American YouTube personality MatPat, known for his game theories, gave Pope Francis a copy of the Undertale video game.
An invitation to the Vatican
MatPat, a stage name that doubles as a portmanteau of his real name, Matthew Patrick, was invited to the Vatican as part of an event that was meant to serve as a conference on how the internet helps people come together and the good it can do. As with the other YouTube personalities invited, MatPat was advised to bring a gift for the Pontiff.
I just interviewed the POPE! I am literally #blessed@Pontifex pic.twitter.com/S6soqWuPcC
— Matthew Patrick (@MatPatGT) May 29, 2016
MatPat decided to think outside the box and give Pope Francis a copy of the indie game, Undertale.
Undertale is a role-playing game that tells the story of a human child that becomes trapped in an underground world filled with monsters. The player is able to choose between killing the various monsters or showing mercy and befriending them; in fact, it is possible for a player to go throughout the whole game choosing only one or the other.
A trailer for the original game can be watched below:
As the Undertale game does not currently exist in physical form, it is believed that MatPat was able to give the Pope the game through a stream code.The Vatican has not given information on if the Pontiff activated the game or his reaction to it.
Why was Undertale considered so important?
MatPat explained his decision to give the gift of Undertale in the following YouTube video, as seen below:
In the sixteen minute video, he explained that the game's choice to allow users to befriend other characters instead of killing them was a strong component to make an example out of the game.
According to MatPat, it is a good message that we should take the time to get to understand people, and not write them off as "monsters" as such, and believe that they do not deserve certain rights, or especially believe it is okay to kill others for said reasons.
More directly, MatPat claimed that he wanted to tie into the fact that Pope Francis has proclaimed the year of 2016 to be the "Year of Mercy," and connecting it to the player's ability to show mercy within the game.Ultimately, MatPat claimed that the game is also important to the future of the gamer community, saying that the game itself served as some "pretty awesome representation of where we're going as gamers."
