Games are about rules — codes of conduct — governing the behavior of individual players and relationships between players.

Religions are about rules — codes of conduct — governing the behavior of individual people and relationships between people.

So why are there so few games involving religion? Michael Thompson of Ars Technica explores the paradox:

Mark Twain once observed that, “Man is a Religious Animal. He is the only Religious Animal. He is the only animal that has the True Religion— several of them. He is the only animal that loves his neighbor as himself and cuts his throat if his theology isn’t straight.” Twain was right: religion, no matter what religion, is something that multitudes of people believe in, but no two people seem to believe in exactly the same thing. As a result, any religious content included in games is going to be interpreted on a very personal level by anyone who considers themselves devout.

… Maybe that’s why making religious games is so tough: by including anything that’s that goes even remotely beyond basic concepts or happens to be even a bit controversial, developers risk the ire a lot of people who could easily be offended enough to boycott the title. Whatever the reason, it doesn’t seem likely that we’ll be seeing any religious content in the near future, though the possibility of storylines with serious spiritual themes remains.

– Michael Thompson @ Ars Technica

Vias Slashdot.