Christian Groups Boycotting Left Behind Videogame

[Spike-X]

I believe the game in question was discussed here a while back, so I couldn't find the thread.

At a press conference today in Phoenix, Arizona, a coalition of progressive Christian groups called for the recall of the hate-based video game Left Behind: Eternal Forces. (http://www.politicalcortex.com/story/2006/11/28/132922/70)

Reading the article, these guys sound like good eggs. I hope they get more of a voice in the mainstream media to counter the wingnuts.

[Cephus]

Or, of course, they could just do the logical thing, and if they don't like it...

DON'T BUY IT!

Nah, can't have that, can we? Gotta stop everyone else from buying it too!

Religious morons.

[Michael P]

Actually, that's what a boycott is: an organized, publicized mass not-buying of a product.

[Iangould]

Correct me if I'm wrong but when this came up before didn't the publishers and the Left Behind creators deny that the game was a shoot-'em-up of the type described?

Even if that isn't the case - if GTA is allowed (and I for one am damn sure it should be), so should this.

Edit: here we go.

http://au.gamespot.com/news/6162477.html?sid=6162477

Left Behind Games CEO Troy Lyndon responded to the protest with a statement of his own.

"Those throwing rocks at our game simply haven't played it through," Lyndon said. "There is no 'convert or die' in the game. There is no blood, gore or gratuitous violence of any kind. … Left Behind Games' desire is to have a positive impact on an industry that traditionally has had a dark influence on gamers and the world."

[Justin D.]

Or, of course, they could just do the logical thing, and if they don't like it...

DON'T BUY IT!

Nah, can't have that, can we? Gotta stop everyone else from buying it too!

Religious morons.

Um, are you sure you understand the term boycott?

[Ed Cunard]

Cephus, you may want to read the actual article before tossing around the "religious morons" appelation--they're boycotting a game "about a Christian militia slaughtering New Yorkers who won't be converted to their particular brand of Christianity," according to the linked source.


Actually, that's what a boycott is: an organized, publicized mass not-buying of a product.

Who let facts in here? That just leads us down a slippery slope, boys.

[Chris N]

If Tyndale is a Christian publishing business, then other Christian organizations can legitimately take issue with them and chastise them. Obviously they shouldn't do any more than boycott and complain.

Except maybe get out some guns and show these game designers who's not welcome in God's house!

Bam! Bam!

[Mike Pothier]

I don't think they have much to worry about. The game is supposed to REALLY suck. I doubt many people will buy it, boycott or not.

[Matt Algren]

I think it's reasonable for the "Christian Community" to respond to a game maker claiming to be founded on christian principles and tell them that they're making us look bad and doing the opposite of what they're supposed to be doing.

edit: coke & comics owes me a Coke. He can give me a comic too if he wants.

[Iangould]

Here's what Gamespot, who actually seem to have played the game unlike its Christian critics has to say:


Don't mock Left Behind: Eternal Forces because it's a Christian game. Mock it because it's a very bad game. The real-time strategy/adventure game from Left Behind Games based on the best-selling series of novels from Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins will even let down born-again types who expect the Rapture to beam them up to heaven any day now. Nobody has enough faith to endure a game with such a hokey story, terrible mission design, serious problems with the interface and graphics, and loads of crippling bugs.


Given the game's Christian devotion, your goal is not to wipe out the enemy as in a typical RTS game but to convert as many neutrals and baddies as possible by raising their spirit level. You seek out these people and directly target the ones you want to save with the recruit ability. If all goes well, he or she will soon be turned into a friend in either a Ned Flanders-like sweater ensemble or a sensible skirt and pumps. These drones can then be sent to training centers for instruction in their new Christ-inspired careers. Soon you've got builders turning abandoned buildings into resource-producing venues, such as food-making cafés and money-making banks, as well as soldiers patrolling the streets. You also have special forces, such as recruiters, influencers, and healers, doing their bit for the cause.

[Chris N]

I think it's reasonable for the "Christian Community" to respond to a game maker claiming to be founded on christian principles and tell them that they're making us look bad and doing the opposite of what they're supposed to be doing.

edit: coke & comics owes me a Coke. He can give me a comic too if he wants.


Is that the etiquette when someone beats you to a post. If so, I acquiesce. What comic would you like? Something rare and expensive perhaps?

