Satan has entered the game lobby
Why does nearly every video game have some sort of relationship to the prince of Darkness?
First, an update. It’s been a long time since I’ve posted! And for the absence, I apologize. There’s been a lot going on with work — all 3 of my jobs — and then my own health, both physical and mental. I even stopped playing video games for a few weeks, which is a pretty big indicator for me that I’m not doing well. But things are better now and I’m going to try and get the Substack part of my life back on schedule.
Now onto this week’s post…
Satan has entered the game lobby
Tonight, I was having dinner with my family, including my three niblings to celebrate the youngest child turning two. My nephew began excitedly talking about Minecraft, which he doesn’t play but he loves the books. And then the old accusation came up that always seems to arise whenever it comes to video games: “[Insert game title here] has Satanic overtones.”
Minecraft. Minecraft has Satanic overtones, apparently.
But why?
Because portals.
Portals and Nether Realms and Ender Dragons all belong to the Prince of Darkness, apparently. I must admit, this was a new one for me. I grew up in the age of Harry Potter being discussed by the Pope about whether or not reading it was sinful. But Minecraft? You play — on purpose, mind you — as pixelated characters farming blocks and smacking zombies with a sword while you corral a veritable army of cows inside a fence and rebuild replications of the Parthenon.
Anything remotely “evil” in the game is meant to be slain, from wicked spiders (the worst) to swamp witches. There aren’t even enemies who remotely take on what popular culture recognizes as demonic — no cloven-feet devils exist from the Overworld to the End.
Minecraft isn’t the first game to allegedly be a ‘tool of the Devil’ and it certainly won’t be the last. As long as media exists, someone out there will claim it’s Satanic. Grand Theft Auto, Saints Row, even Pokemon isn’t free from claims that it’s anti-Christian. Sure, there are games out there that do deal with the Devil and demonic themes, but people need to stop seeing things that simply are not there. The Devil has not entered the lobby. He isn’t influencing Call of Duty to claim your soul.
Why accusations like this are harmful in the long run
Evil forces exist. From abusive pastors to domestic terrorists who shoot into crowds claiming to be followers of Christ, evil exists and it surrounds us. Looking for evil where it doesn’t exist and claiming that something as innocuous as Minecraft of all things is Satanic can lead to overscrupulousity in Catholic gamers and it undermines Christian credibility that we genuinely care about the world.
How many Christians will decry the evils of video games while actively spreading hate about their neighbor? Non-Christians and even fellow Christians see this behavior and it drives them away from the Church. Hypocrisy is a terrible thing to endure; many simply decide to stop doing so. How many will preach against the evils of media but ignore the abuse scandal within the priesthood? How many will preach against the violence of video games but also refuse to support gun laws to protect our children from real-world violence? There are evils in this world and video games aren’t one of them.
And overscrupulous gamers are very much a thing as I already discussed in another post. The Catechism of the Catholic Church has clear guidelines on what is a sin and if you believe our God is a God of love, do you think He cares more about you paying money to play Minecraft or about you donating to politicians who are actively destroying our world through hatred, greed, and warfare? Just think about it.
