a problem with those that aren't. Love that video game! Solitary
(//http://i.imgur.com/0vuhAMl.jpg) (//http://imgur.com/0vuhAMl)
Quote from: Riot401 on March 09, 2014, 11:31:46 PM
Borderlands series has SLIGHT atheist/anti theist stuff in it that i enjoy :D
This was the example I was going to mention. The most overt example has to do with the respawn system. When you die, you are digitally reconstructed and reconstructed at the last save point. You are billed some money and the machine gives you a random message. Some of these are things like "afterlife, schmafterlife" or noting how you're really dead and you are now a copy of your original self (sort of destroying the notion of dualism).
I think more than anything the games have to do with the demographics, and teenage years are by and large those of rebellion against the establishment, which just so happens that organized religion is part of.
This may not be 'atheism' per se... but still.
In the 'Tomb Raider' reboot you get a Lara Croft with a lot more character-depth and -development. There are supernatural (or at least unexplainable) powers at hand. Lara is skeptic, however, and for the longest time tries to rationalize what is happening around her. It's a great game, in my opinion, but I remember the first time I played it I was thinking 'oh, boy, here comes the message about accepting there are forces at work beyond our understanding'. The game's storyline makes it a battle between her rational side and what she's currently experiencing. And I felt like they were telling the player that personal experience trumps reason. But on playing it for the second time, I think I don't actually remember her giving up on this being an explainable phenomenon, she merely accepted that she personally didn't know and needed to adapt to the best of her options to survive.
Maybe this is a bit to broad, what do you think?
I think the game would be boring without that supernatural angle, so in a sense it's a necessary evil.
Quote from: Shol'va on April 03, 2014, 01:55:13 PM
I think the game would be boring without that supernatural angle, so in a sense it's a necessary evil.
True, true
I actually got more inspiration from Zelda: Ocarina of Time than I ever did from religion.
while i don't think it needs to be class as athiesm itself, there are more then likely many gaming characters who do fall under the category of a non-theist. Lara croft might be one since she's an explorer who uses rationality, any scientist in gaming would also likely follow this role.
It really depends on the setting itself the characters are in, while in a real world themed game you could play to the idea of it, in an rpg based game, like LOTRO, guild wars, wow, skyrim, all the magic and spirituality exists in front of you, so it stands to reason people would follow such magics as it presents itself in tactile often physical form, even gods do in fantasy genres.
Its really all down to the setting. God and every other religion is a myth, and games are often about myth making. Even comic books like marvel or dc open up to showing godly beings that exist, heck marvel even has its own version of god, http://marvel.wikia.com/One-Above-All_(Multiverse), so even in that kind of setting it doesn't gel with the real world.
Though I was happy seeing beast, one of my all time fav x-men, admit he's an atheist (not gaming related sorry, just had to mention it).
You want to know the best incarnation of "god" in video games ever????
FOR THE EMPEROR!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18moPwvPkIQ
The Emperor is a good example of an atheist character. His Imperial Truth was atheistic and the current religious zeal of the Imperium is based off of Lorgar's insistence that the Emperor was a god.
Additionally, some of the Mechanicum do not actually believe in the Omnissiah. Techpriest Koriel Zeth is one such example. Also, the extra-heredical Logicians seem fairly irreligious - its foundational text denounces the Ecclesiarchy's "tyranny of lies" concerning the god-Emperor but they don't seem to anything to do with the Dark Gods, either. So put them up as a maybe.
Quote from: Hydra009 on June 15, 2014, 11:58:15 PM
The Emperor is a good example of an atheist character. His Imperial Truth was atheistic and the current religious zeal of the Imperium is based off of Lorgar's insistence that the Emperor was a god.
Additionally, some of the Mechanicum do not actually believe in the Omnissiah. Techpriest Koriel Zeth is one such example. Also, the extra-heredical Logicians seem fairly irreligious - its foundational text denounces the Ecclesiarchy's "tyranny of lies" concerning the god-Emperor but they don't seem to anything to do with the Dark Gods, either. So put them up as a maybe.
You can't deny that as for a powerful, ruling being he is the coolest.