It has always been my passion to develop video games with stories that have the power to inspire people to do good and be peaceful and creative in their approaches in life. I believe that the right video game can inspire you to develop emotions and become creative in that. Your mind now has experienced something great and has thus lead to the expansion of your mindset.
Here are my personal experiences with good video games:
- My English skills have improved tremendously. I acknowledge that this benefit is not exclusive to video games but it was my experience nonetheless.
- Having experienced great stories, I have learnt that good stories that involve the humans and their glories and shortfalls have the potential to inspire you and expand your mindset. Stories like Assassin's Creed has taught me something about history and how war and greed leads to corruption and downfall. Stories like The Last of Us and Ether One have taught me the human nature's merits and demerits.
Now I do admit that these benefits are not exclusive to video games but let us not ignore the fact that video games are the next generation of storytelling immersion which increases the chances and effectiveness of the message that you're trying to spread. This is because video games allow player immersion through absolute control of the character that you experience the story with. The video gaming audience is growing amazingly by the passing minute and thus video games are potential platforms to spread the basic goodwill of the human ideology.
Now think about this: we have seen so many narrow-minded people that believe anything they hear and fail to open their minds to the bigger picture. It is a popular European belief that Islam is an extremist religion and all that bogus while it is our narrow-minded belief that every European and American wants Islam and Muslims to perish. I have experienced so many amazing stories in the forms of video games and movies and books that my mindset has significantly improved and I will not take anything without reason. I used to be like this. A person who just believed in Islam because his family wanted him to believe. Ever since I have started reading about science and human science and playing related games and seeing related movies, I have quite an appetite for research. This lead me to research my religion and thus I came closer to my religion.
I admit, I still am being far from perfect, quite far actually, but that does not mean I should not inspire other people.
It is my utmost passion in life to give people a vivid sense of morality and to try my hand in improving our society. If bad people exist to spread mischief in this world, then I am glad to be able to make sure I represent the people striving for complete peace and serenity and defeating Shaytaan. My passion and general interest in games, has lead me to decide that I want to become a game designer.
So here is my question: in the long process of game development, there comes a stage where we have to write the amazing story we're supposed to write and design characters to tell this story. This involves drawing and 3d modeling. Please bear in mind that I want to design games, which does not necessarily involve drawing and modeling but it involves writing the story and designing the game mechanics. So do you think this career choice is haram even if my intentions are of goodwill and I won't be directly physically involved in the arts aspect of the game?
I apologize for my long query, but this has bothered me for quite a long time and I have to find my answer. I have done extensive research but I want a definitive answer to convince myself. I thank you very much for your answer in advance.
May Allah guide us, and help us better ourselves. May Allah save us from the hellfire and grant us the Paradise. Aameen And Allah knows best, and all praises belong to him.