Re-selling Inappropriate video games

[Magicsilence]

Pornography is intrinsically evil. What makes you think video games are? Just because there could be consequences? I agree that we should exercise caution and discretion while playing video games, just like any other morally neutral activity.

But what is your answer? Is it wrong to control a video game character that has sexual intercourse at your command, yes or no? And why / why not?

Exerpts taken from xbox.com:

The character sounds like more than a mindless murderer to me, but I’ve never played that particular game.

Well, it might have a subtle story-line, but you spend the whole game silently murdering people.

What kind of consequences is Magic looking for? Somebody murdering, going to a strip club, and stealing cars? Unless you have a mental condition, you won’t do any of the aforementioned actions.

Consider a film where two people have an affair. Not necessarily graphic, or thereby immoral to watch it.

But what about if you then control the character? The point of this game is to avoid being ‘caught’ by your spouse, as you have meetings with your lover. No graphical scenes, just kissing and hugging. Still think there would be no problem? Do you think its ok to play a game where you commit adultery?

At least with adultery, the other partner can forgive and, barring STI’s, the marriage can be somewhat restored. With murder, life is destroyed permanently, not just for the victim, but for all those involved. Do you think murder a lesser crime than adultery?

 

[Lost_Wanderer]

But what about if you then control the character? The point of this game is to avoid being ‘caught’ by your spouse, as you have meetings with your lover. No graphical scenes, just kissing and hugging. Still think there would be no problem? Do you think its ok to play a game where you commit adultery?

At least with adultery, the other partner can forgive and, barring STI’s, the marriage can be somewhat restored. With murder, life is destroyed permanently, not just for the victim, but for all those involved. Do you think murder a lesser crime than adultery?

I’m sorry but the only game I can think of that has you playing such a situation is in a hentai game. I’m afraid you’re stretching things a little bit out of proportion now.

 

[Fitswimmer]

But what is your answer? Is it wrong to control a video game character that has sexual intercourse at your command, yes or no? And why / why not?

Well, it might have a subtle story-line, but you spend the whole game silently murdering people.

Consider a film where two people have an affair. Not necessarily graphic, or thereby immoral to watch it.

But what about if you then control the character? The point of this game is to avoid being ‘caught’ by your spouse, as you have meetings with your lover. No graphical scenes, just kissing and hugging. Still think there would be no problem? Do you think its ok to play a game where you commit adultery?

At least with adultery, the other partner can forgive and, barring STI’s, the marriage can be somewhat restored. With murder, life is destroyed permanently, not just for the victim, but for all those involved. Do you think murder a lesser crime than adultery?

I’ve been playing video games since Atari and I’ve never heard of such a game. The only thing I can think of is you’re talking about a cheat code for a previous edition of GTA that opened up a scenario where hookers were involved. If you didn’t know the code, you couldn’t access that scenario. You could play through the entire game and never encounter it.

Let’s also mention something else-the games that an adult would play like GTA, Gears of War, Metal Gear Solid and other FPS games are not appropriate for younger people. I would not allow a teen to play those games because they have not reached the level of conscience formation necessary.

As for me-my favorite games are Kingdom Hearts, Guitar Hero, the Lego series and I have some puzzle games for my PSP portable. It’s not that I think other games are evil, I just don’t enjoy them.

 

[Caesar517]

But what is your answer? Is it wrong to control a video game character that has sexual intercourse at your command, yes or no? And why / why not?

If it’s pornography for you, the player, then it is a sin. If it is fornication for your character, then it is not necessarily a sin for you.

But what about if you then control the character? The point of this game is to avoid being ‘caught’ by your spouse, as you have meetings with your lover. No graphical scenes, just kissing and hugging. Still think there would be no problem? Do you think its ok to play a game where you commit adultery?

Have you ever seen such a game? :ehh:
This would be distasteful to anyone. Every RPG I’ve ever played, your character is single – that way you can have a love interest throughout the game without crossing this kind of barrier.

At least with adultery, the other partner can forgive and, barring STI’s, the marriage can be somewhat restored. With murder, life is destroyed permanently, not just for the victim, but for all those involved. Do you think murder a lesser crime than adultery?

Now you want us to rate sins? This is a red herring.

 

[gmags2003]

Another thing to keep in mind (I agree with the posts above me, by the way) is that even though you are controlling your character,you are not the player. There is a wide disparity between videogame murder and real life murder, video game adultery (non-existent?) and real life adultery, and video game stealing and real life theft. I’m guilty of purposely head-shooting characters in Grand Theft Auto, but do I have the same urge in real life? No…never have…and never will. You might ask why then do I do it? My answer is: why not? Even though the polygons in the game resemble real people, they are not. They are whatever you want them to be. This logic can be applied to everything in the game.

 

[Joe_5859]

My simple question is: Would you want Jesus to sit down and play the game with you? If not, don’t sell it!!!

I probably wouldn’t sit down and eat a Big Mac with Jesus, either. Does that mean it’s wrong to eat Big Macs?

 

[2Bcatholic]

Joe 5859:

While a big mac wouldn’t be the choice of food that I’d offer to Our Lord I could in good conscience eat it with him! While I in NO WAYcould ever offer Him a video game with sex, violence, theft, etc. being the theme of the game and think that He wouldn’t be upset with this. As I wouldn’t hand Him a playboy or anything else of that nature. I’m pretty sure He’d be appauled!

 

[Fitswimmer]

Joe 5859:

While a big mac wouldn’t be the choice of food that I’d offer to Our Lord I could in good conscience eat it with him! While I in NO WAYcould ever offer Him a video game with sex, violence, theft, etc. being the theme of the game and think that He wouldn’t be upset with this. As I wouldn’t hand Him a playboy or anything else of that nature. I’m pretty sure He’d be appauled!

