Here's something you don't see every day. MTV posted an interview with Tom Bean, the CEO of Digital Praise. It's a developer dedicated to making christian-themed versions of popular games. So far, their catalog consists of titles like the DDR clone Dance Praise and the recently released Guitar Praise, but there's a possibility that they could venture into GTA territory.
When asked if the company would open to the idea of developing a GTA-style game without all the negative aspects people identify the series by, Bean had the following to say:
"There are a number of games that are out in the marketplace, and some of them have been derided for their content as being inappropriate for kids or inappropriate in general. And the thing that people don’t readily recognize is that some of these games are popular and are successful because they’re really fun; people have sometimes gotten distracted from the fun of a game by some of the content that’s in it."
He goes on to state that, while they don't have anything currently in development, they have been looking at open-world designs and trying to determine if they can make a fun game that is both fun and positive using that framework.
Apart from how thrilled I am to hear someone in the Christian community admit that the games are fun despite their content, his comments raise an interesting question. It's no secret that much of the appeal from Grand Theft Auto comes from the freedom you have to be as bad as you want to be. But would it be possible to create a sandbox game that lacks those elements and still have broad enough appeal to justify the expense of developing it?
I'd really like to see someone try.
[Via MTV Multiplayer]
Conrad Zimmerman is Destructoid's News Editor and home to the busiest mustache in the gaming press. An amateur historian and pop culture fanatic, Conrad possesses a nearly limitless wealth of videogame factoids and a passion for the power of games to teach, inspire and entertain. He enjoys reading, writing and turning things which should be fun into work.
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Contest:
9:10 AM on 09.25.2008
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8(D)For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap (E)corruption, but (F)the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.
9(G)Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we (H)do not grow weary.
10So then, (I)while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the (J)household of (K)the faith.
Galatians 6:7-10
that's exactly what this developers games are doing. They are a mockery of GOD!
It'd have to be a little over the top. There'd be a Navi sort of Angel character that protects innocents from harm. Or maybe make the main character a master of suggestion. He'll convince drivers to get out of their car, Jedi Mind Trick style. Guns are replaced by some sort of energy power that incapacitates, but never kills.
Also, the hero would probably have to be a cop, fireman or other rescue or civil servany type.
The hardest part of the game is getting people to let you inside. It will be like Oblivion, where you have to do the minigame to make them like you
Once you do get in, it's like The World Ends with You, where you have to pick the right things to say to them to get into their brain.
The more you convert, the higher your level, and the cooler your suits and bikes are.
I thought the exact same thing. All I heard when reading this was "Give a little love, and it all comes back to you..."
Except, when he puts the homeless man in the convertible with the girls, they would be driving off to choir practice.
How about instead of all this back and forth, someone FINALLY builds a game where the 'good' deeds are equal in fun and playability as the 'evil' deeds, and where doing one takes away the ability to do it's counterpart, making the final choices a even swing at morality?
Why not? Because doing good is easy on a day to day basis, drive politely, help others, etc... But being bad is something you can only do in a video game with out having some remorse, unless of course your a kid that has been taught to blame everything he does on something else (i'm looking at you English car bomber kid). The moral conservatives should look upon games favorably, allowing the behavior we abhor in society to be vented upon soulless pixels, not each other, and instead uphold the idea of personal responsibility.
Guess the message should be "Stop blaming games people, it's getting old."
BEEG AMERICAN TITHES
[/Roman]
Spiderman 2 (The movie game) had some great open world ideas that weren't fleshed out. I've never played it, but Crackdown seems to have a similar open-world theme, and you're fighting crime, instead of making it.
I dunno. I think a "Christian" game would fail, but a game with a Christian character, that really explored how that character developed in times of trial, could be entertaining and enlightening, to both Christians and Non-Christians, if it was well done. Like anything.
No no, that's the Jehovah's Witness GTA.
I'm assuming that they're just talking about doing a sandbox game. There's no way it'll turn out any better than the Left Behind game, though. I wish we could hear more from Christian developers who work on proper, big-name games. You know, the ones who probably aren't parasitically leeching off mainstream ideas.