Per Christum Catholic Blog

Being Catholic, and being a Role-play and board gamer, a recent thread on the Days of Wonder board struck me as needing a “Catholic Answer”… the question of whether or not it is moral to play an “evil” character….

One of the issues with gaming in general is the need for someone to play the side of evil in most forms of game. A woman was complaining about having to advance evil in a board game, one where the players are cooperating while playing the knights of Camelot.

Now, I hearken back to the sentiments of a Dominican Friar, Rev. Fr. Kent Burtner, OP, on the matter… back in 1985, I wanted to start a board game group at Holy Family Cathedral. Fr. Kent was also a specialist in cults, and deprogramming; he was also the pastor, and a fan of good fiction.

Fr. Kent laid out a few ground rules for Role-play:

1. Players should never play inherently evil characters. Morally flawed, yes, but inherently evil, no.
2. Evil opponents are at the heart of heroic fiction, and role-play gaming is a form of heroic fiction, so the GM is allowed to portray them, but not to revel in them.
3. Evil characters should be beatable by the players, but not of need directly. But it also should not be automatic, either.

In board games, as well, the opportunity to play and understand evil is not itself evidence of being intrinsically evil. Fr. Kent himself chose to play the Klingons the night we were teaching Star Fleet Battles… nor should evil automatically lose. Games can teach the important moral lesson: Goodness is not, in itself, sufficient for the Good Guys to win over evil; defeating evil is always a struggle. CS Lewis portrays a wonderful bit of apologia in his Narnia series. Christian Allegory at its finest; his friend, JRR Tolkien, is a good example as well. Gaming, in many ways, allows us to find hope that evil may be defeated, and yet reminds us that that is not inherent. And so, Fr. Kent’s advice on board games was simpler still:

1. It is acceptable to play the evil side, provided one does not revel in the evilness portrayed.

By this standard, it’s acceptable to play orcs or necromancers, or even the Axis powers, provided one does so because they are a good opponent, or since someone needs to for the game.

Now, for those who do not know what role-play gaming is, it is essentially a form of story telling, kind of an improvisational radio play, where one person portrays everyone and everything except the characters controlled by the players. Sometimes it’s third person, sometimes first person. Those who control a character or two are players, and the person presenting the supporting cast, the setting, and the plot hooks is referred to as the Game Master, Storyguide, or Referee. It arose from the blending of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings and miniatures wargaming, and the heroic myth. The game part comes from the use of rules, and usually also dice, to determine the success or failure of character actions.

Roleplaying and Wargaming are both inherently social and mental activities, which allow the players to develop self esteem, problem solving, and often math skills. Roleplaying, being a verbal medium, is a strong reinforcer of effective communication practices. Both board games and war games involve the ability to see a situation from different views, to learn how others will react.

So much in life is adversarial. It is an important life lesson that being the adversary in one situation may not make one inherently evil. It is also important that two equally morally acting sides may come to conflict.

It is also important to realize that adversity is the natural position of Catholics in the anti-religious world: We are the heroes, striving against the evils of abortion, euthanasia, racism, secularism, and relativism. We may not pick up the sword, but how we live, vote, teach, and work is part of the fight against evil. Our deeds are the sword, our faith our shield.

It is a battle we can’t afford to ignore. It is a battle we must win.

What say you, my fellow soldiers of Christ?