I originally had a page for the PC game called EverQuest. I had many links on it discussing gaming and christianity. I have deleted that page since I no longer play EQ. But have some of those links available here and others as well.

Some christians believe games and some entertainment like movies are evil and wrong, and they take a legalistic approach, believing God does not want us to participate in such. This stance is made by opinion, bad doctrines, and false myths.

I will make my case with several resources against such stances. Some of these are links about RPG's, others about video games, or violent video games.

 A PARENT'S GUIDE TO ROLE-PLAYING GAMES - This I believe is a christian page which discusses RPG's and details myths and truths about them. A very informative page.

 Confessions of a Dungeons & Dragons Addict - A look at D & D and other RPG's from a christian perspective, and detailing the truths about such games.

 Criminal acts by gamers? - A nice page with some facts and studies, such as:

The claims by conservative Christian groups that gamers commit suicide or engage in criminal acts do not appear to hold water: 

 Michael Stackpole calculated expected suicide rates by gamers during the early years of Dungeons and Dragons. He used B.A.D.D.'s estimate of 4 million gamers worldwide. Assuming that fantasy role game playing had no effect on youth suicide rate, one would have expected about 500 gamers would have committed suicide each year. As of 1987, B.A.D.D. had documented an average of 7 per year. It would appear that playing D&D could be promoted as a public health measure, because it would seem to drastically lower the suicide rate among youth. 1,2 

 Suzanne Abyeta & James Forest studied the criminal tendencies of "gamers" and found that they committed fewer than average numbers of crimes for individuals of the same age. 3 

 The Association of Gifted-Creative Children of California surveyed psychological autopsies of adolescent suicides and were unable to find any that were linked to these games. Their National Association has endorsed Dungeons and Dragons for its educational content. 4,5 

 The American Association of Suicidology, 6 the Center for Disease Control, 7 and Health & Welfare (Canada) 8 have conducted extensive studies into teen suicide. They have found that no link to fantasy role-playing games exists. 

 Dr. S. Kenneth Schonbert studied over 700 adolescent suicides and found none which had fantasy role-playing games as a factor. 9 

 The Committee for the Advancement of Role-Playing Games was organized in 1988 to counter the attacks by B.A.D.D. and other groups. The Committee has investigated each of the 130 suicide or criminal cases that B.A.D.D. advanced. 21 are missing name, date and/or place and could not be located. Of the over 100 that the Committee has found, they have been unable to find any that were caused by role-playing games. 

 William Schnoebelen has listed (only) 11 suicides or murders which he believes were tied to D&D. 
 

 Appearances - a great page discussing the argument used by some: "abstain from the appearance of evil"

 DOES PLAYING VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES CAUSE AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR? - a look at a several studies about violent video games and their effects on people.

 Dispelling the Myth - a good article for gamers in how to approach others on these issues.

 Eight Myths About Video Games Debunked by PBS - This article surprised me, it's by PBS and is on their website. Here is some info:

(myth) 1. The availability of video games has led to an epidemic of youth violence.

According to federal crime statistics, the rate of juvenile violent crime in the United States is at a 30-year low. Researchers find that people serving time for violent crimes typically consume less media before committing their crimes than the average person in the general population. It's true that young offenders who have committed school shootings in America have also been game players. But young people in general are more likely to be gamers — 90 percent of boys and 40 percent of girls play. The overwhelming majority of kids who play do NOT commit antisocial acts. According to a 2001 U.S. Surgeon General's report, the strongest risk factors for school shootings centered on mental stability and the quality of home life, not media exposure. The moral panic over violent video games is doubly harmful. It has led adult authorities to be more suspicious and hostile to many kids who already feel cut off from the system. It also misdirects energy away from eliminating the actual causes of youth violence and allows problems to continue to fester. 

(myth) 2. Scientific evidence links violent game play with youth aggression.

