Another thing that might bother people is the whole capitalist concept.
Lots of people won't buy it because the game is good... or even thinking of the game aspect.

And lots of poor kids with overtly religious (or just religiously dumb) parents will receive those oh so great gifts that weren't what they wanted, but a crappy version with a "for Christians" label in it.

I know this might sound kinda stupid, but lots of people want to play games just for fun, and not mixing other stuff into it. Like religion, politics and whatever more.
Sometimes, the elements are there, but it doesn't matter as long as it doesn't come explicit labeled on the box.

Bokusatsu_Tenshi

A game based on the bible, but without an agenda (or much of one) would be pretty interesting. There is a lot of good game material in there.

Placentasaurus

Damn it! Typo. Spore should have nothing on the .... and here I thought I was clever. Sigh.

Saliu

@greycobalt: Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Harmonix create both Guitar Hero at the onset and Rock Band? I don't really think they can steal their own material. But I do think they copied Guitar Freaks from Konami.

@maraxusofk: You're right. I could care less if a game has blood/sex or is labeled as a "Christian game." I care if it's good and most games that I've seen from this type of niche are not solid in the least. Zelda could have easily come from a Christian studio due to not being over the top w/ violence, but I've never seen any Christian studios put out a product of that kind of quality.

TheRiver

You'd figure that Christianity or any religion for that matter, would make the coolest "God" games. Spore should have nothing Jesus creature creator.

Saliu

@The Magnificen7: *facepalm*

RTW

@The Magnificen7: And when you get bored you pitch plagues and floods at your newly created beings. Or you can just pose yourself in game as a bush aflame, or create a son from a virgin. The options are ENDLESS.

Composition94

Man, roger that.

Any kind of Christian-label video game seems to be too pre-absorbed with itself to make any decent attempt at actually making something decent.

Christian-label games oftentimes seem offer as inane and unengaging an experience as edutainment.

But then again, these things are probably going to keep on making money, because the target audience is largely, if not entirely, made up of parents who are desperate to grab onto anything with the Christian label on it in order to appease their children and keep them distracted from the "heathen" games.

Which I understand, to a large extent. Christian or not, as a parent you have to draw the line in the sand somewhere as far as content that you allow your children to view. However, it's their unilateral dismissal of anything without a Christian label that I take issue with.

But I am not a parent, so I cannot speak with much authority on the subject.

jinkywilliams

I agree. Having a prominent label like "Christian" on a game often implies that certain preexisting concepts have been sanitized for consumption by that audience, as in the case of Guitar Praise, which is condescending to both believers and unbelievers. Not to mention that it's endorsing a product based on wholesale IP theft. It also acts as a shield against criticism, as if criticizing the game is an attack on the ideological basis (even if that basis is incredibly flimsy, as in the case of Zoo Race).

Frankly, both games mentioned here smack of slick commercial opportunism - use (or copy) an easily and cost-effectively implemented idea, and dress it up so it is attractive to a known market to make a quick profit. This kind of game "design" is not worth supporting, whether or not you are Christian.

concrete_d

@RTW: Right, except after you finish creating everything, you just ignore them completely and watch as they tear themselves to shreds.

The Magnificen7

@The Magnificen7: Soooooo basically Zoo Tycoon, Sims and Sim City rolled into one.

RTW

@okenny :) ...building bridges (to hide under):
imagine something like a 4x game with Old Testament theming. Cool beans.

ZinkO: USA WE DA BEST

@Composition94: Ah, I can see it now. In Spore: Creationism, all you do is click and watch as humans and trees and all sorts of animals just pop into existence. Fun, easy, and educational (in certain states)!

The Magnificen7

"Simpsons did it"

Seriously at this point who cares who made what first? As long as a game turns out good...

Ghar

@sarusa: Christian music and Christian literature is actually quite popular.

RTW

@Roto13: I know, I know, it's a long line of "imitation" games, I'm just saying that people seem to have gotten over the other ones easier than they are with this one.

greycobalt

Because the market is niche, you don't see the big companies investing the money necessary to make a high-quality product. It's definately not about the subject. To be quite honest, an adventure game or RPG based on biblical themes could be amazing with the right direction. To think otherwise shows an extreme bias or lack of imagination. I don't expect that large publishers will care but maybe if theirs enough interest from within the religious games niche, some independent developers may sprout from that and deliver a quality product.

okenny :) ...building bridges (to hide under)

It's sad; Christianity used to drive and define great art (because they had all the money), but at this point everything Christian is just a bad knockoff of pop culture from a few years ago. Christian music, Christian literature, Christian video games - just take whatever was recently popular and cut and paste. And it's low budget and a captive market, so quality is usually not even a concern. Guitar Praise is actually surprisingly up to date (only 2 or so years behind the curve).

