For the lack of exposure (or at least lack of direct exposure) you had to them while growing up, you show yourself as knowledgeable about enough of the older video games that you show knowledge of what you're talking about.

I've felt video games are a good artistic medium... not the only one, of course, but a good one in its own right. To see that articulated is good, because I was never really sure how to argue that case. Episodic TV slowly sinking in quality and getting off-message and needing to be too open-ended is definitely true, and though I believe movies are good at telling compact narratives by not padding them out, sometimes they are too short too. I just came back from a movie that almost felt too short for what it was trying to do... it could have used a coda.

This being a reason to plug novels and video games is... well, to pardon the pun, novel to me.

Anyway, I'm just trying to say that it's great to hear from someone who agrees with me on this major point and can actually articulate it (unlike myself).

If you ask me, in addition to hosting a number of Christian values, RPGs in general promote one of the Seven virtues that has been largely forgotten in our hectic, modern day lifestyles: PATIENCE.

Also, to any video game sceptics, all current video games carry a warning system, and appropriate age for the audience: All Ages, 10+, Teen, Mature, and so on. They also list what reasons a game is rated at that value, such as mild violence, infrequent use of mild language, etc. That way, it's easy to track the material kids come in contact with, and there are plenty of games that Adult/Teens can find entertaining while still in the 'All Ages' label (Pokemon comes to mind, for example... given the amount of time it takes to play, it costs about 50 cents an hour to play... compare that to a $11 movie ticket.)

Thank you! There's so much stupidity about how roleplaying games are supposedly from the devil, it's a relief to see a Catholic publication presenting an unbiased glance at one of the great RPG franchises: Final Fantasy.

And gosh, some of the Final Fantasy games were so creative! In Final Fantasy VI, for example, there was a scene in which one of your characters had to sing in an opera. Occasionally she would have trouble remembering the next line, and you had to remember it for her!
But more significantly, to my mind is this: Television is totally passive. Movies are totally passive. Only video games involve the mind and the will, to at least some degree, for the duration of the time one spends upon them.

Michael, I don't think any great art form is passive, in the sense you suggest. It's like saying that looking at the "Mona Lisa" or listening to Beethoven's "9th Symphony" is a passive experience. Just because you aren't pointing a controller at the painting or the symphony (or the film) doesn't mean you are having a "passive experience." Like reading a good novel, all of these arts require an active mind, alerted to beauty and meaning by the eye and the ear. I just finished playing an hour of "Warlord" with my 11-year old, so I am not anti-video games. I agree these games have their virtues, including the requirement of active participation. But the mind participates even when the hands are idle.

Well, I suppose I did overstate my case a bit.

T. Joseph,

Enjoyed the piece - thought provoking. I have to say I'm undecided on video games. I've spent my fair share of time with the console, and enjoyed that time, but wonder about my net gain or loss other than entertainment points earned. That said, a lot of people, especially kids, love video games and I do see them as an evolving artform. Now, can video games be edifying for the human person? Certainly. Are they? I don't know. If a father and son play a video game together for the sheer shared enjoyment of it, that has value. And if that video game imparts some lesson of morality or faith or the human condition, great. Understandably, many demonize video games for the garbage so many of them contain. I have to question the amount of time we spend on them. For certain personalities, video games are super addictive. Others, not so much. This is why I'm undecided, I guess. Like so many other things, responsibility/irresponsibility and use/abuse frame the argument. My two cents.

Undecided and everyone else, thanks so much for the thoughtful replies.

Hi Folks,

Eric Pavlat, our newest blogger, had an excellent post on the experience of playing the Wii with his children.

Here's the link:
http://tinyurl.com/2mw9se

The globe icon to the lower right of this comment will also take you to his post.

I've been videogaming and simming for many years now, but I've only played a game title through to the end in a very cases. In each case, what kept me playing was a compelling storyline. The Half Life universe is a great example of an intriguing science fiction storyline, driven by characters with real relationships, sustained over multiple game titles. I get much the same enjoyment out of a session of Half Life 2 and its sequels as I do from a good novel. Videogaming, as Joe Mariel notes, is much more than a brainless diversion. In the best game titles, the story content is getting more interesting all the time.

