TRACYKING/SCEPTICALANALYSIS
OPINION
Gamer and science enthusiast Tracy King dissects the evidence and statistics behind popular media stories surrounding tech and gaming @tkingdot
R
ecoveringfromvariousfamilyChristmastraumas,I’m
remindedoftheoldadage‘neverdiscusspoliticsor
religion inpolitecompany’.I wouldliketoadda third
topic: video games.If yourpolitecompanyis anythinglikemine,
you’ve probably hadsomefrustratingconversationsaboutthe
merits of your hobby.Atbest,we’rewastingourtimewhenwe
could be watchingTV.Atworst,gamersareturningthemselves
into either zombiesorcrazedmasskillers,dependingonwhich
scare story your relativereadintheDailyMailthisweek.
Politics, religionandvideogamescancausearguments,
but at least we’re pasttheMaryWhitehouseeraofreligiously
conservative censorship,right?Whatever
daft opinions variousfolkmighthaveabout
the negative influenceofDoom,therearen’t
placards and protestsoutsidegamestudios.
We’ve seen off decadesofhysteriaaboutthe
Satanic influence ofeverythingfromheavy
metal music to HarryPotter.
But now, there’s anewbadboyontheblock.
Enter ‘I Am Jesus Christ’,a Jesussim‘coming
soon’ to Steam. According to the video trailer, you play Jesus, going
around performing the miracles detailed in the New Testament,
culminating in a desert fight with the ultimate boss, Satan
himself. The trailer is reminiscent of the weird imported videos
I watched as a kid as a member of an American happy-clappy
church. It certainly doesn’t feel controversial. But according to
tabloids, Christians are ‘outraged’.
Except ... I can’t find much evidence of actual outrage. All of
the media stories I’ve seen that claim outrage are citing one or
two vaguely sceptical tweets. A couple of tweets do not equal a
controversy. I don’t see Christian conservative groups protesting, or
think-pieces on religious blogs about why there shouldn’t be a Jesus
sim(theonlyoneI foundquerieswhetherthegame exists at all). I
suspectI AmJesusChristisn’tparticularlycontroversial at all, and
thetabloidsaremanufacturingyetanothergaming controversy.
Infact,manybranchesofChristianityhave long embraced
newmedia,includingvideogames.Theyunderstand that the
bestwaytoreachyoungpeopleinanincreasingly secular society
istogowherethekidsare.Theylearnedtheir lesson from the
moralmediapanicsofthe1980s.There’sSnapchat for churches,
andtheInstagramhashtag#Godappearsover40 million times. It
makessensetousegamestotalkaboutJesus,and indeed always
has.I’mnolongerreligious,butbackinthe1980s, I had half a
dozenChristiangamesformy Tandy TRS-80,
andtherehasbeena fewper year ever since
(includingJesusinSpace,which invites the
playertoteachbiblestories to aliens). There’s
evena Christian-themedrip-off of Guitar Hero.
GamedeveloperJustinMcDaniel tweeted
hissuspicionthatthetrailer is a publicity
stunt,a waytostandoutin a crowded Steam
marketplaceanddrawattention to their
actual games, and his theory has picked up attention.
It’s possible, but while everyone is talking about I Am Jesus
Christ, it’s largely to mock it, or embrace it as satire (the game
description describes Jesus as ‘privileged’, which suggests a
certain amount of tongue in cheek). While I’m not convinced a
fake or satirical Jesus game is a particularly effective way to drive
gamers to your back catalogue, it’s generated a ton of free PR.
Or perhaps the publishers, PlayWay SA, release concept trailers
and then make whichever game attracts the most attention.
Either I Am Jesus Christ is a hoax, or it will be released
and the media will invent a controversy. Whichever it is, we’re
being played.GETTING CROSS
A new game trailer has mixed Christianity with video games.
But as Tracy argues, that’s nothing newI suspect
I Am Jesus Christ
isn’t particularly
controversial at all