Video Games?

[GMC]

Sure. But normally one doesn't delight in that, but in the mechanics. Just as a chess player doesn't delight in the fact that he is "killing" the opponent's figures.

I agree that many gamers sin against temperance.

Now you're talking about internal affairs, which only God can reach. Yet, we all know it is imprudent to give occasion to sin. One may think he/she is only enjoying the mechanics, but, in fact, many other things could be going on...

Now, the chess example you gave is a good one to demonstrate not all videogames are bad, however these are a minority.

In the end, as usual, intention and circumstances will define whether playing a certain game is licit. Since most people can't discern a good from a bad videogame, reasonable priests simply advise the faithful to search fun somewhere else.

I understand it. I prefer traditional games like table tennis, table football, billiards, dart or bowling. To play 2-3hours in Saturday morning. Because recreational activity is a necessary part of life. As it's to eat or sleep. Always in moderation.

But there aren't always people available to go to a pub or there is money for it. Also since the restrictions began and until recently they stopped asking for Green Pass I have not been able to do any of that. And now we may go again with monkeypox.

Video games for me are a substitute for when I don't have the chance to play these traditional games. They are very cheap for their duration and can be played  at home.

What do you think would be the red line in terms of immorality in video games that could be sinful?

For example, is this immoral?



Minute 1:30

It's violent, but there's no blood or anything too explicit, and at heart it's a game of skill. You have to memorize the pattern of the opponents to be able to dodge them and find the gaps in their defense, and have the reflexes to dodge by moving left or right.

[Aulef]

Sure. But normally one doesn't delight in that, but in the mechanics. Just as a chess player doesn't delight in the fact that he is "killing" the opponent's figures.

I agree that many gamers sin against temperance.

Now you're talking about internal affairs, which only God can reach. Yet, we all know it is imprudent to give occasion to sin. One may think he/she is only enjoying the mechanics, but, in fact, many other things could be going on...

Now, the chess example you gave is a good one to demonstrate not all videogames are bad, however these are a minority.

In the end, as usual, intention and circumstances will define whether playing a certain game is licit. Since most people can't discern a good from a bad videogame, reasonable priests simply advise the faithful to search fun somewhere else.

I understand it. I prefer traditional games like table tennis, table football, billiards, dart or bowling. To play 2-3hours in Saturday morning. Because recreational activity is a necessary part of life. As it's to eat or sleep. Always in moderation.

But there aren't always people available to go to a pub or there is money for it. Also since the restrictions began and until recently they stopped asking for Green Pass I have not been able to do any of that. And now we may go again with monkeypox.

Video games for me are a substitute for when I don't have the chance to play these traditional games. They are very cheap for their duration and can be played  at home.

What do you think would be the red line in terms of immorality in video games that could be sinful?

For example, is this immoral?



Minute 1:30

It's violent, but there's no blood or anything too explicit, and at heart it's a game of skill. You have to memorize the pattern of the opponents to be able to dodge them and find the gaps in their defense, and have the reflexes to dodge by moving left or right.

This priest gives a good sense of what the red line is. The sermon is about movies but the same principles apply to videogames.

[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vn-GNljbNs0[/yt]


Regarding the game you showed, I don't know in detail the Wii version of Punch Out. By scrolling quickly I saw some really bad pictures and scenes involving the macho man character. Things that are bad enough for me to dismiss this game

[GMC]

Ok. Any game that has even the slightest elements of sexual immorality or profanity is forbidden. Violence is permissible up to a certain point, because of the difference between simulated sin and real sin.

So... Correct me if I'm wrong but I think the conclusion of the thread following Fr. Ripperger's explanation is that the following is allowed:

-Sports and racing games unless they show sexual immorality, blasphemy or any other type of immorality.

-Platform, strategy and puzzles games unless they show sexual immorality, blasphemy or any other type of immorality.

-Action, fighting and shooter games as long as they don't contain sexual scenes, very explicit violence with blood, profanity or any other type of immorality. Violence that isn't excessively explicit is allowed because it's a simulated but not real sin.

¿I'm right?

[Tennessean]

Why is violence allowed, but say bikini babes volleyball isn't?

