quote: Original post by Dave Hunt
Even the most conservative definition of Christian yields about 35% of Americans. That''s close to 100 million people. I''d say that qualifies as a huge population.

And they all buy games. Right.

quote: Original post by Oluseyi

quote: Original post by Dave Hunt
Even the most conservative definition of Christian yields about 35% of Americans. That's close to 100 million people. I'd say that qualifies as a huge population.

And they all buy games. Right.

See potential .


[edited by - Dave Hunt on January 19, 2004 10:20:17 AM]

Hi there.

It is nice to see someone who wants to integrate religion with gaming, especially if it is my religian too.

But, as pointed out with The Chronicles of Narnia, it does not have to point -directly- to the religion.

And there is no good Christian media? JRR Tolkien was a Christian, and at many points in The Lord of the Rings there are big arrows pointing towards it.

Like, there is not only the war between good and evil on the outside, but also on the inside (Frodo & the Ring, the Steward of Gondor and the Palintir while the battle oudside rages on).

My 2 cents

-
CL Game Studios. Probably.

quote: Original post by Sijmen
Hi there.

It is nice to see someone who wants to integrate religion with gaming, especially if it is my religian too.

But, as pointed out with The Chronicles of Narnia, it does not have to point -directly- to the religion.

And there is no good Christian media? JRR Tolkien was a Christian, and at many points in The Lord of the Rings there are big arrows pointing towards it.

Like, there is not only the war between good and evil on the outside, but also on the inside (Frodo & the Ring, the Steward of Gondor and the Palintir while the battle oudside rages on).

My 2 cents

-
CL Game Studios. Probably.

Sad thing is, is that the same type of fantasy type scenario''s that are presented in the lord of the rings have been used in harry potter which seems to have alot of controversy.




Go to war again, blood is freedom''s stain, But don''t you pray for my soul anymore.

Take a look at a anime series called Hellsing this should give you ideas about including religion in your game as it is basically [Protestant] + [Catholic] vs [Undead] with unrest between the [Protestants] and [Catholics] churches.

Imo you should leave religion out of gaming,

quote: Original post by Oluseyi

quote: Original post by Dave Hunt
That''s true, but many Christians shy away from mainstream RPG''s for their own reasons. There''s a huge population of potential buyers out there.

See overstatement.

quote: Original post by fingh

quote: Many people shy away from Christain media for one reason or another

Because, admittedly, it has mostly been complete crap until the last few years... On the movie front, it seems we have a few respectable pieces coming out finally (Left Behind was quality, some new ones in production now).

No offense, but Left Behind: The Movie was such a crock of pointless shit. No, I''m not talking about the merits of the story, etc; I''m focusing on the quality of the acting and the portrayal. And who was that "lead actor" there was so much hype about? Kirk Cameron (had to look him up). He was pathetically, painfully bad. Vacuous expressions, total lack of ability to emote...

There''s an inherent problem in approaching a game with the objective of furthering a philosophy. Games are activity-based; a simulation might be able to support the kinds of investigations that are the basis of faith and religion, but the quantities themselves (faith and religion) are extremely difficult to represent in any meaningful way in an interactive medium.

Using Christian themes as a backdrop for a game in which the player is to be influenced by the environment - and perhaps make a decision to be congruent with those influences - is possible, but you could have a problem on your hands if the game unnecessarily punishes people who diverge from the Christian approach. Unless, of course, you only intend to market to Christians, in which case knock yourself out.

this can be prevented by adding a warning, perhaps in the line of: "this game is aimed at a christain audience, any relations to persons of another religion are accidental... " or something like that, in other words, clearly state that you are not trying to insult the islam or anything...



------

Catteeuw Pieter-Paul

MUST.FIGHT.LAZYNESS. ah screw it...
*leans back an falls to sleep*

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I think you are better asking on a Christian specific site, or a site for what you consider the type of Christianity that you are aiming at.

If you just say ''Christian'' on a forum that is open to the whole world then it obviously means different things to different readers. To lots of people it means evil mindwashing, to others it means happy clappy songs and tea and biscuits with the vicar. Even if you are a Christian reading this yourself there are so many disagreements among different Christian sects that saying ''Christian Elements'' is far to broad a question.

This reminds me of a funny NES game called Spirtitual Warfare. You had to go around and collect the fruit of the spirit, pear, banana, fig, etc. Then you could throw the fruit of the spirit at bad guys and they would get down on their knees and pray and a demon would come out of them. You also had to collect the armor of God such as the belt of truth and the breast plate of righteousness(sp). As I was playing it I once walked into a bar and the game said I had been bad and it took away my belt of truth. Also every once in a while a angel would float up the screen and if you ran into it a few bible trivia questions would be asked. If you got them right you were rewarded with some prayer points which allow you to pray and heal yourself or buy some more fruit of the spirit at hidden locations. It was a very fun game for awhile, but then I got mad when I lost my belt of truth.

quote: Original post by GottaBeKD
Can you think of anything mmorpg story/universes that haven't been done but you would love to see?

Can you think of any mmorpg story that might have a chrisian perspective, or a way to sneak in a few christian elements?

How about...

Lost Missions
Although we know about Spanish missions created during the colonial period, none know of the Island of San José de Calasanz.
Source: proponent of a full system of primary and secondary education, whose first free school founded in a slum district of Rome in 1597 grew into the Escuelas Pias, still going strong today)

This is the island of the Lost Missions . Spaniards in ships off course from a storm arrived and found several tribes of indigenous people on this large island, which includes valleys, forests, swamps, and both active and dormant volcanos. These tribes lived in zones separated by fjords and mountains, offering natural barriers where they keep watch for raiders and perhaps full scale tribal war.

The Franciscan monks who arrived with Conquistador soldiers were immediately attacked on the Eastern shores, but managed to get away and land on the Western shore to find friendly people there. They traded goods and settled among the people. The ships, damaged from the storm, were repaired and sent back for more supplies, but were never heard from again.

Over time, the Spaniards who were left behind learned the local language and impressed the people with their devotion and the building of schools and a great temple with ornate woodwork and beautiful statues depicting the stories of the Bible.

This could be a setting/story for a MMORPG with many Christian aspects. You could make the enemy tribes with interesting cultures including black magick, zombeism, cannibalism, etc. Differnet cultures would exist in various divided zones. The landscape would promote adventures in many settings: hidden caverns, deep forests, swamps, ancient ruins, mines, underwater, etc. One could battle the enemies on land and sea.

Natural elements could also come into play: typhoons, earthquakes, eruptions, tsunamis.

Being an uncharted island completely isolated from the rest of the world, the indigenous animal species could be from fanciful to monstrous.

What do you think?


[edited by - 5010 on January 19, 2004 12:55:04 PM]

I think you would get a huge amount of ojections to that game idea, considering what Christans actually did to indigenous populations in south america. It would be a bit like making a game about WWII where Nazi''s worked out their differences with the Jews and lived in peace and harmony.