Browsing CNN, I came across a story about Left Behind: Eternal forces.
Evidently theres some people who have a problem with the theme of the game, saving that it essentially promotes religious violence.

I haven' t played the game or read the books it' s based on. I prefer my entertainment to be propaganda free. So really, I couldn' t care less about the game.

What interest me is the developer' s response to the criticism. They honestly don' t understand why people have a problem with it. http://www.leftbehind.com/channelnews.asp?pageid=1322&channelID=17
Now, I' m a little rusty on the whole christian thing, but isn' t killing people supposed to be wrong under ANY circumstances? Something about turn the other cheek.

Quote:
" The result is a game that is beautifully rendered, clearly carries our message (indeed, we have already heard of one young man who has become a believer through playing it), is strategic rather than only warfare based, and is no more violent than the Lone Ranger or Roy Rogers episodes I grew up watching. Unlike typical video games that show buckets of blood and flying body parts, victims shot in our game fall in a puff of smoke."


So now there' s some guy out there that has been converted to christianity by a game that says that the enemies of Christ sometimes have to be shot
(puff of smoke or not, you still shot somebody)...and if you pray, God will forgive you. It' s ok to kill a few folks if you have a good christian reason for it.

Yeah...that' s a healthy way to step into spirituality.

I know the game is based on a fiction, and the theme is undoubtedly more complex than I can understand without reading the material. However I think that religion and violence should never be mixed in a videogame and promoted for impressionable teens.

Thoughts?

Personally I don' t think religion mixes well with anything. I think most of us here is intelligent enough to see that Christianity and any other religion is pretty much bullshit.

Everything about Christianity is steaming full of it. I don' t know anything about the game you' re talking about. However it seems to me it was either made by religious extremists or some stheists with a weak sense of humour.

...and if you pray, God will forgive you. It' s ok to kill a few folks if you have a good christian reason for it.

What exactly is " a good christian reason" ?

Jimmy-Bob the Zealot sez: A good reason? I gives yoo a good reason! They talks funny, they wears towels on there hedz, and they bows to a fat " Boo-duh" !
(Huh-huh-hyuk, " Booduh" )

Now, I' m a little rusty on the whole christian thing, but isn' t killing people supposed to be wrong under ANY circumstances? Something about turn the other cheek.

As a Christian I first was pretty happy to know they were coming out with a Left Behind game because I loved the books. After watching the game play...then hearing all this bullshit. I stood back and pretty much said " What the fuck were the developers on when they did this?" The fact the publisher of Left Behind (not creator of the series) is standing behind it shows how fucking stupid a lot of Christians can be in entertainment.

I honestly would call for this game to be pulled off shelves...but it isn' t any different from jack thompson wishing the same of Bully.

Seriously, i think they really designed the characters wrong. It' s really difficult to make an RTS based on Christian prophecy and belief. They shouldn' t stereotype followers of the antichrist as heavy metal rocker types because indeed, i see more rocker born again Christians than i see non-Christian rockers!

I also don' t like the way the designers turned " conversion to Christianity" into a simple point and click process, when in reality, evangelization could take years and years of simply loving a person.

What would have been much better (and i mentioned this before) is if they made an RPG based on Christian statutes and ideals, in a fantasy setting, in the style of KOTOR! with the graphics of Oblivion!! with the framerate of GT4! That way they could make the game more emotional, more human, more close to the heart, which is exactly what Christ is about.

Personally, I' m an atheist, so maybe I don' t really have a say in all this.

I think that any form of evangelism for any religion no matter how subtle, is just plain bad.

Given, if it clearly states itself as a Christian game, it' s your dollar (like going to watch The Passion of the Christ and all that).

The main problem is that they prolly get developers/publishers who are themselves zealots of whatever religion the game is about, using church-donated money, creating biased, potentially highly offensive pieces of crap.

Like those Wisdom Tree games back in the NES days, with ' hot' whipping action on slaves!

I' m thinking, we don' t have anything to worry about. People that buy this game are already Christians, are idiots, and lousy gamers. It doesn' t affect the first group, and it gets rid of the other two and punishes the church who now have to deal with ADD riddled morons!

Honestly, even Advent Rising had greater promise. And it was created by Mormons. MORMONS!