[GMC]

It's explained in the video, violence is a simulated sin, not real, seeing Mario jumping on turtles, Link swinging a sword or the soldiers of Age of Empires fighting doesn't make you violent, at least not to the average man. But seeing women in bikinis does cause you sexual attraction. I understand that it's different if the game recreates in it, like GTA.

[Aulef]

Ok. Any game that has even the slightest elements of sexual immorality or profanity is forbidden. Violence is permissible up to a certain point, because of the difference between simulated sin and real sin.

So... Correct me if I'm wrong but I think the conclusion of the thread following Fr. Ripperger's explanation is that the following is allowed:

-Sports and racing games unless they show sexual immorality, blasphemy or any other type of immorality.

-Platform, strategy and puzzles games unless they show sexual immorality, blasphemy or any other type of immorality.

-Action, fighting and shooter games as long as they don't contain sexual scenes, very explicit violence with blood, profanity or any other type of immorality. Violence that isn't excessively explicit is allowed because it's a simulated but not real sin.

¿I'm right?

Sounds reasonable to me. As far as I know, simulation games may be ok too (flight simulator, building farms or cities etc.).

Yet, it is important to remember that even if we're talking about safe videogames, they are licit only as long as they don't undermine your spiritual life.

[Tennessean]

It's explained in the video, violence is a simulated sin, not real, seeing Mario jumping on turtles, Link swinging a sword or the soldiers of Age of Empires fighting doesn't make you violent, at least not to the average man. But seeing women in bikinis does cause you sexual attraction. I understand that it's different if the game recreates in it, like GTA.

It all sounds like excuses to me. Simulated violence can make some people anti-social, and simulated cleavage can make some people lust. Consumption of violence likely does incline people to violence. Mario is a frustrating game, I remember throwing controllers and cussing. Is it violent? Not really, but it probably helped create a lot of anti-social weirdos and soybeards.

[GMC]

It's explained in the video, violence is a simulated sin, not real, seeing Mario jumping on turtles, Link swinging a sword or the soldiers of Age of Empires fighting doesn't make you violent, at least not to the average man. But seeing women in bikinis does cause you sexual attraction. I understand that it's different if the game recreates in it, like GTA.

It all sounds like excuses to me. Simulated violence can make some people anti-social, and simulated cleavage can make some people lust. Consumption of violence likely does incline people to violence. Mario is a frustrating game, I remember throwing controllers and cussing. Is it violent? Not really, but it probably helped create a lot of anti-social weirdos and soybeards.

Again, it isn't my opinion. Watch the video.  That is why there are films accepted by Catholics that are violent, for example "The Passion Of The Christ" by Mel Gibson. Or to give pre VII examples. The legion of decency didn't condemn war cinema, which is violent, but "those which glorify crime or criminals" because they are different things.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Legion_of_Decency

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_condemned_by_the_Legion_of_Decency

There isn't  preVII catholic opinion about video games because they didn't exist. They are something very modern, from the 80s. So, the way to have an opinion about them is to see what was thought of movies, which are also an audiovisual medium, and of traditional games, such as chess. So the same principles applied to audiovisual media and games should be applied to video games.

On the other hand, as Our Lord Jesus Christ said:

"if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter into life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into fiery Gehenna."

That isn't  to be interpreted as literally tearing it out your eye, what it means is if something, even if it's permitted, is an occasion of sin for you, leave it. If you get frustrated playing the game and get angry or blasphemous, leave playing video games. If video games with some violence make you violent, leave them. If you spend too much time playing and sin against temperance, leave them.

Analyze yourself, ask God to help you, be honest  and leave everything that is an occasion of sin.

PS: What do we understand by violence in video games?

I'm referring to things like Zelda, where yes, there is violence, you are killing things with sword, bow, bombs, but there is nothing very explicit, there is no blood, no decapitations, etc.

[Tennessean]

Analyze yourself, ask God to help you, be honest  and leave everything that is an occasion of sin.

This is the only answer that makes sense. If Dead or Alive Xtreme Volleyball's entertaining and doesn't make me lust, whereas Call of Duty distracting and makes me mad, the more wholesome of the two is the bikini babes playing volleyball game, not the war game with simulated death and slovenly trolls provoking rage.

