Symbolism in gaming?

[jinjo5]

Im not altogether sure about symbolism being in everything n anything.
Are we really virtually swimming in it?
Gaming is my hobby,it has been since the early days in the 70's but
its only the last 15 years or so that ive been able to afford any hardware.
Anyway,is there any symbolism in gaming?
im not so sure.
Im currently playing Zelda:Twilight princess,there are owls n serpents in it
as with most zelda games,but theyre in japanese mythology anyway.
The Deus ex games,which is about 3 groups wanting world domination
including the illuminati.
Even when i finished the games years ago i still didnt know who or what the
illuminati were.
So,in a sense,the game was "educational" rather than indoctrinating.
Anyway,to cut the post short,are there any gamers in here?
Do you think games are desensitising us and exposing us to symbolism as in other types of medium?
Out of interest,what's your favourite game/s.?

[sputn1ck]

the Half-life series are my favourites

[midwich cuckoo]

Check out Quake III, probably the most played multiplayer shoot 'em up ever. Players kill each other in rooms full of pentagrams and other occult symbols. Also Doom 3.

[chinchilla]

I'm a big gamer! I've played most games in the last 10 odd years and I can't link anything in games to "secret" things inside games, only thing I suppose games do it "addict" you to them so you don't realise or spend time reading and discovering the truth on forums such as these.

[jinjo5]

I'm a big gamer! I've played most games in the last 10 odd years and I can't link anything in games to "secret" things inside games, only thing I suppose games do it "addict" you to them so you don't realise or spend time reading and discovering the truth on forums such as these.
I dont think there is a deliberate concerted effort to put messages or symbolism into games.
Its just a little worry that EA seemingly want to buy out all the game developers and publishers.
A great game ive almost completed is OKAMI on the ps2,brilliant.
We love katamari,half-life 2,Halo 1/2 also the wonderful ICO,rez
all great,among many others.

[rossus]

gaming rules..
between 12 and 15 years old... i used to be inside the house all the time playing tactical ops (a counterstrike clone)

i quit gaming though because it's so addictive.
when there's a game on my computer, i always tend to play it as often as i can.
my mind uses it to escape it's death.

if there's anything conspiracy-like about games, i agree that it's probably to make your mind addicted...
addicted to running away from life. it's so easy to play computer games and indulge in other forms of entertainment,
when you experience feelings of boredom of other forms of unhappiness.

i prefer to spend my time in other ways now, because games feels to "fake" to me.
for me, gaming is like i'm in a trance where my mind has having lots of fun, but my soul is begging to quit playing.

maybe that's just me though.
and i guess that if you manage not to do it too much, it's not that bad after all.

[lucifershammer]

I am way too addicted to online gaming. I am currently playing Battlefield 2142.

and Jinjo5. I recenltly started playing Zelda: ocarina of time again. If you've played it maybe you remember. There was that one church that had illuminati written all over it. pentagons with triangles, Black and white checkered floors (Freemasonic). And even a possible pyrimid with a sun above it. i will try to track down a screenshot of it.


and in tracking down the screenshots, i realized its not a pentagon, but a hexagon in the room.

[mrguitarbear]

In one of the Tony Hawks games , I think its THUG 2 , you can go to Hell and dance with the Devil. Hell is part of a triple level , the other two levels being a Mayan Temple and an alien spacecraft.

I think its funny that extreme violence is acceptable in computer games yet the whiff of anything sexual and the game will be pulled from stores i.e Grand Theft Auto 3. I mean , in a movie like 9 Songs or Principles of Lust , you can see actual penetration and these movies get an 18 certificate - yet in an 18 certificate game you can't even see cartoon characters ' doing it ' ! In the GTA game , the ' Hot Coffee ' sequences could not be accessed unless you hacked the game and inserted some code anyway.

Many teens are sexually active by the age of 14 yet they can't play a game where cartoon characters are having sex - this world is crazy !

[lucifershammer]

ok. i got some screenshots of the zelda game. not very good quality because its through a cheap webcam pointed at the tv. but it works.

i dont have a server to put them on to link to. i dont suppose an admin could load them up?

[lucifershammer]

and to post once more on this thread :P in answer to your favorite games question.


BattleField 2 + BattleField 2142

Rainbow Six 3: RavenShield

Tiger Woods 2006

Rome: Total War

Civilization 2: Call To Power



any online gamers here have Ventrilo or Teamspeak?

[loveemotion]

Im not altogether sure about symbolism being in everything n anything.
Are we really virtually swimming in it?
Gaming is my hobby,it has been since the early days in the 70's but
its only the last 15 years or so that ive been able to afford any hardware.
Anyway,is there any symbolism in gaming?
im not so sure.
Im currently playing Zelda:Twilight princess,there are owls n serpents in it
as with most zelda games,but theyre in japanese mythology anyway.
The Deus ex games,which is about 3 groups wanting world domination
including the illuminati.
Even when i finished the games years ago i still didnt know who or what the
illuminati were.
So,in a sense,the game was "educational" rather than indoctrinating.
Anyway,to cut the post short,are there any gamers in here?
Do you think games are desensitising us and exposing us to symbolism as in other types of medium?
Out of interest,what's your favourite game/s.?

