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]
