Gaming and sin

[MrKrillz0r]

Heya dude's, I don't know where to start really and I don't know if I should post this here or not so please don't bash me.
Recently I've started to question myself if playing video games really is okey or not (Of course I don't mean all video games, as there is even christian games out there). But if I should make a example I'll take the game "World of Warcraft" which I have been playing for over 2 years. In the game I'm usually playing "PvP" which stands for player versus player, which means I am killing players of the other faction (Alliance / Horde), and in my case the alliance. So in this case I play a tauren druid, which first of all is a human/bull which I'm pretty sure is from some kind of mythologi, maybe greek mythologi. And second of all "shapeshifting" is some kind of mythical thing too, I'd guess. And I'm shooting spells and using healing abilities and can ressurect other players. This have never bothered me really but recently I've started to ask myself is this really okey? Myself I only play the game to have fun with friends as I love playing games where tactics and skill is needed and you can play with your friends meeting different challanges together. But still, using spells, shapeshifting, all these things is they okey even if its just a game?
If you look at it from one point you can use the game to preach God's name and spread the word of God to other players. You can also act as a light to others always showing respect and help other players. So from this point of view its a perfect chance to spread the gospel in a new way. But still all the evil in the game, I mean killing in arenas just to show your strenght is nothing good and either is it a chance to spread the gospel. Although a football game isn't really a way to spread gospel and its nothing good really, but it doesn't mean its a sin either.
So far I've come up with some things that I know for sure,
-Playing to much and putting the game before God is sin.
-Some games which promote wicked killing and other evil stuff isn't okey, not for me atleast.
-Playing a "class/hero" that is for a example a warlock which uses demons and evil spells and curse's is not the right choice as a follower of Christ.
I would like to here your opinions and thoughts about this as its a really big question (Atleast for me) who loves gaming. Sorry for the long content. ><

[Etoh*the*Greato]

If it's a bother to you and your walk, then by all means you should stop. Still, since it is a work of fiction, not everyone will react the same way, or be as bothered by it.

[Rusty Claymore]

Games are amoral. Neither intrinsicly good or evil. Like you said, it's just like football. Or soccer, anime, or meat that's been sacrificed to idols. If there is something that causes you to sin, stay away from that thing. If it causes a brother to stumble, don't bring it up when they're around.
When I played Guild Wars, I had a necromancer. But I had his secondary class a monk, dyed his clothes blue and white, and only used the "holy" type skills of the monk. I named him Penitant Ninavite, kinda as a joke, and the class setup actually worked well!
Overall, things are things, and even evil is a causualty to God's glory.
...meaning God nukes evil and everyone's all "Wow!" kinda thing... in case anyone got confused by my word placement skillz. Or lack thereof.

[Mr. SmartyPants]

Warlocks are my favorite class! Strong DPS and DoT abilities. Second would be Mages.

I think you're fine. I used to play WoW a lot before I decided to quit (mostly cause it cost 15 dollars a month and it got boring). I ended with a level 62 Human Mage. Fire spec. Looking back, I wish I rolled Affliction/Destro Warlock instead. But I don't play anymore, lol.

Elements in WoW are so fantastical and it barely aligns to reality. You can't cast "Immolate" or "Curse of Agony" on people. How is it different than casting a healing spell? Warlock spells have a cool purpley or black color to it, whereas healing is all bright and yellow. But since when has color ever really been an indicator of specific values like "evil" or "good"? Colors are entirely arbitrary and mostly culturally defined. White means purity in America, but it also means death in others. I think it's silly to think that "omg warlocks are evil cuz they summon little imps with glowy green eyes" or that "omg they use magic related to blood!" Cause blood is only a substance in our body which is present to oxygenate our organs. Blood being a scary thing is purely a cultural phenomena.

So ideas of Warlocks/Mages/Shadowpriests are more evil than like... Priests or Paladins is based off of entirely meaningless reasons. If you want to be consistent, I think one must conclude that playing a Healing Priest is just as evil as playing a Warlock, because it's all "magic" anyway. And we all know how evil "magic" is.

And besides, if you're following this mentality and you're playing a priest and you're buffing a fellow mage or warlock, you're promoting their use of "evil", thus you're allowing "evil" to occur.

As for the Tauren race being "Greek mythology", most of modern-day Western Christian thought stems from Greek philosophy anyway (heavy influence by Plato).

But by all means. If you feel that it's wrong. Then don't do it. But I think it's perfectly okay. People get too caught up in arbitrary things that supposedly "damage" our spirituality instead of real dangers in the world like human trafficking or something.

[MrKrillz0r]

Thanks for your answers peeps! The game have never really bothered me in anyway, although I would not myself play a warlock just because I don't like the demon-part/shadowspell part, but thats cause it would feel wrong to me. The thing is I've never even thought about if it would be a sin to play sucha games and I've made some research and it seems that some people consider gaming as a sin. (In games where you kill and sucha) Although.. if I remember right don't Mario "kill" his enemies? And I don't really think of Mario as a sinning game, even though he is casting fireballs. xD And I don't see the game as a bother to my walk, except for the fact that I've been really addicted to it before. But right now I got loads of freetime and I don't see the gaming habit as a problem as I'm just meeting my IRL's friends online, I just have to keep in mind to always put God above all kind of things, and gaming is one of them. I would also like to point out I'm not really that addicted to the gaming anymore although I think its super fun! Again thanks for the response, really helped me think over the stuff!