Christian Iconography in Dragon Age Origins

Numerous reviews of Dragon Age Origins knocked the game for its generous use of blood.  Not so much that the game has copious amounts of blood but rather the way that characters go about their business after battles while covered in it. I have to admit they do look rather silly having conversations with people without even bothering to wipe the blood off their faces and clothes but it doesn’t take too much away from an otherwise excellent game.

While DOA does not shy away from using blood on-screen whenever possible it seems, it also brilliantly uses symbolism in other areas.  In fact, the player does not even need to enter the game to see how well icons foreshadow the horror that is to come.  One need only look at the title screen to see how well developer BioWare has crafted Christian symbols into the mythology of Ferelden.

Christian icons abound in this image.

The dominant portion of this image is the sword in the foreground.  This weapon is not just stuck in the ground, but it is embedded in someone’s chest.  We can see blood runs halfway up the blade.  Visible in the background is another sword. It appears both have been left on the battlefield.  In the background we can see mountains and trees. Dark clouds move overhead.  Darkness shrouds the entire image.

Any analysis of the symbols gets easier thanks to George Ferguson. In 1955 he wrote Signs & Symbols in Christian Art. This work is a masterpiece in Christian iconography.  In it, Ferguson deftly places many items we see everyday into their proper connection with Christianity. Thanks to him, I can look into the overtly religious world of DOA and connect some of the dots to the Christian faith.

For example, Ferguson notes that clouds represent the unseen God. On DOA‘s title page, however, the clouds are a dark mixture of red and black.  Black means death and the underworld but can also represent the prince of darkness, witchcraft, mourning, sickness, and  negation.  In contrast to black, red symbolizes blood as well as the emotions of love and hate. Red also stands for martyred saints. I said before that the scene is quite dark.  Ferguson writes that in Christianity physical darkness represents spiritual darkness.

So before we even begin the game, Bioware presents the image of warfare and carnage, but not just on the physical level.  The rolling dark clouds indicate a spiritual battle taking place in the heavens.  In Dragon Age terms, the Maker and the arch-demons battle in the heavens while man and demon fight on earth. And the outcome seems to be in doubt.

Underneath the clouds we find rocks in the foreground and mountains in the distance.  While shadows shroud the far-off  mountain range, the rocks in the foreground appear brown. Now rocks symbolize the Lord while stones indicate firmness. However brown means spiritual death and degradation, a possible indication that evil prevails. A second indicator of the strength of evil in this game could be that the earth, meaning the Church/Chantry (which feeds man with spiritual faith and offers him shelter) is also covered in shadow.

Which brings me back to the pair of swords in the foreground.  Aside from the obvious connection to the Word of God, swords can also represent numerous saints in Christian history.  The number two stands for the two natures of Christ: human and divine while blood symbolizes life and the human soul as well as martyrs. Curiously, it appears that both swords are embedded in the same person. Furthermore, we cannot tell who that person is and if he was good or evil. Perhaps we were not meant to know.

The wonderful thing about all this analysis is that BioWare might now have known what was going on when they created this title page.  Or perhaps they did.  Whatever the case, I choose to read the page this way and it certainly helps me enjoy the game that much more.

Since When Did Playing Games Become Work?

Dragon Age Origins: I bought it not so much for the fun as for studying the morality system.

I ordered Dragon Age Origins from Amazon last week.  Now I am not a real big role-playing fan but I do play them from time to time.  In fact I usually buy one role-playing game (RPG) per year.  I played Oblivion in 2006 and Mass Effect in 07.  I never finished Fallout 3, so I stayed away from the genre until Mass Effect 2 came out earlier this year.  I guess Dragon Age could be my RPG for 09. Whatever.

Somewhere in the midst of checking the US Postal Service website for the status of my package, I began to wonder why I was so intent on playing this game.  I then realized that while the game only mildly appeals to me (I prefer sci-fi RPGs), I am fascinated by the morality system and the choices presented in the game.  I know if I can get my hands on it I can probably use the content as the basis for a study, a paper, or at the very least some good blogging. That’s when it dawned on me: I play games for research and not for fun.

So then I started debating with myself, thinking “surely I play other games just for fun.” What about NCAA Football 11? I play that game every day, but it is also research.  I’ve already blogged about dynasty wire and social media.  I sent some tweets about the power of the press in that game. In fact I started tweeting about the social aspect of the game before I even picked it up from Gamestop. And while eating breakfast this morning I tossed about an idea about getting users to create more stories to increase the hype and tension before big games and therefore make online dynasties more realistic. That would make for a fascinating study.