I must say, I agree with the position of this article. I have played video games since I was eight, and find them very enjoyable and rewarding. Within the games, the player is shown various virtues, such as courage, love, justice, and hope. In real life, in playing the video games, the player actually practices virtues of patience and dilligence. As has been said before, many of these games take tens of hours to play to the end. These hours are spent not only in entertainment, but in a tedious process of gaining money, experience, and other items that allow the player to advance in the game. Players who are willing to put in this much time, and to endure the tedious parts, just to advance in a game will be better prepared to endure real life, in which worthwile objectives often require tedious and time-consuming tasks. Indeed, a study, I believe in Newsweek, discussed how adults who play video games are much more productive in their careers and community lives than people who do not. (A similar study, conducted on children, concluded the opposite, but I attribute this more to the differences between adults and children than to video games themselves.)
Finally, video games may feature complicated puzzles that engage the problem-solving abilities of the players.

Movies are passive in the sense that, no matter how much you think about them, you can't have any effect on the outcome. Traditional broadcast mediums are share this feature. The content is delivered to you and you don't have any ability to affect it. You can only choose to accept it or not.

That doesn't mean that the experience of viewing a passive medium is thoughtless. Of course you can reflect on it and think about it and talk about it! There's a difference from a "passive experience" (a phrase that Michael never used) and a medium that is indifferent to user input/feedback.

You have to admit, there's a significant difference in activity between watching TV and using a computer, between viewing a movie and playing a game.

Bravo! Your comments on videogames are so refreshing, and I applaud your reasoning. It's disheartening, as previous comments have said, that many evangelical Christians and Catholics believe video games to be "mindles," dumb, "brain-wasting," or even outright evil. To the contrary -- where else do you have children being allowed to unambiguously embark upon adventures of good versus evil? I am encouraged by your article.

The problem with Video Games is more their addictive quality than their story line. World of Warcraft has some great themes running throughout yet it is highly addictive. WoW (World of Warcraft) steals much from "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy yet if you see a teenager blankly staring at his computer while trying to "level up" you would hardly say that this video game is innocuous. This look is VERY similar to someone on a gambling binge and it triggers the same part of the brain. Gambling isn't addicted to everyone but I know it does ruin some people lives. That is not say playing to much WoW will cause you to lose your house, but I wonder how many hours some of these people are putting in.

You might also want to check out the Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children spinoff movie. Its conclusion incorporates the aesthetics of baptism as diseased children are healed in waters...in a Western-style chapel no less. The FF series incorporates imagery and narratives from a host of world myths, so it is not too surprising to find Judeo-Christian overtones. (It sometimes worries me that my students will remember their mythology more from mini-bosses than from Ovid.)

Obvious religious metaphors aside, I often think it is a pity that so much artistry is invested in video games despite the fact that they reach such a limited audience. The visual beauty in some games can rival the great masters...if you own a console that can run them.
On the other hand, a PS2 is still cheaper than a ticket to Rome or the Louvre.

Thank you so much for saying this. I see so much denunciation of video games from people who don't know beautiful, heroic ones like Final Fantasy and Legend of Zelda. Thank you for defending them as capable of being art of great merit. I agree with Peter Terp too; have you seen Advent Children?

Thanks for seconding me, Mary!
I think there are two significant barriers, however, to video games ever being widely recognized by academic types as "high art."
First, how would you ever teach a class in video game appreciation? You can't tell students to "reach level thirteen for homework" the same way you can tell them to read up to chapter thirteen in a book. Even a student who has difficult with comprehension can always turn a page in ways that a bad gamer can't. It's kind of similar to the problems of teaching drama as literature, only magnified.
Second, the expense alone of a "video game appreciation" class would be absurd (unless there was a significant change in copyright laws).
It seems to me that games would have to be taught without the actual experience of playing them...but then we'd start to lose the sense of the game's primary feature: play. It would be like teaching performance theory. You might be able to watch a video of game play and cutscenes, but it's not the same thing as actually playing the game. We might someday see companies make games with "exploration" modes for the sheer purpose of letting people enjoy the aesthetics of the virtual world without being bogged down with tasks and monsters, but even that would defy how the game is usually experienced.

Mr. Marier,

Your article was interesting and brought up points I hadn't considered. I am someone who plays video games at times and even I wonder at their value as I usually play them for recreation since I simply cannot stand to watch much television and I can't always read.

Anyway, I did have a question about your recommendation of Final Fantasy. Like you, I think RPG's can be good at times, but Final Fantasy seemed to have some problematic aspects when I played it. One instance was the act of "Summoning" which is variously named in the different games. In the games, you will have to "Summon" different beings in battle and some of these (like Ifrit and Diablos) certainly seem like demons if not the devil himself.

Now, I do not at all have a problem with fantasy magic in games and the games do take place in fantasy worlds, but does not this summoning of demonic beings done by your character(s) seem problematic? I admit it caused me to stop playing the FF series. I wanted to ask your opinion on this if you don't mind.