[Alex]

Yeah, the thing is, whatever happens within in the game, it's a clear cash in.
Pc games aren't doing too hot overall, aside from the big mmorpgs, like world of warcraft.
This piece of crap is another example of unoriginality and shoddy programming wrapped into a once (i assume it still is, or they wouldn't have bothered) marketable franchise that they hope will cause christians browsing in walmart too stop and say "Oh, left behind! I would enjoy that, and it would be good for children!"

[Matt Algren]

Is that the etiquette when someone beats you to a post. If so, I acquiesce. What comic would you like? Something rare and expensive perhaps?
As long as it's not one of the Left Behind comics. There's no way those are any good.

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/0842355022.01._SS400_SCLZZZZZZZ_V1081456912_.jpg

[Serik]

http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/pc/leftbehindeternalforces?q=left%20behind

Metacritic says the average score of Left Behind is 48/100, which is downright terrible.

[Mike Smash!]

Wow. That sounds lame. I won't be buying it.

More power to the protesters, but the problem with making a scene about a game (or TV show or movie) that probably would have flopped otherwise is that you give it notoriety and might just serve to up its sales.

But otherwise, if Grand Theft Flanders sounds like fun to ya, have fun converting your little digital heathens. At least it'll mean more time away from trying to convert real ones.

[Matt Algren]

. . .Grand Theft Flanders . . .Flanders going nuts on a rampage through Springfield? Sold!

[Chris N]

But otherwise, if Grand Theft Flanders sounds like fun to ya, have fun converting your little digital heathens. At least it'll mean more time away from trying to convert real ones.


I don't want to convert real or digital heathens. Going around and shooting them sounds like a lark though.

[Alex]

I ever tell anyone im addicted to the Left Behind movies?
And i wait for the day when kurt cameron rises from the dead and takes me to heaven.

[Michael P]

I ever tell anyone im addicted to the Left Behind movies?
You did not. Please tell me it's in an "I love watching Ed Wood movies because they're so AWFUL!" way.

[darkkeeperjr]

I got to get one of those games.Cause if they recall all of them,then I'll have an collector item. So let's all get one so we can all have an collector item!! Right?

[Alex]

You did not. Please tell me it's in an "I love watching Ed Wood movies because they're so AWFUL!" way.
What other way can you enjoy them?
The last one was like Growing Pains meets Iron Wolf meets Airforce One.
Amazing, just amazing, and yet, still better then any movie by Uwe boll.

[hoffmandu]

I don't know about you guys, but I'll be boycotting the hell out of this game. Not because of the christian content, though.................because it sounds as lame as it gets. Lamesaurous Rex.......Darth Lamer.........Capain Lamerica.............Lameiochi..........Lizzame... ...........Lamewad...........

[Solaris]

"The firm's CEO is relying on network marketing through pastoral networks as a key part of his business plan, according to a report in the March 6, 2006, issue of Newsweek Magazine: `Left Behind Games CEO Troy Lyndon, whose company went public in February, says the game's Christian themes will grab the audience that didn't mind gore in "The Passion of the Christ." "We've thought through how the Christian right and the liberal left will slam us," says Lyndon. "But megachurches are very likely to embrace this game." Though it will be marketed directly to congregations, Forces will also have a secular ad campaign in gaming magazines.' As part of its marketing pitch, Left Behind Games hypes the realism with which it portrays the neighborhoods of New York City. There is, for the most part, a remarkable verisimilitude except for one detail - all of the ambulances have 911 painted on their roofs. In the reality-based world, most ambulances have a red cross on top. Yet the game designers make prominent use of these 911 ambulances to evoke the tragic events of September 11, 2001. The historical context of 911 is invoked as if to say, We are living in the End Times, and Muslims are among the kinds of infidels whom you should fear, whom you should be prepared to kill for your cause."



The game's manufacturer nevertheless claims the game is not "violent" because it does not depict blood and guts; but the game is still about a Christian militia slaughtering New Yorkers who won't be converted to their particular brand of Christianity. While the company managed to obtain a "teen" rating, meaning the game is appropriate for 13 year olds, the rating system apparently does not address a hate-based indoctrination into an ideology of religious warfare that targets New York Jews, Muslims and atheists for no other reason than for their religious difference with Time LaHaye and the game's manufacturers.

