cross blogging

theres a guy that i love to death - he's a genius, a serious God-lover, one of the best artists i know - someone i respect on many levels - he's got a blog you've gotta check out: www.bluekardia.com.

he's got an entry on some stuff about Christian video games that i had some thoughts on, so i posted a reply there, but here's a bit of the idea:

the idea of making "christian" video games is actually the reason i got interested in computers in the first place back in the early eighties. my first semester project was a computer animation (on a TRS-80 Model 3, so it wasn't terribly impressive - draws could only be done on a right-to-left, top-to-bottom order) of the Navigator's Bridge Illustration Tract. you know, the great gulf fixed between God and man and the cross bridges the divide.

i have seen some "christian" games in the past and thought, "cool, glad they're going there" only to then check out the game and be thoroughly unimpressed with the creativity, look and feel, interface, concept, etc. there's sadly very few examples of great "christian" movies (mel's may be the ONLY one i'd put in the "great" category). and games i fear are going to be in the same flow - why can't Christians go after all we do with excellence ("as unto the Lord"). don't create crap and then put God's name on it.

on the other hand, i think there is a lot of room for some movies and games to have a morally beneficial value that would never be accepted as "christian" movies or games because they are not overtly evangelistic. i think there's something to the truth that they taught us at Evangel College (way back in the day) that all truth is God's truth - wherever it is found. i know you can get whacked if you go too far with using that to justify doing stuff you shouldn't, but the fact that a movie or game isn't made by a "christian" label or company (whatever that is) shouldn't disqualify it from being seen as acceptable or even valuable.

so there. i hope they start doing some games (and movies for that matter) that are excellent on every level, and carry a message that encourages people towards finding God. that'd be awesome.

that's all i've got.