Last Night a Video Game Saved My Life
Science Fiction writer Ray Bradbury - a man who spent a good deal of time thinking about the woes and wonders that technological progress has conjured up - had this to say about Space Invaders, Pac Man, World of Warcraft and their ilk: 'Video games are a waste of time for men with nothing else to do'.
Go on, admit it - there are many of you who think exactly the same. Well, perhaps not exactly. Any female of the species, who's dedicated many a minute to beating their high score on Angry Birds, will know that it's not all about the guys. And as long as we keep assuming video games are something that people do in the hours outside of work, that they're simply a pastime for those with nothing else to do, we won't wake up to the truth of what's happening around us.
Computer games are reshaping reality for the masses.
There are more than six million people in China who spend 22 hours-a-week gaming. And when it comes to active gamers - those who spend, on average, 13 hours-a-week playing games, whether it's on smartphone, console or PC, we're looking at 100 million people in Europe alone. And in the US, there are at least 5 million 'extreme gamers' who play an average of 45 hours-a-week. This is no pastime. No wonder that next year it's predicted that computer gaming will become a $68 billion industry.
What's the appeal? It boils down to this: when it comes to our current existence, video games are even better than the real thing. We're talking digital salvation here, digital transcendence. As Jane McGonigal, game designer and futurist, puts it 'Where in the real world is that gamer sense of being alive, focused and engaged in every moment?'
Where, indeed?
In a pew on a Sunday morning?
This is, in part, why the church is diminishing in the West: there has never been a better alternative to the benefits offered by religion than those proffered by entertainment technology. And these are offered wholesale, at little cost. No need for the death of the ego, all that's required is surrender to machine-constructed dreams, where you can run your own cosmos.
Life, and life to the full, can now be found online with a tribe of friends, tearing down evil empires and constructing fantastical avatars. In reality, however, the church surely has something even better to offer...
Doesn't it?
Jason Gardner
Links
Check out Jane McGonigal's book, Reality is Broken: Why Games Make us Better and How They can Change the World (Jonathan Cape, 2011).
Comments
I think there are a number of issues this article raises. Because of individualism, there is a lack of a long term committment to others. Video games means you can hide and do your own thing without worrying about others - even if you 'play' with others - it is on your own terms. The other is the increasing desire to 'escape' reality - there is no desire to engage with the world in a creative way.
Hi Jason, As a youth worker I see a lot of young people engaging with computer games. Although your article is an interesting analysis of gamers and their culture, I wonder how you woud suggest we engage with this group without the dualistic understanding as mentioned in the above comments. With such a large amount of time devoted to games either on consoles, phones and even facebook, an engaging non dismissive stance needs to be taken. There are already range of Christian computer games see here http://www.eden.co.uk/shop/Computer_Games_184/index.html (I particularly like the look of Guitar Praise -The Christian alternative to Guitar Hero). I feel this growing culture needs a fresh look from christians. I would love to hear your thoughts. I find Jane McGonigal ideas intriguing as I think we already see gameification or game layer applied to our churches. (For for on gameifaction see the wiki http://gamification.org) In simple terms any chocolate given out during a children's or youth talk can be seen in terms of a reward system, we also have many training courses for ministries within churches, such as prayer training, this could be viewed as some form of level up. Even the idea of church each Sunday is a form of appointment dynamic. Game mechanics are already moving beyond computer games into areas of health, education and even work. I think the use of game mechanics could be a vital tool in engaging young with the story of the gospel.
What we have to offer is Gods Love. When I visit housebound very sick people I often have to ask if I may switch off the TV in order to talk to them. Onces this happened and I found the sick person was unable to operate the switch so TV was constantly on.Perhaps it is us christians who have got it wrong.Not the CHURCH. When I was naked you clothed me, when i was hungry you fed me , when I as cold you offered shelter, when I was in prison you visited me. What each of us can do for our brethen we do for Jesus . It may be a drop in the ocean but the ocean is amade up of lots of drops,Once weekly visits are a respite from TV and nearly alwyas welcome,We much each do our little drop whenever we can. Mary
Thanks so much for the comments. A friend pointed me to a review of the book that both challenges and supports McGongigals's ideas. http://www.cardus.ca/comment/article/2793/
Dear Jason, Thank you for a stimulating article. Your question "In reality, however, the church surely has something even better to offer... Doesn't it ?" made me wonder what the majority of Christians would answer, maybe - of course it does! But let me tell you the experience of one person I know. He is a gentle man in his mid 50's, living alone in an upstairs flat, housebound due to his disability with no friends to visit him apart from his elderly mother who does her best to give help when she is well enough. With medical problems and depleting social skills the outside world is unattractive so he finds solace with a group of people he has never met but now calls friends and spends most of his day in the virtual world of Warcraft where he feels in a community, with purpose, loyalty, sense of achievement and felowship. Believing the church does has something better to offer I encouraged him to start reading the Bible which he did and then asked if he would like someone from a local church to visit him - somewhat reluctantly he agreed. I live hundreds of miles away but I knew people in a local church and went to visit them. Speaking to elders they assured me that someone would visit - they didn't. I went back and asked again. One church worker said he would and went with me to visit. During the visit he promised to return - he didn't. I went back to the church and asked him a further twice, getting promises both times - but didn't visit. I was recommended to speak to another person in the church. I went to his home and explained the situation and got an assuring "I would be delighted to visit" reply - he didn't, even after another meeting with him, no visit. Another tactic was required so I contacted friends who introduced me to the pastor of a new church who were known for their help in the community. Their social action and help programme sounded exactly what was needed. Two visits were actually made which to me were of great encouragement. But then they stopped. He didn't know why so I encouraged him to contact their office, he said he had many times and left a message on the answering machine but got no response. Wondering what might have gone wrong I asked if the last visit went ok? Fine was the reply, "the Pastor left me with a slip to give money to support his church but I can't afford anything." I know that there are a lot of good people, christian and non-christian who are sacrificially helping the vunerable in our communities each day. But when we see christians treating people this way I think there is another question that has to be asked. In reality, however, does the church want to offer someting even better... Does it?
