silicon_chippy Member Posts: 208 From: Scotland Registered: 10-26-2002 |
Hi Everybody, I have been coming to this site on and off for about the last six months. May I thank everybody for their christian encouragement and their game ideas. However, I am really struggling with the concept of a christian game. I have played games on different consoles and on the PC, but I can't think of one game that couldn't be percieved as immoral. From Pacman to Lemmings or from Tekken 3 to Halo. Is it not just a game? I can totally understand how the internet can spread the christian message or an ebook. I just find it hard to imagine a game that is enjoyable whilst being Christian. ------------------ |
InsanePoet Member Posts: 638 From: Vermont, USA Registered: 03-12-2003 |
A Christian game must focus on what is essencially Christian and that is faith in Jesus Christ, Lord and Savoir. A Christian game could focus on in certian issues that the character struggles on and in all things point back to Jesus.
We are in a spiritual battle. We are the church militant. I believe that truth must be made none, not all this happy moralistic stuff (not that moralsim is bad, but it should NEVER be the focus). There are tons of ways the Gospel can be presented, you can take an OT story and follow it up with the birth of Christ (again, does not have to be literal). Be creative, i've got plenty of ways to make a rockin Christian game. ------------------ |
|
silicon_chippy Member Posts: 208 From: Scotland Registered: 10-26-2002 |
Thankyou for making that clearer for me. Does that mean that as long as you are playing a character with good morals that should be OK? I remember when Evander Holyfield went into the ring he wore a robe with Phil 4:13 on it. Just because he was taking part in a brutal sport, it didn't mean he couldn't spread the gospel. The first time I saw him fight I spent the first five minutes hunting for that particular verse. ------------------ |
|
InsanePoet Member Posts: 638 From: Vermont, USA Registered: 03-12-2003 |
What I am saying is that a Christian game is defined by the message it delivers. You asked how a Christian game can be enjoyable. A symbolic message of salvation and the spiritual struggles of the character.
------------------ |
|
silicon_chippy Member Posts: 208 From: Scotland Registered: 10-26-2002 |
I will think of a Christian game idea and ask you whether it will be OK. If there are any issues please let me know. Is that OK? ------------------ |
Mack Administrator Posts: 2779 From: Registered: 01-20-2001 |
Sounds good to me ------------------ |
GUMP Member Posts: 1335 From: Melbourne, FL USA Registered: 11-09-2002 |
The Left Behind series, books by Frank Peretti, and Stephen Lawhead have done really well commercially yet all three have a Christian theme. There is also plenty of violence and other such things and I have yet to meet someone who questioned their usage (thought I'm sure they're out there). In these books it is not just violence for the simple sake of having violence, like in the DOOM3 game where the developers have talked openly about purposely making the game much more gory than previous games. I think the real problem is the current public perception is that electronic games are only for mindless entertainment and cannot be used as an art form that can teach, encourage, and even be used to evangelize in the name of Jesus. The movie industry was seen in much the same way at the beginning of the 1900's but now if you told anybody that it wasn't art then they'd think you were crazy. The game industry worldwide now makes more money than the movie industry and the size of the audience continues to grow. Hopefully Christians will perceive the great potential for using the game industry to reach the lost... and especially the publishers... |
Klumsy Administrator Posts: 1061 From: Port Angeles, WA, USA Registered: 10-25-2001 |
the issue of violence in games, is not the same same as say seeing violence in the bible, or say in left behind etc.. because in a game, it is often personalised... and it is you are getting rewards for violence, ofthen the purpose of the gameplay is violence, and the only way to get reward/points etc is by doing violence, and the more violence the more points.. also violence is there for the entertianment factor -rather than for the reality factor... the game is fun because of its violence... its violence is what atracts most people to play it.. so in those cases you need to be very prayerfully careful, and Let God be creative beyond our preconceptions of game genre's Karl ------------------ |
