Theology Gaming Posts
I tried to explain this before, and perhaps in one other instance, but I notice a recent rash of “realness” in the gaming community. Or, at the least, the circles in which I frequent see video games constantly avoiding “reality” as a construct of the Western mindset. See, when Haggar in Final Fight regains health through eating meat on the ground, rather than reconstructive surgery on his tailbone for all the piledrivers he gave those Mad Gear Gang fools. This sort of symbolic representation makes people angry; realism comes second to mechanical depth, for reasons that make perfect sense. Realism isn’t often “fun”.
So, in that spirit, we can easily define video games as less “real” and more “melodramatic”. Huh? Let me explain.
I am beginning to see the level of dedication required to become competent at fighting games.
According to Steam, King of Fighters XIII absorbed twenty-two hours of my life over the past two weeks. How many hours did I actually play competitive matches? Zero. Absolutely none. I messed around in arcade mode a bit, but most of my time went to figuring out what the heck King of Fighters wants the player to do! Why would I spend so much time in training mode?
The Biblical texts sometimes tell the same story twice, with different details. When you read the Bible cover to cover, you tend to notice these sorts of strange things. Two different authors want to focus on two different aspects of the same story, and that’s great! The two narratives don’t contradict necessarily, but coalesce into a greater picture for us to observe. Video games like Uncharted, for their part, work similarly to the analysis of texts.
Dragon’s Crown – I don’t hate Dragon’s Crown, but I certainly don’t love the actual game underneath its majestic visuals. I defended its aesthetic choices in regard to the female form, and done so twice, but that does not mean that I retain a vested interest in the actual game.