namaskaram JayaBolenath ji
If I can say something "from inside"...
I understand it is your chosen profession and that you have an interest in vidio design .....
in that case please listen with out feeling the need to defend the industry , ....you can learn from it and create something constructive which will be of benifit to society .
Ratikala, I grew up with video games from six and still playin now. Almost sixteen years straight. The only thing it affected in my brain or attitude is my level of english that rocketed very young thanks to playing games in english, and wonderful memories of fun with my brother.
Of course we can argue, there are games that are plain stupid. Or very violents. They are not made for childrens, but for adults. And it's clearly written on the box. So why does childrens play these games ? Because they have parents that give them everything when they pout, and then blame the violent ADULT game they gifted them ?
Do they make people stupid ? Or are they addictive ? Well for the first one, considering that now they use games to cure phobia, war traumatisms and that they are more than widely used as an educative tool for schools and companies, I wouldn't call them useless or idiots makers. For the addiction, it is prouved that games does not provoke any more addictive behavior than books, tv, or cats. When you see people playing days in a row without stopping, itns not the game, it's an underlying psychological problem that shows and have to be taken care of.
please lsisten carefully I said nothing about addiction , ...or them making people stupid , .... however as was said , ..and I fully supported ....
''They should understand that deities are not toys.''
and vidio games are toys are they not ? they are used for enjoyment , and as far as I am concerned the depiction of deities in such games is a gross trivialisation of their true nature and of our relationship to them .
Now it's been some years I'm inside the industry, been to the US, India, and stuff to see how they work. Been to Valve, Arena, from the big ones to the tiny studio you don't even hear about.
Yes, I can say many are completely ignorants of Hindu culture, like they can be on Chinese or European. Religion there at work is a complete separate matter. So the day you'll see a game where you have to make Jehovah kill Rama will never, even happen. Because I can assure you that the game designer who will propose this idea to an editor (to get money) will be *** kicked to space and ypu will never see his name again in a game.
Now when they to make a game about a certain culture, historical era or anything, they spend months of pre-production to research their subject and work on how it can be depicted to fit their game's universe or graphical style. There is no religious conflict or cultural superiority sought. The only reason you don't see abrahamic deities in those games is because they don't want to be bombed the next day. Last time a french newspaper featured Mohammed, they got bombed and threatened of death.
so because Hindus are on the whole tolerant it is OK to make representations of their divine forms ?
And ecen with that.... I can telle you names of games where abrahamuc god/s are depicted. So well...
In the cade of smite specifically (Sorry Kalidas, not playing it, not fond of dota like) the depiction problem originate not by the fact that they are ignorants of Hindu religion, but to the favt that they had to adapt the graphic style to fit their artistic direction and give a coherent graphical style to their game. That's the basics. Secondly, for marketing purpises, they have to look ******.
Unfortunately I think there is ignorance of the Hindu religion , ....A Deity is a sacred being it is not a toy which can be missrepresented in order to satisfy someones idea of graphic style , or artistic content , It canot be denegrated to the level of a play thing ..... if some one wants to call themselves a designer and has any amount of artistic or creative flare, and wishes to create their own being then do so , then it can look as ****** as they like ! ... but if they cant invent their own characters they shouldnt be in a creative industry !
Now first time I sax Rama's artwork I shrugged and said "well that's not Sri Rama." There are tjousand of people that are called Rama on tv or irl and they are not Sri Rama. There are millions of food paper depicting Sri Rama that are thrown away in the streets or torn, not by westerners or christians, but by us hindus. Depiction on packaging well this just illustratates my point , this is just the same trivialisation and it is equaly dissrespectfull in my eyes , I dont care where it started but trivialisation in one area leads to trivialisation in another , this is the crumbling of standards and respect which typifies kali yuga , there will be increasing ignorance everywhere but as devotees we do not need to support it .
So much childrens have Bal Ganesha and Chota Beem toys and figurines. They play with them. They make them beat other figurines. Or get beaten by other toys in they adventures. Should we forbid those childrens to pkay with those toys because they "control" the gods, have "fun" with them or make them "die" ?
the whole point of giving a child a Krsna doll is to educate that child to form a loving relationship , they are taught that this doll is special , and these toys are used to teach the child about the divine passtimes of the deity .
it is up to the parent to teach the right relationship , and they do , I have seen it many many times , I knew a very young girl who wanted bala gopal , her father said yes she could have him if she learnt the correct way to look after him , she said I want to carry him in a basket and make him garlands like Ratikala mata , because she saw me regularly carry the dietys within the temple in decorated baskets , ...children will mimic what they see us do , we have to instruct with love and great care , and we have to set a perfect example . we also have to teach them reverence .
of course they can have fun but it dosent have to revolve around violent and controlling games .
I know, we should do like muslims and forbid every representation of Gods, just to be sure none of them are depicted on food package an neither in games and toys
We should raise awareness about the dangerosity of Bal Ganesha, smite, and Laxmi dhoop brand. Hell, why not punish them ? And also forbid people to be called by Gods names, to avoid their bad deeds to turn in bad the name of the God they bear !
How far can we go with this reasoning ?
it is not about reasoning but awareness ,
having a picture of Ganpati on a rice sack or a dhoop packet is very different , a picture on that packet it suggests the goodness of that product , we see Ganapati on the rice sack and imidiatly think of cooking and offering delicious and wholesome food to our deity and to our family , the picture of krsna on the dhoop packet makes us think of the pastimes of the lord and of taking this insence to the temple to make offerings , these images are culturaly linked with every day aspects of Hindu life .
they are to be respected , food should be respected and valued , .. OK the packaging is disposable everything in this world is imperminent , but even disposal should be respectfull , but it dosent revel in fantasy and violence or distort the pastimes of the deity in question in the way that these games do .
Why being offended ? Where does it to be offended ?
To conflict. And since when are we, Hindus, advocates of conflict ? Let's RAISE OUR VOICES to EDUCATE. Any dumb religious extremist can be offended by anything and bash a scapegoat restlessly, but not us ! We raise our voices more and more fervently to educate !
Yes , ...I am raising my voice to educate , and you may raise yours too and make sure that this industry does not denegrate the divine passtimes of these deities to become mere amusements .
So what ? Let go of the damn scapegoat and let's sweep in front of our own door to begin with
When mcdonalds feature Krishna for their new burger, of when they print an AUM on toilet papers, then give me a call because THESE are REAL issues to be offended of.
up untill this point I had said that I am not offended but I am sadened by what is done in ignorance , ...
yet for a devotee to even think to print this abominable suggestion is more than sad ,
I am not offended I am deeply saddened , ... in order to defencd an industry and a so called art form you say this , .....
Until now I will continue not to give a single damn about smite and be more preoccupied with people that torn the face of Lakshmi on a food package before throwing it, or with the fact that people actually URINATE on Sri Rama's face depicted on the street's tiles in India.
One last thing. Indians have made games with Hindu gods that are as badly depicted as in smite. So it's neither a "west" problem, nor a "videogame" problem. It's a "where are your priorities" problem.
OK you have had your rant , people every where do stupid things , but this justifies nothing , .....
please dont defend ignorance please be an active thinking part of the solution .
namaskaram
