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[unsilentwill]

Lets keep this to games. Which is an amazing question, is it possible to portray the concept of spirtual forces in a games? Usually this means that your stick glows green and is therefore spirtual, but that is so awful.

Games are based on programming, determined set of rules and actions. But that's only noticed with predictable npcs or invisible walls, which makes emergent gameplay somehow more exciting. What is the best way to have actions that affect the player in a way that they occur as more personal invention. Besides the neato Sleep is Death approach (imagine playing animal crossing while your friend plays Black and White in the same world), how could the supernatural work in games? Some ideas I've had are use of glitches, non-visible morality, or secret actions that allow for the impossible.

[Dacke]

It is relevant to discuss the concepts. Unless you agree on the meaning of the terms you are using, any discussion tends to become meaningless.

Sankar, I see what you mean about spirit. Depends on what you put into that word, I guess.

The problem with illustrating something supernatural:
If something is noticeable in any way or has any effect on the world what so ever, it is part of the natural world and consequently not supernatural. So if you want to show something supernatural, you have to take the perspective of someone who is outside the natural world.

[gabison]

Unless you agree on the meaning of the terms you are using, any discussion tends to become meaningless.

This is so true. I realized that my last post was phrased in terms a bit too philosophical and with subtle but important nuances which makes them different than what people usually think.

No, not all religions require one/more supernatural being(s). At the core, Buddhism denies any "over there" being; also the Religion of Humanity, invented by August Comte (a founder of sociology). It all boils down to what people understand by "religion" and even today there are dozens of definitions

Speaking of nuances, I have observed that I thought the thread is about "religion" games and yet it's about "religious" games. Biiiig difference but I think games can be made in either direction. Just find a conflict and build around it and you can specify any credible or incredible context.

As long as you're willing to sacrifice mass liking of your game, you can pick any religious single idea from any religion and make a game around it. And for each idea, you'll get 100 times more people hating it because somehow the game offends their own implementation of that same idea. Religion and sex are the two curious parts of human psyche which gets them so worked out over details that they hardly can "play" with concepts other than their own.

Which makes designing "a religious game" such a hard enterprise 

[Sankar]

I believe religion-inspired materials are hard to do because its hard to make a religious game, or a religion themed game, without turning into "propaganda".

If you are a christian, and you really believe in the Bible, then your game will be a propaganda game, because you think Christianity is "the right" path and you'll try to convince people to follow it too. This isn't a criticism by my part, by the way. It's obvious that if you believe that something is true, and it makes you happy, you'll try to share it with everyone

But if you make a game with some christian values, like "don't steal", "don't kill", then it's not really a religious game, its more of a "moral values" game. Religion has a set of rules that you either agree or don't.
Our society has forced so much Christianity into people's head, that even when some people disagree with major things in the Bible, they don't “ignore” the religion, they try to live by their own interpretation. Usually ignoring big parts of the book.


Now the concept of GOD, or any other “Omnipresent” Powerful Deity who is able to manipulate the “rules of nature” is pretty common in Games.

God HATES Mario. Cause no matter what the little plumber do, things always screw up and he is always being forced into saving the day. God can't allow Mario to get a cake in the castle, nor have a nice vacation. Mario can't even look at the stars without needing to travel the whole universe.

Since Games are created by people, and people have the power over the characters to write anything. Then the presence of a God in Games is very common, we manipulate these lifeless characters. When we push too much, we create “Deus Ex Machina”, that most people (including me) hate.

[William Broom]

Forget Christianity. Someone needs to make a religious game based on Nuwaubianism. Play as a racist black crusader who fights against ancient aliens, robots from inside the hollow earth, armies of aborted fetuses, and every white person on the planet (since they are all devils).

[Tumetsu]

Forget Christianity. Someone needs to make a religious game based on Nuwaubianism. Play as a racist black crusader who fights against ancient aliens, robots from inside the hollow earth, armies of aborted fetuses, and every white person on the planet (since they are all devils).

That almost sounds like a religion made from game...