The company underscores that although they are also marketing to gamers, their target market is people steeped in Tim LaHaye's Left Behind series. This is troubling in part, as Talk to Action blogger Chip Berlet, observes: "The demonization of enemies, bloodthirsty dualism, and murderous rampages on the computer screen in Left Behind: Eternal Forces are accurate reflections of the "Us v. Them" apocalyptic theology espoused by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins in their Left Behind series of novels," which have sold more than 70 million copies. Berlet, senior analyst at Political Research Associates, a progressive Boston-area think tank, adds, "The Left Behind book series and game are manipulative primers valorizing bigotry, paranoia, and guerilla warfare against those who promote tolerance, pluralism, and global cooperation." Berlet posted a series on Talk to Action about LaHaye and the roots of his apocalyptic and conspiracist worldview.




Hutson, a longtime member of the mainstream protestant Disciples of Christ concluded his first post this way:


"On the one hand, this video game is anti-American, because it endorses roving death squads engaged in faith-based violence without any regard for Constitutional law. On the other hand, the video game is anti-Christian, because it argues that the Kingdom of God can be advanced by using the methods and tools of the kingdoms of this world, namely guns and bombs.
The Scriptures say, "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." (Proverbs 22:6) The Scriptures do not say, "Train up a child in the way he should blow away the people of God as well as infidels: and when he is old enough, he will go out and do some killing."




Ummm.... okay. So they're not just exhorting followers for "contributions" now---they're getting in bed with "the devil" by creating their own "blow 'em away" video games?

Ah. So if an "infidel" is blown away for not converting to "Christianity" it's not murder, it's righteousness and showing you're a good follower of Christ?

Oh please.

I am SOOOO glad the moderate Christians have FINALLY spoken up en masse against this bullshit hatemongering rhetoric. And I hope they nail the game sponsors, La Haye and his cronies, and the Publisher to the wall. (No sense nailing them to a cross---they already think they're on one.)

*snorts in disgust and derision*

(Yeah, I'm pissed off tonight---don't mess with me. And I stand up and firmly applaud the REAL Christians who are trying to expose this game, and the mentality behind it, as "pseudo-Christian hatemongerers masquerading as the real thing.")

[Alex]

I don't know about you guys, but I'll be boycotting the hell out of this game. Not because of the christian content, though.................because it sounds as lame as it gets. Lamesaurous Rex.......Darth Lamer.........Capain Lamerica.............Lameiochi..........Lizzame... ...........Lamewad..........gay.
As lame as it is, i can think of lamer.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/42/Aquaman_battle_for_atlantis_gamecube_cover_scan.jp g/250px-Aquaman_battle_for_atlantis_gamecube_cover_scan.jp g

[Solaris]

I don't know about you guys, but I'll be boycotting the hell out of this game. Not because of the christian content, though.................because it sounds as lame as it gets. Lamesaurous Rex.......Darth Lamer.........Capain Lamerica.............Lameiochi..........Lizzame... ...........Lamewad..........gay.


I was with you up until that last word.

What's lame about being gay???

:evilangry

[Solaris]

I got to get one of those games.Cause if they recall all of them,then I'll have an collector item. So let's all get one so we can all have an collector item!! Right?

No.

Let's put it this way:

Would you buy a videotape of Osama Bin Laden, even if it was to become a collector's item, if you knew the money was going to him and his terrorists?

[hoffmandu]

I was with you up until that last word.

What's lame about being gay???

:evilangry

Nothing actually, let me edit that for content. ;)

[Paul McEnery]

Or, of course, they could just do the logical thing, and if they don't like it...

DON'T BUY IT!

Nah, can't have that, can we? Gotta stop everyone else from buying it too!

Religious morons.
Bob Averill, is that you?

[Solaris]

I ever tell anyone im addicted to the Left Behind movies?
And i wait for the day when kurt cameron rises from the dead and takes me to heaven.


I thought it was Mel Gibson who was supposed to rise from the dead...

:p

[Alex]

I was with you up until that last word.

What's lame about being gay???

:evilangry
He's using it in the deragatory, not reffering to actual homosexuals, that is common in videogame circles. This is not pronunced as the normal word, gay, but in fact sounds more like guy. Such as, "It's so guy." or "I am so guy for that guy." As such, he means no offense and is actually posting in character!

[Solaris]

Nothing actually, let me edit that for content. ;)

Hokey dokey... you just calmed the savage beast. :)

(I've had a helluva day, and I'm in full BITCH mode tonight. Arrrgh.)

PS---Thank you. I'm sorry I'm coming in with full guns blazing.

[Alex]

I thought it was Mel Gibson who was supposed to rise from the dead...

