i am not a religious person, however, i like to play games with "religious" themes.
why? because they often have HUGE and RICH stories with deeply painted historical backgrounds. AOL KEYWORD: story...
the bible is a good book, containing tons of proven material.

however - i am not a religious person, in any way. personally, i think that anyone that gets the feeling of having religion ''forced'' on to them is weakly confident/comfortable in her beleifs, or mindset. unfortunatly, there are many people that can be disturbed like this, and they might not want to play your game.
thats the problem -you need to figure out away to allow people to accept the theme without being offended or discourage/ overwhelmed. there are tons of people that enjoy ancient and greek mythologies, whys that?


the idea of making the names vague is good. it makes people guess and postulate; it adds originality and perspective. however, it may not be necessary to make them completely ambiguous, because you might make your theme hiding obvious.

it will be virtually impossible, and suicidal, to allow the player to play the evil side, without some intelligent plot, that will satisfy religious people. (the character has a revelation and foils the evil plot)

the bottom line is that if your RPG has a good, involving storyline, and it is actually entertaining, then people will buy it; Diablo scared many people -until they played it or read its reviews. Diablo had two classic Blizzard things, action, and a story that made the game make since.

personally, i would like to see this game. the problem i think you will have is making it entertaining and playable.
its really easy to make the plot guessable and obvious.
its also easy to make the game too weird; you need to allow anyone to relate to it -the plot, characters, setting, etc. otherwise, they may be having ''religion forced onto them'', and get weirded out or loose interest. therefore, your story may need to make clear certain things, and why things are the way they are, AND YOU NEED TO MAKE CLEAR THAT IT IS A STORYLINE FOR A GAME INTENDED TO BE PLAYED LIKE A CLASSIC GAME.

you may even write a disclaimer, stating your views of the theme and faiths referenced, why you made the game, what it is for, etc... (*advisable?*)
you may even say that you are not planning to make your own christian branch. (joke)

I also disagree with Pointsoft. Just because a game is religiously themed doesn''t mean it is of no interest to atheists. I am as committed an atheist as you are ever likely to find, yet I still find this idea interesting.

If you can enjoy Tolkien without believing in elves and goblins, why can''t you enjoy the bible without believing in God?

Sandman: You disagree with me, on what? I stated my personal opinion... And I said that it would be a good game for people who want to play it, aka you being in that group. You can''t really disagree with my personal opinion, becuase it is mine.

Uh, someone said something about the Greek Myths (Polytheism)... I''ll personally say that I feel what your saying... It''s even true with me... I''d go after playing a Polythestic Game before a Monothestic one... I dunno why... Personal choice I guess. I guess it''s because Monotheism is everywhere in our current world... I''m just kinda tired of it, and want something else... If Polytheism was in the place of Monotheism I''d probably be interested in Monotheism more than Poly. But that''s not the true case...

Anyway, again, I think the game would be good (even if I didn''t play it) if you kept away from pointing at people directly. AGAIN MY PERSONAL OPINION! :-P (It''d also be good if it was your own religion that you made up, but again, *not* trying to impose it on people...)

Alex Ford
PointSoft EA Co., Ltd.
http://www.pointsoftonline.com

I would take out entirely anything that smells like christianity. If you are going to do a game based on religion, make it all old testament. There''s plenty of stuff there to work with, and I think it would be more acceptable to the religous and semi-religous gaming public.

On another note, take out the concept of 3.5 years. That will not work, people will not want to play a game that has a cap. They want to believe that there is a victory always within their grasp, but nonetheless obtainable. If I find that the game I am playing is not completable for 3.5 years I am out. Also if it is a game I enjoy, I would be pissed when my 3.5 years is up.

WHy don''t you shift the entire story back to some early biblical period, like Babylon. Saddom and Gomorra would make a great game. I think the farther you can move the religion from peoples actual lives the better.

Of course if you wnat to get controversial than what the hell. Go for it.

quote: Original post by PointSoft
Sandman: You disagree with me, on what? I stated my personal opinion... And I said that it would be a good game for people who want to play it, aka you being in that group. You can''t really disagree with my personal opinion, becuase it is mine.

quote:
I''m sorry, but I wouldn''t play the game, more or less even look at it longer than the time it would take me to relize it was trying to push religion in anyway.

I disagree with the assertion that a game themed on religion is necessarily pushing that religion onto people. Look at the Indiana Jones films: Raiders of The Lost Ark and The Last Crusade both had storylines based on (although not exactly accurately ) the Bible, but I never heard anyone complain that these stories were pushing Christianity or anything like that.

Also, you say that you wouldn''t play this game because it is based on Christianity, but you would consider playing a game based on Greek Mythology. I could be wrong, it could be just a matter of taste, but I sense a hint of double standards here.

I am not religous, but the fact that you game is based on religion wouldn''t stop me from playing and possible enjoying it.

no-one has mentioned the major plus that this is a way you can get a tie-in on one of the most popular books in the world without paying for a license.

I have only had time to skim-read the rest of this topic, so I might be repeating something that''s already been said. If so, *sorry*!

Personally don''t have a problem with Christian games, but do feel that there is a real danger of them becoming incredibly tacky. Not sure how you''d address it really, but most Christian games that are out there do not appeal to me at all, and I''m a devoted Xn.

Having said that, if you can do it without making it too cheesy, give it a go!

The one other thing I would say is that when it comes to any doctrine or theological point, there is a HUGE diversity of opinion (even within the ''mainstream'' denominations). The issue of armaggedon has been debated by scholars for thousands of years (since before Christ), and even though you may think the bible is straightforward it really isn''t that simple! There is a real risk of offending people who don''t agree with your interpretation of events. For example, the 144,000 that you have mentioned could mean literally 144K people, but the number 144 was a common way of saying ''a lot'' in New Testament times. If you want your opinions to be accurate, you''ll need to read round the subject a lot! (Note - I''m not trying to give you my opinion, but just show you that every little thing has a hundred interpretations).

If you can pull it off, I''ll play it!

Dom.

quote: Original Post by EvilCrap personally, i think that anyone that gets the feeling of having religion 'forced' on to them is weakly confident/comfortable in her beleifs, or mindset.

Well, how would you feel if you were told the story of the tortoise and the hare 400 times, and hear everywhere people saying that those who dont believe it are basically evil? You would feel like not listening to the story of the tortoise and the hare again at all...at least not told like that I think. Really, religion is a story, and there are just too many preachy people out there.

-=Lohrno

[edited by - Lohrno on March 18, 2002 1:37:27 PM]

I''m gonna have to go with the crowd that says, rename the characters and try not to go too specific. I''m a Christian, and I think the whole idea of the game is very interesting, even something that I may delve into. But, using the names from the Bible, or a version of the Bible, just doesn''t sit well with me. When I read that the first time, I cringed a bit.

If you want to go with accuracy, the idea of player''s "Praying" instead of casting magic, is a great idea. Calling Jesus, The One, or something like that would also work. As for the anti-christ, do something like Stephen King''s "The Stand". Give him a name that just sounds evil. Just some ideas.

There are some very successful games with religious overtones. Some have already been mentioned. Two come to mind immediately, Xenogears, and the new Xenosaga. Each game has a very deep religous overtone. But, what it all comes down to, as with anything, is what you want to do. Go nuts and have fun.

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kevin@mayday-anime.com
http://games.mayday-anime.com