Take Responsibility for What You Play

Ever since I got back into gaming as a Christian after being away from the hobby for about ten years, the phrase 'Responsible Gaming' has repeatedly come to my mind in reguards to role playing games. I believe that some of the condemnation that Christians have placed upon role playing games is at least due in part to irresponsible gaming. People believed that it did not matter what they put in their games as long as they remembered that they were just games. The movie industry has made the same mistake and continues to make it.

Content is one of the all important factors when it comes to gaming or any work of fiction. Some game publishers have place sexually explicit images in their role playing materials as well as foul language and other things totally unnessary for the telling of a good story. Some companies have also published games that require the player to play an agent of evil and darkness such as a vampire or werewolf. While some Christians have been able to take these games and make something salvagable out of them I myself have dificulty doing so. Another area where we must use a measure of discernment and a certain amount of caution is with the use of magic and psychic powers in role playing games. Role playing games are fictional games, there is nothing true about them, players do not cast spells or summon spirits but magic and psychic powers (also known as psionics) are story elements in some games. Christian authors such as C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien used magic in their fictional works to create worlds where wonder was ever present, role playing games and the magic usually found therein are not much different. It is a literary magic that is totally blown out of proportion when compared to real occultism and often bears little if any resemblance to the latter. The closest a player will come to using magic in a role playing game is in stating the actions of a fictional character in a fictional world. The player may say "I will cast a sleep spell upon the ogre." and then the player or the game master (the person running the game and playing all of the characters not run by regular players) will usually roll dice to see how effective the chosen mode of attack was in the situation at hand. The content of some games may come closer than others in a representation of real world occultism. I am not saying that playing any role playing game with any magic system is OK, but I do say that each player or game master should pray about the types of games he or she will play, and let the Lord help him or her decide whether a game is OK or not.

Responsible gaming actually lies more in the hands of the game master of a certain game than anywhere else. The game master is the final authority in any given game, he or she is the one who makes up the pretend world (or at least runs it) that the players will be playing in, he decides what religions to include in his game, whether or not he wants magic in his game, whether or not their will be sexual themes in his game and many other things. As soon as a game master buys a game it becomes his game, he can change rules, content or anything else he doesn't like about a certain game. Just because a game as written by its author(s) has content between its covers that is not Christian doesn't necessarily mean that that particular game master is going to run his game in an ungodly fashion. Above all else let us remember that role playing is pretend, that the things that happen as a story unfolds in a role playing game are not actually happening, and that if we find ourselves becoming too involved in a role playing game or any other activity for that matter we should put the game or activity on the shelf for a while and go seek God's face.

Responsible gaming is gaming that puts fiction in its place, reality in its place and above all else God in his propper place. In a responsible game the characters should be heroic and strive for heroic goals. They should use their often unique powers to do good and protect the defenceless, not rob and kill them. A game properly run should be a game that teaches its players to strive against evil and darkness and that through faith and teamwork great obsticles can be overcome. Remember the game world might not be just like the real world. Magic is wrong in the real world because it is powered by demons and is a result of Satan's rebellion but in a fictional world it may be that magic is simply a normal thing that exists as an ability or skill that can be learned and used for good or evil. In a role playing game you are asking the question "what if" and through playing out the game you are in a sense answering the question. There are numerous what if questions that may be asked. What if magic was a normal part of life? What if elves were real? What if men and women had super powers? What if you were a cartoon character? What if you were the commander of a starship? The list could go on almost forever. Let us answer the question in a heroic responsible manner.

Responsible gaming is not difficult and it does not remove the fun from gaming. We must understand that in everything we do we are preaching a message to other people, especially if we are in a respected position like that of a game master. People, especially new players look up to game masters, game masters are leaders and like all leaders we have responsibility.