Is playing certain video games a sin?

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I have been playing ‘Tropico’ lately. You build up an economically backward town into a thriving city, and you have many ways of doing it. You can be capitalist or communist or fascist, etc. I normally play capitalist but I find it fun playing as a communist or militaristic regime, jailing people into convict labour who disagree and crushing rebellions. Is that sinful?

Thanks.
 
MartyrForJesus said:
I have been playing ‘Tropico’ lately. You build up an economically backward town into a thriving city, and you have many ways of doing it. You can be capitalist or communist or fascist, etc. I normally play capitalist but I find it fun playing as a communist or militaristic regime, jailing people into convict labour who disagree and crushing rebellions. Is that sinful?

Thanks.
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I play computer games often and have for many years.

Yet, the games I play often parallel who I see myself. For instance, I enjoy game characters that defend the innocent and send any minions of evil back into the abyss because I have *always *appreciated in real life that good is stronger than evil.

That said, it is harder for me to play game characters with darker or malevolent intents because I (the player) can’t easily wrap my head around the motivations or benefits of being an morally gray to outright evil character.

In 2007, Pope Benedict addressed the World Communications Day in a message that decried things such as animated films and video games:
“Any trend to produce programs and products – including animated films and video games – which in the name of entertainment exalt violence and portray anti-social behavior or the trivialization of human sexuality is a perversion, all the more repulsive when these programs are directed at children and adolescents.”
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While playing any video game isn’t a sin in and of itself, such games can lead those into the occasion of sin if the person who plays them is still learning the nature of right and wrong, of good and evil, of morality and immorality.

Video games are just pixels on a viewscreen. However, as the Pope seems to reflect, the closer that a virtual game emulates the morality and reality of the actual world, the more likely that confusion can generate in a person’s actual behavior.

In short, my experience is that you are a witness to Christ in how you behave–at all times. The virtual slaughter of foes in a computer game should have a Just War property to it (such matters often also make for a good story).

“Tropico” is a virtual simulation that can illustrate many problems in socioeconomic principles, and that can be a good thing in teaching the young such principles. But when the principle is detached from the suffering, terror and pain that a society feels–well, video game characters can’t feel–but *you *do.
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How would you feel if you were the subjects in the game where you have ultimate power? Remember that reality has a true consequence and that video games often neglect to show consequence in a way where you can–and should–be sympathetic.
 
MartyrForJesus said:
I have been playing ‘Tropico’ lately. You build up an economically backward town into a thriving city, and you have many ways of doing it. You can be capitalist or communist or fascist, etc. I normally play capitalist but I find it fun playing as a communist or militaristic regime, jailing people into convict labour who disagree and crushing rebellions. Is that sinful?

Thanks.
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No.
 
I’m going to wager that you’ll likely never El Presidente of a Caribbean island and will never get an opportunity to head a military regime. As such, I think it’s safe to say that this game is not teaching you anything bad that you could implement in real life.

Definitely not a sin. However, I agree with Spencerian in that you should avoid indulging in virtual sadism at the risk of confusing your morality.
 
Spencerian said:
I play computer games often and have for many years.

Yet, the games I play often parallel who I see myself. For instance, I enjoy game characters that defend the innocent and send any minions of evil back into the abyss because I have *always *appreciated in real life that good is stronger than evil.

That said, it is harder for me to play game characters with darker or malevolent intents because I (the player) can’t easily wrap my head around the motivations or benefits of being an morally gray to outright evil character.

In 2007, Pope Benedict addressed the World Communications Day in a message that decried things such as animated films and video games:

While playing any video game isn’t a sin in and of itself, such games can lead those into the occasion of sin if the person who plays them is still learning the nature of right and wrong, of good and evil, of morality and immorality.

Video games are just pixels on a viewscreen. However, as the Pope seems to reflect, the closer that a virtual game emulates the morality and reality of the actual world, the more likely that confusion can generate in a person’s actual behavior.

In short, my experience is that you are a witness to Christ in how you behave–at all times. The virtual slaughter of foes in a computer game should have a Just War property to it (such matters often also make for a good story).

“Tropico” is a virtual simulation that can illustrate many problems in socioeconomic principles, and that can be a good thing in teaching the young such principles. But when the principle is detached from the suffering, terror and pain that a society feels–well, video game characters can’t feel–but *you *do.
**
How would *you ***feel if you were the subjects in the game where you have ultimate power? Remember that reality has a true consequence and that video games often neglect to show consequence in a way where you can–and should–be sympathetic.
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What about if you just enjoy playing as a communist, without having a sadistic pleasure from the suffering of others?

Thanks for the incredibly informative response by the way. Very helpful.
 
I asked a traditional (SSPX) priest in confession if playing video games where you kill people was a mortal sin, and he said it wasn’t.
 
MartyrForJesus said:
What about if you just enjoy playing as a communist, without having a sadistic pleasure from the suffering of others?

Thanks for the incredibly informative response by the way. Very helpful.
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Funny Fact About Video Games: As much as they try to be realistic, they’ll always get something wrong. Apparently, from your posts, playing communist allows for some very interesting game mechanics. I can’t say you’ll get the same effect in real life though.

I suppose it’s equivalent to enjoying necromantic job classes/factions in fantasy games. Real necromancy is bad (if it even exists) but I’m not denying either the legality or the apparent advantages that comes with recycling the bodies of both your dead units and your enemy’s 😛

That and I may feel the same way about it as you do for playing communist in the game. There’s just something edifying at the sight of an undead horde, ready to rush ravenously at the point of a finger. :cool:
 
I play alot of starcraft and battlefield, the latter which has intense swearing and violence in single player mode, let alone multiplayer… As someone pointed out to me, as long as you play in moderation and keep the ideas you pick up in the games strictly in the games it should be fine (like dont let it affect your thinking)… Leave all the malicious thoughts that you may have picked up in the games behind and dont get addicted. Dont let it run your life and be an addiction. play in moderation. We were made to glorify God and I doubt we could do that by playing video games all day.
 
MartyrForJesus said:
Is that sinful?
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Not in and of itself. 🙂

Anything can BECOME sinful, if you find some reason for it to be. Like smoking, when you have a spouse who will be depending on your staying alive. (well, I’m not saying smoking when unmarried is clean either.)
 
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