Christian videogames: Why are they so awful?

Question

This has applied for decades, incidentally. