Gaming Blog Network

The First Amendment to the Constitution states, quite explicitly, that no laws should be made to prevent people from practicing their preferred religion, wherever, and however they please, with the only exceptions being unless that religion’s practices have a deleterious effect on society.

Fast forward to today, and religion has become one of the most controversial topics of discussion in our society, with individuals crying foul on a constant basis whenever they feel that ‘their religion’ is being marginalized.

This has unfortunately spilled over into the world of video games, where atheists are crying foul because Will Wright’s Spore game actually acknolwedges religion. Gamepro and Kotaku have separate takes on the incident, which can be read here and here.

For gamers unfamiliar with Will Wright, he is the creator of ‘SimCity’ along with its various offshoots (the Sims, SimAnt and Simtown among others). The main concept of ‘Spore’ invites players to create their own creatures and proceed through the evolutionary process. According to Gamepro.com, Wright expected to recieve fervor from religious activists as the game invites players to control their own universes and essentially ‘become their own gods.’

To hear Kotaku.com explain it though, atheists should be happy, after all isn’t the experience ‘one big intelligent design simulator?’

Some groups will always have their priorities mixed up.

Speaking of which, there is a rather strange report on Gamepolitics that mentions that parents fear video games more than alchol, smut and violence. An unusual finding, sure, but as reported by Gamepolitics, it definetly highlights the challenges that the industry faces in trying to become acceptable to parents and older Americans. In this respect, maybe Sony and Microsoft should take some tips from Nintendo and produce some casual ‘non-games.’