Left Behind
Remember that series of Left Behind books, the novelization of the book of Revelations? Did you know that they actually made it into a computer game? If you’re surprised by that, maybe you should sit down, because they have actually just released a sequel to the computer game. Apparently, the people are clamoring for more!
I’m not sure exactly who is clamoring or why, because the first game was not received well. And not just because of the premise. As this review on Gamestop said,”games are typically based on outlandish ideas, so it’s unfair to dismiss this one based on religious grounds.” The beginning paragraph of the review sums it up nicely, though:
Don’t mock Left Behind: Eternal Forces because it’s a Christian game. Mock it because it’s a very bad game. The real-time strategy/adventure game from Left Behind Games based on the best-selling series of novels from Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins will even let down born-again types who expect the Rapture to beam them up to heaven any day now. Nobody has enough faith to endure a game with such a hokey story, terrible mission design, serious problems with the interface and graphics, and loads of crippling bugs.
I don’t really have high hopes for Left Behind II, but something caught my eye in the press release. Left Behind Games, Inc. says, “Rather than the usual ‘winning’ by using weapons and killing the enemy, players are rewarded when their characters use the power of influence to bring about good rather than destruction.” That is the method of gameplay, as you may have already seen from the Gamestop review, and as described on the company’s website. (Warning: for some reason, a woman’s voice reads the first paragraph content aloud when you click.) It just seemed a little strange to me that the press release also described “skirmish battle multiplayer maps.” Skirmish? Battle?
The release also says that
[CEO Troy] Lyndon’s personal view is that the approach incorporated in all of Inspired Media games can help to counteract the violence affecting gamers, who have acted out aggressively in real-life.
I’m so tired of this. Yeah, yeah, maybe some kid who played Grand Theft Auto ran into a pedestrian in his parents’ car, and maybe some kid who loved to watch pay-per-view wrestling hit his brother in the head with a chair. But what if some kid who loved Superman jumped off his garage roof—so no more fictional flying? What if some kid who wanted to be just like the Little Mermaid and drowned in the backyard pool—no more fairy tales? We can hurl anecdotes at each other all day and never get anywhere. The fact is, the set of people who commit acts of violence does intersect with the set of people who play video games, because lots of people play video games. There are also many people who do violent things who do not play video games. One does not categorically cause the other.
I’m dismayed, but not surprised, by this idea that killing the enemy in a game set upon a fictional premise is very bad, but a brainwashing crusade is totally great. (From the Gamestop review: “your goal is not to wipe out the enemy as in a typical RTS game but to convert as many neutrals and baddies as possible by raising their spirit level. … [Units] steadily lose spirit unless they’re bolstered with regular prayer.”) I mean, sure, you’re not wielding a gun, but it’s still awfully aggressive! The fact that even they describe it as a “skirmish” and a “battle” betrays their knowledge of this. And if you start from Lyndon’s premise that people emulate what they do in video games… well, I’m glad hardly anyone will be playing this one.
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