Eric's thoughts

Let me play devil's advocate a bit here...didn't Jesus give us an agenda when he gave us the Great Commission? "Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Fthare and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teaching them to obey all commands I have given you..."

Seems a bit weird playing devil's advocate by quoting Jesus. :)

"isn't that lack of agenda only necessary in product? i mean, as christians, don't we ultimatley have an agenda in terms of our relationships? being willing to represent the gospel not only through "living it" but also by being ready to talk about it too?"

In response, or rather to clarify, I am thinking of "agenda" in terms of our desire for a person to "get saved". Essentially, desire is getting what we want. Desire is tied to our physical experience and a product of fear. Hope on the other hand has no technique, and many times we view the unsaved individual as a problem to which a solution exists. Hope is mysterious. So if our actions spring from hope, our relations with others can start from a point of having no agenda. Of course this is a slippery slope, or a fine line... or a grey area. But ultimately it deals with the heart. Can I judge the heart of those making "christian" video games? Absolutely not. Is it possible for someone to not understand there own actions and "think" they are doing God's will? Damn straight. We should be willing and ready to talk about the gospel, but that should not be the motivating factor in our actions because it can be divorced from love (as oddly as that sounds). I understand what you are getting at by using the term in this sense, but if we have an "ultimate agenda" it should be love, because that is the only thing that can open the door for discussion. When love has an agenda it becomes desire (which culture is good at confusing).

Yeah.

isn't that lack of agenda only necessary in product? i mean, as christians, don't we ultimatley have an agenda in terms of our relationships? being willing to represent the gospel not only through "living it" but also by being ready to talk about it too?

i think i would totally agree with the christian label not having a place outside the Church itself. in fact i think that in some ways having "christian" products undermines the beauty and power of the gospel by turning it, in people's perceptions, into just another product.

Using the "Christian" label on anything generally means it has an agenda. Not that the intentions are not ernest, but part of our failing as believers in this day and age is that agendas usually have more to do with personal desire than hope. The label needs to be eradicated from everything outside the church. The act of the believer in his/her work is the testimony. (This Secular/Sacred split is thoroughly dealt with in Nancy Pearcy's book "Total Truth") It seems preposterous to me to try and "reach" people through a mediated experience like a video game. Christ changes lives through relationships. Our sickness as an evangelical culture is that we bestow moral attributes to products. This becomes a form of competition in the marketplace that cannot maintain a disinterested position (not having an agenda). So who can be truly changed or affected by a mediated message carried by an inanimate, amoral object?
Obviously there are some grey areas. Worship music has a place for the believer. Art can reflect one's views and beliefs. But good, revelent and affective art/media/music has no agenda with regards to the viewer/listener/gamer. By no agenda I mean it is not propaganda, it is not manipulative, and it is informed and aware of its culture. This does not make allowances for games like "Grand Theft Auto" and the like (but it could be argued that the game reflects perspectives that should be engaged in our culture and that the "form" is very high quality.) A person has to deal with the content in their work and this is very hard to do. Partially because as a christian culture we are very bad at understanding imagery. This should be unsettling to everyone considering the amount of imagery we take in everyday. We are numb to it and at the same time we have shifted from a textual based society to a image based one.
Bottom line with regards to "christian" products- they cannot love. A true biblical love has no agenda. It does not desire to persuade. It only cares. The opportunity to express our ability to love can only be honest when we can love with out agenda or desire. As long as we keep clouding the label space with declarations of our intentions we will always create misunderstandings and bad media/music/video games.

Well put SSQUARED! :)

OK. My main point was to mention the gaming industry IS truly trying to make an effort at creating quality games. I just don't want people thinking the Christian game developers are just putting out games to put them out.

I do agree, it's a bummer when something labeled "Christian" is low quality. But I guess I haven't really considered the LB game in that category. It pretty much received negative criticism from Christian and non-Christians alike. And some of its concepts (like rock musicians are unsaved) are so far fetched, many people (or at least the gaming folks) recognize this attitude is rather preposterous.

You even had Christian groups gaining national attention for their boycotting of the game. The funny thing is, this type of stuff GAINS interest in said product, rather than moving people away.

The topic of labeling something Christian is a touchy one. No one really has a definition of what a Christian video game is. I kind of like the idea of just leaving it as a "video game" with no preface. I mentioned Myst because it is a good example of a successful computer game created by two Christians, and yet they don't push that side of the story.

The CNN story says who the game is targeted to.

I am glad they talk about quality in these Gaming meetings. I figured they did and I know that money backing projects like this is slim to none.

