Christianity in the Vidya

I have a passing fondness for video games. Actually, I Love video games. That's capital-L-itallicized-love. I pine for puzzles. I rave for RPGs. I swoon for shooters, and I play them a lot. If you are an average American internet denizen, you, too, probably play video games, and you're also probably a Christian. I mention this because of a rather interesting trend I've noticed: the placement of Christianity into video games, or rather, the lack thereof.

This kind of game, while hilarious, is outside the scope of this article.

Of the top 10 video games last year (in terms of sales, my opinion is irrelevant here), how many of  them do you think were developed by companies composed mostly of Christians? Ok, that's a gimme, all of them. These are games developed by people who believe in the big Gabe Newell in the sky. But why don't they portray their characters along those lines? These games feature characters as diverse as you might expect, from cybernetic android warriors to mystical dragon-slayers. Ok, let's refine our search a bit: let's exclude sports games and Just Dance and let's instead look at games with a titular character or some kind of campaign. That leaves us with 10 games which all sold millions copies and have a character whose values and belief system we come to know over the course of the story (except for Gears of War 3, suckers). 

Two interesting things about these games stand out: not only do none of these games have a character that is vocal in his or her Christianity, with the exception of that guy who hangs out with Leonardo da Vinci, but a number of them feature atheist main characters.

Think about that: games that thousands of people worked on, that millions of people play, with godless, immoral, baby-eating atheists as their protagonists. Don't believe me? The most obvious example is The Fateless One, from Kingdoms of Amalur. In this game, the main character repeatedly and forcefully demonstrates just how much contempt they have for supernatural authority. And Adam Jensen, of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, is most assuredly atheist, and all four of the game's endings feature a monologue where he espouses his humanist beliefs. Whatever role you choose to play in the RPG Skyrim, you will almost certainly kill what many believe to be gods, and your character's faith is not particularly ironclad. The main characters in both Battlefield 3 AND Modern Warfare 3, despite being testosterone-pissing two-dimensional everymen, express at points over their respectively hilariously facile stories that they are very sad that so many people have died and "how could a god let this happen".

Interesting, isn't it? These games were produced, marketed, and played by mostly Christians. And yet, many of them have characters that aren't at all shy about expressing their lack of faith. Why do developers do this? Is it because atheists are imagined by many to be angsty, problem-ridden outsiders, and their beliefs are good background material? Is it because there's some mystique to role-playing as a type of person you aren't in real life? Or is it simply because atheists are really, really cool? I don't claim to have the answer, but the trend remains fascinating. Game on, dear reader.