[Aulef]

GMC, you brought up something I had forgotten: the Motion Picture Production Code.

It also has an interesting list on what we should pay attention to in regards to movies and videogames. Two Catholics, a layman and a jesuit priest were behind the core text.

I quoted below the original 1930 text. And you can see the ammended/revised versions on this link: https://productioncode.dhwritings.com/multipleframes_productioncode.php


PS - read in context. Remember it was written when there still was formal racial seggregation the US

General Principles

1. No picture shall be produced that will lower the moral standards of those who see it. Hence the sympathy of the audience should never be thrown to the side of crime, wrongdoing, evil or sin.

2. Correct standards of life, subject only to the requirements of drama and entertainment, shall be presented.

3. Law, natural or human, shall not be ridiculed, nor shall sympathy be created for its violation.

Particular Applications

I. Crimes Against the Law
These shall never be presented in such a way as to throw sympathy with the crime as against law and justice or to inspire others with a desire for imitation.

1. Murder

  a. The technique of murder must be presented in a way that will not inspire imitation.

  b. Brutal killings are not to be presented in detail.

  c. Revenge in modern times shall not be justified.

2. Methods of Crime should not be explicitly presented.

  a. Theft, robbery, safe-cracking, and dynamiting of trains, mines, buildings, etc., should not be detailed in method.

  b. Arson must subject to the same safeguards.

  c. The use of firearms should be restricted to the essentials.

  d. Methods of smuggling should not be presented.

3. Illegal drug traffic must never be presented.

4. The use of liquor in American life, when not required by the plot or for proper characterization, will not be shown.

II. Sex
The sanctity of the institution of marriage and the home shall be upheld. Pictures shall not infer that low forms of sex relationship are the accepted or common thing.

1. Adultery, sometimes necessary plot material, must not be explicitly treated, or justified, or presented attractively.

2. Scenes of Passion

  a. They should not be introduced when not essential to the plot.

  b. Excessive and lustful kissing, lustful embraces, suggestive postures and gestures, are not to be shown.

  c. In general passion should so be treated that these scenes do not stimulate the lower and baser element.

3. Seduction or Rape

  a. They should never be more than suggested, and only when essential for the plot, and even then never shown by explicit method.

  b. They are never the proper subject for comedy.

4. Sex perversion or any inference to it is forbidden.

5. White slavery shall not be treated.

6. Miscegenation (sex relationships between the white and black races) is forbidden.

7. Sex hygiene and venereal diseases are not subjects for motion pictures.

8. Scenes of actual child birth, in fact or in silhouette, are never to be presented.

9. Children's sex organs are never to be exposed.

III. Vulgarity
The treatment of low, disgusting, unpleasant, though not necessarily evil, subjects should always be subject to the dictates of good taste and a regard for the sensibilities of the audience.

IV. Obscenity
Obscenity in word, gesture, reference, song, joke, or by suggestion (even when likely to be understood only by part of the audience) is forbidden.

V. Profanity
Pointed profanity (this includes the words, God, Lord, Jesus, Christ - unless used reverently - Hell, S.O.B., damn, Gawd), or every other profane or vulgar expression however used, is forbidden.

VI. Costume
1. Complete nudity is never permitted. This includes nudity in fact or in silhouette, or any lecherous or licentious notice thereof by other characters in the picture.

2. Undressing scenes should be avoided, and never used save where essential to the plot.

3. Indecent or undue exposure is forbidden.

4. Dancing or costumes intended to permit undue exposure or indecent movements in the dance are forbidden.

VII. Dances
1. Dances suggesting or representing sexual actions or indecent passions are forbidden.

2. Dances which emphasize indecent movements are to be regarded as obscene.

VIII. Religion
1. No film or episode may throw ridicule on any religious faith.

2. Ministers of religion in their character as ministers of religion should not be used as comic characters or as villains.