:p
Mel Gibson abandoned me for heathen aztecs.
He can go straight to hell, with all the jews.

[Mike Pothier]

Y'know, I'd actually buy the game if somebody created a mod that would allow you to kill everyone as the Zerg.

[Solaris]

Mel Gibson abandoned me for heathen aztecs.
He can go straight to hell, with all the jews.


I think you're in need of an exorcism...

*calls Jim Bakker*

:D

[hoffmandu]

Hokey dokey... you just calmed the savage beast. :)

(I've had a helluva day, and I'm in full BITCH mode tonight. Arrrgh.)

PS---Thank you. I'm sorry I'm coming in with full guns blazing.

Understandable, having a bad week myself. Sorry to offend, it wasn't intentional.

[Solaris]

Understandable, having a bad week myself. Sorry to offend, it wasn't intentional.


Really, it's okay. :) Go read my "I have to RANT" thread, and you'll see why. I haven't seen you around before, so just so you know, this "friend" stayed on our property without paying rent from late July until mid-November, even though us soft-touches kept telling him we couldn't afford to keep TWO houses going. Argh. We finally got another friend, who's into property management, to handle it for us, and be firm when needed. We thought it was all straightened out... till now. (See thread.)

Anyway, I'm in a "take no prisoners!" mode tonight, and I humbly and sincerely apologize for jumping all over your ass for a simple remark which you have corrected so politely and kindly. :) Pax? :)

[TheTen-EyedMan]

http://more4news.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/gunsandgod.jpg

"Repent or eat hot lead bitches!!!"

[hoffmandu]

Wait a minute here, is Kirk Cam dead? Or is he just symbolically dead having starred in lamer than lame christian flicks?

[Smoogis]

I ever tell anyone im addicted to the Left Behind movies?
And i wait for the day when kurt cameron rises from the dead and takes me to heaven.

www.wayofthemaster.com

My roommate and I spent hours one night looking at that website. It's...hilarious in a way. A sad way.

BANANA!

[Grazzt]

Jesus can't go it alone, though.

http://static.flickr.com/34/98981114_e5db654d7c_o.jpg

[TheTen-EyedMan]

Jesus can't go it alone, though.

http://static.flickr.com/34/98981114_e5db654d7c_o.jpg

Nuns with guns....NRA PORN!!!!

I have to do this.

http://www.oakdalegunclub.org/illos/charlton_heston2.jpg

"IT IS MY GOD GIVEN RIGHT TO MASTURBATE TO INAPPROPRIATE PORN. YOU WILL PRISE MY PENIS OUT OF MY COLD, DEAD HAND!"

[Sanagi]

So far, nobody's ever made a good Christian video game. Perhaps because video games, as virtual worlds created solely to make us feel good, are essentially heaven, and thus incompatible with any world-view which encourages putting up with an imperfect world in order to reach heaven at a later date.

Or perhaps because shameless faith cash-ins always suck. Also a plausible explanation.

[PatrickG]

So far, nobody's ever made a good Christian video game. Perhaps because video games, as virtual worlds created solely to make us feel good, are essentially heaven, and thus incompatible with any world-view which encourages putting up with an imperfect world in order to reach heaven at a later date.

Or perhaps because shameless faith cash-ins always suck. Also a plausible explanation.

Well, I'd say MMORPGs come close.

Isn't World of Warcraft about putting up with an imperfect world so that you can acquire stuff, make money, lord over people and beat up the races you blame for everything that's wrong in the world?

City of Heroes probably comes the closest. You work your way through an imperfect world to sit at the top and help people out from a point where you're no longer really very relevant. Level 50 is kinda like being a Catholic saint.

I suspect a puzzle game like Tetris or something like Pokemon would be the best model for a Christian game.

I do vaguely recall seeing an ad for a Christian/religious NES game company in a Dobson publication when I was a kid. There was a platform game where you played Moses and led the Jewish people out of Egypt, Lemmings-style. And I think there was a Contra-style game set in the end times.

Hm. Now that I consider it, I could see a game working if it was like Resident Evil except without weapons and with very limited options for force where the objective is, say, to elude your Roman pursuers and preach the gospel while being mindful of enemy traps and temptations and also being aware that some people can't be converted. And you could build up faith points to perform miracles which also raise your threat meter, GTA style. Imagine a Sierra-style RPG with Wes Craven style camera work and a suspense subplot. Maybe a branching plot where you can either have a family or be hermetic and have to protect your people while avoiding bad behavior, which raises your sin meter.

