Religion, Mythos and Videogames

“Gun-fire followed by gospel”, such were themes set across most parts of America for recruiting young congregants. This was related to the use of the videogame ‘Halo’ as a major attraction to get young minds to attend religious congregations, ironically in a religion that explicitly states, ‘Thou shall not kill’. However, what drew my attention to this news was not of a comedy of errors but of the game in question itself. ‘Halo’, as steeped it is in violent and almost comical space shooter lore, is in its core a battle between religious beliefs. The bad guys, i.e the ‘Covenant’ are a theocratic military alliance of races united under the religious worship of the enigmatic ‘Forerunners’ and their belief that Forerunner ringworlds known as Halos will provide a path to salvation. The fact that the Covenant is an alien race makes the game sedate in its effect on gamers who miss the fact that they are at the least, fighting off religious fanatics!

Religion’s effect on any person is very core and defining, although over the years a sense of disillusionment and criticism has crept in. Subtle religious overtones and mythological references are embedded in every form of expression including video games. The medium’s interplay between interactivity and storyline can give quite an interesting dimension.

Most of the successful game franchises developed in Japan and the West have incorporated some form of fantasy worlds, be it middle ages, alternate realities and even the outer realms of space. In order to paint a richer environment and plot, these worlds are heavily influenced by old myths and gods. The difference between the Western and Japanese origin games is in the way in which these icons are portrayed. While most western developers are shy of poking around identifiable ideas/icons in religion, most Japanese games portray them with abandon. Usage of the gods as nemesis (‘God of War series’) and summoned avatars during battles (‘Final Fantasy series’), the Japanese have used rich mythological and religious imagery. So while the land of the rising sun may be construed as being obsessed with angles being evil and witches and demons being the good guys, the western audiences are more receptive to evil being fought by angles and other champions of the light. Japan in this sense, has a more open take on religion as glancing though some of these games one notices characters that are portrayed as hard core priests, sects of nuns in daring costumes and church leaders who are corrupt. Infact, in most of the Japanese role playing games of the Nintendo and the Playstation era, monotheistic gods, churches and the people who work for them are key villains, which are concepts that the westerners would find considerably more unnerving.

However, touchy as we are on all things religion, a game like ‘Hanuman:Boy Warrior’, was more of disappointment rather that controversial. A hindu group in the US, had actually filed a suit stating that making a god interact via the players actions was downright sacrilegious. What was beyond sacrilegious was the fact that such a rich story from a great epic was being dumbed down to feed the lowest common denominator.

All is not lost though; imagine a game in which one could participate in most the great epics that most of us grew up on. The lack of a really sincere and creative effort in this direction, is why most of us would rather drool over the sight of Batman and other such super hero games. To be able to convert entire epics into a large role playing/real time strategy game would serve the purpose of dissemination more to today’s jaded youth. It is only the lack of a creative execution and the will to stick to the core tenets of the saga that such an idea may find resistance.

Judging by the rich mythological cachet that India has, it would be a shame to either fritter it away on games that lack credulity and glorify violence or to ignore it completely.