Re: Looking for an Olympia-like game

From: madcentral@aol.com (MadCentral)

Date: Wed, 05 Jun 2002 14:52:39 +0000

>>P.S. As a Christian I have trouble playing in games where you summon
demons or worship gods, which it seems EVERY fantasy empire building
game out there has in it. <<

Its an interesting point.  I'm a Christian too, by the way and I MAKE games
with demons in. <g>

I once had a complaint about one of our older games, Necromancer, from a
Christian, who said he was dropping out and accused me of being Lucifer's
agent.  Given that Im a Christian too, I was somewhat put out by that, and I
marched straight down to my church.  (URC, for those who are interested.)

I asked the minister for his opinion on the matter and he asked to see the
turns, rulebooks etc and have the hobby explained to him.

After about half an hour the minister said, "oh, I've seen this before, its
like that Dungeons and Dragons game."  I agreed that it was.  The minister then
told me that his nephew played dungeons and dragons all the time and that he
felt it was no more a tool of the devil than tiddlewinks.

He even went as far as to include a mention of our discussion in his sermon on
Sunday, pointing out the dangers of misinterpreting the bible through fear and
ignorance.

Now, Im very aware that there are plenty of ministers who would take a
different view.  We were lucky to have a savvy fellow like that at church.
Nevertheless, I've always felt he was right.  I don't believe that PRETENDING
there is such a thing as demons for the purpose of a fictional game is the same
as worshipping false idols or cavorting with the powers of darkness.

Surely, anybody who thinks that a game with demons in its fictional background
is evil must also think that a movie that features, say, Native Americans, or
African Witch Doctors, or indeed ... zombies... must be evil?  They're not the
powers of god either, after all.  I dont believe that enjoying any form of
fiction in any way represents my necessary belief or worship or agreement with
those powers in the real world.

I respect every individuals rights to their own beliefs.  Im not knocking your
beliefs, which you have every right to hold.  I may indeed burn in Hell for
enjoying Dawn of the Dead on DVD, and then you'll be the one who's laughing. ;
)  I just thought it was an interesting point and wanted to respond.

Steve T.

References

Re: Looking for an Olympia-like game
miteke@yahoo.com (Michael Kelly)
Wed, 05 Jun 2002 14:06:39 +0000