And so you have a scenario where the game is like GTA with more RPG.mystery than violence. And you have two concerns instead of one:

1) Your threat meter makes you a target of the Romans.

2) Your sin meter measures the purity of the life you lead and can bar you from getting proper prophecy/miracles/guidance from God.

[Sanagi]

And so you have a scenario where the game is like GTA with more RPG.mystery than violence. And you have two concerns instead of one:

1) Your threat meter makes you a target of the Romans.

2) Your sin meter measures the purity of the life you lead and can bar you from getting proper prophecy/miracles/guidance from God.
If you put in a sin meter it will be the best part of the game, and people will play it just to see how sinful they can be. You might as well make The Picture of Dorian Gray: The Videogame.

[BlairH]

He's using it in the deragatory, not reffering to actual homosexuals, that is common in videogame circles. This is not pronunced as the normal word, gay, but in fact sounds more like guy. Such as, "It's so guy." or "I am so guy for that guy." As such, he means no offense and is actually posting in character!
Guy? Over here in Scotland's gaming cliques it's pronounced more like "ghei" or even "geh!" (as in "meh! That's geh!")

[BlairH]

http://more4news.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/gunsandgod.jpg

"Repent or eat hot lead bitches!!!"
Jesus prefers .50 cal sniper rifles!
http://theoldbill.typepad.com/photos/images_of_jesus/jesus_gun.jpeg

and AR15s and 1911s
http://eyeofthestorm.blogs.com/photos/uncategorized/jesus_gun.jpg

[PatrickG]

If you put in a sin meter it will be the best part of the game, and people will play it just to see how sinful they can be. You might as well make The Picture of Dorian Gray: The Videogame.

You could make the sins all pretty lame though. Stuff like lying or cheating on taxes.

Or you could make them decadent but make them unpleasurable to watch. So you cheat on your wife or covet, for example, and you get flashes of damnation or, say, your wife in tears while her father and brothers kick the crap out of you and toss you into the desert to die and you have to spend half an hour crawling back to where you left off. (Kinda like death in warcraft. Sin as a timesink penalty.)

[TheTen-EyedMan]

Jesus prefers .50 cal sniper rifles!
http://theoldbill.typepad.com/photos/images_of_jesus/jesus_gun.jpeg

and AR15s and 1911s
http://eyeofthestorm.blogs.com/photos/uncategorized/jesus_gun.jpg

Sacrelicious.

[JerrBear81]

What other way can you enjoy them?
The last one was like Growing Pains meets Iron Wolf meets Airforce One.
Amazing, just amazing, and yet, still better then any movie by Uwe boll.
That's Qoutable!

[JerrBear81]

As lame as it is, i can think of lamer.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/42/Aquaman_battle_for_atlantis_gamecube_cover_scan.jp g/250px-Aquaman_battle_for_atlantis_gamecube_cover_scan.jp g
Oh you know you love and cherish that game!

[JerrBear81]

Y'know, I'd actually buy the game if somebody created a mod that would allow you to kill everyone as the Zerg.

Someone should start a list of mods for this game.

[BlairH]

For some reason the guy that plays Desmond in LOST (Henry Ian Cusick) reminds me of Jesus...

[Sanagi]

You could make the sins all pretty lame though. Stuff like lying or cheating on taxes.

Or you could make them decadent but make them unpleasurable to watch. So you cheat on your wife or covet, for example, and you get flashes of damnation or, say, your wife in tears while her father and brothers kick the crap out of you and toss you into the desert to die and you have to spend half an hour crawling back to where you left off. (Kinda like death in warcraft. Sin as a timesink penalty.)
Sin just isn't sin if it's less fun than being pious.

[Magneto_X]

I believe the game in question was discussed here a while back, so I couldn't find the thread.

At a press conference today in Phoenix, Arizona, a coalition of progressive Christian groups called for the recall of the hate-based video game Left Behind: Eternal Forces. (http://www.politicalcortex.com/story/2006/11/28/132922/70)

Reading the article, these guys sound like good eggs. I hope they get more of a voice in the mainstream media to counter the wingnuts.

While I'm laughing at this I actually think the Christians who are boycotting this have the right idea. The Left Behind is nothing more then literary masturbation for those insane Christians who believe in the Rapture. Those guys are frickin nuts!