There focus on controling you and domenance and power.. and they mostly likely wouldnt wanna let you know who they really are :cool:

[auron]

Many teens are sexually active by the age of 14 yet they can't play a game where cartoon characters are having sex - this world is crazy !

It's always made me laugh that here in the U.K you are legally entitled to have sex at 16, yet you cannot look at it till your 18.

Graphic violence in movies and games is ok! just make sure that no one is seen in an act of love! You never know! They might all want to do it.

:)

[jinjo5]

I am way too addicted to online gaming. I am currently playing Battlefield 2142.

and Jinjo5. I recenltly started playing Zelda: ocarina of time again. If you've played it maybe you remember. There was that one church that had illuminati written all over it. pentagons with triangles, Black and white checkered floors (Freemasonic). And even a possible pyrimid with a sun above it. i will try to track down a screenshot of it.


and in tracking down the screenshots, i realized its not a pentagon, but a hexagon in the room.
Ocarina was and still is one of the best games ever.
I havent played it for ages but the i think the checkered floor is in the
Temple of time,where link changes from a kid to an adult,also its the place where you put those 3 jewels in the altar type block.

[h1s_l0rdsh1p]

I'm surprised no one has said Area 51. Fucking great game, with stars doing some of the voices.

But all in all, yeah. It doesn't have symbolism in it or anything, but it would certainly answer questions to some things.

Like crop circles are only there for disinfo. Stuff like that.


Zelda is the shit. But then again, the tri-force is diffidently a symbolistic attack.

[a fine naked fellow]

I like Kirby, the Nintendo one. Yes, the one with only an A and B button.

Its about a dream world, and how the dreams were stolen and the world taken over.
So the people have nightmare. Kirby kicks ass and restores the dream!
My favorite fight is the sword fight with meta knight.
Plus the end boss is some kind of vampire. Hooray for Kirby.

[lucifershammer]

Ocarina was and still is one of the best games ever.
I havent played it for ages but the i think the checkered floor is in the
Temple of time,where link changes from a kid to an adult,also its the place where you put those 3 jewels in the altar type block.



i dont know what happens in the church. i never made it that far. i bought gamecube when they had that zelda deal.. buy the system and get all the zelda games. i just wanted it for the first 2. brings me back to being a kid playing those.

and i played a little of ocarina. never made it too far though. but it was good.

[mrguitarbear]

It's always made me laugh that here in the U.K you are legally entitled to have sex at 16, yet you cannot look at it till your 18.

Graphic violence in movies and games is ok! just make sure that no one is seen in an act of love! You never know! They might all want to do it.

:)

I'm not saying there should necessarily be more nudity and screwing in games ( although that would be cool ;) ) but these are adult issues and since there are many adults who play video games , why not portray these issues as just a normal part of life ? Like Salt n' Pepa said ' Lets Talk About Sex '. There are far too many unwanted teenage pregnancies in the US and the UK every year , maybe games could even be educational in this aspect. Why is violence okay , but not an enjoyable act of love that is necessary for the continuation of our species ?

An example of an artistically designed game is ' Lapis ' , a hidden primer on female sexuality and gratification , link here --> Lapis (http://www.moboid.com/lapis/LapisPres.htm)

[mrguitarbear]

' Lapis ', designed by Canadian games designer Heather Kelley , is not only an incredibly original game , but is designed to make gamers think about female sexuality and sexual stimulation. Its about making a cute rabbit fly with the aid of various techniques. The game , which is only in its prototype stage as of yet , won the 2005 Montreal Game Summit Design Challenge of how to depict sex in gaming.

Link : Montreal Game Summit Competition (http://www.montrealgamesummit.com/prog/fiches/gdc.html)

Another Link : Sex and Games (http://www.igda.org/sex/archives/2005/12/lapis_a_game_wi.html)

An article about game censorship : MMORPG LAW - the wild west or a new world order ? (http://www.gamecensorship.com/mmorpglaw.html)

http://www.barzelay.net/files/images/other/lapis_game_clit.jpg

[pierre_jean]

Lara croft movie promotion : rather expressive :D

http://img184.imageshack.us/img184/1911/13vr5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[11kushna11]

Deus Ex is my favourite game of all time and was instrumental in raising awareness of socio-political issues to a wider audience. It's as close to 'art' as a game has ever come in my opinion; and it may well become more and more relevant as time goes on.

