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Biblically Themed RPG Discussed
Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to an RPGRadar interview with the creators of biblically themed PC RPG Eon Of Tears. This title, which the makers stress is not "..an edutainment title or a game under the pro-Catholic banner" is set to "show known events in a new, fantasy light." The main concept behind this early-in-development Evillusion-developed RPG is that the player will "...get a shot at the biggest events in the Bible: unleashing the ten plagues of Egypt, seeing the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, leading the conquest of Canaan, or performing some of the miracles as Jesus Christ", and it's intended that your game actions affect your playable characters - "..a player that acts evil most of the time won't get to play Jesus, but Judas instead, or a Pharaoh's troop commander instead of Moses."
This seems like a pretty lame idea to me. I just can't see how it would work. Christians will probably be offended, and non-Christians probably just won't be that interested.
I didn't know Ned Flanders was even interested in computer games.
Now, what does it take to become the biblical figure 'Lot' and have my hot daughters get me drunk and have sex with me in a cave.
What? Don't call ME sick, its in the bible!
Photos.
This'll never work. We already know what happened.
And people still don't get it.
The message on the other side of this sig is false.
10. Hey buddy, stop whining that you can't come back! Resurrection only happens in the Hindu RPG.
9. Wow! I just found the flying-nun habit! Now I can fly over the mountains.
8. That does it, I refuse to play this anymore; it does not fit with Baptist doctrine.
7. "That wasn't Lot's wife. That was MY wife!"
6. Quick, tell me. Is a gander a goose, or another species? I've got to fill this ark right away
5. Way k00l, if you can walk on it, water is no obstacle anymore.
4. Who turned everyone in this domain into pillars of salt?
3. Ark of the Covanent does 56 points of damage
2. Who died and elected you Pope?
1. I didn't kill you; I just sent you to Heaven
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
But I'm more of a 6-week-Roman-orgy & throwing-christians-to-the-lions kind of guy. I guess I won't be Jesus either... but hey - who wants to (relive) wander(ing) around in the desert with a bunch of nerds...
--
"we live in a post-ideological world..." - Billy Bragg.
... a player that acts evil most of the time won't get to play Jesus...
So if you go into the temple to open a can of whoopass on the moneylenders, is that good or evil?
mods metamodded as "Unfair"
If you play evil, and are cast as a minion of the Pharoah or as Judas... do they let you win?
If so, I am all over this game.
There are no trails. There are no trees out here.
The comment about doing evil things preventing you from playing Jesus makes me wonder: how many Jesuses were they planning to allow?
"I'm a 10th level Jesus, just got my first disciple! How do I get him to go aggro again?."
Sig under construction since 1998.
Oh, so they want to "show known events in a new, fantasy light."
For a lot of people, that's not a "new" light in which to view events like the parting of the red sea, the Creation, etc. etc..
The Bible is a collection of stories gathered over thousands of years, some drawn from different cultures and myths of earlier religions. The different elements of the Creation story are almost all drawn directly from the Creation myths of cultures that existed long be Judaism. Some of them certainly had some basis in fact, somewhere along the way... but not most.
No, the Song of Solomon is not about Jesus' loving relation to the Church. It's poetry that was included because of its cultural value. No, there was no flood that wiped out ALL LIFE on Earth except what was in Noah's boat (though there may have been a big flood).
I have no problem with people seeking wisdom in the Bible; there's a lot of stuff in there, and some of it is bound to be helpful. Jesus (from what we can tell) had some interesting ideas.
Ah, that's enough ranting. Anyway, I can't imagine a way to cast this game to make it acceptable to any mass audience. People tend to be very specific about their faith -- and some will be offended by the idea that some gamer can play Jesus, some will be offended by variations in the game from the "official" script, and some will simply shy away from religious overtones.
There are only 10 types of people: those who understand decimal, those who don't, and, uh, 8 other types I forget.
As a personal note I was raised Baptist, Trained Catholic ( Jesuit schools) Ordained Anglican, been a boardmember on a few Methodist churches and commities. OK now that I have established some of where I am coming from :
First the above post is not flamebait.