I'm also glad there are good games out there. There is also good Christian literature, Christian music, art etc. My point again is this... "For me, it just gives people more ammo into the fact that when products are labeled "Christian," most of the time, it just means that the products are less than quality attempts to break into what people perceive as cool. In turn, it separates us, as a whole, even further from the culture and from some people that we are trying to reach." Can't we just make video games without labeling them Christian video games, can't we just make music without labeling it Christian music, or is it necessary to label products as "Christian"?

When the bulk are less than quality attempts to copy what is already out there, doesn't it make us look bad and hypocritical as a whole?

Hi, me again.

I should mention some other positive looking games. Check out the work-in-progress game Orion from Rebel Planet Creations: http://rebelplanetcreations.com/games/rebel-planet-orion.html There is a pretty nifty game trailer to give you an indication of the game.

I also really liked 'Derek', now titled 'Isles of Derek' from VirtueGames. http://www.virtuegames.com/ It was created by one guy who lives off a battery generator for electricity. The game is similar to Myst (one of THE most successful computer games and by Christians, but you tend not to hear that part). My only qualm was 'Derek' being too short. AdventureGames (a secular review site for adventure games) even gave it a good review.

Digital Praise is a good site for kids stuff and also for the well-respected Dance Praise (DDR) series.

Anyway, there are good, quality Christian games out there.

> The game is marketed toward conservative Christians

I'm not sure that's totally true. Do you have any specific link to this?

Having heard a talk by Troy Lyndon (the CEO of Left Behind Games) three years ago, the game is geared towards those who purchased/read the book series. One of the major intents of the game was to produce a quality, Christian game. Being backed by the Left Behind name meant the opportunity for millions (many non-Christians) to potentitally see a great Christian game, rather than the paltry handful of people most Christian games see.

Did they fully succeed in producing a great game? I don't know. The reviews, as you say, are not very good. The game is bug-ridden. The premise of certain things (rock music is bad) sets a bad taste in people's mouths. But I commend them for trying. This wasn't just a "let's do a Left Behind Game" thought. Listening to Troy speak is a pleasure and you can hear his passion for it as well as his cries to God as he dealt with a bunch of challenges early on.

The Christian computer game industry is a difficult one. Funding is extremely limited, causing quality to suffer. Even amongst the Christian community, many still believe computer games a nasty evil. Finding a church to support a LAN party is extremely difficult even today. It is an industry seeing pressure from both non-Chrstians and Christians. This is not unlike the Christian music scene 20-25 years ago.

This is still a very young industry and a push for quality has become a renewed passion in just these last few years.

I have been involved with the Christian Computer gaming industry for nearly 5 or 6 years and have direct contact with many of the developers on a daily basis.

Did you realize there is a Christian Gamer's Developer Conference (CGDC) every year in Portland? This will be its 6th year. The topic of quality is ALWAYS discussed.

There are actually quite a few very good 'Christian' games out there, but they just don't have the marketing and money behind them to get into many people's hands. Christian bookstores really don't carry them fearful of low sales. And some stores have them up high on a shelf where most people won't see them. You see a few in local stores in Oregon/Washington due to the great push by a fellow developer in Corvallis.

One of the best titles over recent years has been "Eternal Wars". Graphically, it was dated even when it came out (using an old Quake engine), but the game did quite well, leading to interviews on CNN and other national venues. The developers had to face a lot of negative criticism from the Christian community due to the game's dark theme. You play a teen with suicidal thoughts. The game is a 1st person shooter where you defeat the demons you are battling in your head. This game was used in a way to bring several people to Christ as they were dealing with similar thoughts and could relate to the main character. The game was all volunteer time and effort and yet they made enough money to fund their second game (currently in production).

One of my favorites of recent time is 'Victory at Hebron'. A great strategy game. It's a computer version of the Redemption card game. http://www.brethren-et.com/BEWebsite/games/vah.html

Recently Rebel Planets released a quality game called "Axys Adventures". Apparently a little Zelda-ish. I have yet to play it, so I don't have first experience. http://rebelplanetcreations.com/games/the-axys-adventures--truth-seeker.html

The industry agrees. Quality is important. There are many unanswered questions in the community. Should a game reach people for Christ? Should it simply be a quality game made by Christians? Should it teach about the Bible? Should it just contain Biblical principles (moral main character, no bad language, etc.)? Is it OK to be a Christian and work in the secular gaming industry? The questions are numerous and there is no definitive answer except that it is up to the individuals and where the Holy Spirit is calling them.

Boy, I've been away from these blogs for awhile and forgot how I tend to write a lot. :-)