Something creepy

This blog has (among many other, more important functions) shown me the multitude of different ways in which people procrastinate. For what it's worth, I procrastinate by reading the news compulsively, and I just came across an article on BBC.com about this game called "Left Behind: Eternal Forces." Maybe some of you have heard about the Left Behind book series, which is a Christian series about, as far as I can tell, the apocalypse. The series is bestselling, and it looks like now they've made a game based off of it. Sounds like a pretty typical formula.

The reason it's controversial is that the game is extremely violent (it's rated "T" for teen because it's violent"), and the violence is religious violence: you command the "Tribulation Force" (good) against the "Global Community" (bad.) Critics-- which include liberal Christian groups-- say that it promotes religious warfare and dehumanizes everyone who's not a Christian (or even a Christian of the right denomination.) A coalition of these liberal groups is calling on WalMart to stop carrying the game. (Fat chance, I say.) Supporters of the game point out that the words "Christian" and "convert" are never used in the game, and that although the game is a tool for evangelism, it's a subtle one.

Further down in the article, the author mentions another violent religious video game, released by something called the Global Islamic Media Front, and called "Quest for Bush" (or, the literal translation from the Arabic, "Night of Bush Hunting.") I guess I feel like violence is bad, period, and religious violence is sometimes worse because people think that they're justified in it, so both of these games concern me.

However, Brian Crecente, a games writer, has this to say about Left Behind: Eternal Forces and Quest for Bush: "Whenever games take on something important, they are accused of trivialising the subject," he says. This shows that video games have gotten past the birthing pains. They are no longer just about amusing people, but about trying to send a message." Sound like anything we've read this semester?