Odd Question About Video Games

[Lost_Wanderer]

In fact although I have never played it, wasn’t there a game years back mocking this situation where you go the whole game thinking the protagonist is a male but then it turns out she is actually a female (for some reason I am thinking it might be Metro, although I have never played the game).

Yep, definitely Metroid. Samus is probably one of the gaming industry’s ever first Reverse Trap characters.

And also, what if you eat meat in a game on a Friday? I’m guessing it doesn’t matter…

Then you are not allowed to receive Eucharist, even if you confess, FOREVER.

On the contrary, there are situations where eating meat is exceptional. I for one would not survive if my character did not eat meat to recover his stamina. It would be against my moral obligations to let him weaken and die.

 

[AHapka]

“The apparel of a man shall not be on a woman, neither shall a man put on a woman’s dress; for every one that does these things is an abomination to the Lord thy God” (Deuteronomy 22:5)

If you are playing an online game I think it especially important to be cautious not to play a female, as you might deceive someone into thinking you are one in real life and thereby accidentally lead them into sin whether you intend to do so or not.

A video game avatar is not clothing. It is not apparel that the person is personally wearing.

In a make believe, fantasy world…it is hard for me to hold a person morally culpable for another person thinking that the sex of their avatar is equal to their actual sex.

If the actions taken by my avatar (such as the types of cloths worn) are personally imputable as sins that I have committed, then I have far worse things to worry about seeing as how I play a gnome mage on World of Warcraft with 18,546 honorable kills…

 

[GEddie]

A video game avatar is not clothing. It is not apparel that the person is personally wearing.

Indeed, it’s fictional, and as such, no more somebody’s actual persona than the main character in a book written by them would be.

In a make believe, fantasy world…it is hard for me to hold a person morally culpable for another person thinking that the sex of their avatar is equal to their actual sex.

If the actions taken by my avatar (such as the types of cloths worn) are personally imputable as sins that I have committed, then I have far worse things to worry about seeing as how I play a gnome mage on World of Warcraft with 18,546 honorable kills…

While not being much of a gamer myself, I find it hard to believe that present-day gaming graphics would ever present a near occasion of sin to anybody.

Now add in the body interfaces, again, and you might be getting into confession country.

God Bless and ICXC NIKA.

 

[PilgrimToChrist]

If you are playing an MMORPG and you are intentionally trying to deceive other people to think that you are female (or male, for that matter – but I think the issue is more with guys playing female characters), especially if you are trying to dress or act sexy. Whether it’s worse than if an actual woman does it, I don’t know but I would think that it would be, that it would be more disordered.

In these RPGs and stuff, you should be careful not to intentionally dress immodestly. Sometimes you have no choice and then you have to weigh whether the game is appropriate for you to be playing or not (it’s the same as with movies). Many fantasy game characters have questionable outfits.

 

[Lost_Wanderer]

In these RPGs and stuff, you should be careful not to intentionally dress immodestly. Sometimes you have no choice and then you have to weigh whether the game is appropriate for you to be playing or not (it’s the same as with movies). Many fantasy game characters have questionable outfits.

That is off-topic and furthermore, I have played fantasy games for years. For the most part, “immodest” characters are hard to ogle at when your mind is preoccupied with keeping yourself alive.

 

[x1980x]

A video game avatar is not clothing. It is not apparel that the person is personally wearing.

In a make believe, fantasy world…it is hard for me to hold a person morally culpable for another person thinking that the sex of their avatar is equal to their actual sex.

If the actions taken by my avatar (such as the types of cloths worn) are personally imputable as sins that I have committed, then I have far worse things to worry about seeing as how I play a gnome mage on World of Warcraft with 18,546 honorable kills…

It is a fantasy world. Now, if the world becomes an occasion for lust, I could argue that intentionally encouraging it would be sin. But just playing a character of the opposite sex? Every gamer knows that most “girls” in virtual worlds are actually guys, so unless you find someone radically new and naive to the world of gaming, nobody is being “deceived” in any real sense.

And game worlds are that, game worlds. If you are playing “Monopoly” with your family and you own “Boardwalk” and your daughter lands on it and pays you “rent”, do you report that to the IRS as income? Of course not, it’s a game. If you “kill” or “steal” in a game (and yes, I have done both in a game, in accord with the Rules of the Game *), it isn’t legally cognizable as Murder or Larceny in a court of law, so I would argue that it doesn’t constitute those sins either. Now, cheating in the game could arguably be treated the same way as cheating at sports, but just taking advantage of the fact that the game rules permit you to kill another character and take his weapons and gold? It’s the same thing morally as playing a board game that permits you, on your turn, to attempt a “robbery” by selecting a player and rolling two dice, and if you get above 10, you get half their points. It’s part of the game rules and you implicitly agree to them when you agree to play the game.

And it isn’t crossdressing any more than being a guy writing a novel with a female character in it is, or him reading the novel and imagining what it would be like to be said female character.

*Years ago, I was playing an online RPG and I had a character that was part of an in-world, player organized Empire with access to in-game natural resources and manufacturing facilities. My character went AWOL, embezzling expensive Imperial armaments (that cost in-game resources expended by the Empire) that he had access to and could carry with him. Everyone playing understood that actions like that were part of the fun of the game.