[Magneto_X]

Given the game's Christian devotion, your goal is not to wipe out the enemy as in a typical RTS game but to convert as many neutrals and baddies as possible by raising their spirit level. You seek out these people and directly target the ones you want to save with the recruit ability. If all goes well, he or she will soon be turned into a friend in either a Ned Flanders-like sweater ensemble or a sensible skirt and pumps. These drones can then be sent to training centers for instruction in their new Christ-inspired careers. Soon you've got builders turning abandoned buildings into resource-producing venues, such as food-making cafés and money-making banks, as well as soldiers patrolling the streets. You also have special forces, such as recruiters, influencers, and healers, doing their bit for the cause.

Sounds like virtual Scientology. lol

[Magneto_X]

and yet, still better then any movie by Uwe boll.

At least Boll's movies have random nudity in them. That's gotta count for something!

[Magneto_X]

So far, nobody's ever made a good Christian video game. Perhaps because video games, as virtual worlds created solely to make us feel good, are essentially heaven, and thus incompatible with any world-view which encourages putting up with an imperfect world in order to reach heaven at a later date.

Or perhaps because shameless faith cash-ins always suck. Also a plausible explanation.

Maybe it's because hell and hell-themed games (i.e. Soulreaver, Doom etc) are more interesting backgrounds to play around with---plus they give you an infinite combination of locations and enemies while heaven is just peaceful and boring (unless they seriously alter it to make it interesting like Vertigo's Lucifer, Battle Pope and other angelic based novels/comic books) . From a creative POV.

[Magneto_X]

Hm. Now that I consider it, I could see a game working if it was like Resident Evil except without weapons and with very limited options for force where the objective is, say, to elude your Roman pursuers and preach the gospel while being mindful of enemy traps and temptations and also being aware that some people can't be converted. And you could build up faith points to perform miracles which also raise your threat meter, GTA style. Imagine a Sierra-style RPG with Wes Craven style camera work and a suspense subplot. Maybe a branching plot where you can either have a family or be hermetic and have to protect your people while avoiding bad behavior, which raises your sin meter.

And so you have a scenario where the game is like GTA with more RPG.mystery than violence. And you have two concerns instead of one:

1) Your threat meter makes you a target of the Romans.

2) Your sin meter measures the purity of the life you lead and can bar you from getting proper prophecy/miracles/guidance from God.

I'm not even a gamer and I think that sounds cool!

[Sanagi]

Maybe it's because hell and hell-themed games (i.e. Soulreaver, Doom etc) are more interesting backgrounds to play around with---plus they give you an infinite combination of locations and enemies while heaven is just peaceful and boring (unless they seriously alter it to make it interesting like Vertigo's Lucifer, Battle Pope and other angelic based novels/comic books) . From a creative POV.
You're onto something here. Make a game where you're an angel travelling through hell to kill every last demon, and ultimately, Satan. Then the Doom fans and the righteous will finally be able to agree on a game to play.

No deathmatch, though. Angels don't fight each other, and allowing the players to be demons would be too much fun.

[Sanagi]

Incidentally, the concept of virtue and sin was explored in game form in Ultima: Quest of the Avatar. Guess what the most fun thing to do was? Go around killing people, laugh at your plummeting virtue scores, and push reset.

When you're in a virtual world, doing bad things to see what happens is just too fun. Why put moral choices in a simulation unless you're going to do what you wouldn't do in real life?

Come to think of it, the ideal Christian video game would be Eden: The Game. You'd sit in the garden and do nothing except name animals and be unaware that you're naked. Unless you eat the apple. But God said not to!

[K'Nort]

I ever tell anyone im addicted to the Left Behind movies?
And i wait for the day when kurt cameron rises from the dead and takes me to heaven.

They made more than one??

[Magneto_X]

They made more than one??

There is a sequel. Perhaps a third, too.

[Spike-X]

There is a sequel. Perhaps a third, too.
"Still Left Behind"

"Left Behind III: Yep, Still Here..."

[PatrickG]

"Still Left Behind"

"Left Behind III: Yep, Still Here..."

Don't forget the "indy" "homage":

"Lefty and the Behinds"

[K'Nort]

"Still Left Behind"

"Left Behind III: Yep, Still Here..."

"Right Behind You"

[Super Hero Guy]

Didn't the Simpsons have a joke involving Rod and Todd playing a game almost EXACTLY like this? You'd get attacked by brown people wearing turbans and you'd have to keep pressing a button until you converted them (when they would transform into a suit and tie). I swear it was called Billy Graham something...

