Discussing
Batman, mercy and 'Arkham City'

Batman, in the game, is programmed to make moral decisions as if the villain characters were flesh and blood soul bearing people. You are cognitively mature of the fact that you are playing a game and want the cathartic release of blowing the evil away which you probably, hopefully know you would never do in real life.

Ghandi said "There are many causes I would die for. There is not a single cause I would kill for."

So long as we have the psychological maturity to discern the difference between video games and real life we are fine. In fact, this game may be helpful in drawing one's attention to the player's frustrating craving for violent justice and the pain of unrequited revenge in the face of the duplicity of true unrepentant evil. 

In a real life situation Drew, if you held someone's life in your hands, I think you would be Batman.

@d9fbac71d307644d203f78c8bc2d2201:disqus 
You are getting to exactly why I found this game meaningful. What you have articulated is exactly what I was driving at. I want to be like Batman--he is Christ-figure in the game, he is nobler than me and thus I was benefited from my time playing as him.

What a great article. I really enjoyed it and loved the tension with respect to flesh vs. spirit. I always wanted to be Superman but if the red cape ever clashed with my modern hip style; then black pretty much goes with anything. lol

Thanks Eric! Glad you liked it.

Great read. You captured the essence of many games in this genre: blast away at some invading non-human and clearly deserving of death monsters.  Even the possibility of showing restraint and mercy is not there.

I may enjoy those shoot-em-ups sometimes, but one game I regularly come back to is the original Deus Ex. You can take the popular "shoot everything in sight" tactic or you can choose to use restraint, knocking out enemies or even avoiding them altogether. I play it again and again because I prefer having the choice (and living with it) in any given situation.

Glad you liked it! Yeah I appreciated that about the Deus Ex games as well. The new Deus Ex game is pretty solid in that regard as well--though I was frustrated at how my nonlethal tactics were uprooted by the game's boss fights: http://www.christandpopculture...

Batman has the edge that every man wants to be. Almost like the character of wolverine in X-men but unlike wolverine his hard character pulsates his moral code and to keep justice and never to cross that preverbal line to "be like them". 

I remember in one of the batman movies where Bruce Wayne contemplates the idea of the image to use. He choses the bat... a image that is fear but uses it and turns it upside down...

I always kinda saw the cross in similar manor. The cross was an image of death but through Christ's edge and determination he defeats death and turns it into a symbol of hope. 

Batman holds in tension the hard exterior of manhood that every man desires to execute when the need for a hero arises but holds true to the morals of good making him the very definition of a super hero... This is what I think separates him from the rest.

I am not a fan of most video games because all of the violence and I have desperately tried not to get irritated when people used them to show good vs. evil (I would give an example but I don't want other gamers getting angry with me) so I was curious on how this would be different. I was very surprised and thankful that there is something in this generation that has some moral value and one thing I always found neat about the character of Batman is that he is human trying to give justice as much as he can. Thank you for your honesty and thoughtful insight.

My problem with video games is not even the message (which is usually terrible), its the medium. They are an alternate form of escapist reality, they isolate the player from communication with the real world, they are addictive, they encourage physical inactivity, the systems are expensive. My daughter and son-in-law stayed at my house for 6 months between moves and I rarely saw my young adult son-in-law because he was up in the bedroom in the dark absorbed in a role playing video game. They discourage nuanced thinking, discourage imagination and conspire to keep adolescents locked in illiteracy. Why, in my day, (Socrates said the same thing), we climbed trees, built forts, built go-carts, played baseball in the street, mowed lawns for money, skate boarded, read scores of adventure books that engaged the imagination and built values. And that was in California suburbia, not even the outdoor paradise of Oregon where I live now where you can ski, hike, fish, swim and ride bikes....IF you are not absorbed playing video games. Obesity in children and adolescents was rare.

Thanks for the feedback Danielle! 


Yeah the world of videogames is pretty diverse now. Violence is still quite popular in them but that is changing. I just say that to say that there are may meaningful experiences that can be had in the world of games today if you look beyond the standard fare.

Thanks for sharing Nathan. I think you bring up some great points about Batman. I really appreciated that Arkham City stayed true to Batman's character in that regard.

@26a7e9742dbc2a2a8cc5c7e8434ab074:disqus What you are talking about is people who are addicted to videogames--that can certainly be a problem but it doesn't mean that the medium itself is inherently flawed. Your examples speak more to the human sinful condition with is inherently bent toward addiction than videogames being inherently bad. Afterall Jesus said, "it is not what goes into a person that makes them unclean, but what come out of them" (Mark 7). Sin is an issue that arises in the heart.
So Christians who can't handle videogames in a healthy way should probably keep a safe distance from them or at least ask for some accountability and set some rules from themselves about how they can enjoy them responsibly.

I grew up doing just about everything you listed in your comment--both playing videogames and all the outdoor stuff and you know what I still do just about all that stuff. I think there is value in getting out of the house and there is also value in videogames. They are incredibly creative, they teach us about ourselves, and they provide unique interactive experiences. So as someone who enjoys videogames as a hobby, I don't think you are right at all that they "discourage imagination, nuanced thinking, and conspire to keep adolescents locked in illiteracy."

There are some incredibly creative games out now that I think do the opposite of discourage imagination (at the very least they are doing as well or better than your average adventure novel). Many games today emphasize the power of choice and give you very difficult decisions to make--these games challenge player to be nuanced in their thinking--I would even say that games have a leg up on books and movies in this regard.  And as far as keeping adolescents locked in illiteracy, again I think you need to check out some of the games out there today. Elder Scrolls: Skyrim for instance requires TONS of reading--the amount of in game reading that game offers is astounding and the reading is often very interesting and quite well done.

I enjoy playing videogames but I don't feel slave to them. I typically play for an hour or two at the most each day, I almost never play them while my wife is awake--I never play them as a replacement of time I would otherwise be spending with her or my daughter. 

Do some kids/people get addicted to games? Yes. Does that make all games dangerous and all people incapable of avoiding the trap of game addiction? No of course not. As parents we bear a responsibility to help our children learn to enjoy all of God's good creation without abusing it. 

As far as adults playing games, we should seek to use then in a mature way--in a way that does not pull us away from community, the church, and supporting our families. I am not the perfect father, pastor, or husband but I don't think videogames are keeping me from any of those responsibilities. I have the kind of relationship with my wife that if games were doing that she would tell me ;)

Christian freedom/maturity is a tricky thing--but its important I think that we seek to grow in our understanding of God's world and even more important that we don't make the mistake of labeling things like videogames as evil--doing so would actually hinder our sanctification more than help it.

After playing about 10 minutes of the Batman game.... I became disturbed not with batman and his morals to not kill but rather I had an issue with Cat Woman... Granted she has always been some sort of sexy lady but I do think especially in a T rated game there are certain lines in dress in the characters that should be addressed. 

For those of you who would not buy the game she is wearing her typical skin tight suit that any other superhero or villain would wear but thats not it. It is unzipped down past her chest where the edge of the zippers would fit almost over the middle of each breast to keep it "legal".... It was a lot more than just showing cleavage. Two pix away from being a wardrobe malfuntion. 

This is a kids Icon and to have her as a main character in a kids video game is way over the line in my opinion.