I'm wondering what everyone thinks of using references to religion in video games. I don't mean in-game religions, I mean particularly some of the stories in Genesis. I'm not particularly religious, but I felt like some of the stories could serve as a very nice premise for my game. In particular, the story of man being driven out of Eden, the Flood and God's promise to not destroy humanity again, and possibly the idea of a Messiah. It wouldn't explicitly mention the Bible or any religion, but the stories would be used. Also, I would pick and choose which parts I want, and makes some changes and additions as I see fit. For example, my story might involve God creating something on the "8th day". I could easily alter some names and turn God into "gods" and things would probably still work fine without the direct references to Biblical stories. But I'm wondering if the Biblical angle might be better. Thoughts?

Wu, what is your question really? You say you want "thoughts" - what kind of thoughts exactly? Why don't you narrow the question down for us? You'll get better answers if you give us a narrow target. A lot of shotgun pellets will go off uselessly (with the expense of others' energy and thought) otherwise.

You say:
>I could easily alter some names and turn God into "gods" and things would probably still work fine without the direct references to Biblical stories.

Why are you considering that direction? What's your reasoning?

>But I'm wondering if the Biblical angle might be better.

Better in what way? What is your question really (what is it you're really trying to find out)?

Well I guess my concern is I'll offend people somehow by including religion, or maybe turn some people away by making the game seem too "preachy".

Please keep religion out of games or at least don't use real life religions.
Particularly religious references can turn a game, that is otherwise good, into a bad game. Like when one of the characters in the game suddently starts acting like jesus, or big parts of the story are just being explained because there is a "god".

Though there are games out there which use religious references succesfully, like god of war, or black and white. But these games did not use any bold references to the bible (afaik, in black and white there were these angel and devil figures, which could be intepreted as references to the bible, but these are present in other religions too).

In my opinion, in most cases the Biblical angle is not the better way, as it does not add something to the game, but might take something away.

Some books use real-life religions effectively without getting *too* much flak. "The Da Vinci Code" is an obvious example. "Snow Crash" is a good one, too. Both of these use religions in a sort-of conspiracy. I could see this being used effectively in games in a similar manner. For example, in Snow Crash, speaking in tongues can control other's minds (or something like that - I can't remember precisely). And there you have it - a storyline for a game.

The religious references in those stories did not throw me, an atheist, off. I know that the Da Vinci Code received some (many?) attacks from the religious communities, but that certainly didn't kill its sales or popularity.

But be careful - you're certainly treading a fine edge.

a great game is a great game

Wu wrote:
>my concern is I'll offend people somehow by including religion,

This is so confusing. "I want to do something I think will offend people." If offending people is a concern, why do you want to do it? If you want to do it badly enough, why are you concerned about offending people?

I wouldn't necessarily be offended by a game that has Biblical references in it.

Quote: This is so confusing. "I want to do something I think will offend people." If offending people is a concern, why do you want to do it? If you want to do it badly enough, why are you concerned about offending people?

If it offends people, I don't want to do it. That's my point. I want to see if people would somehow be offended by religious references, or if for some other reason they wouldn't like it.

I am agnostic, don't believe in the bible and don't like religion.

But I don't mind the background or setup of a game / story at all. If you use bible stories in a good game, I'll play and enjoy it. I'll say to my friends, "buy this game it rocks as long as your ignore the christian elements."

Every story has a moral / religious / cultural / historical set of references. Looking at the thousands of religions on the earth proves that humans have a built-in tendency to create stories and elevate the powerful stories to places of honor and reverence. We do it with everything, movies, games, etc. Look at the million remakes of "Othello", or the way people devote themselves to Star Wars.

Don't worry about what other people will and won't like or will and won't think. If you follow your dreams and use your own judgment you will make better games.