@greycobalt: The guys who made Rock Band (Harmonix) are the guys who made Guitar Hero, so they're ripping off themselves. There's a new dev team doing GH since GH3 (Neversoft). It's much messier than just a ripoff.

sarusa

@thebassics917: Yeah, I know it's basically by the same people, but they're still selling it as a different game. I think rip-off still applies.

greycobalt

@greycobalt: And Guitar Hero ripped off Guitar Freaks.

Roto13

@thebassics917: It's still one company taking the concept of one game and making another with it. No matter how many people were actually involved from GH to RB, it was still one company cloning another game and passing it off as another product. Plus, it was more about one big company (EA) wanting to take over another company's product.

EmTeeZ

What the hell is next? Grand Theft Rapture? Super Jesus Party 7? Spore: Religious Edition?

Composition94

@greycobalt: Harmonix can't rip off the creators of Guitar Hero, they are the creators of Guitar Hero.

cpmui99

@maraxusofk: People would care, because there are always people out there ready to scream "OMG RELIGIOUS PEOPLE ARE SHEEP" and crap like that.

Roto13

Guitar Praise doesn't bother me in the least. There's a decent amount of Christian music out there, and none of it will make it into the Guitar Hero/Rock Band/xxxMania games because these developers would prefer to avoid religious/political content to avoid backlash.

Zoo Race bothers me the same way America's Army. They're just cash in games in hopes execute an agenda (i.e. making more money)

Xagest

Lol, the games are horrible not because of the religion but because of the terrible production values. The games are 10x worse than most free mods, so why buy a christian game?

nitromic

@thebassics917: And Konami created all the music games before their time, so I guess that isn't stealing either...

RTW

isn't imitation the most sincere form of flattery?

maybe not, if the games are shit. then it's just an insult to the original content makers, not to mention our eyes and ears.

kathartik

@greycobalt: I'm guessing the whole 'original creators of GH making it' makes fans more leniant. And like you said, it's a roughly better game.

SynKade

"Zoo Race" was one inept piece of programming. My only problem with plagiarism is when they fail to build on their inspiration.

Alphavillain

@gessyca: *sigh* at retarded comments like this.

RTW

@greycobalt: Harmonix, the creators of Rock Band, also created Guitar Hero so its not stealing. GH World Tour is stealing.

thebassics917

Zoo Race was merely based on the sub-book of Exodus that talked about when Noah gathered the animals together and forced them to race against one another set to the soundtrack of Beverly Hills Cop. Clearly, the Zoo Race people have a right to be sassy.

That said, as a Christian, I'm really hoping Guitar Praise is good. I don't really mind the "knock-off" issue, especially because of how often concepts are borrowed in the music genre-- Guitar Hero is much more of a knock-off of Guitar Freaks, then.

The one thing I see often is that so many people will blindly buy and defend a product because it supports their religion, often missing that it's mostly just exploiting the subject for that very reason. I wouldn't necessarily doubt that there are good intentions on the part of the creators, but they should expect to reach a certain level of quality. Zoo Race's low quality is so apparent from the trailer that they really had no excuse. I feel like I could have made that game with Klik & Play.

EmTeeZ

Meh. Religion has always been about money in the end.

gessyca

I don't want to get into a whole religious debate, which this will inevitably turn into, but I have one question that's been bugging the crap out of me: how can people QQ about Guitar Praise being a rip-off when there's things like Rock Band out there? Was Rock Band not a rip-off on a massive scale?

Sure, it's a great game, and I like it more than Guitar Hero personally, but it still copied 80% of it's material from Guitar Hero. So what's the problem with someone else doing it? That's where the whole "bashing because it's Christian" thing seems to come into play.

greycobalt

honestly, if Christian games didnt suck so much ass, nobody would care that they are Christian games. trying to bank on the fact that Christians are "supposed" to buy this kind of shovelware is more of an insult than anything else.

maraxusofk

Oh Come on Its just a game who cares also rockband cant really be called out for coping gh because harmoix made the first 2

Wes_Redfield

@The Magnificen7: Black and White anyone?

NeVeRMoRe666

@Bone Structure: Seriously? As an atheist, I cringed so ridiculously hard while watching those movies due to the heavy-handed portrayal of Christianity. Admittedly, it was less obvious in the books - or maybe it was because I read them when I was 10.

Aethyr

You know, allow me to play devil's advocate here - well, actually, I'm actually defending the Christian game here, so that would make me the angel's advocate - but if it's the same game as Guitar Hero and the music is decent, then it's a game worth buying to a small fringe. I mean, don't get me wrong, I can't stand Christian music, either, but if it's big name praise groups and such, I'll bet you'll get a bunch of small-town pastors who might actually enjoy it, and maybe not without cause.