3. Ceremonies of any definite religion should be carefully and respectfully handled.

IX. Locations
The treatment of bedrooms must be governed by good taste and delicacy.

X. National Feelings
1. The use of the Flag shall be consistently respectful.

2. The history, institutions, prominent people and citizenry of other nations shall be represented fairly.

XI. Titles
Salacious, indecent, or obscene titles shall not be used.

XII. Repellent Subjects
The following subjects must be treated within the careful limits of good taste:
1. Actual hangings or electrocutions as legal punishments for crime.
2. Third degree methods.
3. Brutality and possible gruesomeness.
4. Branding of people or animals.
5. Apparent cruelty to children or animals.
6. The sale of women, or a woman selling her virtue.
7. Surgical operations.

Reasons Supporting the Preamble of the Code

I. Theatrical motion pictures, that is, pictures intended for the theatre as distinct from pictures intended for churches, schools, lecture halls, educational movements, social reform movements, etc., are primarily to be regarded as ENTERTAINMENT.

Mankind has always recognized the importance of entertainment and its value in rebuilding the bodies and souls of human beings.

But it has always recognized that entertainment can be a character either HELPFUL or HARMFUL to the human race, and in consequence has clearly distinguished between:

a. Entertainment which tends to improve the race, or at least to re-create and rebuild human beings exhausted with the realities of life; and

b. Entertainment which tends to degrade human beings, or to lower their standards of life and living.

Hence the MORAL IMPORTANCE of entertainment is something which has been universally recognized. It enters intimately into the lives of men and women and affects them closely; it occupies their minds and affections during leisure hours; and ultimately touches the whole of their lives. A man may be judged by his standard of entertainment as easily as by the standard of his work.

So correct entertainment raises the whole standard of a nation.

Wrong entertainment lowers the whole living conditions and moral ideals of a race.

Note, for example, the healthy reactions to healthful sports, like baseball, golf; the unhealthy reactions to sports like cockfighting, bullfighting, bear baiting, etc.

Note, too, the effect on ancient nations of gladiatorial combats, the obscene plays of Roman times, etc.

II. Motion pictures are very important as ART.

Though a new art, possibly a combination art, it has the same object as the other arts, the presentation of human thought, emotion, and experience, in terms of an appeal to the soul through the senses.

Here, as in entertainment,

Art enters intimately into the lives of human beings.

Art can be morally good, lifting men to higher levels. This has been done through good music, great painting, authentic fiction, poetry, drama.

Art can be morally evil it its effects. This is the case clearly enough with unclean art, indecent books, suggestive drama. The effect on the lives of men and women are obvious.

Note: It has often been argued that art itself is unmoral, neither good nor bad. This is true of the THING which is music, painting, poetry, etc. But the THING is the PRODUCT of some person's mind, and the intention of that mind was either good or bad morally when it produced the thing. Besides, the thing has its EFFECT upon those who come into contact with it. In both these ways, that is, as a product of a mind and as the cause of definite effects, it has a deep moral significance and unmistakable moral quality.

Hence: The motion pictures, which are the most popular of modern arts for the masses, have their moral quality from the intention of the minds which produce them and from their effects on the moral lives and reactions of their audiences. This gives them a most important morality.

1. They reproduce the morality of the men who use the pictures as a medium for the expression of their ideas and ideals.

2. They affect the moral standards of those who, through the screen, take in these ideas and ideals.

In the case of motion pictures, the effect may be particularly emphasized because no art has so quick and so widespread an appeal to the masses. It has become in an incredibly short period the art of the multitudes.

III. The motion picture, because of its importance as entertainment and because of the trust placed in it by the peoples of the world, has special MORAL OBLIGATIONS:

A. Most arts appeal to the mature. This art appeals at once to every class, mature, immature, developed, undeveloped, law abiding, criminal. Music has its grades for different classes; so has literature and drama. This art of the motion picture, combining as it does the two fundamental appeals of looking at a picture and listening to a story, at once reaches every class of society.

B. By reason of the mobility of film and the ease of picture distribution, and because the possibility of duplicating positives in large quantities, this art reaches places unpenetrated by other forms of art.

C. Because of these two facts, it is difficult to produce films intended for only certain classes of people. The exhibitors' theatres are built for the masses, for the cultivated and the rude, the mature and the immature, the self-respecting and the criminal. Films, unlike books and music, can with difficulty be confined to certain selected groups.

