Minecraft Questions

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Hello, everyone! My fianceé and I have recently started playing the popular video game, Minecraft, as a substitute for always trying to find a good Christian movie, going out to eat, etc, as we wait for our wedding.

For those unfamiliar with the game, it’s essentially an open world, survival game meets Legos. There’s no sexual content, language, and any violence is minimal (getting attacked by giant spiders and zombies at night, for example). Typical activities include building structures, exploring the landscape, growing food, and mining for gold, etc.

I must admit that I am generally of the scrupulous type. However, I do have some areas of concern that I would like some help with:
  1. After mining for the difficult to obtain obsidian block, players have the option (it’s not required by any means) to create something called a “Nether Portal” that allows players to travel to a place called the “Nether”. It’s essentially an alternative dimension full of lava, flying monsters, creepy materials like “soul sand”, and other rare blocks. It’s often described as a sort of “Minecraft Hell”, although there are no actual dead people there, and if one were to die in the Nether, you would respawn back in the normal, pastoral world that characterizes the other 95% of Minecraft. I have heard Fr. Ripperger, FSSP, explain that using “Hell” as a cuss word is sinful because Hell is actually a sacred place of God’s justice. Is the Nether sinful in this regard? It’s an inferno type atmosphere, but no one is being tortured, or anything of the sort. It’s almost like being on Venus.
  2. There is another optional mechanic in the game known as “Enchanting”. Essentially, after making an enchanting table with some obsidian, diamonds, and a book, players can imbue their tools with additional characteristics that make them more effective in some way (stronger swords, etc). The player places the table first and surrounds it with bookshelves. Then you right-click the table to open a menu where the available enchantments are listed for the cost of mineable lapis lazuli and experience points, the latter being obtained by mining coal or defeating monsters. When you approach the enchantment table, scribbled letters from a non-readable alphabet appear to be gravitating toward the table from the nearby bookshelves. Is this to be considered forbidden magic, sorcery, or divination as described in the Catechism, or is this just “mysterious”? Even so, is it sinful in a video game? Like is stealing from a non-player character in a game really a sin or just simulation? Perhaps other Minecraft gamers familiar with the mechanics would be more adept at navigating this issue. I’m currently reading “The Hobbit”, and Gandalf’s magic seems universally agreed on by Catholics as safe.
I think the temptation on one hand is to brush off the entire bit as imaginary as it’s just a video game. I have read Jimmy Akin’s article online regarding role-playing games. On the other hand, some things are objectively evil, and I don’t want to normalize that. I hope I have adequately portrayed both sides of my mental debate. I hope to hear back from you!
 
Nothing sinful about playing minecraft unless you are wasting time with it.
 
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It’s fine. I would try to stop thinking about it so much. As someone who grew up hearing Pokemon, Lord of the Rings, and everything else is sinful. I think some people just have an aversion to anything that gains traction in popular culture whether it’s actually sinful or not.

Don’t get caught up in legalism. We’re called to relationship with Christ, not some overbearing rule book. Christ freed us from the law. Don’t put yourself back under it. Much less the arbitrary laws of man than the Jewish laws of God that St. Paul speaks against in Galatians.
 
I’ve played Minecraft. There’s nothing wrong or evil about it.

Enjoy playing it with your fianceé! 🤓 🎮
 
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I’ve played Minecraft with my son. There’s nothing wrong with it. I wouldn’t worry. It’s good wholesome fun in a fantasy world.
 
My two youngest sisters (who are both Catholic) play Minecraft. I admit to not understanding the appeal, but I don’t think it is sinful.
 
I was playing Pokémon earlier. And have been for the last 21 years. I even remember schools banning it. (Not Christian schools either, public schools)
 
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Lots of public schools banned it. I don’t think it has anything to do with the morality of the cards. They didn’t want to be responsible for kids bringing cards to school and them being damaged or stolen or things like younger kids being tricked into bad trades.

That’s the reasoning I remember. My church on the other hand taught me that Pokemon cards are evil. Massive difference there.
 
Fr. Ripperger’s views on use of the word “Hell” is pretty extreme. In any event, the game is not using the word “Hell”, is not using it as a cuss word, and is not sinful.

The “Enchanting” part of the game is a game. You are not actually trying to call up spirits or cast real magic spells. It’s about the same as acting the part of a witch in a production of “Macbeth”. It’s not real.

Have fun playing the game.
 
chessnerd321 said:
Lots of public schools banned it. I don’t think it has anything to do with the morality of the cards. They didn’t want to be responsible for kids bringing cards to school and them being damaged or stolen or things like younger kids being tricked into bad trades.

That’s the reasoning I remember.
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Yeah, schools usually ban popular fad items because they don’t want to deal with the things you said, also because such items are a major distraction from studies.

With all the real, actual evils going on in the world, Pokemon cards are the least of anyone’s worries. The only concern would be that kids were wasting too much time on them or any other fad, or were so greedy to collect the cards that they were doing things like steal in order to get them.
 
It’s just a game, don’t overthink it.

Now if you are missing Sunday mass or praying less because you are playing the game, then that would be sinful.

God Bless,

🐬
 
Thank you all for the helpful replies. The game has basically been weekend recreation, usually Saturday night or Sunday after Mass, as a substitute for always trying to find activities that cost money. In a sense, it was an investment.
 
Agreed don’t worry my son is obsessed with it. Other than screen time we have no issues.
 
Minecraft is back en vougue. My 14 year old son started playing when he was about 8, and he was completely immersed in it. Then he and his friends lost interest after several years because the nature of the game changed, and the nature of the online players changed. It became less friendly and too popular.

They gravitated to Fortnight, but now Fortnight is out because too many online players are abusing the game, and…get this…my 14 year old and his friends are back to Minecraft for “nostalgia,” and the irony of it.

In other words, it wouldn’t be cool if I started playing Minecraft because I wasn’t part of it in the earlier days, and therefore can’t play ironically.

Regardless, Fortnight is still out. I think he’s playing Destiny (literally, right now).
 
Can we address why these kinds of questions crop up? I understand from a child but adults? Are we as Catholics so backward socially that every entertainment is sinful?
 
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