Well then perhaps I play Mass Effect 2 just for fun. That’s no better.  After all that adventure provided inspiration about death in games, cultural hegemony and racism.  I even thought about blogging on how the game treats the disabled in the “Overlord” DLC.  So much for that.

Worse still, I bought Red Dead Redemption to see how Rockstar went about developing the narrative.  Fable II was only an exercise in studying the morality system and how NPCs would react to my in-game decisions.  I got great information, but never finished either game.

I think something is wrong with me.

I see more than Tomb Raider's Lara Croft. I see body image and media effects.

It finally dawned on me that my gaming only serves as a platform for my research.  Even when I think I am just having fun or relaxing, I suspect that somewhere in the back of my mind I am taking mental notes for my next project.  I would not be surprised if the gaming I’ve been doing these past few years (Mass Effect 1& 2, NCAA Football, Dragon Age, Tomb Raider Underworld, Gears of War, GTA, Modern Warfare 2) will provide a wealth of potential projects to work on after my dissertation.   And so here I sit with research ideas about male body image and the use of drama in video games floating around in my head.  Even now I have a blog draft about the perseverance of hyper-masculine heroes in games such as Gears of War. In an age where Lara Croft looks more like a women and less like an adolescent fantasy we still have Marcus Fenix who exemplifies the typical ultra-macho, super-aggressive male role model.

And so my brief self-reflection has led me to the conclusion that my days of gaming just for fun are gone and they aren’t coming back.  That pastime has been replaced with the need to explore game content for hegemonic messages, changing player identity in the face of moral choices, and genre-blending trends in the industry.  I used to joke that studying games gave me an excuse to play them.  Now I think studying games is my sole reason for playing. How my (gaming) world has changed.

Bridging the Gap Between Games and User Content

A friend came over to my house the other day. He wanted to play a game of NCAA Football 11 online against another member of my online dynasty and so he came over after work.  After he “recovered” his Xbox Live gamertag, he hopped online and played his dynasty game while I watched.  It was a great game and in the end my buddy lost in a close match.  Well the next morning I log onto dynasty anywhere to read what the guy on the other end of the Internet wrote. It was a good retelling of the game, but from a completely different perspective. It reminded me of the blog I posted last week or so about how framing theory and user-generated content makes for interesting research.

This story I read told the game narrative from a completely different perspective.  Though the writer did take the time to include both sides of the story, I was amazed at how his perspective differed from my own.  That started me thinking about a content or textual analysis of dynasty wire might produce some interesting results.  From there I expanded into other area that might be ripe for study.

Internet discussion boards were one of the earliest places for gamers to express their opinions about their love for gaming and write about game-related topics. I spent time exploring gamer forums in my dissertation but that was limited to the rather modest subset of Christian gamers.  There are many types of gamers who post their thoughts, ideas, and reactions on a variety of sites.  A more expansive look into gamer discussions could easily become a longitudinal study spanning weeks, months, or longer. It seems that gamers spend a fair amount of time writing about their games.  From the forums on Xbox.com to those of major publishers such as EA and Ubisoft there is no shortage of material.

Of course gamers also have discussions on a variety of topics as they play and so a researcher who explores the transcripts of cooperative and competitive play is sure to find rich texts. Now I know Xbox Live is the notorious playground of racists, sexists, and homophobes, but, surprisingly, there are also intelligent conversations taking place. With millions of users logging in and gaming every day, the amount of content produced is truly staggering, but what an addition it is to all the “social media” buzz going around these days.

Web Extensions

Some game publishers take the extra step and allow users to generate content on official game websites. Bungie does a wonderful job in giving users a place to store game content as well as create new images and movies from gameplay. No doubt they will only expand on what users can do for the upcoming game Halo: Reach, which due out this September.  Whereas websites used to be all about forums, now users can manipulate and upload game content for all to enjoy.  Aside from the obvious application of Uses & Gratification Theory, we might also find new areas of application for the Gatekeeping, Framing, and Priming Theories.

Dynasty Anywhere (and similar applications)

There are some online dynasties in NCAA 11 where all users are required to write stories for their games.  An online dynasty can run 60 seasons.  There are 12 games per season (plus bowl games).  With a full dynasty of 12 players, there could be at least 144 stories per season and possibly 8640 stories over the life of the dynasty.  Imagine how rich the content would be from such diligent publishing.

Indeed user content really does add another dimension to the video game experience. Yes, I do think the term “social media” is now overused almost the point of cliché, but I also believe this is a rich and virtually untapped area of study. Our use of entertainment media in general and video games in particular continues to evolve and academic researchers must strive to keep pace.