D. The latitude given to film material cannot, in consequence, be as wide as the latitude given to book material. In addition:

  a. A book describes; a film vividly presents. One presents on a cold page; the other by apparently living people.

  b. A book reaches the mind through words merely; a film reaches the eyes and ears through the reproduction of actual events.

  c. The reaction of a reader to a book depends largely on the keenness of the reader's imagination; the reaction to a film depends on the vividness of presentation.

Hence many things which might be described or suggested in a book could not possibly be presented in a film.

E. This is also true when comparing the film with the newspaper.

  a. Newspapers present by description, films by actual presentation.

  b. Newspapers are after the fact and present things as having taken place; the film gives the events in the process of enactment and with apparent reality of life.

F. Everything possible in a play is not possible in a film:

  a. Because of the larger audience of the film, and its consequential mixed character. Psychologically, the larger the audience, the lower the moral mass resistance to suggestion.

  b. Because through light, enlargement of character, presentation, scenic emphasis, etc., the screen story is brought closer to the audience than the play.

  c. The enthusiasm for and interest in the film actors and actresses, developed beyond anything of the sort in history, makes the audience largely sympathetic toward the characters they portray and the stories in which they figure. Hence the audience is more ready to confuse actor and actress and the characters they portray, and it is most receptive of the emotions and ideals presented by the favorite stars.

G. Small communities, remote from sophistication and from the hardening process which often takes place in the ethical and moral standards of larger cities, are easily and readily reached by any sort of film.

H. The grandeur of mass settings, large action, spectacular features, etc., affects and arouses more intensely the emotional side of the audience.

In general, the mobility, popularity, accessibility, emotional appeal, vividness, straightforward presentation of fact in the film make for more intimate contact with a larger audience and for greater emotional appeal.

Hence the larger moral responsibilities of the motion pictures.

Reasons Underlying the General Principles

I. No picture shall be produced which will lower the moral standards of those who see it. Hence the sympathy of the audience should never be thrown to the side of crime, wrong-doing, evil or sin.

This is done:

1. When evil is made to appear attractive and alluring, and good is made to appear unattractive.

2. When the sympathy of the audience is thrown on the side of crime, wrongdoing, evil, sin. The same is true of a film that would thrown sympathy against goodness, honor, innocence, purity or honesty.

Note: Sympathy with a person who sins is not the same as sympathy with the sin or crime of which he is guilty. We may feel sorry for the plight of the murderer or even understand the circumstances which led him to his crime: we may not feel sympathy with the wrong which he has done. The presentation of evil is often essential for art or fiction or drama. This in itself is not wrong provided:

  a. That evil is not presented alluringly. Even if later in the film the evil is condemned or punished, it must not be allowed to appear so attractive that the audience's emotions are drawn to desire or approve so strongly that later the condemnation is forgotten and only the apparent joy of sin is remembered.

  b. That throughout, the audience feels sure that evil is wrong and good is right.

II. Correct standards of life shall, as far as possible, be presented.

A wide knowledge of life and of living is made possible through the film. When right standards are consistently presented, the motion picture exercises the most powerful influences. It builds character, develops right ideals, inculcates correct principles, and all this in attractive story form.

If motion pictures consistently hold up for admiration high types of characters and present stories that will affect lives for the better, they can become the most powerful force for the improvement of mankind.

III. Law, natural or human, shall not be ridiculed, nor shall sympathy be created for its violation.

By natural law is understood the law which is written in the hearts of all mankind, the greater underlying principles of right and justice dictated by conscience.

By human law is understood the law written by civilized nations.

1. The presentation of crimes against the law is often necessary for the carrying out of the plot. But the presentation must not throw sympathy with the crime as against the law nor with the criminal as against those who punish him.

2. The courts of the land should not be presented as unjust. This does not mean that a single court may not be presented as unjust, much less that a single court official must not be presented this way. But the court system of the country must not suffer as a result of this presentation.

