Binge Gamer's James Walker takes The Bulletin's Susan Brinkmann to task for her recent article that claimed that video games are becoming more "anti-religion". Walker addresses falsehoods in Brinkmann's assumptions before looking at how religion is handled in video games. Finally, he chastises the games industry for being too afraid of offending particular groups of people to take the next necessary steps forward in storytelling and game design.

Dragon Age: Origins is a shining example of how religion and religious belief can be conveyed in games. For those of you who have yet to play it, Dragon Age: Origins includes an religious group known as the Chantry of Andraste, which is heavily based on Christianity. Unlike games like Oblivion, which treat spirituality and religious faith as absolute fact, Dragon Age: Origins keeps the entire discussion rather. At no point during the game are you led by the narrative to believe that the story of Andraste is either right or wrong. To further gray the area of religious belief, there are several points in the game you can overhear NPCs and members of your party debating the merits of religious belief and faith.

The true beauty of how religion is portrayed within Dragon Age: Origins is that at no point during the game are you given the answers.

MaximusPaynicus via bingegamer.net »