I have a theory, and bear with me here. I think gaming, or perhaps even the identity of “gamer” has become a religion to some people.
I don’t mean to weight this toward good or bad. Rather, I’d like to draw some parallels, both good and bad and show how the two are astonishingly similar.
Let’s start, unfortunately, with some of the bad, specifically fundamentalism. Fundamentalists exist in all religions and its possible that they exist within the gaming world too. I will use the example of the Bill Nye vs. Ken Ham debate. There was one particular question that rattled the audience, which was “What, if anything could change your mind?” Bill Nye said “evidence” while Ken Ham said “nothing.” Bill Nye was considering the evidence of the world around him and letting it shape his opinion. Ken Ham, however, had an opinion, and was trying his hardest to make what evidence he had, and what holes in our knowledge we have, somehow work in his favor.
Now, think back to arguments you have had about video games. Have you ever had points where, even though you have presented a mountain of evidence, people still wouldn’t even listen to your arguments? Doesn’t matter what your evidence was. Could have been scenes from a game you played. Could have been studies from agencies whose job it was to keep track of gaming data. Could be a quote from a game developer. If they put their fingers in their ears and simply refuse to believe evidence put in front of them, you are talking to a fundamentalist.
But let’s stop talking about depressing things for a while. Religion isn’t just fundamentalism. Religion can be empowering. Religion can induce altered states of consciousness. Meditation has been practiced by several different religions around the world. But meditation is not always passive. It’s not always silent and introspective. Active meditation is also an important spiritual experience.
PBS Idea Channel did an amazing episode about shoot em ups and how they may relate to meditation. They talked about how the intense concentration that you experience while playing a bullet hell game could induce an altered state of consciousness. That feeling that you get when you are “in the zone” can be considered a form of meditation, and it comes with all the benefits of meditation, from anxiety reduction to increased mental acuity.
There are a lot of different ways that gaming can parallel religion. People identify as Christian or Jewish as part of their identity, and people identify as “gamer” all the same. People turn to religious communities as havens from a world that hasn’t treated them kindly, and gamers have done the same for the gaming community. People travel from far and wide to go to religions congregations far away from their home… gaming cons anyone?
Of course there are a lot of other personal identities that parallels can be drawn to as well. Maybe gaming is a “natonality.” Maybe it’s a “heritage.” Or maybe it’s just a bunch of people playing bleep bloop gamey things on their telemajiggy.
What do you think? Is gaming your “religion?” Do you know anyone who treats gaming like a religion? Let us know in the comments.