Reasons Underlying the Particular Applications

I. Sin and evil enter into the story of human beings and hence in themselves are valid dramatic material.

II. In the use of this material, it must be distinguished between sin which repels by it very nature, and sins which often attract.

  a. In the first class come murder, most theft, many legal crimes, lying, hypocrisy, cruelty, etc.

  b. In the second class come sex sins, sins and crimes of apparent heroism, such as banditry, daring thefts, leadership in evil, organized crime, revenge, etc.

The first class needs less care in treatment, as sins and crimes of this class are naturally unattractive. The audience instinctively condemns all such and is repelled.

Hence the important objective must be to avoid the hardening of the audience, especially of those who are young and impressionable, to the thought and fact of crime. People can become accustomed even to murder, cruelty, brutality, and repellent crimes, if these are too frequently repeated.

The second class needs great care in handling, as the response of human nature to their appeal is obvious. This is treated more fully below.

III. A careful distinction can be made between films intended for general distribution, and films intended for use in theatres restricted to a limited audience. Themes and plots quite appropriate for the latter would be altogether out of place and dangerous in the former.

Note: The practice of using a general theatre and limiting its patronage to "Adults Only" is not completely satisfactory and is only partially effective.

However, maturer minds may easily understand and accept without harm subject matter in plots which do younger people positive harm.

Hence: If there should be created a special type of theatre, catering exclusively to an adult audience, for plays of this character (plays with problem themes, difficult discussions and maturer treatment) it would seem to afford an outlet, which does not now exist, for pictures unsuitable for general distribution but permissible for exhibitions to a restricted audience.

I. Crimes Against the Law
The treatment of crimes against the law must not:

1. Teach methods of crime.
2. Inspire potential criminals with a desire for imitation.
3. Make criminals seem heroic and justified.

Revenge in modern times shall not be justified. In lands and ages of less developed civilization and moral principles, revenge may sometimes be presented. This would be the case especially in places where no law exists to cover the crime because of which revenge is committed.

Because of its evil consequences, the drug traffic should not be presented in any form. The existence of the trade should not be brought to the attention of audiences.

The use of liquor should never be excessively presented. In scenes from American life, the necessities of plot and proper characterization alone justify its use. And in this case, it should be shown with moderation.

II. Sex
Out of a regard for the sanctity of marriage and the home, the triangle, that is, the love of a third party for one already married, needs careful handling. The treatment should not throw sympathy against marriage as an institution.

Scenes of passion must be treated with an honest acknowledgement of human nature and its normal reactions. Many scenes cannot be presented without arousing dangerous emotions on the part of the immature, the young or the criminal classes.

Even within the limits of pure love, certain facts have been universally regarded by lawmakers as outside the limits of safe presentation.

In the case of impure love, the love which society has always regarded as wrong and which has been banned by divine law, the following are important:

1. Impure love must not be presented as attractive and beautiful.

2. It must not be the subject of comedy or farce, or treated as material for laughter.

3. It must not be presented in such a way to arouse passion or morbid curiosity on the part of the audience.

4. It must not be made to seem right and permissible.

5. It general, it must not be detailed in method and manner.

III. Vulgarity; IV. Obscenity; V. Profanity; hardly need further explanation than is contained in the Code.

VI. Costume
General Principles:

1. The effect of nudity or semi-nudity upon the normal man or woman, and much more upon the young and upon immature persons, has been honestly recognized by all lawmakers and moralists.

2. Hence the fact that the nude or semi-nude body may be beautiful does not make its use in the films moral. For, in addition to its beauty, the effect of the nude or semi-nude body on the normal individual must be taken into consideration.

3. Nudity or semi-nudity used simply to put a "punch" into a picture comes under the head of immoral actions. It is immoral in its effect on the average audience.

4. Nudity can never be permitted as being necessary for the plot. Semi-nudity must not result in undue or indecent exposures.

5. Transparent or translucent materials and silhouette are frequently more suggestive than actual exposure.

VII. Dances
Dancing in general is recognized as an art and as a beautiful form of expressing human emotions.

But dances which suggest or represent sexual actions, whether performed solo or with two or more; dances intended to excite the emotional reaction of an audience; dances with movement of the breasts, excessive body movements while the feet are stationary, violate decency and are wrong.

