If I can say something "from inside"...
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.
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.
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 ******.
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.
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" ?
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 ?
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 !
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.
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.
