Hindus have asked the video-games developers to avoid religious themes.
Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement at Nevada (USA) today, said that religion was one of the most complex and powerful force of human life, so we must take religion seriously. Video-games should not attempt to trivialize the highly revered concepts and symbols of religion just for mercantile greed.
Zed, who is President of the Universal Society of Hinduism, argued that freedom of expression was important, but faith was something sacred and attempts at belittling it hurts the devotees. Video-games developers should be more sensitive while handling faith related subjects, as these games leave lasting impact on the minds of highly impressionable children, teens and other young people.
Rajan Zed pointed out that unless the developers could accurately and authentically deliver religious imagery and symbolism, they should not unnecessarily poke into religion. Entertainment, escapism, etc., being the purposes of video-games, it was tough for developers to do justice to religion and treat it fairly or provide it with the real depth it needed.
Zed stated that, however, the video-games industry was welcome to immerse in religion but taking it seriously and respectfully and not for refashioning religious concepts and symbols focusing merely on mercantile greed. It was not an appropriate platform to discuss God seriously and added to more confusion in young minds about the already misunderstood arena.
Rajan Zed suggested that various countries of the world should come up with national content rating organizations for video-games as these seriously affected the outlook and thought process of our next generation.
Examples of religion showing up on video-games included: gods inhabit the bodies of dragons in “Dragon Age: Origins”, religious belief motivated war in “Halo: Reach”, power-hungry deities in “God of War III”, hypno-cult of “Sam and Max”, criticism of human interpretation of religion in “Assassin’s Creed” (AC2 claimed to be “designed, developed and produced by a multicultural team of various religious faiths and beliefs”), God denial and man worship in “BioShock”, prophesies in “Left Behind”, concept of body and soul in “Mass Effect 2”, player taking the role of omnipotent in “Pocket God”, ‘You are God’ in “Babel Rising”, player as God of the island in “Black and White”, worship package of “Deus Ex: Invisible War”, “Civilization” favoring certain religious societies, buying your own salvation in “Fable 2”, war between religious organizations in “Thief”, hellish imagery in “Dante’s Inferno”, when God comes back to earth in “Left Behind: Eternal Forces”, villainous religious organization in “Final Fantasy Tactics”, etc.