VIII. Religion
The reason why ministers of religion may not be comic characters or villains is simply because the attitude taken toward them may easily become the attitude taken toward religion in general. Religion is lowered in the minds of the audience because of the lowering of the audience's respect for a minister.

IX. Locations
Certain places are so closely and thoroughly associated with sexual life or with sexual sin that their use must be carefully limited.

X. National Feelings
The just rights, history, and feelings of any nation are entitled to most careful consideration and respectful treatment.

XI. Titles
As the title of a picture is the brand on that particular type of goods, it must conform to the ethical practices of all such honest business.

XII. Repellent Subjects
Such subjects are occasionally necessary for the plot. Their treatment must never offend good taste nor injure the sensibilities of an audience.

[lauermar]

Some comments based on what I learned from different traditional priests.

Most videogames are a waste of time to say the least because they usually become substitutes of meditation, prayer time, spiritual readings and even duties of state.

In regards to morality within the game, it is the same as watching an immoral movie or listening to an immoral song. If one delights on something that offends God, one should be very worried. And if one pays for it, it makes it even worse.

Agree completely. It is also a stepping stone to getting one used to accepting stealing as normal behavior. Offline it leads to temptation.

[AlNg]

GMC, you brought up something I had forgotten: the Motion Picture Production Code.

V. Profanity
Pointed profanity (this includes the words, God, Lord, Jesus, Christ - unless used reverently - Hell, S.O.B., damn, Gawd), or every other profane or vulgar expression however used, is forbidden.

The use of Our Lord's Holy Name in vain is quite prevalent today except possibly in movies rated G. Should Catholics avoid all PG, PG-13, R rated movies as they most often do contain profanity or the use of the Holy name of Jesus (or sometimes use Christ) in vain.
Notice however, that movie makers are quite careful in avoiding any derogatory reference to Islam or to its founder.

[coffeeandcigarette]

As long as it's King's Quest or Oregon Trail, you are good to go. LOL

[TerrorDæmonum]

Should Catholics avoid...

Do not sin. Avoid proximate occasions of sin. Exercise temperance and be prudent in all things. Fulfill all moral obligations, but remember that doing good is not usually about mere obligation, but attention to circumstances and growth in the interior life. There can be two answers to this:

• Yes, avoid all such things for they are vain, possible occasions of sin, and serve no spiritual purpose that cannot be met more easily elsewhere.
• No, they are not intrinsically evil and a mature mind can be exposed to things of this world without danger if they have a well formed conscience and they are not excessively exposed.

Many who follow the first may find the ascetic life to be burdensome and a scandal to oneself, while those who fall back on the second may make excuse after excuse and end up in gravely scandalous or sinful situations.

The road is narrow and the way between excess and defect within one's own life requires great care and attention. What people should do in any given circumstances is not always obligatory.

My son, prove thy soul in thy life: and if it be wicked, give it no power: For all things are not expedient for all, and every kind pleaseth not every soul.

All things are lawful to me, but all things are not expedient. All things are lawful to me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.

[Aulef]

Should Catholics avoid...

Do not sin. Avoid proximate occasions of sin. Exercise temperance and be prudent in all things. Fulfill all moral obligations, but remember that doing good is not usually about mere obligation, but attention to circumstances and growth in the interior life. There can be two answers to this:

• Yes, avoid all such things for they are vain, possible occasions of sin, and serve no spiritual purpose that cannot be met more easily elsewhere.
• No, they are not intrinsically evil and a mature mind can be exposed to things of this world without danger if they have a well formed conscience and they are not excessively exposed.

Many who follow the first may find the ascetic life to be burdensome and a scandal to oneself, while those who fall back on the second may make excuse after excuse and end up in gravely scandalous or sinful situations.

The road is narrow and the way between excess and defect within one's own life requires great care and attention. What people should do in any given circumstances is not always obligatory.

My son, prove thy soul in thy life: and if it be wicked, give it no power: For all things are not expedient for all, and every kind pleaseth not every soul.

All things are lawful to me, but all things are not expedient. All things are lawful to me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.

Our Lord Jesus Christ already showed the way

Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect.