[Dead Space 2] Rebirth

We’re returning to our examination of Unitology and their relationship with the Marker. Both entities seem to emphasize oneness and rebirth. Today’s post will discuss how that relates to us and our culture.

In the final battle of Dead Space 2, you fight Nicole as a representation of the Marker. As she attacks you, there are a few key phrases that she repeats that point towards the ultimate goal of the Marker. These phrases are also connected with key tenets of Unitology. If you played the last battle poorly and had to start over multiple times, like myself, then you probably heard these phrases repeatedly. But repetition began to become deeper meaning the more I heard them. These two phrases have to do with oneness and rebirth.

“We will all be made one.”

The Marker’s goal, as revealed during the final battle, is for Isaac’s mind to meld with the Marker so as to increase it’s power and influence. This oneness with Isaac’s mind is what will help them reach their goal of being reborn (whatever that means). She needs Isaac for this because he is one of the makers whose mind was involved in creating this Marker.

During the battle Nicole repeats “We will all be made one” and “Make us whole.” The Marker promises this oneness and that is indeed a doctrinal focus of Unitology. The Unitologists believe that by following their rituals, worshiping the Marker, and ultimately dying (typically by ritual suicide) they will achieve a sublime oneness with each other and with the Marker.

As we saw with the first Dead Space, Unitology behaves an awful lot like a cult. In the game you get to explore one of their cathedrals and see all the secret rooms and things that were going on behind the scenes. One room shows the “indoctrination” chamber where an audio log reveals that they were doing inhumane experiments on converts. They were doing this to see how they could use the Marker’s power on humans to instigate “convergence”, their word for the oneness achieved through the Marker.

"Umm....I think it might be time to find a different church...."

This desire for oneness with each other and oneness with a higher entity is a common concept in our culture. Some Eastern mystic religions believe in achieving a higher consciousness. Those who worship “Mother Earth” tend to believe that we’re all one big connected entity. This idea is expressed quite clearly in the movie Avatar where the natives can literally plug into their “living” planet. Another example is the movie The Fountain where the ending seems to point to a person’s existence melting back into the universe or nature, or whatever. In both examples, there is this idea of tapping into a collective consciousness or returning to the “consciousness” of nature.

In the first Dead Space you find out that the later stages of a Necromorph infection leads to the cumulative bio-mass of the infected people molding together into a gooey genetic soup that coats the walls (quite a disgusting prospect).  In Dead Space 2 we have Nicole, as the enemy, calling for Isaac to join this “oneness.” Elements like these convey the message that blending into one big jumbled being is not a desirable fate. The Necromorphs are depicted similarly to something like, say, the Borg. They both show how it is a bad thing to be deprived of individuality and mushed into a larger collective. In both the positive and negative depictions of this concept, there is a clear desire for some kind of transformation, often expressed as a rebirth.

"Hey isn't that the guy that sold me my cell phone? I guess he got a new gig as....the wall."

“We must all be reborn.”

In order for the above process of oneness to take place, a “rebirth” must occur for all believing Unitologists. Throughout the game you can see where people have ritualistically killed themselves so that they can take part in “convergence” with the Marker. Is this really the kind of rebirth that we want? No, not really, and Dead Space seems to agree. The game’s narrative has Isaac declining Nicole’s request to join in her “wholeness” by way of destroying the Marker.

There’s a major problem with the Marker’s idea of wholeness, as well as any similar ideas held by some of our culture’s belief systems. They all seem to point that would have us transform from an individual, conscious state of being to a collective state of being in which there is either a shared consciousness or no real consciousness at all. Isn’t this a huge step backwards? Even evolution would state that we went from cosmic dust to a primordial ooze, then eventually to where we have now become living, reasoning creatures. Why would we then want to go back to the inanimate state of nature from which we supposedly evolved?

The Marker is an inanimate object, yet Unitologists believe that it will bring a new life. How can such an object bring life when it is itself not living? The Bible tells a parable in which a man cuts down a tree and uses part of the wood for a fire to make tools, warmth and food. Then, with the other part he fashions a god, which he then worships. How ludicrous is that? How can something inanimate, fashioned by man, have any power to bring salvation or rebirth? This guy and the Unitologists both falsely attribute life and power to something that is just an object.

"Hey that lifeless piece of rock can be my god! See how it's all glowy and pretty?"

Even if the means of rebirth are wrong, the game and our culture still acknowledge that rebirth is indeed necessary for us all. There’s a longing in us that recognizes the need to be made new. Jesus calls us to a rebirth that is much different from what our culture or Unitology describes. When speaking to a man named Nicodemus about rebirth, Nicodemus became (understandably) confused, thinking that he would have to literally reenter the womb in order to come out a new person (that is as ridiculous of a concept of rebirth as that of Unitology).

