Thursday, November 16, 2006

Theology of Computer Games

I confess. I'm a bit of a computer game addict. No, actualy...

My Name is Christine and I'm addicted to computer games.

I use them to relax after difficult meetings or just hard days. I use them to forget my troubles when I'm troubled, to justify my agressions, and to indulge in the false sense that if I am clever enough I can control my world.

I play computer games when I should be going to the gym, cleaning the iguana cage, working in my yard, or even conversing with my family. ouch!

I hurry to my defense. If I watch a dozen hours of TV in a year, it's unusual. Shopping as a pastime has no appeal to me. My son and I trade games back and forth and talk about them.

I'm a hard core case. I'm such a hard core case that I'm going to shamelessly justify my addiction by reflecting on the theology of a variety of computer games which I enjoy. So there.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's funny how much we have in common, Christine. This is a topic that never came up at the ministers' retreat.

I used to be embarrassed by my habit, but I have recently begun claiming it as a genuine act of self care. And now that members of my congregation are finding out it makes for wonderful conversations. Though I sometimes wonder what will happen if a non-gamer overhears.

"So then I called over my necromancer to finish him off..."

Christine Robinson said...

Maybe we should banish the bridge players in favor of something more creative! What do you play?

Anonymous said...

Last year I gave a talk at my UU church precisely on the subject of the theology of videogames.

Herewith the link:

http://elcalizazul.squarespace.com/the-religion-of-video-games/

I noticed, however, that the industry has evolved enough in the past year so that even now it seems outdated. (Second Life has a whole set of theological/philosophical assumptions that I did not even begin to consider until last year.) Nevertheless, I offer it here as a point of departure for conversation.

Cheers!

Enrique