You’re equating things that aren’t equal in any way-video games and Playboy are not in any way equal.

It’s easy to make everything a black and white issue, but that doesn’t make it accurate.

 

[2Bcatholic]

As one of the above posters said one can access playboy magazines from this game

 

[Fitswimmer]

As one of the above posters said one can access playboy magazines from this game

but they don’t just “appear” you have to choose it. You can access Playboy at my corner deli too, but that doesn’t mean I can’t go there and get coffee.

And yes, I’d take Jesus to my corner deli, the coffee is excellent

 

[2Bcatholic]

Isn’t the theme of the game about murder, having sex with hookers, being able to access playboys, etc.

what good can come from playing this?

 

[Fitswimmer]

Isn’t the theme of the game about murder, having sex with hookers, being able to access playboys, etc.

what good can come from playing this?

I’ve never played it so I don’t have first hand knowledge. What I do know is that the hooker and playboy sections are not readily accessable while playing. There are “cheat” codes that you must enter and those codes must be sought out from magazines or websites. Again, I refer to my corner deli analogy, I can access all manner of publications there, but I must choose them. They’re not out there displayed for anyone walking in to see. Those of us who go for the coffee and hard roll don’t encounter them unless we choose to.

 

[Joe_5859]

Joe 5859:

While a big mac wouldn’t be the choice of food that I’d offer to Our Lord I could in good conscience eat it with him! While I in NO WAYcould ever offer Him a video game with sex, violence, theft, etc. being the theme of the game and think that He wouldn’t be upset with this. As I wouldn’t hand Him a playboy or anything else of that nature. I’m pretty sure He’d be appauled!

The point I was making is that the “would you do (fill in the blank) with Jesus in the room” is a less than ideal way to form one’s moral compass. Jimmy Akin gives a pretty good explanation of why that is on his website:

If you try to imagine Jesus in the room as a test for whether it’s okay to do something then one of two things will happen:

• You will become scrupulous because you will conclude that an awful lot of things are not okay which in fact are okay (e.g., “I wouldn’t snarf down a Big Mac while bopping to secular music on my iPod during Eucharistic exposition, therefore I should never do those things”).

• You will become irreverent by concluding that things that are okay to do in general must therefore be okay to do when in the immediate presence of Infinite Holiness Incarnate (e.g., “It’s okay for me to snarf down a Big Mac while bouncing my head back and forth as I listen to secular music on my iPod in general, therefore that’s perfectly okay for me to do that during Eucharistic exposition”).

The “Would you do it with Jesus in the room?” test thus strikes me as a bad tool to use for making such decisions. It either will force us to scrupulosity or irreverence–or both.

If Jesus was in the room, I would not be playing video games, or talking on the phone, or using the restroom. I would be on my knees (or on my face) in adoration.

 

[Fitswimmer]

If Jesus was in the room, I would not be playing video games, or talking on the phone, or using the restroom. I would be on my knees (or on my face) in adoration.

Exactly, and if He should allow me such a grace I would be asking him questions. There is much I would love to know.

 

[gmags2003]

Isn’t the theme of the game about murder, having sex with hookers, being able to access playboys, etc.

what good can come from playing this?

What good comes from eating Chinese food?

Not really, the game is about a character named Niko Bellic. You can choose to have sex with hookers and access playboys, but that isn’t what the game is about. Murder is certainly a part of the game and if you do commit murder (in any way) the cops and other law enforcement agencies will be after you.

 

[UndertheRadar]

Not really, the game is about a character named Niko Bellic. You can choose to have sex with hookers and access playboys, but that isn’t what the game is about. Murder is certainly a part of the game and if you do commit murder (in any way) the cops and other law enforcement agencies will be after you.

Is any of this moral to you? Because some of this is not the main objective does that make it any better? We as humans sometimes try to justify sin (or the appearance of it) and do not realize how evil it is. We try to make excuses as to why we should be able to play these games without understanding that shooting people is not a good thing.

You have admitted that you sometimes take head shots. Is this fun to you? Why? I think the games have and do affect us subconsciously, and the fact that shooting people (even in fictional games) is “fun” points to this. It does not seem to me that a Christian should want to act out these situations .

 

[2Bcatholic]

IMO this game isn’t like playing a game such as Mario or something with no provocative theme. From the very beginning one knows what the content of this game contains and is putting themselves in a situation that could cause immorality…If one’s conscience knows that such material could cause another to sin I don’t understand why one would want to take the chance!

 

[gmags2003]

Is any of this moral to you?

In the real world, none of it is moral.

Because some of this is not the main objective does that make it any better?

In terms of the nature of the game, sure it does make it better.

We try to make excuses as to why we should be able to play these games without understanding that shooting people is not a good thing.

Again, I’m shooting nothing more than a polygon that was generated via computer processes.

You have admitted that you sometimes take head shots. Is this fun to you? Why?

Yes, I like to shoot polygonal images and see polygonal blood spill from polygonal heads.

I think the games have and do affect us subconsciously, and the fact that shooting people (even in fictional games) is “fun” points to this. It does not seem to me that a Christian should want to act out these situations .

Again, they aren’t people. I haven’t heard of anything condemning the killing of polygons.

 

[Lost_Wanderer]

Again, they aren’t people. I haven’t heard of anything condemning the killing of polygons.

Don’t forget that there are even games where people don’t even look like real people. (Big eyes and spiky hair anybody? )

 

[Caesar517]

I haven’t heard of anything condemning the killing of polygons.

Some people confuse what is real with what is fake. Those people should not be playing video games.