Gameology: Commentary and Resources for the Game Studies Community

This sounds like a very important game. We definitely need more religious diversity in games, especially games that approach diversity in open-minded or friendly manners.

Games already teach different religions collaterally through their narratives. Many games incorporate spiritual elements of Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism, Shintoism, Feng Shui (as geomancy), and Christianity, and then there are the games that explicitly teach religious ideas, like the Left Behind games you mention. Despite the many games that implicitly and explicitly include religion, there seems to be a noticable lack of games that deal with Islam and Judaism. Games that promote understanding, education, and discussion are always needed and this game is especially relevant given the current social climate.

Laurie: "This sounds like a very important game."

It is.

Laurie: "We definitely need more religious diversity in games, especially games that approach diversity in open-minded or friendly manners."

Left Behind: Eternal Forces indoctrinates children in Christian supremacy and rehearses mass killing in the name of Christ, or the AntiChrist (children's choice).

Laurie: "Games already teach different religions collaterally through their narratives. Many games incorporate spiritual elements of Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism, Shintoism, Feng Shui (as geomancy), and Christianity, and then there are the games that explicitly teach religious ideas, like the Left Behind games you mention. Despite the many games that implicitly and explicitly include religion, there seems to be a noticable lack of games that deal with Islam and Judaism."

Religious diversity in video games is a good thing. Christian supremacy is a bad thing. The Left Behind video game does deal with Islam and Judaism -- by converting or killing New Yorkers.

You wrote the original article that got this Left Behind ball rolling again, didn't you? Good stuff.

It seems that one aspect that has to be considered is the nature of play encouraged or allowed within the game. I mean, Left Behind: Eternal Forces has a problem because it's built on a Good vs. Evil or Us. vs. Them equation in which if you're not Us, you're Evil. I'd argue that while that kind of conflict isn't unusual in games, the real reason it strikes a nerve is that it is based on and resonates with that same attitude from the "real world." As you know, there are particular individuals and movements within the Evangelical movement that base their whole ministry on that kind of militaristic logic, so what I think strikes a nerve is the fact that people see it represented so clearly and blatantly in the game.

Of course, we're also talking about culture here, so while a pro-Islam educational game may be implicitly Arab-centric, it doesn't necessarily have to promote supremacy. That's why I think this Al-Quraysh game is so interesting. At least as its described in the CSM article, it's not adversarial at all, and any impression that it is might be due to its conflation with other alleged jihadist games that have been floating around the media lately.

I think there's some indefinite pronoun confusion. My positive comments were in relation to Al-Quraysh, not Left Behind as it seems like they may have been read. The Left Behind games are indeed a major problem, and one that the Al-Quraysh game could help to correct.

2 wrongs do not make a right..