For a more direct comparison, perhaps compare the relative success/non-success of Pump It Up and In the Groove to DDR - neither sold that great, but a few of the hardcore players took to them and enjoyed them as a sort of expansion pack to the original Konami game. (This discussion includes no discussion of the issue of copyright infringement, of course.)

twobeef

Cronicles of Narnia (The books and the recent films) are a very good example of how to wisely approach Christian Theisim in a mainstream field.

Bone Structure

As a christian man and a lover of God and all things that are good; where games like this go wrong is the fact that it needs to be a Good game first, and be grounded in Christianity, not the other way around. If you are trying to shed light and insight (rhyme unintentional) into new mediums, it would be a good idea to spend a good deal of time makeing a good product first. Slapping the lable 'Christian' on a product isint going to somehow make the game outstanding.

Bone Structure

@The Magnificen7 & RTW: I'm liking this idea. Seriously.

Zorantor

For clarification: "Man, roger that." was directed at the article. When I first started to reply, I was the first person to comment.

Though I do agree with concrete_d's thoughts, especially regarding the thick vein of apparent commercial opportunism that runs rampant through most Christian-labeled game productions.

It is indeed condescending to both those who call themselves Christians and anyone else.

I cannot with any type of authority comment on the quality of Guitar Praise, as I've not played it or anything. I hope it breaks the mold, though.

@sarusa
"but at this point everything Christian is just a bad knockoff of pop culture from a few years ago."

Come on, now. That statement either belies woeful ignorance or a desire to troll. Neither are welcome, here.

Pop culture is a knock-off of pop culture. There's nothing new to see. Non Christian-label bands copy styles, but it's not OK for Christian-label bands to? 'Sides, there's more than enough crap knockoffs out there outside of Christian labels to poke fun at, like Ali And His Gang Vs. Mr. Tooth Decay ([www.franklarosa.com]).

jinkywilliams

@Placentasaurus:

Dude a game based on the trials and tribulations of Samson would be badass!

lilsamuraijoe

@RTW: True to that, and probably Konamy 'stole' the idea from the real musician :)

Playstation

@thebassics917: It's not stealing so much as it's going with the flow. Music games have progressed to full band, so they HAD to make GH full band.

If gamers got mad at every company for "stealing", we'd only have 1 fighting IP, 1 shooter IP, 1 RTS IP...and you get the picture. It would suck. "Stealing" is a good thing in the world of game development.

Dalren

@thebassics917: True to that, however though Harmonix 'stole' it from Konami's Guitar Freaks

What I'm trying to say here, originality is very close to the non-existence. People should take it easy.

Playstation

I heard if you bought the Moses Edition you get a 10 comandments key chain

xaosoax

@Placentasaurus: Nice name by the way. I agree.

Saliu

"Steal from the best, and make it your own."

-Tyra Banks, Americas Next Top Model Cycle 9, Episode 6; "Tyras Realm"

Bone Structure

@Ravaged: Ugh, come on. Don't bash based on untrue generalizations.

greycobalt

I always find it kind of funny when people say Guitar Simulator X ripped off Guitar Simulator Y. I actually like Rock Band and Guitar Hero, so bare with me here. The idea in it's self is perhaps the least original concept of all time. From a video game perspective it's almost exactly the same as DDR and when you look at in the grander scheme is just takes guitar playing and simplifies it slightly. I guess the simplification process is comendable in it's own way, but really it's not a tremendously originally idea to begin with.

Karl Marx Vladimirs Linens

@Aethyr: Uh, yeah, it was because you were 10. The books are like 50x more obvious in their allegories.

greycobalt

@RTW: Yeah your right Religion isn't really about the hundred billion buissness that it's become.. No,, lets look beyond that and look at the facts, being a christian is all about judging someone basesed on their faith, sexuality, and I'm pretty sure even good christian white supremests use the bible to judge nationality. But hell, the even made a video game based on a book series to teach kids to walk around and damn complete strangers based on these thinks. What a "loving" religion really.

Ravaged

@Clarke: "Originality" is not all that important for the reasons I stated.

Dalren

I think one of the main reasons games geared towards the x-tian market are viewed as sub-par is the motivation behind making those games in the first place. Did the developers of those games decide to make the best game they could regardless of the devs faith, or do they decide to use gaming as a delivery device for a "message"? Does the quality of gameplay come first or is making a product aimed at a certain market the main reason for making these games?

If the devs and publishers of these types of games view them as product they can market towards a certain niche market then I doubt we will ever see a game rise above mediocrity.

coalhalo

To be quite honest, an adventure game or RPG based on biblical themes could be amazing with the right direction.