But no, Jesus meant something else. Jesus’ version of rebirth is a spiritual one that is symbolized through an act called baptism. Remember earlier when Isaac is mentioned as the Marker’s “maker” and how he is necessary to achieve wholeness? Well likewise, we must turn to our maker to receive wholeness in ourselves. The act of baptism allows us to figuratively die (not literally commit a ritual suicide), and submit to God who then makes us new people. As in, you will be a new person. Not a shapeless bit of consciousness mixed in with a greater whole. Some other beliefs (like Unitology) would suggest to you that the ultimate existence is to be reborn as an indistinguishable ingredient in a larger being. However, Jesus’ offer of rebirth redeems us as individuals instead of taking away our personhood.

Questions:

Who or what makes you whole (or feel whole)?

Does the thought of abandoning your identity to something greater sound appealing?

Next time we’ll finish Dead Space 2 by talking about distorted reality.

Customize Yourself: Made in the Image

This week we’re going topical again and looking at the growing phenomenon of customization in video games and how it relates to our identity. Today we’re seeking to understand this trend by looking at the second of two possible answers to one question: Why do we want to create a new identity?

For people like Dwight, a virtual world is just another means of experiencing everything they like about themselves. When Dwight made a Second Life character, he was just who he was in real life…except he could fly. Dwight was comfortable with himself as a person, but the digital world still provided something above what he could experience in real life.

The character creator tools available in games today are getting better at allowing us to create something that looks close to reality. Yet no matter how advanced a game gets at providing customizing options, it still won’t allow us to change our actual identities. We will still come up lacking in real life. The character change options in real life are very few and mostly ineffective. Self-help books may help and perhaps moving to a new place may produce some changes, but there are still many things that we all have trouble changing.

The most profound problem that we cannot change is our engrained sinfulness. Our depraved nature is so central to our identity that there is no way we can escape it on our own. The embedded faults in our very identities go deeper than the surface level actions we perform. This is where Jesus comes in. Even non-Christians know that Jesus forgives sins- that is, behaviors. But what we need is something much more. We need new identities. Much like how Mass Effect 2 gave you the option to completely change your identity to whatever you wanted, regardless of the previous game.

"It's time for change....in space."

Jesus’ death not only takes away our sin, but also gives us a new identity in him. Accepting Jesus means that “you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ.” God is in the business of making new people, not just a superficial makeover. He changes the basic structure of our identities, taking out the cold, sinful hearts of stone and replacing them with new hearts. This allows God to help us become what he intended for us to be without the effects of sin. God is able to redeem for us our true identity as he created us.

You are the product of God’s character customization engine. This world and everything in it is God’s giant game of Minecraft. Genesis 1 describes how God formed every aspect of creation, pixel by pixel. The account in Genesis 2 describes how God formed Adam with his own hands, and he has put just as much care into creating you. He painstakingly stitched together every aspect of your identity before you were even born. God is fully aware of every single hair on your head and how it got there (or fell out).

But there’s more! Much like Dwight chose to make a Second Life character in his image, God also made us in his image. This means that we bear traits of God that influence our identity. We have desires and impulses in us that originate from the very nature of God. One of these is the impulse to create.

So why do we want to create a new identity? Now we have our two answers:

1) We are dissatisfied with our sinful identities.

2) We have the impulse to create something new, much like the God whose image we bear.

Many players default to trying to make characters looks just like themselves, and that is one expression of the God who made us to be like him. Others just want to come up with something new and off the wall. Games like Spore are perfect for “playing God” in a sense.

"Wait...what??"

Now, let’s not fools ourselves. That very impulse to create something crazy comes from the God who made you. He has some pretty wild creations himself. Don’t believe me? Well, God made this:

Somebody REALLY loves the University of Texas

And this:

"How did you know I was gonna say that? It's like you can see into my mind or something..."

Aaaand this:

"This looks shopped. You can tell from the pixels and AHHHH!! Is it on me? I feel like it's on me..."

The gaming culture’s fascination with customization serves two purposes. First, it reminds us that our desire to live as a different identity comes from a dissatisfaction with our sinful selves. The only alternate identity that is of any worth is that of Christ, who gladly takes our old selves and makes us into new creations. Second, the complex customization tools that games provide to construct new things is also a reminder that we are made in God’s image and that we share his artistic impulse to create.

Question:

What’s the most crazy awesome character you’ve created? Provide links or pics if possible.

Has there ever been a time when you became too engrossed in an online identity?

Thanks for reading and come back soon. Next on the list is Dead Space, so try to get some sleep now.

Customize Yourself: Identity Crisis

This week we’re going topical again and looking at the growing phenomenon of customization in video games and how it relates to our identity. Today we’re seeking to understand this trend by looking at the first of two possible answers to one question: Why do we want to create a new identity?

We’re not satisfied with ourselves. When I made my Xbox Live avatar, I gave it more hair and a slightly thinner physique than what exists in reality. When you create a character in Mass Effect, does Shepard look exactly like you? Maybe there’s a lot of similarities…but perhaps you threw in a scar or two to add that “tough look.” Or maybe you went a completely different route and made Shepard the opposite gender and/or skin color. And then there’s the customization of abilities and skills. This is where video games really set themselves apart because they allow us to do far cooler things than would ever be possible with our own dumb non-magically/ technologically enhanced bodies.