Theodore, I limited my commentary to non-MMPORG games for the reasons you brought up. I've never played 'em myself, being too stingy with my time, and with my money. I think you're right that MMPORGs tend to tap into the gambling portions of the brain, but I also think the problem is lessened with self-contained games because you're not competing for resources against real people (in other words, you're not gambling). When it comes to your larger point about addiction: I can't say that it's not a problem for others (and if anyone reading this is consistently neglecting family/work duties for ANY reason, then seek help). I don't think that videogames are by their nature destructive forces, though. I've done some other writing on that subject, so stay tuned.

Peter, now, I said that videogames were art, not high art! The idea of "high art" is a bit afield from the point I was making, and I'm largely with Tom Wolfe on the matter, so don't go there. I say that with a smile. Also, videogames reach a very wide and appreciative audience. They wouldn't put up the sales numbers they do if they didn't.

As a 14 year old gamer, I'm bookmarking it. There were a few things I thought were under described.
One being, even with the more violent games, you are always fighting for good. Dead rising (a pretty violent game, in which you play in a mall full of zombies) you don't go around killing people at random, you go around saving people. Any humans you do fight have either been driven insane or (in the case of the antagonist) started the zombie outbreak. The shooter Half life 2, you fight aliens that have taken over the planet and stopped all human reproduction (if your species isn't a cause to fight for I don't know what is). Also MMORPGs (Massive Multi-player Online Role Playing Games) Allow people to socially interact without violence, or should they choose fight together. For example in one MMO I played called Face of Mankind. I ended up fighting a corrupt police and military government. From their point of view they where fighting with a rebellious faction. At one time the whole game was at peace, until a massive act of terrorism was committed by one faction and all the other fought back (its a little odd to fight with police when your so accustomed to fighting them).

Just a note for anyone wondering the picture is from Final fantasy X

I'm not Catholic, but my favorite Catholic ever was J.R.R. Tolkien, and he expresses an idea in his essay "On Fairy Stories" that seems to illuminate an aspect of this discussion, specifically the possibility of "addiction." I quote at length...

"Fantasy can, of course, be carried to excess. It can be ill done. It can be put to evil uses. It may even delude the minds out of which it came. But of what human thing in this fallen world is that not true? Men have conceived not only of elves, but they have imagined gods, and worshipped them, even worshipped those most deformed by their authors' own evil. But they have made false gods out of other materials: theri notions, their banners, their monies; even their sciences and their social and economic theories have demanded human sacrifice. Abusus non tollit usum. Fantasy remains a human right: we make in our measure and in our derivative mode, because we are made: and not only made, but made in the image and likeness of a Maker."

I wasted way too much time playing video games as a lad, and now I see adults addicted to them all the time. Interactive? You're "interacting" with shadows on a screen. Going for a walk down the street gives you infinitely more opportunities for true interaction with real live people than a lifetime of "interactive" video game playing. A game of checkers with a child is far more rewarding.

If you play these games from time to time for a brief diversion, I can't see much harm. But the minute anyone starts going on and on about the great artistry of video games I begin to suspect a mind that has become addicted to sparkling virtual trinkets.

We know a family who have a "media room" in which they have four computers. These computers are networked together, allowing the family to play some competition-type games against each other. It's not uncommon to go to visit them and find all of them, parents and kids alike, in the media room, either playing in a four-way competition or cheering on the participants. Since it's also not uncommon to visit them and catch them at family prayers, my best friend came up with a wonderfully funny tongue-in-cheek saying for them: "The family that clicks together, sticks together."

A continuous theme in the Final Fantasy series is the aim and method of the chief villain in the story: the attempt to become a god, quite literally and through some means involving mass murder of life. The villains often sought divinity through the destruction of life, whereas the heroes, in order to succeed, had to make some difficult sacrifice of love – even to the point of giving up one's own life.

I love this article. Video games, especially RPGs, are something Christians should spend more time looking into. A well done RPG gets closer to the heart of the audience more than any other medium, excluding books.

Unlike movies or TV, a role-playing video game requires personal investment. You become attached to the characters and emotionally progress with the story. All the best RPGs teach virtues and morals of some kind, the Final Fantasy series is legendary (or notorious) or preaching environmentalism.

I think there is a lot of potential for a Christian-based RPG, as long as the story is good. (Think C.S. Lewis or Frank Peretti, not Tim LaHaye or "Bible Man").

Kyle, that's too good. I wish I had said it.