I think Jason's got it pretty much right here, although I'd talk about "in relationship with God" rather than "in church on Sunday morning". The particular issue of computer games is that you can escape into a "clean" alternate reality, free of the complications and problems of daily life as it exists, and this is what makes it so attractive. You know that if you solve the puzzle correctly you will definitely level up... Church on the other hand provides resources for helping with the problems but doesn't just wipe them away. My problem with McGonigal's thesis is that for her problem-solving computing games to work, they need to take into account all this messiness, and that seems likely to me to take away a large part of what makes the things attractive in the first place. Why not just look at solving the problems in the real world directly? This isn't to argue that computer games are purely evil. Played in moderation, they are definitely a good way of relaxing and can benefit problem-solving skills, co-ordination and so on. But for me the downsides do considerably outweigh the benefits for a lot of people.
" ... the church surely has something even better to offer." Yes, better, but I'm not sure whether Jason means to imply also that it's similar in kind; or maybe that we should be agonising over how to package the gospel in a way that appeals to gamers by emphasising the similarities - which do of course exist. But one wonders if Jesus was thinking of the gaming personality in his picture of the seed that fell on shallow soil - a burst of enthusiasm for as long as the ride was exciting, but when tough reality began to bite, time to quit. Such people were surely found among his earlier following, but just as surely turned away later ("Will you also go away?"). Gaming is, as Jason agrees, a flight from reality. But doesn't the gospel call us to face reality in all its messiness and, let's admit it, sometimes dull grind? Not escape into fantasy. This is LICC's clarion call, and thank God for it! How about 1 Thess 4.11 as a statement of what the ordinary Christian's "ambition" should be: "to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands." It's hardly going to set the gaming fraternity alight. But would it not be less than honest to make out the Christian life as non-stop excitement? The recurring attempt to do just that since the 1970s (and possibly since the Crusades) has been responsible for not a few shipwrecks of faith down the line.
In theory, 'church' should work but for many people going to church needs to come with a health warning, 'Going to church can seriously damage your health.' this is opposite to the life giving, life affirming experience of a personal faith in Jesus christ.
Mmh, it is certainly worth looking at the excesses of computer gaming, when people do forget their lifes and surrender to the machine. On the other side I do not find it appropriate to have a bad conscience when I play the odd game. You could write more or less the same article about TV, drinking wine, dancing, or whatever pasttime one might have. Doing it excessively at the expense of others or my relationship to god, it is bad. But I can also not always be in the service to others, be thinking on the big things of life, etc...
Jason, Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm afraid that this article displays a dualistic understanding of life: That the main place where we should feel transcendence and do God-stuff is in church. Video gaming is silly in comparison. This is compartmentalizing life (like the orange in Mark Greene's video), making church the main thing, and everything else secondary. Do you really have nothing positive to say about video gaming? Why not take McGonigal's thesis seriously and wonder in what ways God could be glorified through this newest form of entertainment culture? She claims that video gaming will actually help us solve major issues like hunger, poverty, climate change, and world conflict.
I am a pastor. My teengage boys play video games for a few hours each week. At times I have wished that the things had never been invented - because when I was growing up, we had to make our entertainment by playing outside, reading books, painting, playing a musical instrument- in short, engaging with the world around us and developing as creative people along the way. There is no creativity in the games my boys play. But I realised that this is the culture we live in. This generation have to engage in the world of technology. And if it helps them relax after a long day at school, to play a game for a while that requires no mental effort, so be it. The place I have come to as a parent is to allow this, to play the games with them sometimes (although I am pretty useless at them), but to train them to let this be a small part of their life and not the be all and end all. So it has become a bonding experience. And I never hesitate to put clear limitations on how long they can play. Thankfully also, because of the way we have raised them, they know how to appreciate a good book, how to play outside, how to engage with adults, and how to self-censor the kind of games they would want to play.
Date:
2011-07-07 12:06:46
Author:
Peter