Spiritual Warfare would be a prime example of how not to do that. Seriously, the currency is dead doves...

captainapplesauce

@Aethyr: Wether or not you enjoyed the books/movies is an entirely different subject and a matter of taste, but what im saying is that they were approached in an effective manner. And I would think that the success of them is a testament to that

Bone Structure

A RPG based off of the bible would be sweet. Jesus could start out as a level 1 Carpenter. After the cutscene involving his cruxification, he is reborn as a level 1 Messiah with all of his Carpenter abilities already mastered, but they do not cost MP to use because he is reborn.

Tyjet88

Boy it sure is original around here!
[en.wikipedia.org]
[en.wikipedia.org]
[en.wikipedia.org]

Clarke

The funny thing is that if any company wanted to sue for copyright infringement, they'll probably be labeled as godless heathens. It's like there's some unspoken law that gives sensitive sub-communities "moral protection".

Xagest

@NeVeRMoRe666: Ha ha, true dat, but mine is a much more ... 'hands-off' approach.

The Magnificen7

I think it's hilarious how a game like Spore took a completely intellectually offensive concept like Intelligent Design, a cornerstone of modern American Christianity, and turned it into a great (at least from what I've been able to tell so far, from a couple hours of gameplay) game.

fotoplasma

@grimparrot: thats true, theirs a ton of very good christian .... the subgenre escapes me now, lol. Along the lines of circa survive, fall of troy, as i lay dieing, atreyu, etc.

Bone Structure

@Roto13:

gar i hate those kinds of ppl. not all religious ppl are like sheep. i for one, dont believe half the crap the catholic church professes () but i was baptized as a catholic. it is unfortunate though, most are like sheep. how do u explain the large numbers of ppl throughout history who have believed crap like indulgences, birth control is wrong, and worshipping of saints even though the Bible clearly states that only the Holy Trinity is to be the focus of worship without being to explain why they believe so other than saying "because the church says so"? it is alright if people who believed in such things actually explained why they believe, but they are taking the ignorant approach and just adhere to everything ppl tell them.

maraxusofk

I don't get why Harmonix and/or Activision didn't release a add on Christian contemportary disc/DLC themselves. I got to tell you, as a video game retailer, I would sell a boatload.

grimparrot

So uh, where might i be able to procure a copy of Zoo Race?

foxhound417

@Netnavi: Amen!!!!!!

Bone Structure

@maraxusofk: exactly. People need to read what's in their Bible to be able to gain wisdom so they can discern from right and wrong, otherwise they are just following a man made rule that has no basis in Christianity and serves to keep people subservient to an organization.

And I think that is what has been giving a bad face to the world. The organizations that are not about teaching the word of God but are there instead to make money off of people that are too lazy or worldly to read the Bible that's collecting dust. It makes us all look bad.

Netnavi

@Ravaged: That is a case of one bad apple ruining it for the rest of the bunch. Or something like that. You are always going to have jerks in the world from every walk of life but you can't shoe horn every one because of the 1 or 2 jerks. That's just silly.

Netnavi

@fotoplasma: Whats really funny is the Christians weren't the ones giving Spore hell, it was the atheists. [kotaku.com]

grimparrot

Personally I'm glad these games all end up terrible. If they were great I'd feel inclined to play them at the price of being preached to for the entire length of the game.

Bastard11

Northern Ireland is a good example.

acrana

@Netnavi: If everyone went around taking everything the bible said literally either New Testament and ESPECIALLY Old Testament. Everyone would be going around like those "Bad extremist Muslims." There's already a few groups in America recruiting children, because they are able say "Hey this page means that"

Anyways enough of this......

acrana

No way. No fucking way Zoo Race is real. No. Way.

Gloibin

Im atheist and fail to see why such people would complain about religion being in the game. Whether religion exists or is load of rubbish people have still believed in it through the ages. So even if religion was proved to be false there would still have been tribes and nations that had a religion of some kind in the past.

kenjara

My problem with the whole idea of "christian" gaming or "christian" anything is that implicit in the designation is the idea that the secular product is sinful, and wrong and anyone who buys is it going to hell. If it wasn't sinful and wrong, would they need clean "christianized" versions of it? The whole thing screams of holier-than-thou crap and it is insulting frankly.

ZeroBlade

@kenjara:

We (at least, me and the article) are not complaining about religion being in the games, but about games labeled as "religious" being pieces of cheap, unimaginative crap made for a quick buck.

concrete_d

Christian Game Developers: "Now, thats a wrap boys! Good job, pats on the back for everyone! Now I can go home and make love to my wifes anus without getting God angry!"

NeVeRMoRe666

@concrete_d: I did not realise spore was labled at as a religious game, I thought it was just a minor part of it. When I played through it I only had one religious city and by the time I got it I had brought or conquered the planet. It seems you use missionaries to convert unhappy cities to your faith. Apart from the I dont think there is any other mention of religion in the game.

