Morally Ambiguous Video Game?

[FaithRuir]

So I have decided to write this here because I haven’t really gotten a good enough answer online to satisfy my scrupulous conscience.

So tomorrow, Downloadable Content for the hit (morally acceptable) game Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. However, despite the excitement about the matter, issues have arisen from the game the character included comes from.

Persona 5

I’ve personally never played it, but…

The Persona series is a group of JRPGs (coming from the troublesome Shin Megami Tensei series, where the final boss is “YHVH”, an obvious no-no on my part), however it is much more acceptable than its compatriot game.
I myself don’t know too much about the game, but it seems all over the place when it comes to morality. The protagonist is part of a group known as the “Phantom Theives”, fighting corruption in their society. While that sounds good on paper, gets a bit troubling when you consider how the shadows, pieces of a person’s “persona”, are based on religions from here and before. It has personas based on Hindu beliefs, Greek myths, and yes, the Holy Catholic Faith.
The game’s story is based on Gnosticism, where the main antagonist, Yaldabaoth, represents the “sins” of the elite and the people who want to submit to them out of sloth. He also is supposed to be a false God, deceiving the people and hindering them.

The part where things go REALLY crazy is at the end of the game, where you fight the Holy Grail, describing it as a manipulator, destroying people’s free will, and defeat Yaldabaoth using a persona none other than “Satanael” (your “ultimate” persona), while also based on Gnostic interpretation (???), which is meant to represent rebellion.
Obviously, the morality of the protagonists, even to the player, is meant to be a gray area (at least that’s how I see it).

Another odd (but nice) thing about the game is its portrayal of Catholicism directly. From what I’ve heard there is a Catholic Church in the game, with a really nice priest. It’s viewed pretty positively. I’ve heard from one person who played the game that the confessional was a place a character could remember lost skills.

So would this game be morally permissible to play? Would I, in good conscience, even buy its protagonist for my game’s downloadable content?

Also sorry if this is in the wrong section

Thanks in advance!

 

[Flopfoot]

In the west people tend not to include any form of Christianity in games they make because of the potential for controversy, but in the east it’s often used as a source of mythology without really understanding the religion - and I assume it’s the other way around for eastern religions, we probably have a lot of games with completely mistaken portrayals of Hinduism or whatever in them.

I’m not sure of the morality of things that only use the outward appearance of religion without having anything to do with the religion. CCC 2162 says “The second commandment forbids every improper use of God’s name. Blasphemy is the use of the name of God, of Jesus Christ, of the Virgin Mary, and of the saints in an offensive way.” But this isn’t so much an offensive way as a mistaken or irrelevant way.

Anyway, given that you’re not asking about actually playing P5 but just using the character in Smash, it seems pretty clear that this couldn’t possibly be a case of blasphemy. Enjoy the DLC

 

[FaithRuir]

IF it is wrong to play this game. Wouldn’t it be wrong to play as it’s protagonist in another?

 

[TheLittleLady]

Are there not a bajillion other games to play?

 

[MasterXploder7]

I had a similar issue with the game Vampyr, however, it was mostly the advertising that turned me off by using the phrase “spit in the eye of God”. That one phrase caused me to stumble: I couldn’t like it any more. Other people could like it - but I didn’t.

If you really don’t like the character then don’t get it (unless you have too because games today are weird like that). But if this character doesn’t make you stumble then I can’t see why you couldn’t use it. It just sounds like you just don’t like the back story.

 

[ProdglArchitect]

Not really.

The characters in Smash Bros have very little to do with their video game counterparts. Their representations are used because they are familiar, and their iconic video game moves are included as combat abilities, but you are not even remotely playing the actual video games those characters come from.

You’re good. If it bothers you, don’t use Joker. It’s not like you have to use any character. I am partial to Pikachu (my main) and Corrin. I may give Joker a shot at some point, once they announce the other characters and I decide if the Fighters pass is worth it.

 

[FaithRuir]

Thanks for the help guys!

I have purchased Joker for Smash today, and was lucky enough to play him despite the Nintendo servers breaking down today.

His moveset is free of the questionable things in his game, so he seems fine enough to play. The game he comes from seems to be the only issue now, and the fact Nintendo is trying to promote it through this game.