This fixation on a world where we are able to be and do anything can become a real problem. For those who are extremely dissatisfied with themselves, the ability to live as someone else only fuels the addictive capabilities of an already-enticing virtual world. The Gerard Butler movie Gamer showed one example of what lengths people are willing to go to in order to obtain a different identity (or use that demand to provide an identity for someone else).

There are unfortunately many sad examples of what happens when the obsession with living out a different identity goes to the extreme. The one that stands out is the story of a Korean couple who neglected their three-month-old baby to play an online role playing game. While they were at their 12-hour gaming sessions at an internet cafe, their real-life baby starved to death. The horrible irony is that in their online game, they were using their characters to raise a virtual baby.

After reading a little more into the story you learn that their baby (the real one) was born prematurely and that neither of them had jobs. It’s hard to imagine how difficult it must be to take care of a premature baby without any income (which may or may not have itself been related to gaming habits), but that’s no excuse for their neglect. It does point to something telling about their motivations for pouring themselves into a video game…

They were seeking control. Their real lives were likely a wreck and they had an insane amount of stress that comes with raising a (prematurely born) child. Where they were powerless in real life, they were able to have control of things in an online game. The fact that their created identities had a virtual baby shows that they did indeed want a child, but they couldn’t handle the real-life responsibility of being parents.

That’s what video games offer- a better identity where you have more control. Are you a social outcast in real life? Online you can be a level 27 Dragonborne spellcaster and command the respect of an entire guild. Do you have difficulty managing money and keeping a job? You can fire up Fable and earn a living as a blacksmith and never get fired or lose money to mismanagement. Are you dissatisfied with your appearance and lifestyle? Go play The Sims to look like and do whatever you want.

There are people in the Bible who are no strangers to these feelings of self-dissatisfaction. One guy who was pretty dissatisfied with himself was the apostle Paul who wrote most of the New Testament. He uses a good chunk of one of his books to describe how he always manages to screw up no matter how hard he tries. At the end of this rant he exclaims, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?” You thought everyone who wrote the Bible was perfect and morally superior? Not so. The Bible is clear that we are all under the control of sin because of our bodies of death.

Being dissatisfied with ourselves is sadly woven into the very fabric of our nature. All of humanity fell under the effects of sin and death because of Adam’s choice to disobey God in the garden at the beginning of time. Adam’s poor decision brought epic failure on God’s perfect creation…… but yet these fancy, shiny video games let us see and experience what it’s like to be what we want to be, without the frailty caused by sin and failure. Video games provide us with the opportunity to create an identity that is significantly more awesome than the pathetic, broken identities we have to look at in the mirror everyday.

These new ways to customize allow the opportunity to change our identities, but is it  really enough?

We’ll continue the discussion in the next post. Give us your reactions so far in the comments.

Customize Yourself: The Growing Trend

This week we’re going topical again and looking at the growing phenomenon of customization in video games and how it relates to our identity. We’re seeking to understand this trend by looking at two possible answers to one question.

Customization in the gaming world is everywhere these days. You can hardly look at a computer or game console without being asked 20 questions about your preferences on how something should function or look. The oldest and best example of this is role-playing games. Sure, it started with choosing races and player traits in the original IRL game Dungeons and Dragons, but RPG video games have been able to take that to a whole new extreme. The most popular example is perhaps World of Warcraft, but more recent games like Mass Effect and Skyrim have exponentially increased the degree to which you can customize a character. There’s also the more “casual” side of RPGs with games like Spore and The Sims.

The popularity of customization has now bled into other non-RPG genres such as first-person shooters and casual games. Halo: Reach allowed players to turn their experience points into new armor details and equipment. Call of Duty has taken that even further allowing players to customize the look and function of even the weapons in the game. Racing games now often come with infinite possibilities for decoration and personalization. If we want to get really crazy we can point to Team Fortress 2 around which a whole community of buying and selling accessories has exploded.

On the casual gaming front, customization started to become popular with the release of the Wii when people could make Mii’s to look just like themselves, or nothing like themselves as the case may be. Xbox followed suit with their Xbox Live avatars and related merchandising for the player’s game of choice (I currently have a portal gun for my avatar). Even mobile OS games like Hanging with Friends allow you to customize your character. The truly telling fact is that in many of these cases, people pay real, hard-earned money in micro-transactions to buy these customization options- for things that only exist in virtual reality!

So why all this fuss over customization? Sometimes what we create is the same as real life, sometimes it’s completely different, or perhaps a mix of the two. These games allow us to alter or virtually recreate how we look and act to our liking. That avatar is then used to experience a virtual world as someone or something slightly different from the skin in which we live. But why do we go to such lengths to create images of ourselves that are detached from reality?

There are two responses to this customization craze and both have some validity. Our task this week will be to discuss both possibilities by answering this question:

Why do we want to create new identities?

Go level up your thinking caps and come back next time when we’ll dig into this question with the first of two possible answers.