But in my earlier post I was actually refering to the atheists not wanting religion in the game.

One game I do like the inclusion of religion in is civ4. Where you find it easier to get on with nations of the same faith.

kenjara

@ZeroBlade: lol take it easy, you're taking this too far off :)

Playstation

someone actually thinks Rock Band was a rip off? RB devs are the ones that created Guitar Hero!

The devs for GH3 were completely new and came from Tony Hawk franchise.

MellowNinja

Old testamant beats ass like a pimp with a hooker $5 dollars short. I would so play a real old testamant rpg.

Pornosaur

@greycobalt: Hey, sir, Guitar hero was a rip off of a konami game.

Just because its the first popular game, doesnt mean its original. You gotta be more skeptical.

Shockadin

This reminds me of the AVGN's Bible Games video...whew man that was scary.

Mikey G

I AM A HORSE NOW!!

Zoo Race was seriously one of the greatest things i've ever witnessed. i cant believe i havent seen that video until now. thank you kotaku, i love you.

pandafresh

@kenjara: yeah except the whole game is about creation. Hello!

Bastard11

lol but you are right. I'm not trying to make a big huge discussion about it. I didn't realize how long my last post was. This is a gaming site after all and we all come from different walks of life.

Netnavi

Guitar Praise: because bad music needs it's own video game too.

PATSCRU

@acrana: That's why we have people like a pastor that are there to help us. Some things are literal and some things are not. Usually if it isn't literal it would tell us. Some of the stories that sound so unbelievable are written as if it were literal. Science has some unimaginable things that shouldn't be possible but when you study quantum physics it is stranger than fiction, so I can believe when the Bible says that Moses parted the Red Sea. I don't know the science behind it but I don't see it as impossible.

And also some parts of the Bible are literal but are real life analogies. What we can learn from the past can help us in the future and we learn a lesson from it. When something happens to you in your life you can relate back to something that happened prior and say that is a foreshadowing of your present life. In the Bible that foreshadowing is laid out in either an analogy (like Exodus is a real event that took place but is also an analogy for the the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the New Testament) and also as prophecy for things to come.

It takes wisdom to understand the knowledge that we have gained and all those religious nuts out there don't care about what is right and wrong but more to control and make themselves feel like they are not in sin or responsible for their own sins.

The Bible says "Matthew v.3 And why worry about the speck in the eye of a brother when you have a board in your own? should you say, 'Friend let me help you get that speck out of your eye,' when you can't even see because of the board in your own? Hypocrite! First get rid of the board. Then you can see to help your brother"

Netnavi

@Bastard11: Yeah but the game doesnt really side with the religious views of the creation of life so I left that bit out. I have to say though, I would of been disapointed if the game supported the creationism theory.

kenjara

wow. I thought Guitar Praise was just a joke someone made up. Like a "Wouldn't it be funny if..." kind of joke. That's hilarious/ridiculous/terrible that it's real.

Joghobs

@TheKnicest:
or a realtime RPG a la Dwarf Fortress based on the forty years in the desert? Bring out a miracle or the people start to get cranky!

ZinkO: USA WE DA BEST

and thats an AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core Processor 3800, for the record

Bone Structure

@greycobalt: you know, I learned one of the most important biblical lessons of my entire life from playing gears of war (online)

i kid you not

the ubiquity of the way God operates never ceases to shock me to my very core

Bone Structure

To all those crying "stealing" - I'd like to quote our old wise friend Solomon: "There is nothing new under the sun."

As for junk sold with a Christian label, I cringe when I see it. Too much of Christianity is watered down these days. A great RPG based off the *real* Jesus in the Bible would be hella sweet. (Could you imagine having the ability to throw lightning bolts or something sweet, and then having to choose NOT to use the power in order to win?) Or a game about that dude who went out and hunted down the entire family of one of the old kings, and then stacked all their heads up on a bridge for a warning - that would get an M rating for sure.

Anyway, I hate anything with a clear agenda that does not fulfill the basics of excellence in any genre - not movies or music or games. If your main purpose is to sell a message, not make art, then you fail.

TheKnicest

@Shockadin: I know, I know, I was just getting a general idea across. :-/

@ZeroBlade: I don't really feel that way. I play everything, from Gears to Halo to CoD4 to Soul Calibur, and I'm fairly certain I'm not going to hell. I can definitely see how it could come across like that, and I obviously can't speak for the developers, but I think it's more of a "Hey, here's a Guitar Hero with Christian music!" rather than a "Hey you heathens, play this righteous Guitar Hero or you'll burn in hell!".

greycobalt

I know I'm preaching to the choir at this point, but people just want to play good games. I think the gaming community as a whole would embrace a good Christian game. Why Christians at large don't demand better games based on their faith puzzles me.