[Michael P]

Didn't the Simpsons have a joke involving Rod and Todd playing a game almost EXACTLY like this? You'd get attacked by brown people wearing turbans and you'd have to keep pressing a button until you converted them (when they would transform into a suit and tie). I swear it was called Billy Graham something...
Yup. It's even mentioned in one of those links.

Bart: "I got him!"
Rod: "Nah, you just winged him and made him a Unitarian."

[Solaris]

Don't forget the "indy" "homage":

"Lefty and the Behinds"


Are you sure it's not "Left in the Behind"?

:D

[Jeff Brady]

Are you sure it's not "Left in the Behind"?

:D

The Special "Stuck in the Closet" Edition.

[Michael P]

Are you sure it's not "Left in the Behind"?

:D
Porn needs to make this happen *now*.

[Kirayoshi]

Left Behind II:
LEFT BEHINDER!

Can't say that I ever read the books, but I did read non-partisan reviews that pretty much called them both bad writing and bad theology. The overriding theme according to the reviews is that "God is a Republican". Plus the fact that any time one of the protagonists gets into a life-threatening situation due to some PIS, God will show up and pull his/her fat out of the fire. Which makes it impossible to build up suspence!

[Mike Smash!]

Didn't the Simpsons have a joke involving Rod and Todd playing a game almost EXACTLY like this? You'd get attacked by brown people wearing turbans and you'd have to keep pressing a button until you converted them (when they would transform into a suit and tie). I swear it was called Billy Graham something...

Billy Graham's Bible Blasters!

[Chris N]

Billy Graham's Bible Blasters!


Convert the heathens!

Got him!

No, you just winged him and made him a Unitarian.

[Cephus]

Actually, that's what a boycott is: an organized, publicized mass not-buying of a product.

It's not just not buying the product yourself, it's trying to coerce everyone else into not buying it as well. Fortunately, boycotts usually backfire, the more they whine about something, the more people go out and buy the product so in the end, it's good for the company to have controversy surrounding what they produce. It certainly never hurt Last Temptation of Christ or Grand Theft Auto, did it?

[Iangould]

It's not just not buying the product yourself, it's trying to coerce everyone else into not buying it as well. Fortunately, boycotts usually backfire, the more they whine about something, the more people go out and buy the product so in the end, it's good for the company to have controversy surrounding what they produce. It certainly never hurt Last Temptation of Christ or Grand Theft Auto, did it?

The game company is probably hoping they'll make it into the next "Passion of the Christ".

"Next on Fox: It's a computer game based on a best-selling series of Christian books, find out why some liberals want to ban it."

Bill O'Reilly: "So what these progressive secularists are saying is it's already to play Grand Theft Auto and kill prostitutes but you shouldn't be allowed to play Left Behind and convert them to Christianity."

[Mike Smash!]

It's not just not buying the product yourself, it's trying to coerce everyone else into not buying it as well. Fortunately, boycotts usually backfire, the more they whine about something, the more people go out and buy the product so in the end, it's good for the company to have controversy surrounding what they produce. It certainly never hurt Last Temptation of Christ or Grand Theft Auto, did it?

The author of "Atheist Universe", David Mills actually took the time in his book to thank the Christian fundamentalists who protested his favorite TV show, "Married..with Children" early on in its run.

He says that it's original ratings weren't all that great, but the notoriety and controversy created by their protests made the show into a hit that lasted for ten seasons. Mills basically says, "thanks for saving my favorite show".

[Dizzy D]

Incidentally, the concept of virtue and sin was explored in game form in Ultima: Quest of the Avatar. Guess what the most fun thing to do was? Go around killing people, laugh at your plummeting virtue scores, and push reset.

When you're in a virtual world, doing bad things to see what happens is just too fun. Why put moral choices in a simulation unless you're going to do what you wouldn't do in real life?

Come to think of it, the ideal Christian video game would be Eden: The Game. You'd sit in the garden and do nothing except name animals and be unaware that you're naked. Unless you eat the apple. But God said not to!

"You have clicked the apple. Are you sure you want to exit Eden? Any souls you haven't saved, will be lost. [Y]/N."

Nah, anybody making that game wouldn't have enough sense of humour to do that.

[Spike-X]

Bill O'Reilly: "So what these progressive secularists are saying is it's already to play Grand Theft Auto and kill prostitutes but you shouldn't be allowed to play Left Behind and convert them to Christianity."