[jinjo5]

Deus Ex is my favourite game of all time and was instrumental in raising awareness of socio-political issues to a wider audience. It's as close to 'art' as a game has ever come in my opinion; and it may well become more and more relevant as time goes on.
Its one of my fave games too,it was also my introduction to this subject
Id vaguely heard of the 'illuminati' bit didnt know who or what it was at the time.
Invisible war was also great,but not as good as the first.
I traded both games in a long time ago think i'll get 'em back.
Probably understand it more next time round.

[adramelech]

Of course there is symoblism in gaming. There are so many developers doing stories steeped in ancient mythology, archtypical fantasy elements or science fiction it's unnavoidable. The key here is being able to differenciate between symbolism arriving as a related subject or a way of increasing awareness and symbolism appearing for the purpose of corporate elite manipulation and programming.

Although the gaming industry is huge and comparable to Hollywood in many ways, the industry is much more supportive of smaller, independent developers. There are thousands of films made every year outside of the Hollywood system, but they cannot begin to approach the level of public saturation that a corporate produce, mainstream film can. In the gaming industry, things are pretty equal on that front, giving both small, independent games and large corporate ones much of the same footing. Because of this, gaming can serve as a powerful way of passing messages, awareness or creating meaningful art.

Hence, the current push for game censorship.

[sean~infinte]

sorry to drag this one up from the grave but i found it better then to start a new thread

game called crackdown huge freemasonic symbolism (360 game)

http://postmodern-research.blogspot.com/2007/03/exposing-game-crackdown-and-exposing.html -- huge symbolism and brainwashing

elder schrolls oblivion has an entire race of reptile people which is intersting

[marcus]

There is a lot of symbolism in BioShock - as I wrote about here:

Symbolism in BioShock (http://www.thethoughts.co.uk/thoughts/bioshock-symbolism-and-mind-control/)

Alice in Wonderland, Porcelain masks, water, freemason logos, and lot of other stuff...

[kblood]

I have been a "gamer" all my life :) Ever since I first got me a C64 I was hooked. Well, the first time I even noticed a C64 I was hooked :D I sure loved that computer, and still very nostalgic about it. Emulators still run the good old games from it very well. It is hard to avoid some kind of symbolism in any game I think. Most of the time a game has a concept that more or less comes from real life experiences. All kinds of entertainment needs something we, as consumers, can relate to. Also the developers or whoever is behind the making of a game, probably got something they like that they want to add to the game or whatever they are making.

I got a "hobby" kind of thing, where I am helping make a concept to an online game. To make it all more fun, I will be trying to add as much of the newest theories about space, spacetravel and aliens, into it as possible :) Also it needs trading systems and so on that we can relate to. After that it also need a good GUI, but I am not really any good at making graphics :p Just look at my avatar :o

Deus Ex is a nice game I think, when it comes to symbolism or whatsitsname. The thing is that copyright and so on, makes it difficult for games to use real symbolism in games ;) Sometimes the hints are less subtle though.

[mountain]

Been gaming since very little when Atari 2600 was popular. I remember a Capcom game called "Forgotten Worlds" where you were a soldier battling reptilian humanoids.

I play lots of different games now, and Iam huge fan of RPGs. Squaresoft games like Final Fantasy has some symbolism. Final Fantasy 12, the latest one has two different types of reptilian races co-exsting with humans as well as other strange races. I am enjoying FF12 at the moment! Massive world! One of Final Fantasy's trademarks is the summons, powerful entities that assist you in battle. You have the water dragon Leviathan, and the King of Dragons Bahamut recurring in most FF titles.

Chrono Trigger is another involving time travel, an alien that consumes planets and also has a ancient terran race of reptilians called "Reptites" that were fueding with humans but not exacty brutal.

Saga frontier on PS2 is another popular RPG in Japan and US that has a village in the dep jungle of a race of lizard men called Gecklings. They too, live amongst humans and co-exist, and you can recruit a geckling as a playable party member.

Radiata Stories is another recent one that is great i yu like RPGs like me. It has over 100 playables and it hs a huge laboratory, a Mormon looking religious temple, and a reptilian looking goblin race as well as other races.


Zelda, although not a personal favorite, features the Tri-force, triangular relics and dimensional warping.

Anyways, there are loads more!

[ugizz]

Tomb Raider Legend is full of simbolism... i will post some screenshots next week... i will have to install it again to do that. By the way there is "Alex Jones" mentioned in credits! Is it the same Alex Jones who made Terrorstorm???

[mountain]

Tomb Raider Legend is full of simbolism... i will post some screenshots next week... i will have to install it again to do that. By the way there is "Alex Jones" mentioned in credits! Is it the same Alex Jones who made Terrorstorm???

Yes, the 1st movie was definitely about the Iluminati, remember Lara questions her father's involvement? Hmmm?! I know this is movie, but significant. She discovers all-seeing eye relic and inside of a clock (time)!