I remember reading one of Tycho Brahe's posts that talked about this issue. He's a self-declared atheist, and even he exclaimed that the Bible is rich with narrative/interactive potential for a game.

An action/adventure game about Samson and his campaign. An adventure game based on Moses' ordeals.

The problem I think is that these developers think "Christian=Kiddie-friendly" and thus don't respect their own game and don't let the product reach more mature levels.

The Bible is definitely not kid-friendly in terms of some of the events that occur. Once someone realizes this, Christians might actually have a game worthy of being proud of.

JAcK0R

I don't know why everyone's coming down on Zoo Race. I had a lot of fun with the demo. Try using the Cheetah, and then just holding down the jump button (spacebar) as you race. Watch how ridiculously fast you get moving, and laugh your ass off. Then, be sure to watch the fireworks/dance celebration at the end with Moses and the animals. These developers had some real talent, and they were blown off by RELIGIOUS CENSORSHIP LOVING PUBLISHERS.

Seriously though, I very seriously considered buying this game because it's so hilariously bad and in that regard is entertaining for about 10 minutes at a time, but I just couldn't bring myself to support the chumps that developed it.

Schmeg Peg

Guitar Praise? that's a stretch!

A cover of a cover of the original song...

instead of the Grim Reaper at the end you get Saint Peter, secret characters? you bet! it's Barrabas!

VakeroRokero

There are a lot of Christian game designers - they just work for big companies and don't see that games go against their religion.

I think part of the problem here is the Christian people who make these games don't play other games, because they believe it's "against their religion".

Which it's not. No where does the bible say "Thou Shall Not Play Violent Video Games".

As an aside, I actually read on the Sims2 message board that someone couldn't play the expansion pack with Vampires because that was occult, and their church forbade messing with the occult... *rolls eyes*

Anyway, those who call themselves "Christian game designers" see the idea in the game, and then take it and try and Christianise it but only at a superficial level, without really understanding what makes games fun and interesting, and, I think in a lot of cases without really understanding Christianity.

Basically, these people are doing a faith +1
[en.wikipedia.org]

FunkyJ

@Bone Structure: What happened?

greycobalt

I had an interesting idea for a game once. The premise would be kind of like Bruce Almighty (except for the humor)..."You think God's got it easy? Why don't you try?" It would be split into two or three games. One would be a Second Life style MMO with a little more freedom to do whatever you want, (including GTA-style stuff). The cast of characters would be fleshed out with NPC's as well. The other game would be the God-game, with your choice of Heavenly hosts or lesser deities, depending on which religion you choose to represent (you could also mix influences from several religions). The humans would be randomly placed on a server under whichever god starts the server. That god could recruit a pantheon to join his server, but they wouldn't be obligated to play by his rules. The humans would begin neutral but would have to choose sides. Since being bad is too fun in games, each player would have a "smite" meter which would alert the god of the server when it got to a high level. At this point, he could choose to smite the player in various ways including manipulation of the environment and NPCs. For instance, a player whose smite meter reaches its peak during a bank robbery could be run over by an NPC whose eyes were blinded by the server-god while they were driving. There would also be create-a-smite, which would be quick to earn an M-rating. One more tool the server-gods would have to discourage sin is the curse. If a player favors gun-play, for instance, there would be an "unlucky shot" curse that would cause his bullets to have an increased chance of ricocheting back at him (there would be create-a-curse, too). Lastly, each god would have to contend with a supernatural adversary, which would keep them from abusing their powers. Humans could choose to fight either side directly (as exorcists, cult members, etc.) or indirectly (cops and robbers and any variation of dark/light decisions). It sounds a little crazy but I bet there's someone who can make it work. Criticize, please, but don't be a jerk about it.

Sylar

I really like where you're going with this and the whole 'server God' and smiting ideas, but the game seems vague. I mean what's the point, what kind of quests, or missions would you be doing in the game?

SnakesSolids

Keep in mind that this is just a broad concept. There would be plenty of side-quests to keep people occupied. Imagine playing a GTA-like game, while someone else is having a more Shenmue-style experience in the same game and you can choose to change direction whenever you want. Include the God-game on top of that. I guess it would be cool to have all-out angels-versus-demons combat, too. Angels and demons would fight eachother and be invisible to all but those who have become spiritually enlightened. This would get into the real meat of the gameplay, but others could wander aimlessly if they're more like those who waste lots of time in sandbox games. There are a lot of different parts so it's a little harder to piece together, but it hasn't hurt WoW that not everyone has the same goals. Everyone still manages to find something to enjoy in WoW. Guilds would benefit my game as guilds in WoW often make new objectives if they run out of things to do (PvP against other guilds, for instance). I guess another option is to have a larger field split up into different zones controlled by different gods with the demons having the ability to take over as god if they meet their objectives. The dark forces would have a goal of making their region so wicked it must be destroyed, resulting in a reboot of the region. The forces of good would have the goal of exterminating evil. After this, a new demon guild can move in. This assures that the game is always moving. I've still got a lot to figure out, but I'm definitely gearing the idea more towards a mainstream audience. The game is only as Christian as the users involved.

