Morally Acceptable Games, or, How to Neuter a Narrative

by John Ford 

It stuns and bewilders me that people are actually offended by the treatment of the "Catholic Church" in Final Fantasy Tactics. I'm surprised that people are bringing religious arguments into the debate on mature subject matter in games. Back when Square made their non-publish announcement about Xenogears, I considered it pretty ridiculous since obviously nobody would protest something so innocuous. Perhaps I was mistaken.

Let me take a different angle on this first. One of the most important purposes of a narrative is to examine human behavior and issues. True, video games aren't exactly the premier method for this, but lately more mature themes have been creeping into the gaming world. Thanks to better technology (and higher game sales), we are finally reaching the place where games can examine issues in depth. As a result, we have darker and more controversial topics like "What is evil?" and "How do people go about abusing power?" appearing in games. I'm not claiming that we have one game which explores any of these issues thoroughly, but the possibility is definitely there.

Exploring these themes requires looking at some fairly nasty happenings. People being murdered, despots twisting religious beliefs to suit their own ends, even sexual abuse. To censor or remove the parts of a story that are potentially offensive takes the "guts," the "impact" out of a tale and renders it down to a nice little puppet play. Games have always been this way due to the emphasis on entertainment (and healthy profits), but some gamers, like myself, welcome mature topics with open arms. I was happy that good wasn't "the side of the majority religion" in Tactics, and I was thrilled that Sephiroth was less Evil Incarnate than alienated and confused. I consider the knee-jerk backlash against ambiguity like this detrimental to gaming's potential.

Now, to the specifics. Frankly, I don't see why even the most devout Catholic would be offended with Final Fantasy Tactics. If he has honestly examined the past history of his beliefs, he can find many black spots on its record. This goes for Catholicism, Protestantism, Islam, atheism-- heck, every wide-spread belief system has its share of bad apples. And Final Fantasy Tactics examines that concept: What if the religion we were taught was used by someone for power? What if some of the things we believed were manipulated for effect? The key issue has been bent out of shape. Tactics doesn't say "Catholics are devil-worshippers" any more than Dracula says "Transylvanians are vampires." The whole monsters thing is about someone abusing a system for power, yeesh! Can't you accept the fact that some Christian might have been a despot himself? That sometimes good intentions are just a facade? That's the message I got from Tactics, and it's a very correct and useful one at that. That a symbolic interpretation of historical events-- the dominance of the Catholic Church over much of Europe, with power to practically decide who lives and who dies-- examined under a speculative light should make people so angry merely confirms Square's suspicions that people don't want to think outside their box.

On the other hand, I can't understand why people get so gnarled up about violence and sexuality in games either. I'm inclined to disbelieve "games like Duke Nukem caused Jonesboro" simply because I think most people have a better grasp on reality than that. I do agree with a previous author: that portraying morally reprehensible acts without the consequences can be bad for a person's moral balance, if divorced from adequate moral training elsewhere. But, this doesn't mean that we should cover our eyes and ears and run away from something simply because it's disturbing. Duke Nukem and the T'n'A patrol aside, games have the possibility to examine some deep subjects now, and it would be a shame to rail against this trend due to simplistic fear of the subject matter. Consider the Bible, for instance. It's not a stretch to say that it has a few good things to say about human nature. Now take out the Song of Solomon, the acts of a vengeful God, and all the wars and violence of Israel. Hm, not much Old Testament left, is there?

A final bit to throw in. I don't think any game should be examined based on a "Christian" world-view and "edited" to fit that viewpoint. If it's a good story, it's a good story. If it portrays the brutal murder of a young woman and the consequences wreaked on her lover and closest friends, don't wail about the death scene. If it points out a possibility for abuse in what you believe, then you don't need to call it "bigoted" or "anti-Catholic"; take the message as it is instead of taking it personally. Simply because you may believe something doesn't mean that you have to close your eyes and ears to potential negatives.

If a game features mindless sex and slaughter, it goes on the garbage heap as it deserves. If it talks about something we've taken for granted in a new light, maybe we should think about what it has to say instead of whipping up the mob's fury. I think this should be the way we welcome new games-- with an open mind.