Gaming and the Dominion Mandate

A 2024 Pew Research study showed that almost every teen boy (97%) in America plays video games, with 62% identifying themselves as “gamers” who play every day.

The gaming world has become a “digital hangout,” the neighborhood ballfield of a previous generation. According to the same study, 72% of teens say they play video games partly to interact with others online, and 47% of teen gamers have made “new friends” through online gaming.

It’s a world that has changed dramatically even since my teen years: my experience was to buy a new game, insert the cartridge (after blowing it off, of course), play the game, beat the game, and move on to the next one. Today, a teen could play the same game indefinitely, encouraged on by new character “skins,” in-game purchases, and online community.

As a father, whose young sons are increasingly asking me to “have a turn playing the Switch,” I’m realizing the importance of wisely parenting my boys in the world of gaming. This article won’t address the issue comprehensively, but might help you understand why video games are so appealing, especially to boys, and how we can faithfully shepherd them. And if you’re like me, you might need these reminders for yourself.

Why do we love video games?

In the opening pages of the Bible, we see that God created humans with a specific mission in mind. We were created to have dominion over the earth, over plants, animals, and resources. Genesis 1:26–28 describes this “dominion mandate.” But it wasn’t something only limited to Adam and Eve in the garden; we see it repeated again in Psalm 8:5–8: “You have given him [mankind] dominion over the works of your hands…”

Humanity was designed to exercise dominion on this earth, to grow and progress through the earth, overcoming threats and dangers in order to bring creation under subjection.

I believe God has created each one of us, especially men, in such a way that we are wired to find joy in exercising the dominion mandate (why else do you think dads find such satisfaction in a perfectly manicured lawn?).

So why do boys love video games so much? I believe young men and boys are drawn to video games partly because it scratches the Dominion Mandate “itch.” It gives us an outlet for doing what we were made to do.

Reagan Rose, in his little booklet, A Student’s Guide to Gaming, makes this point:

“A creature is always happiest when it is doing what it was made to do. And since dominion was what we were made for, exercising dominion brings us joy. When we build something, conquer a foe, or bring order where there was once chaos, we are doing what we were fashioned for. This is why victory tastes so sweet, and I’m convinced it’s part of the reason why we love video games. Think about a time when you beat a really hard level in a game, came in first place in a multiplayer match, or created something you were proud of in a building game. It felt great, didn’t it? That was because you were scratching the itch of dominion. But dominion exercised in video games can never fully satisfy us.”

Rose both helps us understand the draw and helps us see the danger. Video games give us joy in exercising dominion, but it’s a simulated dominion.

The danger is that boys and teens direct all their energy, all of their focus toward a simulated dominion mandate, while their real-life responsibilities suffer. While pursuing this “simulated dominion,” they’re the one being dominated.

Simulated Growth and Progress

Character growth and progress is one thing we like about games. We like to level up, learn new skills, and go from “noob” to an elite, decked-out player.

In our Christian lives, we are called to grow in godliness, to strain and fight and stretch ourselves by God’s grace to fight the good fight. Paul said, “I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control…” (1 Cor. 9:27). 1 Timothy 4:7–10 calls us to “train yourself for godliness” and to “toil and strive” with “our hope set on the living God.” The Christian life is a life of effort and struggle, of growth and training. It’s part of the dominion mandate!

Video games promise to scratch that itch without actually satisfying it.

We need to help our boys remember that we only have a limited amount of energy and time each day. We cannot devote ourselves to two quests: one a simulation and one a reality. As Jesus said in Matthew 6:24, “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.”

While video games can be a great diversion, a way to relax and take a break from the difficulty of life, you can’t devote yourself to video games and still live a life of devotion to God. Those who devote all their time and energy to growth/progress in their video game world will experience very little growth and progress in the real world: grades suffer, in-person relationships diminish, and spiritual life grows stagnant.

This doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with video games, it just means that video games were never meant to be the outlet for growth and progress in life.

Simulated Threats and Dangers

Real life is dangerous. And most anything worth doing has some risk involved. When the curse entered the world, Adam’s dominion work became difficult with “thorns and thistles.” He had to overcome the fallenness of creation in order to accomplish his mandate.

Risk is vital to any endeavor. We want our video games to include risk, danger, and uncertainty. That’s what pulls you in and keeps you playing. We were made to overcome danger to do great things, but video games invite us to direct that innate desire toward simulated risk. In reality, we’re avoiding danger altogether.

Video games can give the illusion of overcoming threats and risks while maintaining a very safe and cushy life. Teens who devote all their time and energy to the simulated threats and dangers of video games will rarely have the courage to face risks in real life. They have the boldness to raise the game difficulty to “legendary mode,” but they won’t have the boldness to step out in courage, take risks, and face dangers in real life.

Encourage your teens to step out and take risks in real life. Give them the real-life opportunity to solve complex problems that don’t have built-in solutions coded by a game developer.

Simulated Accomplishments and Rewards

Video games utilize rewards and accomplishments to keep us playing. There’s simulated growth and progress. There’s simulated threats and dangers. As you accomplish task after task, you’re rewarded more and more. But at the end of the day, you turn off the game, and you’re back in the real world, where nothing has been conquered and nothing has been accomplished. And the feeling of emptiness that comes over you in that moment tempts you to go find a new game to beat. You’re scratching your itch for dominion without ever accomplishing anything.

Consider the example of Moses in Hebrews 11:24–26: “By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.”

There must be a value judgment in our lives. Where does the REAL reward lie? Because where you see the REAL reward is where you’re going to devote the limited time and energy you have. Jesus said in Matthew 6:19–21, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

If your heart is in video games, it’s because you consider the reward found there to be your treasure. Ask yourself: have video games robbed you of the desire to accomplish or create something in real life?

Conclusion

It’s possible to enjoy video games in a healthy way, using them as a temporary escape from life to enjoy, have fun, spend time with friends, etc., as long as we are aware and remember that it is in no way a substitute for the real quest.

You have been given a mission. As a human being, you are called to dominion: to create, organize, conquer, take risks, grow, push through, make progress. As a child of God, you are called to be “more than a conqueror through him who loved us.” Jesus put himself in harm’s way, suffered and endured the cross “because of the joy that was set before him.” As his child, you have his heart, his life, his grace, to go out and accomplish the mission he has called you to.

Take risks. Grow. Face challenges. Don’t let video games be a side quest that diverts you from your main quest: to glorify God with your life and spread the good news of Christ to the world.

May we shepherd our sons to do the same.