Only thing I can think of is in WoW, the female humans will say: "Don't you feel like there are times you are being controlled by some invisible hand?" Something like that...
I have studied all of the major Religions..mainly Satanism and Christianity for personal reasons. MSRB is not there to control but to inform of content. If someone like myself buys a game that revolves around realistic enough Christianity, I will toss it. Should go the same way for anyone who is offended by Demons and Hell themes. Thing about it is: Most Demonic themes in games are fictitious. Christianity however, often have realistic themes; which I'd like to know about. I like having the box adorned with screenshots, gameplay info, and such. However, if they are going to inform me on other "offensive" stuff like dirty humor, use of booze, sexual references, and gore and Demons, then I'd like to be aware of any references to any religion. Everyone religious has their Master, as I do mine. I don't like my religion depicted in false ways or even insulting ways. If you play a game and don't agree with the theme, it can be seen as being pushed on the player. It's no different than gore, violence, etc. There was a huge uproar about Doom 3 and Devil Summoner having Demonic themes....mainly fictional. Then you have games (can't remember the names off the bat) that have God like themes, which no one made any kind of say against. Christians have a gathering, no one really notices or cares. Church of Satan has a meeting and we wind up in the damn news. Bottom line is, religion should be in games with a warning and should be fictional. It's degrading to other religions if the game depicts one being weaker or lesser than the other. I play Blackguards, assassins, Warlocks 98% of the time, so I don't feel comfortable fighting for the "light", or being the good guy, a lot. Why in Oblivion, most of my chars are in the Dark Brotherhood. One char, an Orc fighter is the "hero". But there is no religion tied to that. I wouldn't push my religion on anyone, or want a game with that theme without a warning. For we don't evangelize. Bottomeline is: most "parents" (if that's what you want to call them anymore) don't have a clue or care what they are buying for their kids. Whatever shuts them up, really. Then they wonder why their kids are saying real Demons names outloud or mocking Christ, and know the name "Anton LaVey". Should be not a censor, but a warning and rating set, at least.
As a christian who plays video games I sure would like to know if there are strong spiritual themes contained within a game. Does anyone else take notice of these kinds of elements?
There have been a number of games which I have passed on as a result of spiritual content (Okami and Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume being two examples). I find it somewhat baffling that a game like Mario Party DS is reported to contain "Comic Mischief" but spiritual content (even occult or demonic elements) go unnoticed.
I do not have an idea for how these things should affect the rating of a game, but it would be nice if they were mentioned on the back of the box.
Euaggelistes
Absolutely, they should consider this. They separate the Church and State, they consider even a nude butt viable for censorship or an "M" rating, and violence/gore. Why? Not everyone wants to play a game filled with content that can be offending, or that contains material that their kids don't want to be exposed to in a game or film that they don't agree with. Same with religion. I wouldn't want to play a game where God or Satan was speaking to me, or I was fighting my way through it in the name of God, etc. If Religion is going to be a major part of a game, there should be a warning in small print somewhere. Should say something like: Contains strong religious content. Just my thoughts. EDIT: One thing I over looked: One thing I have also noticed is that Christians make a big deal out of Demons, ghosts and even evil entities being in games, but no one really says anything when the "good" religion is in a game.
Did you ever have a game so terrible and overrated that it made you want to send it back to the company in pieces? For me: The Witcher. That game was just an epic /fail. They called it an RPG, but you couldn't buy gear, name your character, the engine was a joke, I couldn't pick or choose any of the quests, who I could work with or work alone, etc. For this game, they spent too much time on the cool cinematics and very little on the game itself. I broke the cd in pieces and tossed it in the trash, after using many select words. What is your "OMFG!!!" game?
Fallout 3 has nothing close to Morrowind's content, lore, or modding potential. Sure, a good game, no doubt. This is about TES, not Fallout. Morrowind and Oblivion are classics that will never go out of style. If I hadn't of lost my Morrowind DvD, I'd still be modding and playing it. Just like Oblivion, it's vast, endless possibilities for your character, modding is endless, and such a story and world to emerge into. I recommend any TES if you can still find it.
On early PC games, (like Quake 1 and 2 for example) I'd open up the code and play with it a bit. Change variables, values, etc. That way I could get weapons or stats beyond the intended lvl at the time. Only did that when I was bored out of my mind and the weather outside sucked.
WoW and NWN did torment me, simply because you have to deal with people. Stupid people. Playing solo on WoW is cake now (which disgusts me...thanks cry babies), but completing a raid or heroic is absolute 3hours of torture to MAYBE get a epic you need to drop, and chances are I have it already. Last time I raided Naxx....like two months ago....the group fell apart at the second boss due to two morons arguing on vent and /y channel at each other and disbanded. Happens 8/10 times. Meh.....
Actually, I have/had the same issue. Main reason I don't even know where the DVD is now. Part from the fact I don't like NWN2, the game is just bugged and I had issues creating new characters. And the update feature never works, makes me sit there for an hour DLing this huge file, and then fails on install. Once I got it to work, I got sick of the game engine, the camera not staying put, the numerous bugs on quests and toon creation, etc. I tried everything to think of, but the best idea was to /uninstall. Sadly, as it is. Mainly this is all due to Atari and Bioware falling apart halfway through NWN 2 production, but sold the dang thing anyways...bugs and all. GG Bioware.Right up there with Blizzard, now. And that's not a compliment.
Oblivion, the first time I played, and placed the Nightmare sword mod in the game, it kept making me fall through the ground when I approached it. Dang thing was on the statue in Anvil, and I'd go to grab it, and *whoosh!* down I went. Left me thinking WTF?
One time in WoW, we were doing H OK and the last two mobs at the end before the final boss (a caster and a warrior) just wouldn't die like normal. Then, when we finally killed them, I (being main DPS) was half on health, healer was OOM, tank was out of health and rage, and off DPS was low on energy and health (Blood Elf Rogue). Then, while we were drinking and eating they respawned again, within seconds! Samething, they wouldn't die like normal. So we all stood there like "WTF!?" and fought them on low mana and health....tank died, and so did the rogue. Priest put on bubble and I hit Engraged Regeneration and got my health back up and killed the last one. It didn't happen a third time, though. I think sometimes the GMs f*ck with players. Just my speculation, though.
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