The conservative Christian investment firm, the Timothy Plan, has released a list of the 30 most offensive games on the market (Warning: link is to a PDF file). This list details the areas of sex, nudity, gay / lesbian, violence, cartoon violence, language, comic mischief, drugs, alcohol, tobacco, gambling, demonic, and game addiction as things that are against any "morally responsible" mutual fund to invest in.

In other words they don't want you to invest, like they don't, in companies that make games which deal with any of the above areas.

World of Warcraft is on the list. It has an overall score of a 9, which means it is half as offensive as Grand Theft Auto IV. According to the Timothy Plan, WoW is morally deficient in sex, violence, language, alcohol, and game addiction.

Some investors will take this advice, and that's their right to do so.

After the break we'll examine areas in which WoW is morally deficient, according to the Timothy Plan.

Area 1: Sex

"Suggestive Themes: Some suggestively dressed female characters and sexual allusions."

Yup. WoW has some pretty attractive females. Night Elves dancing on mailboxes, Dwarf Priests jumping around in their Tier 2 gear, and don't forget the mating of two sea-lions. /phew!

Area 2: Violence

"Blood, Violence: A reasonable amount of fighting interspersed between various missions. Many attacks can cause enemies to bleed."

I can agree with half of that. There is a reasonable amount of fighting. You have to kill monsters, bad thieves, and your enemy on the battle-field. But unlike the text which the Timothy Plan lives by, there are no descriptions of a man being strung up on a cross with a crown of thorns on.

The second part of the violence statement, that many attacks can cause enemies to bleed, is wrong. The bleed effect is only applyable by a few number of classes and their abilities, and only by a few weapons. By no means are "many attacks" able to do this.

Area 3: Language

"Mild Language: You may find a very occasional 'd*mn.'"

If you think that's language, you should hear what I yell at my computer when I wipe on a raid boss for the umpteenth time.

Area 4: Alcohol

"Use: Players have the opinion of purchasing and consuming alcohol, even the ability to get drunk."

Players also learn an important lesson, when you get drunk you can't walk straight and are extremely less effective in everything you do. In fact, you can't fight well at all while drunk. You might even say that WoW tries to impart the antithesis of what the Timothy Group is trying to say. WoW tells you getting drunk is bad.

Area 5: Game Addiction

"Addiction: Due to the nature of the game and its length, it is extremely addictive. Time limits need to be set when playing the game."

WoW is an addictive game. If you have an addictive personality, then you are at risk of becoming addicted to WoW or any other game. I don't want to get into the physiological responses of the body to addiction, but needless to say, addiction is real and there are physical as well as mental reasons for it.

However with that said, there are lots of other things you can become addicted to as well. Watching TV, drinking, risk taking, sex, or basically anything that releases endorphins into your brain to make you feel good.

While I'll leave it up for you to decide the general merits of this list.

Tags: 30-most-offensive-games, addiction, alcohol, featured, joystiqfeatures, language, morals, offensive, sex, timothy-group, violence

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Blizzard