PS - Evil humans can come back as demons and good humans can come back as angels. Your human life earns you points in either direction and you earn bonus points if you're killed by supernatural forces. This would add strategy to smiting, so god wouldn't go smite-crazy.

Sylar

Is this a PC game?

I'm going to torrent it and I'll make people play it at my parties. As long as it works with the 360 Xplorer controller.

serotoninzero

Reminds me of Wisdom Tree's shenanigans from way back when.

[en.wikipedia.org]

Aresef

Hopefully someone, someday, will make a kickass game out of the old testament.

LastFace

Hopefully humans will enlighten themselves and there won't be religion. Then there won't be pointless wars over religion. And, we'll be able to put our brains into solving some of the strangest puzzles of our existence.

SnakesSolids

First of all, articles like this tend to attract the fundamentalists on both sides of the fence. (That is, ardent Christians, ardent atheists/agnostics, and and ardent people of other religions.) I'm a fairly conservative Christian, but I'll try to be objective here.
There has never been any shortage of shitty games. Unfortunately, it is pretty obvious that there has not been many decent "christian" games. Hell, Wisdom Tree's games for the NES weren't even licensed.
If people are willing to buy it, is there a problem? After all, people pay money for modern art. If it's a matter of taste, will you declare it to be wrong? After all, we can't MAKE people appreciate good games anymore than you could drag a juvenile delinquent into an art gallery and make her appreciate art. In an ideal world, people would be attracted to good movies, good games, good literature, good art. But people aren't, and it isn't necessarily a problem. It's a bit wrong to expect everyone to love classical music. Most people will recognize that it's good, but those people usually don't develope a love for classical music. Likewise with literature, movies, and art. Videogames are still a somewhat new media, but even with games, you get people who don't play games, but know that Mario, Halo, that these are good games.
As a religious person, I think it's a bit improper to make a business/market out of one's faith. On the other hand, I don't see a problem with the concept of Guitar Praise. What does irritate me about these things is the execution. Whether you're Christian, Jewish, Muslim, etc., when you attach your faith to a project, the success of that project reflects on your faith. If you wanna make a religious game, don't make a shitty game that speaks poorly of your religion and your god. Make something that stands out (in a positive way.)
I do have to say, I was pleasantly surprised at how few trollish comments were made. Sorta reminds me why I like Kotaku.
@TheKnicest: Yeah, I'd be interested to see an M-rated Bible based game. We see it for Greek, Norse, Chinese and Japanese stories/legends/myths (depends on your world view :P). Again, execution would be key. Well, I could ramble more, but it's late.

AllegraStreit

@SnakesSolids: lol then there would be pointless wars over other stuff. People will always have something to fight over. Just look at all the fanboys. Or if you want something deeper, Lord of the flies. It's the Human condition. People usually choose the dark side.

Netnavi

Just an extra aside, if you're wondering why people buy into stuff like this, it's for security. Security in your child's upbringing, security in your own beliefs, security that you are a good Christian because you have all this paraphenllia. Of course, it's false security; from a proper Christian perspective, it's false security because God is our security, and God put us in the world to interact with the world, not to isolate ourselves, bured in a field. From an atheistic perspective, it's false because there is no God, we are refusing to accept the harsh world around us, instead cleaning to primitive beliefs, hiding from the troubles of the world rather than overcoming them.
I have no problem with the concept of Christian books, music, games, t-shirts, etc., on their own. I completely reject the use of these things as a subconcious justification of faith. Sorry if this was a little too non-gamesy. Actually, now that I think of it, I should read the forum rules, just to be safe.
... Um, I can't find any. Oh well. :D

AllegraStreit

@Composition94: Oi! can't have that, there is no science to the evolution of Man remember!!! Technically it would be a drop in, drop out God game

WHICH MIGHT BE INTERESTING, that is if you can try and influence your religeon

shaunomacx

@greycobalt: rock band wasnt a rip off considering Harmonix CREATED GUITAR HERO in the first place and even then that game was a total rip off of GuitarFreaks

shaunomacx

I'm in one of the largest Christian gaming communities on the web (SBG Gaming) and we play a lot of mainstream games. Guitar Hero, Rock Band, CoD4, and Halo 3. (Primarily H3). SBG has even played Bungie in a humpday challenge. (I haven't personally, but I play nightly with the guys that did.)

