Religion in Games

Most people in the world live in or among a religious society. I dare say most societies have too much religion rather than the few which have very little of it. But in popular culture like games you'll find it rarely at all.

In cases like the Left Behind games or some evolutionary simulations it would be much better if we didn't at all as those games are more cult indoctrination than entertainment it seems. Most fantasy games have some made up paganistic polytheism you must partake it and all the others are generally devoid of anything religious except to mock it.

In MMORPGs this bugs me more than ever because it would seem even easier to just let people be. Its like developers think people don't want to still adhere to their religion or religious values while playing a game. I believe that games which have any place for religion in them should have that great western value of "Freedom of Religion" in them. Developers shouldn't shy away from letting people be themselves and have fun, they should encourage it.

Like most of the world I'm a monothiest, a believer in one supreme Creator and Diety. You would think that with as much market share as Christians, Muslims, and Jews represent that we'd be taken a little more seriously and catered to slightly like in most of the money grubbing world. Commercial businesses love religion for all the holiday sales and any other gimic they can use to get money out of people.

So maybe the next fantasy game developer can make some monotheistic religions to pretend to adhere to. Maybe they can even add a generic Synagogue, Mosque, Church, Buddhist Shrine, Hindu Temple, etc for people to hang out in... or ignore. Even at worst if there is religious violence it is better to get it out in a virtual world than a real one.

But unfortunately most Game Designers and even worse most game company Execs are afraid of the uphill struggle it might be at first to make something with so much potential appeal to this overly religious world we live in. I believe the ideals of the U.S. constitution such as Freedom of Speech and the free exercise of Religion don't just make for better society but they generally make for better profits as well.