Gospel gaming
I've been somewhat busy over the last week or so preparing to run an interesting gaming session tomorrow evening--a game using the Lord of the Rings RPG. What makes this game session somewhat unique is that a couple pastors from a local church will be attending. They'll be there to observe an actual gaming session, as one of the players is interested in using games in a ministry at said church.
I'm not sure how it'll go; I'll report after the session tomorrow evening. This has caused me to give a lot of consideration to the question of how and if games might be used as evangelistic or discipleship tools. It turns out I have somewhat strong feelings on that topic, but they'll have to wait until later.
In the meantime, I'd better get this adventure finished up.
Comments
Valerie and I were in Lake Geneva with her grandparents a few weeks ago, and I saw a gaming store. I thought it would be the 'Rail Baron' type, but it turned out to be the 'D20' type. Anyway, Val was noticing right away how the slightly nerdy, definitely noncool young adults who were showing up that Saturday afternoon for a brisk session of gaming formed a community like anything else, and she thought it would be a natural area for evangelism. Whether starting a gaming group at a church is the way to do that, I'm not sure; the problem is how to deal with the fantasy element in a responsible way, especially with respect to the fears about occult connections a lot of Christians have. Of course, the same people think Harry Potter is evil but Gandalf is okay, so I don't know what that really ends up meaning.
By the way, I just applied to Calvin. Probably Mike Bolt or someone will end up there - not even sure I would take it if offered at this point in our lives, but all you Calvin alums definitely make a good impression on me!
Posted by: KDC | November 19, 2003 12:42 PM
Wow, it'd be quite cool to have you in the west Michigan area! Keep us informed as to how that works out.
As for gaming, you bring up some good points, especially regarding the "responsible use of fantasy." In this case, the Lord of the Rings game was chosen partly because, despite a small minority out there that feels otherwise, most people don't consider it to have much in the way of occult trappings. This particular game also has a pretty strong morality/heroic system built into the game system intended to encourage Tolkien-style noble heroics and show the consequences of bad moral decisions. It's not the world's most realistic or elaborate morality gauge (there are other games that go into more detail with that sort of thing), but it does bring the question of moral choices into the game in a way that is pretty easily grasped--and it lends itself to potentially meaty post-game discussions about the way characters behaved (or should have behaved).
Posted by: jrau | November 19, 2003 12:53 PM
This is such a cool idea, Andy. I really hope it goes well... though I don't understand what's so unChristian about using gate to conjure a demon from the fiery pits of hell to destroy that pompous LG paladin...
Posted by: pcg | November 19, 2003 2:15 PM
Are you thinking "evangelize *via the game*," or "socialize during the game, and evangelize on the side"? Like setting up a basketball game at a church and evangelizing around that.
The latter would be far less problematic. The former, I don't even know how I'd begin to address that.
Posted by: Ed | November 19, 2003 2:25 PM
I don't know about evangelism, but "role playing" in general has been an effective tool for believers figuring out how to deal with certain aspect of life. The very question, "What Would Jesus Do?", is a form of role playing--putting ones self in the shoes of another. Sometimes it can help understand a problem and possible solutions without the difficulty of being personally involved.
But that's just my take...
Posted by: pcg | November 19, 2003 2:42 PM
Ed,
I don't know exactly how the ministry would be run, assuming it gets started; the player, not I, would be the one organizing and running it. We've had some talks about how it might be done, but I don't know what exactly he'll be doing--he's the one who's been doing all the talking to his pastors. I do hope to be involved in future brainstorming about it, though. For now, my job is just to run a short demo game for the pastors, one loosely based on a Biblical concept that would lend itself well to a post-game discussion session (not too difficult, especially in the heroic fantasy genre).
I'll post more once the demo is over and I know a bit more where his ministry idea is going. As for my opinions about the use of games in ministry, that's something I'll save for a future post. But I think if God is truly putting it on this player's heart to do something different, we should support and encourage it... who knows what God could use to change somebody's life?
Posted by: jrau | November 19, 2003 6:48 PM
You know, I just happened across this thread on the Forge... http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=8756
It's about Narrativist gaming being about "urgent choices."
If you look at it that way, good evangelistic gaming is probably a subset of good narrativist gaming.
Now that I think about it.... My Life With Master is really about redemption, and in some ways, Sorcerer is about damnation (or close encounters with damnation, and the reasons that it is avoided)...
Neither of those games is likely to make a good first impression on someone looking for an evangelistic tool, unfortunately. :)
Posted by: Ed | November 20, 2003 4:28 PM
Interesting, Ed. I like the ideas you're getting at. I suspect we'd have similar approaches to the idea of RPG evangelism--it would be fun to talk them out in person, but that's probably not practical. At any rate, I'll be posting more thoughts in the next few days and look forward to hearing your take on the whole deal.
Posted by: jrau | November 20, 2003 9:35 PM