Second it is self-contradictory as he complains that a game such as this trivializes the Bible ( which I agree) and then says "The rest of the bible is unprovable".
Thirdly There is the suggestion that Christianity has devolved ( vis his suggestion of the same for islam) I belive this to be true from his perspective but while chritianity had gone through many changes Christianity has not, rather it is the fullfillment of Judaism. as Jesus never claimed to be a Christian but did prove Himself to be ha Moshiach ( the Messiah, in greek the Christ).
Finally Now the games/ gaming company itself. This company seems to be playing up on the heretical "Word-Faith" movement, who have brought us such memmorable tennants as the bible code, and belive it be it. As with any mythos there is a lot that can be explored, my issue with it is that quite honestly people are easily confused between myth/fantasy and reality/truth in story telling, and that it guises itself in a veil of truth while being false.
With that i think I will start my first log entry feel free to drop by my page here on slashdot later today or early tomarrow to see it and comment.
Fortunately I wont let my Karma run over my Dogma
Bad Panda! No Bamboo for you! In matters of importance ACs will not be responded to. Want to say something critical,OK
"show known events in a new, fantasy light."
I thought it was all a fantasy anyway?
a player that acts evil most of the time won't get to play Jesus
So if I act really, reealy Evile(tm) can I play Satan?!
Market that option in the game and I'm sure sales will go up.
Lets see, we've had Black & White, and the upcomming Jason vs Freddie sounds a lot like Jason vs. Goliath. So are we looking at the next big gaming hit here: "Satan vs. Jesus" ?
"Engineers do the work of man, Physicists do the work of God"
The biggest problem is going to be people who get angry at the idea of changing or trivializing the bible, as seen in other posts. The reason for this is that games like this one seem to give no more credance to the Christian bible than most people would to stories about the siege of Troy. The developers of this game are (probably) about as concerned of Lucifer in hell or God in heaven as they are of being blasted by Zeus for not pouring libations.
Once you get past the idea that it might or might not be real, Christian mythology is filled with plots that can be taken and turned into darn good yarns or games.
This game seems alright. I think I'll get a copy.
Hoist Number One and Number Six.
This entire concept leaves this image in my head of Ranier Wolfcastle as Jesus with a machine gun and flamethrower shouting in ancented English "Ressa-a-rect me nooow you da-ty coooomie pharose!"
"Your superior intellect is no match for our puny weapons!"
Just today I was thinking that there is supposedly a tree of life (not the one Adam and Eve ate from, the 2nd "uber-tree") still growing in the heaven. Why not make a futuristic shooter with Deus Ex-style nanotech and cool weapons? In it you will go to the heaven to take the tree of life by force from God, fighting all sorts of scary angelic creatures (seraphims, cherubs, etc.). Sounds like a winning idea to me...
Future Wiki -- If you don't think about the future, you cannot have one.
In Poland someone wrote a game called Ja Jestem (in polish) (I am) based on biblical stories. It is non-violent adventure game in polish, and it was sold in more than 10000 copies (at least producers says so). The game had poor reviews in newspapers, but i haven't heard any Christian who would be offended by the idea (some of them were offended by quality of the game).
I found the scripture I was looking for.
... in a very brutal and terrible way.
Psalm 137, verses 8 and 9. From the NIV:
8 O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction,
happy is he who repays you
for what you have done to us-
9 he who seizes your infants
and dashes them against the rocks.
In context, it's a little better than I remember it being. My recollection was that this was supposed to be the word of God, or at least the word of a prophet. Instead, the Psalmist is retelling a story of how the Jews' captors tormented them and asked them for songs of joy, and how they had no songs of joy, because they were in exile. Their only joy was in hoping that someone would someday avenge them
I was brought up to believe, "All scripture is inspired by God and beneficial for teaching," etc (2 Tim 3:16, give or take translation). So, it was easy for me as a young adult to read this and be horrified that the Psalmist was inspired by God to wish for the death of the Babylonian infants.
I maintain my belief that the vengeful God of the OT is no model for any kind of morality.
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