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I'd like your input...

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-Eberhardt-
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I am currently waiting on game art/play-test dates for my other games, so I put together a game concept and am coming to the BGDF community to see how this may be received due to it's theme/nature before taking this to the groups locally I play-test with.

Again, this is a sensitive topic as it deals with religion. If you find the topic offensive or close to core value please skip over this post as it will or could be offensive and/or upsetting to you and that is not the goal.

The game is NOT based on real life faiths rather colors (Pink, Blue, Green, Yellow). There are no Icons on the face of the cards, but the back of the cards each display a Sun with an Arrow to point at your target which is a game mechanic.

Religious themed game for 2-4 players (18+ y/o audience), that consists of 54 cards and 30 plus tokens. The objective is to either eliminate the opposing factions or have the most followers within a certain number of rounds. The four factions each have the same cards with the exception of 3 unique cards. Each card is imbued with positive and negative attributes that affect the player that uses them.

I am cautious about putting up the cards here out of potentially offending others, but will put up a link, if there is an interest.

Honest input would be appreciated, before I hand this out as I want to push limits but not offend play-testers.

Thanks

Soulfinger
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What is the offensive part?

What is the offensive part?

Also, who are you worried about offending? Will reasonable, informed people by offended, or are you imagining the people who engage in evolution/creation debates online? In the latter case, that's just a stratum of society who enjoy being offended regardless of their political or religious affiliations.

Personally, the thing I find most offensive about "religious" type stuff is when the creator diffuses misinformation owing to their ignorance of the subject matter. This is something true of both secular and non-secular materials. I'm tired of asexual Puritans, evil crusaders, and pop culture depictions of Galileo's trial. Damn people, you don't need a degree in theology, but at least take a college level history course.

-Eberhardt-
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SF

SoulFinger:

In a conversation with my family (wife, brother and parents) it appears that the incorporation of religion as a war game for religious followers is a fopa.

Per your questions, will reasonably informed people be offended, no; however after conversations that some people will take this too seriously and try to attribute it to a main stream or real religion.

The cards focus on killing followers to gain advantage, protecting your followers and recruiting/stealing additional followers.

The four factions are: War, Subterfuge, Recruiting, and Blend. This only affects 3 of the cards (23%).

AdamRobinGames-ARG
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Send me the Link

I'll be more than happy to see if it's offensive. I have a similar concern about my Biker Bar Brawl game. I'd like to see how you handle it. You're not going to offend me. I can see if my wife would want to look at it too. She is generally more sensitive toward religious, cultural and racial matters.

Soulfinger
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Meh. Sounds pretty tame, like

Meh. Sounds pretty tame, like the old Populus titles for the PC but without the divine intervention aspect. There are several board games pitting the followers of various deities against each other, so nothing you've shared so far really makes it any more objectionable than say, Age of Mythology. It's certainly no Playing Gods. I doubt it would ever get enough mainstream traction to meet the audience that your family is concerned about, and even then, the objections would be more politically-oriented than religious, and those people already have Playing Gods, Blasphemy or, Inferno to chew on. It's not quite the same political climate as when Metagaming released a microgame entitled Holy War, so it may be wise to avoid terms like "jihad". Even Playing Gods had a generic "terrorist" instead of outright calling him Mohammed.

-Eberhardt-
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@ Adam

Just sent you a link to the cards at 25% cap. If you can't read them let me know. Thanks. :)

-Eberhardt-
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@SoulFinger

You may be right to me it seemed very tame but to have some react like that I was concerned.

Goal is not main stream for this game. :) It's more for a experiment.

I do have the words "Holy War" on 4 of the cards but have avoided "Jihad" "terrorist" as this is not geared for specific religions.

Chad Russell
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Religious theme

Just wanted to mention quickly that i enjoy your artwork for Splat, the duck and diver. As for a game of conflict of religious beliefs, i find it odd to be offensive if you would recreate a conflict of faiths that have occurred in history.
But as you have stated your "factions" are fictitious it would seem to be less of a problem, but just as an opinion. It doesn't seem that your idea is telling someone their belief is wrong or that they should have malice toward others. As Soulfinger suggested, there will be those who will look for a fault to be offended.

danieledeming
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I have to agree w/Soulfinger

I have to agree w/Soulfinger yet again - the majority of people that are going to get offended are going to find a way regardless of what you do to prevent it. You're obviously taking it into consideration and maintaining a sensitivity to pre-determined social norms as far as 'acceptability'.

In addition to that, your best strategy is probably to avoid historical events and make the game entirely fictional, possibly even setting it in a different time period (distant future?) and place. If you wanted to go even further, avoid any parallels to actual events or religions, that way there's nothing for the offended to grasp on to.

***EDIT***

So, I didn't even think to include my personal experience with the game I'm working on right now!

My game is entitled "Druids" and deals with the 6th-7th century conversion to Christianity of ancient pagans in what would be modern day Ireland (the Celts). While it deals with religion, I haven't had to worry much about creating offense both because (I think) the particular events I am using are not as widespread and emotionally charged as many other current religious issues, but also because I have made sure to research heavily and employ that research in my game, referencing actual dates, events, etc.

As yet, I've received no negative feedback - from a religious standpoint, anyway :)

Good luck with the experiment!

Soulfinger
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I was giving this topic some

I was giving this topic some thought. One option is to make all of the factions insects while retaining all of the religious trappings. The use of animals and insects in allegories is well established and generally goes over the heads of people who are readily offended (at least until someone else instructs them to be offended). It makes for a fun theme too since the players can represent the hive minds that are worshiped as gods, which also physically influence the thoughts and behaviors of their followers. Playing around with the symbolism, parallels, and metaphors could make for a fun theme.

Personally, I'm a huge fan of Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun, in which a holy man communes with a god who exists outside of his people's established pantheon. This is a huge spoiler for anyone interested in reading the series, but it turns out that the human beings are on a giant spaceship and all of their gods are computer programs, the digitized personae of the ruling family who dispatched the ship. These are themes explored by other sci-fi authors, but none quite so elegantly as Wolfe. I think it would be a great setting for a game.

Anyways, you would be quite fortunate to provoke people with your title. That's free advertising from people who weren't going to be your customers anyway. Religious fundamentalists and militant atheists are like a revolving door. The more one half of that group denounces something, the more the other half will sweep around to embrace it. Ultimately, it's the same market segment, and the controversy serves to provide exposure to more level-headed consumers.

Sliverik
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It's a very interesting theme

It's a very interesting theme for a strategic board game.
I don't know if you have seen it yet, but there is a quite recent computer game named Cults and Daggers (on steam). It's about spreading your religion while preventing the other player's religions from getting too much fame.

For your question, I'd say that if the game presentation makes it clear what it is about (religion, etc), the players will be ready to handle with it. And as most people said already, the theme is not offensive by itself... only some people can be offended by it, but they would be even if you tried to make it more public-friendly than it is.

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