MU study finds video games portray religion as violent
posted:
2/27/2012 3:00:00 PM
In a recent study by Greg Perreault, a doctoral student in the University of Missouri School of Journalism, video games have been found to associate religion with violence. The study examined five games including Mass Effect 2, Final Fantasy 13, Assassin’s Creed, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Perreault found that each of these games portray religion as causing a problem that the player must overcome during gameplay.
He stresses his belief that developers are not purposefully placing religion criticism in their game releases. He proposes that developers are using religion for interesting plot points in their games. The violence in the particular titles are thus automatically associated with the religion aspect of the narrative.
There is no argument on whether religion is portrayed violently in newer video games. However, religion, conflict, and violence have always shared a history long before the invention of video games. Yet, Perreault's study does shed interesting light on a topic that is rarely discussed in the video game industry.
Read more about the study on the University of Missouri website.
He stresses his belief that developers are not purposefully placing religion criticism in their game releases. He proposes that developers are using religion for interesting plot points in their games. The violence in the particular titles are thus automatically associated with the religion aspect of the narrative.
There is no argument on whether religion is portrayed violently in newer video games. However, religion, conflict, and violence have always shared a history long before the invention of video games. Yet, Perreault's study does shed interesting light on a topic that is rarely discussed in the video game industry.
Read more about the study on the University of Missouri website.