Games like Guitar Praise and Left Behind Eternal Forces are just failed attempts at marketing to us, and only serve to reinforce the stereotype that Christians (and so-called Christian gamers) are subsisting on a diet of saccharine-laced games and music.

As Christians, we enjoy pretty much everything that non-Christians enjoy we just do a lot of self-examination into how it might impact our spiritual condition or our relationship with Christ. (Not trying to get preachy at all, just offering some degree of explanation.)

Pretty much all of us in SBG focus on mainstream games and it surprises a lot of the other gaming clans that we bring such solid skills in our competition. And that we bring such solid competition to games like H3 and COD4.

It makes me pretty sick when stuff like Guitar Praise and LBEF come out. I know what the headlines are going to look like. Ugh.

Hojimoto

I don't see any problem with this Praise game. A lot of Christians love that music, GH would never include it in its set list. Let the people who want that music have a game that includes it.

Arkos

No no no no no no NO, why are people defending Guitar Hero as if it's some wonderful piece of imaginative gaming?

The fucking game is called Guitar Freaks, it's Japanese, and it pre-dates Guitar Hero by a few years. Harmonix paid 'homage' to Guitar Freaks by making Guitar Hero, or by homage I mean stole.

Tizlor

I have no problem with this kind of thing, but at the same time I find myself wondering how successful they could possibly be. It seems to me that one either plays games or not, period.

This kind of ting strikes me as the solution to market to Christians who don't play mainstream games because they're not Christian games. So, how many people are there out there?

I mean, if you're the kind of Christian who refuses to play mainstream games because you object to them, are you really going to go out and buy hundreds of dollars worth of equipment to play the one, single Christian rock band game there is?

How many people are going to play this game that aren't the kind of Christian that listens to "praise music"? I'm thinking... zero.

So... ultimately, I have no issue with this kind of thing at all... but I find myself wondering how successful it could possibly be.

Werrick

"Considering religions have provided the inspiration for some of the greatest artistic works the world over - Christianity is no exception here - it's a little baffling that game designers wishing to cater to the Christian game consuming public can't do much better than knockoffs of big secular titles and/or something like Zoo Race."

QFT. If there are any Christian game developers out there reading this article, they need to learn to not use excuses like "the big publishers hate Jesus". Yes, maybe they do put out a lot of secular shovelware, and maybe that means they ought to be willing to put out Christian shovelware too.

But why should Christians be willing to put out shovel-anything? Imagine if this was the mentality when the fantastically beautiful cathedrals of old were getting built. If the game is good, people will want to play it, and the fact that there is a lot of high-grade secular competition means you need to up your game, not blame the publishers.

greyhoundbus

Games like this succeed, despite abyssmal quality, because there are so many UBER Christians out there that can't listen to music unless it's Christian music. They can't watch tv or movies unless it's Christian tv or movies. They can't read a magazine unless it's a Christian magazine. They really don't care what they are buying/consuming as long as it is labelled as Christian.

robinandtami

I'm no fan of christians or Christianity, but it seems to me that this (if produced properly) certainly could fill a niche and if Harmonix wants to get up in arms about it (which they are not) why don't they license music from christian "musicians".

Honestly, the people who should be upset by "christian" games are christians. They should be up set at the quality and what it says about how the developers and publishers feel their audience. Usually the quality is so low, that the only assumstion is that the devs and publishers either a) consider their audience to be unsophisticated when it comes to vidoe games or b) don't give a crap about their audience and are just putting out something that can be labled "christian" because there is an audience so starved for vidoe games that they'll buy anything labled "christian" (essentially, crooks or con-men). If christians want to play Christian games, more power to 'em. I just hope they get better games. And publishers that care about their customers instead of the current crop that looks like a bunch of swindlers trying to cash in with little or no work and investment.

worsethannormal

Yeah, Konami did have the awful Guitar Freaks game but Harmonix did it better. Who wants to play guitar to some lousy jpop songs? It doesn't even sound like there's any guitar being played in the them! But there's nothing wrong with taking an idea and making it 100 times better which Harmonix has had a track record of doing.

kyteki

"Considering religions have provided the inspiration for some of the greatest artistic works the world over "

I really disagree, it's not religion that made the masterpieces, it's the genius in every person that made them. The genius comes partly from heredity and the passion and mastery of the craft. If you say, however that the church PAID for the works, then yes in that way it had something to do with the art.

artofwar420

@artofwar420: I said 'provided inspiration for,' not 'created' - if you think someone would've pulled, say, the Lotus Sutra in gold on blue paper out of their ass because of 'genius,' OK, be my guest - but I'd disagree.

Read for comprehension.

Maggie Greene

@Maggie Greene: I guess we'll disagree.

artofwar420