Is this blasphemous or sacreligious?

[JackVk]

My brother has a game called Fallout:New Vegas, which takes place in the future after a nuclear war. He is currently playing an expansion to the game called “Dead Money”, in which he has to get into an old casino in Sierra Madre. One character in this is a mutant with multiple personality disorder. One personality is “Dog”, in which he isn’t very smart and, well, kinda acts and thinks like a dog. The other is “God”, in which he is smart, but cruel and cynical.

Does naming a person “God”, especially someone who isn’t loving or friendly, constitute blasphemy? I really feel like it does, but am I being scrupulous? I understand that the two names are palindromes.

 

[grasscutter]

It seems like blasphemy to me.

 

[nicolep]

Typically, I’m easy-going with entertainment and tend to not think things are blasphemous or sacrilegious. This one though, I have to agree seems like blasphemy to me.

 

[Whitacre_Girl]

I don’t think this is blasphemy. It’s showing a palindrome, and actually speaks about the mentality of many with multiple personalities. It isn’t uncommon to have one personality have a superiority complex and call oneself “God” and behave very cruelly to others. I’ve known a few people with MPD, and one of them called himself “Lord” in that he believed he was the Lord over all the lesser beings on the planet and could be rude to whomever he wanted. I was one of the few people who stood by my friend through this because I told that personality that I wasn’t about to take his ****. That only made him angry, but he respected me for ignoring him what that came out and letting teachers/officals know when it happened so they could get him help. His MPD was borne out of severe trauma.

So no, it’s not blasphemous but shows an ugly side of MPD.

 

[nicolep]

While I understand where WhitakerGirl is coming from, I have to respectfully disagree. The game is depicting God as cruel and cynical. I don’t see how that isn’t blasphemous.

 

[Whitacre_Girl]

While I understand where WhitakerGirl is coming from, I have to respectfully disagree. The game is depicting God as cruel and cynical. I don’t see how that isn’t blasphemous.

I would agre with that totally if it weren’t a completely common and almost stereotypical situation facing people with mental illnesses.

Of the options facing game designers, “Dog” and “God” as a palindrome really is kind of a brilliant way to present it. THere are few other names for deities that work as a palindrome for something that is generally seen as kind and loyal, while also being rather dumb.

I also see it as a good way to show the personality of a person who would dare think of themself as “God.” It takes someone who is pretty messed up.

I would ONLY think this was blasphemous if the actual deity of the game were a cruel personality.

 

[nicolep]

I would agre with that totally if it weren’t a completely common and almost stereotypical situation facing people with mental illnesses.

Of the options facing game designers, “Dog” and “God” as a palindrome really is kind of a brilliant way to present it. THere are few other names for deities that work as a palindrome for something that is generally seen as kind and loyal, while also being rather dumb.

I also see it as a good way to show the personality of a person who would dare think of themself as “God.” It takes someone who is pretty messed up.

I would ONLY think this was blasphemous if the actual deity of the game were a cruel personality.

I realized I spelled your SN incorrectly above. Sorry!

Maybe I don’t understand the game well enough to have an intelligent discussion. I’ve never played the game and don’t know the difference between the “God” the OP referenced and an actual deity of the game.

 

[Deo_Vindice]

I hope not, because that game was a blast. I did not play that expansion, though.

 

[Whitacre_Girl]

I realized I spelled your SN incorrectly above. Sorry!

Maybe I don’t understand the game well enough to have an intelligent discussion. I’ve never played the game and don’t know the difference between the “God” the OP referenced and an actual deity of the game.

I haven’t played it either, but he stated that the character in question is

a mutant with multiple personality disorder

I’ve only played the original Fallout 3 without the expansion, but that game has no established deity per se. IIRC, there are christian-types (near as I can tell they are christian, but I can’t remember because it’s been a few months since I’ve played) atheists, and sects that worship an atomic bomb.

oh! And no worries about the misspell, it happens all the time! ^_^;;

 

[nicolep]

I haven’t played it either, but he stated that the character in question is

I’ve only played the original Fallout 3 without the expansion, but that game has no established deity per se. IIRC, there are christian-types (near as I can tell they are christian, but I can’t remember because it’s been a few months since I’ve played) atheists, and sects that worship an atomic bomb.

oh! And no worries about the misspell, it happens all the time! ^_^;;

Thanks for clarifying.

To the OP, seems blasphemous to me, but I could be wrong!

 

[JackVk]

I don’t think blasphemy is their intention (at least not directly), but rather the palindrome is. He, and the game for that matter, doesn’t say anything about being a deity. But it definitely comes off as distasteful for me.

I had to stop playing this game. It became a distraction, to the point where I would be thinking about it at Mass and couldn’t concentrate. I know a lot of the content in this game is pretty questionable, but I could overlook it. In short, it just didn’t feel right.

 

[Scott_Lafrance]

I realized I spelled your SN incorrectly above. Sorry!

Maybe I don’t understand the game well enough to have an intelligent discussion. I’ve never played the game and don’t know the difference between the “God” the OP referenced and an actual deity of the game.

I have played the game and the add on discussed. The character in question is a mutant with multiple personality disorder. One, Dog, is a physical brute, but submissive to his alter ego, God. I don’t think “God” is a reference to any blasphemy, its just a proper name version of god. Yes, the alter ego has a superiority complex. To be theologically correct, though we call Him God, His proper name is YHWH (Yahweh, Hebrew for I AM WHO AM) or Adonai (Aramaic for Lord) or Kyrie (Greek for Lord).

However, there are deeper theological problems with this game outside of the name of this one character. Namely, the wanton and pointless killing that one must do to finish the game. Now, one can play it through from an altruistic frame (as I did) and violence is a reaction to the violence of another character (thus making it self defense). However, noone is bound by this rule, and someone can play it through as an evil character, killing people for no reason, and even cannibalizing them.

The other is the rampant homosexuality that permeates the game. This was quite a veer off from Fallout 3. In this game there are bonus perks for being gay (male or female) and quite a few instances where you interact with other in game characters that are pointedly gay. In fact, you can even engage (in a very non-graphic way, sex in this game is infered and insinuated) in same sex relations with other non-player characters. In fact, it seems that same sex relations are easier to participate in than heterosexual relationships.