Except it's not progressive secularists calling for the boycott, it's actual Christians.

[Dreadstar]

WOOHOO!

Another boycott I can join in on without actually having to, y'know, join in on it.

That's like 2 in a week.

Quick! Somebody start a boycott on Celine Dion albums!

[Grazzt]

On the topic of religious gaming, has anyone ever played Afterlife (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afterlife_%28computer_game%29)? Best religious game ever!

[Michael P]

It's not just not buying the product yourself, it's trying to coerce everyone else into not buying it as well.
Well, yes. That's where the publicity angle comes into it.

And, y'know, they're entirely within their rights to do so.

[Winslow]

WOOHOO!

Another boycott I can join in on without actually having to, y'know, join in on it.

That's like 2 in a week.

Quick! Somebody start a boycott on Celine Dion albums!

She's French-Canadian.

In the spirit of Freedom-Fries, I say we boycott her albums.

On topic: Most "pop-culture stuff" aimed for the Christians audience isn't very good. I think music is the only exception.

[Michael P]

On topic: Most "pop-culture stuff" aimed for the Christians audience isn't very good. I think music is the only exception.
No it isn't.

[Agent Helix]

Satan has much cooler bands.

[Matt Algren]

No it isn't.
It's gotten quite a bit better in the past few years, but there's still a lot of crap out there.

[Winslow]

No it isn't.

If your only exposure is the stuff you hear on Christian radio, then you're right, but not completely informed.

[Matt Algren]

If your only exposure is the stuff you hear on Christian radio, then you're right, but not completely informed.
Winslow's right (again). Christian radio is focus grouped to death, and aimed at 40-year-old, Christian women. From an interview (http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/cms_content?page=879107&sp=1002) with Andrew Peterson (http://www.andrew-peterson.com/), the best Christian lyricist no one's heard of:

What you hear on Christian radio is not representative of the music that’s being made today. There are Christians creating great music with real beauty and depth, telling how their lives have been ruined in the best way possible by the love of God. Their art is speaking this so powerfully, but Christian radio will never play it. Christian radio has too much power over what the audience hears. I’m not trying say there is no good music being played on Christian radio . There is. But I have a friend who wrote a great song about resurrection and Christ, and there’s a line in the chorus that contains the word “sad.” And because the word “sad” was there, their label would not let them put this song on a record because the song would never make it as a radio single.

[Justin D.]

Except it's not progressive secularists calling for the boycott, it's actual Christians.

Which is I think why Ian had Bill O'Reilly has the one who said that. Little jab at his utter lack of doing any research for most of his topics. There was a sketch on Saturday Night Live recently that spoofed this (http://youtube.com/watch?v=IqPJszTW3KQ). Actually, they did again a couple weeks ago where they slammed O'Reilly much harder for this, but I can't find that clip anywhere.

[Iangould]

Except it's not progressive secularists calling for the boycott, it's actual Christians.

When have mere facts stood in the way of The O'Reilly?

[StoneGold]

Incidentally, the concept of virtue and sin was explored in game form in Ultima: Quest of the Avatar. Guess what the most fun thing to do was? Go around killing people, laugh at your plummeting virtue scores, and push reset.

When you're in a virtual world, doing bad things to see what happens is just too fun. Why put moral choices in a simulation unless you're going to do what you wouldn't do in real life?
If done right though, it can affect you. Case in point, Knights of the Old Republic. Some of the things you do on the Dark Path are so abhorrent, I actually felt bad for my virtual victims. Felt tormented on destroying them so I could get those extra dark side points. Actually felt better about myself when I went through the game the second time as a light sider.

[PatrickG]

No it isn't.

Allan Heinberg is a homosexual Jewish atheist and he likes Contemporary Christian music. I started listening to Derek Webb because of him.

[Mike Smash!]

When have mere facts stood in the way of The O'Reilly?

They stand in his way all the time, he just chooses to ignore him. :)

[K'Nort]

If done right though, it can affect you. Case in point, Knights of the Old Republic. Some of the things you do on the Dark Path are so abhorrent, I actually felt bad for my virtual victims. Felt tormented on destroying them so I could get those extra dark side points. Actually felt better about myself when I went through the game the second time as a light sider.

Who are you and what have you done with Stonegold?

[Cephus]

Well, yes. That's where the publicity angle comes into it.

And, y'know, they're entirely within their rights to do so.

Yes, they certainly are, and I'm within my rights to think they're assholes for doing it.