DefCon's campaign against "Left Behind" game gives it more publicity
Personally, I don't see why simulated religious violence is inherently worse than any other kind of simulated violence, and find DefCon's campaign misguided and not remotely connected to their stated purpose of defending the U.S. Constitution.
UPDATE (November 23, 2007): DefCon has announced that its funding has run out, as pointed out by vjack at Atheist Revolution.
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A statement from Left Behind Games CEO Troy Lyndon:
Focus on the Family, Concerned Women for America, Women of Faith, Outreach Magazine, National Network of Youth Ministers and Promise Keepers are just some of the organizations that support LEFT BEHIND: Eternal Forces, a PC game. Read below to find out why…
This is the world’s first high-quality inspirational game which intends to model positive behavior by discouraging physical warfare. Our game is the first game ever to encourage the use of prayer and worship as the most effective means to resolve conflict. Physical warfare is discouraged as the least effective means for resolving conflict…and a gamer loses points for using a gun.
In the past several days, numerous people have been and continue to spread misinformation about the game.
Our game does not encourage killing. Our game is not anti anything … it’s simply pro-Christian. The ultimate bad guy is the antichrist who wants to eliminate all faiths and all religions, except his. He is deceiving the entire world.
Our game does not teach the pre-tribulation theology of the book series, except that this worldview is utilized as a fictional backdrop of the game.
In an industry which creates so much gratuitous violence and gore, LEFT BEHIND: Eternal Forces presents a healthy alternative. We need your help to get the word out!
PLAY THE GAME and find out for yourself that this game is about the battle of good versus evil.
Here is what some are saying about the game:
The Anti-Defamation League, although they speak out against the book theology, says “Conversion to Christianity in the game is not depicted as forcible in nature, and violence is not rewarded in the game.”
AOL says it is a “Positive Moral Message.”
Focus on the Family says “The kind of game Mom and Dad can play with Junior.”
Concerned Women for America says “A game we can wholeheartedly recommend!”
Wired Magazine, “Few are as ambitious and polished as this PC title.”
ArsTechnica.com, “This is a game that Christian parents can buy their kids, and one that Christian kids can play themselves without any guilt about "questionable content."
Women of Faith says that in an industry that is full of destruction with no hope, the LEFT BEHIND game provides a healthy alternative.
Clint Thomas from Chaos Theory says, “For years we’ve been telling kids what to run from and not what to run to, until now!”
Should you have any concerns about this game, please go to the contact us page on our website at www.leftbehindgames.com and we’ll do our best to connect with you.
Sincerely,
Troy Lyndon
Co-founder, CEO
Left Behind Games Inc.
Troy:
It's a lousy game, promoting a bogus worldview, with lousy theology. And its inspired by authors who wrote crappy books (see Slacktivist's commentary) and who are hypocrites about violent games.
Nobody should buy this piece of crap--but not because Wal-Mart caves in to pressure groups, rather just because it sucks on so many levels.
This statement is posted from an employee of Left Behind Games on behalf of Troy Lyndon, our Chief Executive Officer.
There has been in incredible amount of MISINFORMATION published in the media and in online blogs here and elsewhere.
Pacifist Christians and other groups are taking the game material out of context to support their own causes. There is NO “killing in the name of God” and NO “convert or die”. There are NO “negative portrayals of Muslims” and there are NO “points for killing”.
Please play the game demo for yourself (to at least level 5 of 40) to get an accurate perspective, or listen to what CREDIBLE unbiased experts are saying after reviewing the game at www.leftbehindgames.com/pages/controversy.htm
Then, we’d love to hear your feedback as an informed player.
The reality is that we’re receiving reports everyday of how this game is positively affecting lives by all who play it.
Thank you for taking the time to be a responsible blogger.
Troy: I've deleted your duplicate comment, which you've posted three times at this blog (twice on this post and once on another).
I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't use blog comment spam to get your point across. Further, I'd rather keep the comments relatively free of monologues.
I just read the Ars Technica review, and was interested to see that the Left Behind includes bad arguments against evolution among the "essays" between levels. Not surprising, considering that "Left Behind" co-author Tim LaHaye funded the start of the Institute for Creation Research.
Jim, I wrote the C.E.O. a letter concerning this spam. At first I thought it was a neat comment until I did a search and found out over 9k of people got the same comment!
Hey, with so many people having an opinion about this game, how many have actually played it? And what credibility do they have? Focus on the Family has publications which can set the record straight for everyone…at http://www.pluggedinonline.com/thisweekonly/a0002989.cfm
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