Claims like this are based on the work of researchers who represent one relatively narrow school of research, "media effects." This research includes some 300 studies of media violence. But most of those studies are inconclusive and many have been criticized on methodological grounds. In these studies, media images are removed from any narrative context. Subjects are asked to engage with content that they would not normally consume and may not understand. Finally, the laboratory context is radically different from the environments where games would normally be played. Most studies found a correlation, not a causal relationship, which means the research could simply show that aggressive people like aggressive entertainment. That's why the vague term "links" is used here. If there is a consensus emerging around this research, it is that violent video games may be one risk factor - when coupled with other more immediate, real-world influences — which can contribute to anti-social behavior. But no research has found that video games are a primary factor or that violent video game play could turn an otherwise normal person into a killer. 

 Most Real Fantasy - an article about fantasy

 Video game controversy from Wikipedia - some highlights:

...Over two hundred studies have been published which examine the effects of violence in entertainment media and which at least partially focus on violence in video games in particular. Some psychological studies have shown a correlation between children playing violent video games and suffering psychological effects, though the vast majority stop short of claiming behavioral causation. Critics to these argue that many of the studies involved fail to use standardized and reliable measures of aggression, and many selectively discuss findings that support their hypothesized link between video games and aggression, and fail to discuss findings that disconfirm this link.

The American Psychological Association summarizes the issue as "Psychological research confirms that violent video games can increase children's aggression, but that parents moderate the negative effects."[1] Craig A. Anderson has testified before the U.S. Senate on the issue, and his meta-analysis of these studies has shown 5 consistent effects: "increased aggressive behavior, thoughts, and affect; increased physiological arousal; and decreased prosocial (helping) behavior".[2] However, some studies explicitly deny that such a connection exists, most notably Anderson and Ford (1986), Winkel et al (1987), Scott (1995), and Ballard and Lineberger (1999)...

...A US Secret Service study found that only 12 percent of school shooters were attracted to violent video games, while 24 percent read violent books and 27 percent who were attracted to violent movies.[13] An Australian study found that only children already predisposed to violence were affected by violent games...
 

Now I am not saying there is no danger in games nor that any and every game can be played as often as desired. There are concerns. Here is another source:

http://www.apa.org/science/psa/sb-anderson.html

Myth 6. There are no studies linking violent video game play to serious aggression.

Facts: High levels of violent video game exposure have been linked to delinquency, fighting at school and during free play periods, and violent criminal behavior (e.g., self-reported assault, robbery).

Other studies have disagreed, but there may be some concern. But this shows high levels of violent video game exposure can be linked to bad actions. But this is not the cause! Here are some quotes from above sources:

 ...Some psychological studies have shown a correlation between children playing violent video games and suffering psychological effects, though the vast majority stop short of claiming behavioral causation...

...If there is a consensus emerging around this research, it is that violent video games may be one risk factor - when coupled with other more immediate, real-world influences — which can contribute to anti-social behavior. But no research has found that video games are a primary factor or that violent video game play could turn an otherwise normal person into a killer...

...In any case, it is argued, people that do commit criminal acts related to computer games obviously have mental problems to begin with; such as a man who locked his children in a cupboard so they did not disturb him while he played a computer game was obviously not instructed to do it by the game, but did it due to mental instabilities or deficiencies. Even without violent games or movies, most people who have done such things would probably have done them anyway; it is argued, for example, that the students responsible for the Columbine High School massacre would have killed the students even without being exposed to violent video games. The games were not the cause, but their own mental instability...

Man is given free will. And when a person chooses to do wrong, it is from numerous temptations, but no temptation in itself, can cause us to lose our free will, which God gave us.

1 Cor 10:13: There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

Deut 30: MKJV 
19 I call Heaven and earth to record today against you. I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore, choose life, so that both you and your seed may live, 
20 so that you may love the LORD your God, and that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him. For He is your life and the length of your days, so that you may dwell in the land ... 

The secret is balance. Just as high levels of video game violence is wrong, so is total abstinence:

Phil:4:5: Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.

