Well, it’s that time of the month again! Welcome to Gaming With God, where I hope to indulge you with my perspectives on faith, video games and how they intersect. I will not often do this but I want to share with you my thoughts on the same series from my previous post. While I was writing that one and looking through some footage from Metal Gear Solid, I remembered one of my favorite characters is actually the world’s most dangerous otaku!

If you’ve played Metal Gear Solid then you know about Solid Snake’s right hand man Hal Emmerich. He’s a scientist that Snake is searching for to learn more about Metal Gear. Once he finds him, Hal is actually terrified to see Snake and hides in a closet. After introductions are out of the way, Snake harasses him to get information that can be useful to complete his mission. After Snake understands the situation better and gets a little friendly with the engineer, they start chatting a little bit. Emmeraich explains why he became a scientist and refuses to be part of a project that creates a weapon like Metal Gear.

Here’s where things get a little interesting for all the anime fans out there. Before they depart, we learn that Hal’s nickname, Otacon, actually stands for Otaku Convention. Not only is he a Japanese animation fan but that’s the main reason he became a scientist in the first place. Large robots (Gundam?) run by humans are what inspired him to help create the large Metal Gear figure. You even see it around his working space, with a poster from Zone of the Enders (One of Hideo Kojima’s, the creator of the Metal Gear series, games) and figurines of Mario and Yoshi. This not only led to him becoming a world famous engineer for one of the most dangerous weapons on Earth, but it helped him bring out his passion and talents.

When you read up on the creation of the character Hal Emmerich, originally he was supposed to look like an overweight guy with a hat, eating a chocolate bar. However, he was changed to look as you see in the above image. This made me wonder about many otaku, geeks or nerds who think of themselves lowly or with low self-esteem. Society puts people like myself in a corner and counts them as not being able to amount to much, but of course that’s a lie. Even though he is a fictional character, we can draw much inspiration from Otacon. He was able to combine his love for anime, mecha and the sub-culture to create a truly remarkable machine.

Otacon inspires me because of how real he is, and he’s always there to push Snake to keep on going. He’s not the toughest dude in the game, and never steps out on the field, but without him Snake would never succeed in his missions. It’s characters like him that are behind the scenes making tough decisions or pushing the story forward that make a game more realistic and less fantastical.

I have asked God several times in the past how I could use the knowledge and experiences I have as a geek for Him. After spending years of watching anime and playing video games, exactly how could I put that to any use? I mean, yeah, it’s fun to converse with others about similar interests but I wanted to help others overcome some of the issues I struggled with. There are so many who are looking for answers to life’s many questions, like why am I here or what is my purpose? Watching anime or gaming for most is not going to be their career field or what gives them fulfillment, but it might awaken something inside of you that could guide you to it. God can use anything in your life to help lead you to His will.

Romans 12:2

2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

I may have used this verse before, but it’s so powerful to me because it gives us a map to know our God given purpose. Our habits and interests are super enjoyable and that’s great, but what are you going to do with it all once you get older? What about when you want to spend the rest of your life with someone? You don’t have to drop them, but let them become a part of you. Just like someone who likes sports or is a collector or watching plays, it’s just who you are. Don’t let that be all that you are though, use what you already know to help you excel in life.

1 Peter 4:10

10 God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another.

I decided to use all the time I’ve spent in my activities to be a blogger, and have been asked by several websites and magazines to write for them because of it. I don’t get paid for it, but it’s entertaining for me and I get to chat with all my awesome followers! Not only that, but I’m able to share with you the eternal love and gift that is Jesus Christ, the one who gave His life for ours on that cross and rose again. I pray that you follow what gives you joy in life, and learn how to make that into a career or business that can help others. Everything we do, like Otacon, should be to benefit humanity and not tear it down.

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Samuru

When not conquering digital worlds in video games, he can be found reading, watching anime, listening to music writing, and just enjoying life as a geek in the city.

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