Sandra Dodd

I'm curious about this. I started to add it to my video games page,
but was wondering whether someone here (or more than one someone)
might be interested in looking through some of it and letting me know
what the Christian aspect of it is. Is it to help parents accept
gaming? Are games reviewed in terms of whether they're acceptably
moral to play?

(If no one feels like looking at it, that's fine too.)

http://www.christian-gaming.com/tag/super-mario-bros-3

I found it looking for a particular image from Super Mario Brothers 3
for an article on how my kids learned math that I wrote for a German
parenting magazine. The translator wrote asking for clarification on
something and I figured a picture would help. Kinda convoluted,
but that's okay. <g>

Sandra

Heather

Looks pretty good to me, after a quick review.

Here is their mission:
"The Mission of the Hardcore Christian Gaming Association is simple.
We are gamers, we are Christians. We have taken a passion that we have for
gaming and intertwined it with the passion we have for God. We won't preach
at you, we won't "convert" you (unless you want j/k) and most of all we
won't discriminate against you for your beliefs.
We are a refuge for gamers whether you are Christian or not. We are here to
provide anyone with the accountability, knowledge and equipment they need to
be successful in the gaming world without losing their witness. We have
bible studies, prayer meetings, donations and great fellowship
opportunities! Come join us here and get to know other passionate gamers."

I read the review of The Orange Box for 360. Pretty thorough review.
They rate the games on originality, gameplay, fun, graphics, and replay
value.
Then list the positives and negatives and warnings (language, violence,
gore)
The most unique aspect is their listing of the game's "spiritual content".

Here is their Warning Label for Orange Box and then its Spiritual Content -
........
Warning Label: Violence abounds- humans and aliens, with a fair amount of
blood and alien gore. A bit much for the kiddies. Some mild language and
alcoholic references.

Spiritual Content: None directly referencing God or the devil, but some
alien beings and zombie-like enemies appear demonic in the literary sense.
An apparent Russian Orthodox priest who has gone a little crazy slays
creatures in one town, referring to them as his 'flock'.

....................
I wouldn't be using their site for their bible studies or prayer meetings,
but I'd check it out for other game reviews.]
My son doesn't really like much blood & gore in his games.
It is pretty easy to find that info in their reviews...

heather


On Tue, Nov 18, 2008 at 10:00 AM, Sandra Dodd <Sandra@...> wrote:

> I'm curious about this. I started to add it to my video games page,
> but was wondering whether someone here (or more than one someone)
> might be interested in looking through some of it and letting me know
> what the Christian aspect of it is. Is it to help parents accept
> gaming? Are games reviewed in terms of whether they're acceptably
> moral to play?
>
> (If no one feels like looking at it, that's fine too.)
>
> http://www.christian-gaming.com/tag/super-mario-bros-3
>


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

alexandriapalonia

Their mission statement seems to cover it:
http://www.christian-gaming.com/our-mission

It's like "Christian Homeschoolers" -- an organization for a
particular subject overlaid with a particular (religious) worldview.

Andrea

> I'm curious about this. I started to add it to my video games page,
> but was wondering whether someone here (or more than one someone)
> might be interested in looking through some of it and letting me know
> what the Christian aspect of it is. Is it to help parents accept
> gaming? Are games reviewed in terms of whether they're acceptably
> moral to play?
>
> (If no one feels like looking at it, that's fine too.)
>
> http://www.christian-gaming.com/tag/super-mario-bros-3
> Sandra
>

Robyn L. Coburn

<<<<> I'm curious about this. I started to add it to my video games page,
> but was wondering whether someone here (or more than one someone)
> might be interested in looking through some of it and letting me know
> what the Christian aspect of it is. Is it to help parents accept
> gaming? Are games reviewed in terms of whether they're acceptably
> moral to play?>>>

As far as I can see it is a site aimed at young adult gamers whose numbers
according to a self generated poll seem to be in the large majority ahead of
a smaller group of teens. There seems to be a lot of discussion of
scriptures in the blogs. There are discussions about Christian living in the
forums, some of which shows some muddy thinking and irrational fears (IMO)
like in a Harry Potter thread that parents should "really talk through the
differences between HP sorcery and real life sorcery". !! Naturally it's not
a place for finding real information about Pagan practices. Apparently there
has been some hateful speech, because a notice has been put up threatening
more moderation, but I didn't see any in my fairly focussed thread title
looking.

There is a thread about whether games are "too violent" and while there are
variances in opinion, the most common theme seems to be the fairly
traditional "not too violent for mature/adult gamers - check the age ratings
before letting the kids play". So rather conventional.

