Came across an interesting article on Gamespot this week titled “Having Faith In Your Games“. It’s a good discussion of the distinction between games that merely use Bible stories as a setting vs. games that actually communicate principles and make you examine your own heart in the light of them. I don’t know anything about the game “Catherine” that’s mentioned, but I found this quote interesting:
“While trying to sell Catherine as a church-endorsed game would be grossly inaccurate, it is one of the few games that succeeds at personalizing the emotional weight of everyday sin, and that alone can prod a healthy discussion about faith. After all, exploring the effect of sin on man’s relationship with God is pretty much what pastors preach from the pulpit each Sunday.”
The article also contains a healthy challenge to Christians:
“Unfortunately, one of the biggest roadblocks to worthwhile Christian-themed games is Christians themselves. Among conservative circles, video games still carry a stigma of sloth, wickedness, and depravity. As long as the church chooses to remain ignorant about seeing games as a legitimate artistic medium, you’ll end up with games like The Bible Game. “But Christian games should be biblically accurate and family-friendly if they are to share the message of God’s love.” But isn’t that what the Bible is for? The church should get over the fact that games will be filled with heresy and inaccuracies when it comes to portraying religion. If we can accept that double-jumps and extra lives aren’t grounded in reality, then we can do the same with the worldly evils fictionally portrayed in-game. This isn’t to condone that you fill your mind with a steady stream of smut and filth, but keep in mind that Jesus’ own parables managed to pack a punch without always being squeaky clean.”
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Great quote, I will have to really look at my own approach when it comes to developing. Thanks for sharing.