Report Study: Video games depict religion as violent and problematic.

[tom_mai78101]

Many newer-generation video games equate religion with violence, finds a new study from the University of Missouri.

Greg Perreault, a doctoral student in the university’s School of Journalism, recently examined five titles that incorporate spiritual themes in their storylines — Mass Effect 2, Final Fantasy XIII, Assassin’s Creed, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. He found that each game “problematized religion” by closely tying it to violence.

“In most of these games there was a heavy emphasis on a ‘Knights Templar’ and crusader motifs,” he said. “Not only was the violent side of religion emphasized, but in each of these games religion created a problem that the main character must overcome, whether it is a direct confrontation with religious zealots or being haunted by religious guilt.”

Perreault (pictured) tells VentureBeat his study did not originally focus on violence. “In general, I tend to think that studies of violence in video games are passe. I set out interested in the depictions of organized religions versus spiritual religions, expecting to find organized religions depicted far more poorly than spiritual [ones].”

Study: Video games depict religion as violent and problematic (interview)

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[Accname]

I guess they want to depict the real life, i can say that i depict religion rather violent in my games as well because thats how it is done in the real world.

 

[Hatebreeder]

I guess they want to depict the real life, i can say that i depict religion rather violent in my games as well because thats how it is done in the real world.

I agree.
The Inquisition wasn't violent.

 

[Darkrider]

I believe that a game cannot depict the violence religion brought to the world because it's a game. Religion made unspeakable things to mankind and now they complaint about people showing it? are you ashamed of your past? you should be

which hunts, threats for discrepancy, killings, torture for homosexuality, infidelity, rapists, mass murder, blind obedience to god's word which was forbidden to people who didn't know latin, and I can keep going on and on and on....

 

[Accname]

Thats not religion, thats just the normal human behavior. People did all those cruel things without religion being involved too. But religion is always a good point to start from.

 

[FireCat]

People did all those cruel things without religion being involved too.

But mostly "Religion is the Cause of Violence in human history."

 

[T.s.e]

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you a study with a wooping sample size of 5. I really dunno why he thinks he can draw conclusions from that.

 

[Accname]

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you a study with a wooping sample size of 5. I really dunno why he thinks he can draw conclusions from that.

I dont think study is the right word for what is meant. Because you really cannot say he is wrong, those 5 games might very well depict religion as something violent. And of course, you cannot draw any conclusion to how other games depict religion out of 5 examples, but on the other hand, how many games actually deal with religion and its role in society? i think it is fair to pick only those which actually do.

 

[Slapshot136]

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you a study with a wooping sample size of 5. I really dunno why he thinks he can draw conclusions from that.

well, those are all very popular games..

I still don't see it as a problem, or even related only to video games - people want entertainment out of video games, and they would be boring if "religion" was just go to church and pray - lets look at other sources of entertainment - do movies focus on the peaceful side of religion? nope - does the news focus on the peaceful day-to-day life of people? nope - they focus on the violent and extreme because that is what is interesting and entertaining.. if we wanted boring, we would just look at our own life

 

[TheLegend]

Assassins Creed does not show that a religion is the cause of violence but that some use religion to cover their evil intentions. The game doesn't say that christianity is a bad religion AND IT IS SAID INGAME that Templars are a sect that sees differently than christians and aim for the worlds destruction instead of salvation. That makes the game not criticize religion but a group of people who misunderstand religion or use it for crime, Assassins Creed is a work of fiction but you should ask yourselves if there is any truth in it

 

[Lobster]

To be fair, its pretty much a cliche in a lot of rpgs/jrpgs/fantasy games that religion is evil.

Though, off the top of my head it's normally a jrpg thing so we can probably ignore it.

 

[xPass]

To be honest, it's religion that cause many "you-know-what-"s in the past though :/
Now, what's wrong with showing the truth of humanity?

 

[Varine]

So do books. And movies. Even most religions depict other religions as problematic.... What's with all the hate towards video games?

 

[FireCat]

What's with all the hate towards video games?

Maybe because video games can cause,contribute to violence?

 

[camelCase]

No.

 

[Darkrider]

problem here has always been and will be people. Disturbed people might became violent because of videogames, movies or waiting in line for the bank. So I don't really think videogames can contribute to people's behaviour. I have played every single violent videogame I could get my hands on since I'm 10 or less and never became a violent person nor anti-social nor drug abuser nor anything. Blaming things for human behaviour is avoiding the real issue. Now, showing religion for what it was I believe is not a problem but a part of the solution for it not to happen again. If not for assassins creed or those games a lot of youngsters would've never known what inquisition was or crusaders were because some people likes to hide those facts


Guess this got out my hands

 

[Accname]

[...]
If not for assassins creed or those games a lot of youngsters would've never known what inquisition was or crusaders were because some people likes to hide those facts


Guess this got out my hands

Every heard of history lessons?

 

[Slapshot136]

Every heard of history lessons?

In the U.S. you don't learn about that in history - every year in history, you start around 1600 with the colonies, and slowly work up from there, usually ending somewhere in the middle of the industrial revolution - I learned it all from Age of Empires mostly

(disclaimer: there are OPTIONAL history classes that would cover that, but they are not required and generally not taken, and not until the last 2 years of high school anyways)

 

[Darkrider]

In the U.S. you don't learn about that in history - every year in history, you start around 1600 with the colonies, and slowly work up from there, usually ending somewhere in the middle of the industrial revolution - I learned it all from Age of Empires mostly

(disclaimer: there are OPTIONAL history classes that would cover that, but they are not required and generally not taken, and not until the last 2 years of high school anyways)

Same here (Argentina). If it wouldn've been for discovery and games I wouldn't have ever heard about templars. Education is so deficient here. We see a lot of national history and some industrial revolution. But that kind of history or ancient history is not even mentioned

 

[Varine]

Maybe because video games can cause,contribute to violence?

And books and movies and bad parenting don't?

I took AP History. Our curriculum was literally several weeks on women's rights (seriously. Like every week we had an essay on women's rights in that era), and then some time on why Wilson was a baller (he wasn't), then some time on why Obama was the best choice for President, a week on WWII (of which about an hour was spent on the Holocaust, we skipped the whole Russian Holodomor thing entirely, and then basically were told that the Japanese internment wasn't fair and we couldn't argue), and then two days on Vietnam and everything after that. And at some point we spent a while on the revolution. More or less though the class was on women's rights through the last hundred and fifty years.