I tried searching "parenting" and "children" but the search engine only
works on keywords so it was tough to discover threads. I went through a
bunch of pages of post headings before eventually quitting. In the end I
didn't find any threads dealing with allowing or encouraging or relaxing
about or forbidding children's gaming, other than the the violence thread -
but I only perused for a couple of hours.

As far as the reviews are concerned, they seem well written and thoughtful
to me! They focus on the gameplay and the quality of the graphics and the
level of fun and difficulty. If it weren't for the name of the site, I
wouldn't have thought "Christian" if only reading the reviews.

Robyn L. Coburn
www.Iggyjingles.etsy.com
www.iggyjingles.blogspot.com

Sandra Dodd

-=-It's like "Christian Homeschoolers" -- an organization for a
particular subject overlaid with a particular (religious) worldview.-=-

Right. Clearly.

My hope was that some who had time and interest could do a kind of
review of some aspects of it for the benefit of myself (deciding
whether to link it from

http://sandradodd.com/videogames )

and others who might want to go and read if they hear from others
what the benefit is. Maybe whether it's worth sharing with
conservative relatives who hate video games but love Jesus.... just
general info about what the depth of it is. I saw the surface.



Sandra

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Robyn L. Coburn

<<<< Maybe whether it's worth sharing with
> conservative relatives who hate video games but love Jesus.... >>>

My thought on this is that if you have younger kids, this site is not going
to help your relatives relax, but rather give them ammunition towards the
idea that gaming should be kept for when the kids are older or even grown up
entirely, and in any event in the meantime rigidly controlled to appropriate
age level content. For older teens, possibly yes in showing that it is
possible to enjoy gaming and still be a good Christian.

There was some debate over the accuracy of the ratings for some games
although overall there seems to be a relatively high level of trust in the
MSRP ratings system, with the debate leaning to the conservative. EG if it
says T for Teen, many forum users are likely to think it should really be M,
and restricted to a point. No one seems to think the ratings system is too
tough on games. However I couldn't find any posts suggesting that younger
gamers might be able to make their own decisions about the appropriateness
of the content.

Robyn L. Coburn
www.Iggyjingles.etsy.com
www.iggyjingles.blogspot.com

Sandra Dodd

Thanks Robyn and all those who took a look at that. I had one side e-
mail. I appreciate others checking it out for me.

Sandra

Karen

Sandra,

I've had a bit of a look through the site and as a Christian I give it
a high recommendation. I think it would be wonderful if you included
it in your video games page, because a lot of christians would usually
tend to look at sites like Focus on the Family, which are much further
down the conservative line. I think a site like this one is great for
showing that you really can be a Christian and enjoy hard core gaming.
It's a refreshing change and a helpful resource.

One quote from one of the articles: "I don't condone censorship..."

All in all, I think it would be worthwhile including on your webpage.

HTH
Karen A

--- In [email protected], "Robyn L. Coburn" <dezigna@...>
wrote:
>
> <<<<> I'm curious about this. I started to add it to my video games
page,
> > but was wondering whether someone here (or more than one someone)
> > might be interested in looking through some of it and letting me know
> > what the Christian aspect of it is. Is it to help parents accept
> > gaming? Are games reviewed in terms of whether they're acceptably
> > moral to play?>>>
>
> As far as I can see it is a site aimed at young adult gamers whose
numbers
> according to a self generated poll seem to be in the large majority
ahead of
> a smaller group of teens. There seems to be a lot of discussion of
> scriptures in the blogs. There are discussions about Christian
living in the
> forums, some of which shows some muddy thinking and irrational fears
(IMO)
> like in a Harry Potter thread that parents should "really talk
through the
> differences between HP sorcery and real life sorcery". !! Naturally
it's not
> a place for finding real information about Pagan practices.
Apparently there
> has been some hateful speech, because a notice has been put up
threatening
> more moderation, but I didn't see any in my fairly focussed thread
title
> looking.
>
> There is a thread about whether games are "too violent" and while
there are
> variances in opinion, the most common theme seems to be the fairly
> traditional "not too violent for mature/adult gamers - check the age
ratings
> before letting the kids play". So rather conventional.
>
> I tried searching "parenting" and "children" but the search engine only
> works on keywords so it was tough to discover threads. I went through a
> bunch of pages of post headings before eventually quitting. In the
end I
> didn't find any threads dealing with allowing or encouraging or
relaxing
> about or forbidding children's gaming, other than the the violence
thread -
> but I only perused for a couple of hours.
>
> As far as the reviews are concerned, they seem well written and
thoughtful
> to me! They focus on the gameplay and the quality of the graphics
and the
> level of fun and difficulty. If it weren't for the name of the site, I
> wouldn't have thought "Christian" if only reading the reviews.
>
> Robyn L. Coburn
> www.Iggyjingles.etsy.com
> www.iggyjingles.blogspot.com
>