Why do RPG developers have a hard time incorporating serious real world religious elements in their narratives and settings? I imagine it's partly that the type of nerd who creates video games isn't familiar with religion except on the most basic level and partly that there is a business interest in avoiding any blowback from an unkind depiction. Note here, that I'm not talking about direct references, but more about the incorporation of the religion into the setting, since religion is a big part of how people organized themselves historically.
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Because you have to consider where a majority of games are produced.
>Japan
where Buddhism is not as predominant as it used to be, has no relevancy towards Japanese zoomers, and their Shinto faith died when Hirohito renounced his divinity in WW2. They don't incorporate real world religion often because their population is not very religious.
>America
where a fast majority of RPG's are made by studios in California, an extremely left leaning state that seems to despise traditional religion, and the fact that most STEM and tech nerds usually aren't Christians.
>actual real and precise answer for first reply
Do you know where you are, are you ok anon?
Unironically because muh freedom, and because most devs are atheistcucks nowadays anyways.
That, and what is absolutely on the money.
So uhhhm, hey, janny.
Mind explaining what happened here?
Watch as you get banned and the thread stays, thus proving it was a Mod predicating this worthless topic.
At this point it's either a ban evader the Mod's enjoying a boxing match with for a bit or OP's just that much of an entitled gay who refuses to go to Ganker, /trash/, /misc/, Ganker, /bant/ or Reddit with his uncut wiener.
usually rpgs take place in a different world so it makes sense that the religions would be unique. if the imperial religion vs the dunmer faith where replaced with pagans vs christianity it would just attract too much bad attention.
Yet, when they create a fictional world with a fictional religion, they don't really incorporate it into the setting or have character's attitudes reflect it. I think it's just a blind spot for most developers.
P:ST was hardly serious. The antagonist talked in all caps and many characters had vague and superficial takes. Even the source books were deeper and the creator of the setting said that the idea of philosophers with clubs it's just as if you got college freshmen drunk, defending all the bad ideas you can imagine. It's fun, but it's also trash. It's fun trash.
It takes its setting seriously with how it plays with the idea of belief actually affecting both the believer and the world around them.
It doesn't matter. That's still not really taking anything seriously as it relates to anything in the real world. It's still superficial entertainment that dumbs things down and rests more on the spectacle and gonzo setting. That's not a bad thing because you shouldn't have to have college level education to understand the game. It just means it's not remotely serious in terms of philosophy and especially the metaphysics of belief. Trash is good fun, but never get it confused for a serious treatment.
That's the thing though, I want them to take their settings seriously and extrapolate out from that. If you have gods, if you have religion, it should impact the world in meaningful ways. Planescape takes its "belief is the greatest power" seriously. Religions in most RPGs are just empty, they might as well not be there.
It really doesn't take it seriously, and "What can change the nature of a man" is about as meaningful in philosophy as "War, War never changes" is to warfare or geopolitics. It's fun and enjoyable fiction to be sure.
It takes it seriously within the setting. Belief determines reality and fits into all the little narratives that play out. I don't think you are understanding my point. It's not about this or that being "heavy" or "light", it's about actually creating fiction that isn't importing ideas without any thought to their effects. You can't make a fake world without understanding the real one.
I agree with you anon, we are full up on worldbuilding that doesn't take itself seriously enough to be compelling aka the reddit/4th wall/marvel quip/whedon factor.
College debate club it might have been based on but that wouldn't make any sense to some mechanoid from a plane of Law and they might laser excise you for making the suggestion.
This is what is majorly missing from nuD&D anymore. Everything is treated like a tabletop session with hands up npc asses instead of an actual world with living characters in it that take it seriously. Go back and read some Dragonlance and spot the differences to modern settings.
Hey, somebody actually understood my point. Cheers!
I know you are shitposting, but I think this is actually part of it. Politics is religion for people nowadays, that's why when you mention religion, people think you are being political.
Religion has always been political you idiot
What is political about religious subjects like faith and transcendence? You are just falling for the "everything is political" meme. Organizations are political, the things they are organized around aren't.
>What is political about religious subjects like faith and transcendence?
There are political implications wrt the presupposition that the "transcendental" exists and that faith is itself a good. Several U.S. states have (unenforcable) language in their state constitutions barring atheists from holding office, presumably because lack of faith in a supreme being means you are amoral or something.
>That has nothing to do with the concept itself!!!
Faith is a thing done by a person. Its existence is fundamentally tied to practice by humans. But not all humans do it. And some do it in different ways. It's natural to then ask "what does a person's relationship with faith imply about a person?"; such lines of questioning go at least all the way back to Aristotle.
If you sought to make a completely apolitical game, faith and the divine and all that would surely need to be kept far from it.
>There are political implications wrt the presupposition that the "transcendental" exists and that faith is itself a good.
No, there aren't. You are looking backwards from your presuppositions and experiences about the interactions people have around religion. These concepts, in and of themselves, are politically neutral and have little to do with the affairs of state or the interactions with other people. Why? Because they can be developed and practiced fully within a single individual. Philosophy and discussion about religion can be political, but there is obviously an innate seeking within the human mind to become more or to feel a sense of totality and that should inform any fictional culture based on humanity. Otherwise, your setting lacks verisimilitude.
This isn't religion, there is no transcendence or belief apart from the material. This is ideology, it's politics, it's irrelevant to the topic.
I don't think you get to decide what is or isn't relevant to the topic when your last thread hilariously got autosaged, shitposter.
I'm not deciding, I'm informing. I'm here to have a conversation, length irrelevant, I really don't care about your meta concerns over "The Board".
>I really don't care about your meta concerns over "The Board".
Ooo, spicy. Someone needs a baptism to cleanse that self-serving sinful attitude of yours.
And none of it's an rpg.
Planescape Torment is an RPG you dimwit.
It's a pseudo-religion, it's taking the parts that have nothing to do with the real purpose of religion and making it about simple social control, which could be anything. That's why it's ultimately unsatisfying and leaves its followers as consumptive ghosts. Where's there anything beyond this life and its material concerns? See, you don't actually understand what religion is, just like most RPG developers.
I accept your concession, midwit.
accept the blessing of your gay Black gods instead muttoid
You know your first thread is still up. Why not go there and continue the conversation instead?
I don't make these garbage threads, these are made by some seething amerimutt.
My point still stands: Why not go to the other thread instead? Maybe the Mod wouldn't need to autosage the last thread if you kept in contained to the og one.
She wouldn't get attention otherwise, sister.
>NATO buttsex in Uganda is non-negotiable, chud
why would I waste my time doing a janny's job for free?
You are responding to a person that does that for hours at a time.
>He fell for the "Reports do nothing" meme
And you expect them to notice your plea for an autosage otherwise? Don't be so dense, moron-kun.
>why would I waste my time doing a janny's job for free?
>He says while wasting his time getting into pointless bickering over Blacks, Gays and Burgers
Good set of priorites right there.
one is entertaining for me, the other is as pointless as voting
>Pointless voting
Again: And you expect them (Mods) to notice your plea otherwise or are you being ironic for a laugh?
>And you expect them (Mods) to notice your plea
No I don't
Thats why I don't waste my time reporting shit.
Can you stop being a typical shitposter of a minute and answer this question earnestly: Do you enjoy this board for its topic and if so or not, why?
A cultural/social setting that devs nowadays would likely need to study to learn since its quite more rare than before.
And even a lot of literature is based on tearing that culture down, since to justify the new shit you have to denigrate the old shit. Like how the Tudors did with Richard III.
I think it's time to take your meds, Cletus.
Swing and a miss
Try again amerimutt
I hope the mods are getting a good chuckle out of this thread. I know I am.
>since religion is a big part of how people organized themselves historically
Not any more, deal with it bible thumper
>any more
Thanks for the agreement. We got here from there. So, when creating a fictional world have things be where they would be.
>Not any more, deal with it bible thumper
Exhibit A: Why we can't have nice things in fantasy literature anymore. I am an atheist telling you this. Stop being like this.
Stop being a stupid semiotically obsessed homosexual.
>OP literally posts Budai
>gets called a christcuck
Oh man, the haters got purged. Good work, mods. Now we can continue discussing how religion can bolster worldbuilding in RPGs.
Rather than only talking about different people's mindsets about religions, I think in general these days because of distractions and attention spans there's lower interest across the board in diligently doing some research and reading. Laziness
Kingdom Come did a fairly good job of this
I've actually never played that game. Not really into first person melee.
Your loss, it is a pretty good game and unique in what it does
That's fine, it's just not my thing. I even don't like Dark Messiah, FP melee is janky as frick.
Because that's a very fast way to turn your studio into a bomb target because of how many inbred morons are out there who can't take a fictional portrayal of their beliefs.
morrowind has good, serious religious factions, sentiments, etc in it.
Yes, it's definitely in that vein, and notice that's its worldbuilding is praised for a sense of depth.
Its usually just window dressing for a character
>look hes a priest because they know everything in the community!
With little focus on developing unique aspects they just implement normal western ideals over not-christianity.
Based
On what?
Sage