One of the words for abstain in the New Testament is this:

apechomai: to hold one's self off, refrain, abstain

It's Greek origin is:

middle voice (reflexively) of apecho:

a) to hold back, keep off, prevent

b) to have wholly or in full, to have received

Now if the New Testament abstain is the middle voice of "apecho" which is the extremes of prevention or to have wholly, it means God wants us to have a balance. To neither refuse nor to be completely engulfed in something. When one refuses, they become legalistic and act like a monk. Remember Jesus argued against the religious zealots who lived such lifestyles. The doctrines and theologies of abstaining in it's strictest form is from satan:

1 Tim 4:
1: Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
2: Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
3: Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.
4: For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:
5: For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.

Now how did God react to such abstaining? In the Old Testament God told the Israelites not to marry foreign women who followed other gods. In one case, Num 25, a Jewish man killed an Israelites wife with a spear because she was a foreigner. Yet Jesus had an ancestor who was a gentile prostitute from the city of Jericho. So if God was so pure and holy, and asked the Jews not to marry foreign women, why did He allow such a woman to be in the actual lineage to birth Jesus? Because God is not legalistic for laws sake.

We cannot hide ourselves or our children from the evils of this world, Jesus prayed about this:

John 17:15: I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.

Everything in this world is tainted with sin or crime. Does that mean we cannot enjoy anything? We cannot live a life without objects that have not been tainted by sin. Jesus enjoyed and celebrated life with sinners. He has given us a way to sanctify those things for us to enjoy. And it is all things.

1 Tim 
4:4 For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5 for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer. 

6:17: Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy;

Now this is not a license to sin. For indeed we must partake only by faith:

Rom 14:
23: And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.

This does not mean for those who don't have faith, nor for those who don't enjoy the things another does, that they forbid them to others. 

 Weaker Brothers - another great page discussing the argument: "don't offend the weaker brother"

Rom:14:16: Let not then your good be evil spoken of

And remember for those who eat, they are the stronger than those who do not partake. And those in Christ should be growing stronger, not weaker.

We each have our own faith. For example when I play Role Playing Games, I never play spell casters. That's my faith. I have played clerics, warriors, and monks, and so on, but I stay away from spell casters. This is because of my faith. Faith comes from scripture:

Rom:10:17: So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

And scripture tells me to not perform magic. But yet when I played the card game Magic: The Gathering, I never played any black cards, and stayed away from certain red cards. Now some may say, that playing Magic: The Gathering was breaching the basis of my faith. For me it was not. Magic, was the plot behind the story of the game, not any actual game mechanics. But I no longer play Magic: The Gathering anyways. 

But whatever I play, I try always to play by faith. That faith while based upon scripture is not scripture alone, but is also spirit. The Holy Spirit. We don't live by the letter of the Law.

2 Cor 3:6: Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.

For those who don't understand this, or wish to know more, I suggest this page of mine:

 Walking in the Spirit
 
 

Links on my website:

 Interactive 3D Temple Module for NWN - this page describes in detail about a 3D Temple I created for the game NeverWinter Nights. It's a free module you can download for the game. Details can be found there.

 The NES Pages - My page on the Nintendo Entertainment System and a list of my NES games, with links to game reviews and more.

 NES Accessories - Pictures and descriptions of the NES accessories I own.

 My Lord of the Rings Pages - now out-dated. While I still have over half of my collection listed there, some of its been sold or given away. I have lost interest. My disinterest began with the 3rd film. While I believe the films are great, I was upset at the scene on the volcanoe where Frodo used his ring against Gollum. That scene was in the book, but not in the movie. It also was the reason why Frodo got his energy back to run the rest of the way up. The movie made it look like Frodo just wanted to ride on Sam's back cause he was lazy, because he fell off and then just ran away!

 Game Reviews - My game review page, where I give game reviews myself.
 
 
 

Links elsewhere:

 The Faithful Knights of Christ - a christian gamers message board

 THE CHRISTIAN GAMERS GUILD

 Christian Duke Nukem Maps

 Christ Centered Game Reviews

 TALES OF THE UNWRITTEN - Christian MMORG in development

 Yahoo group for Christian EQ players

 Christian guild for the World of Warcraft

 Wisdom Tree - Makers and distributors of top selling Christian computer games designed for the Christian Community. (Yeah they're still in business and still have some Nintendo stuff for sale and other cool stuff as well.)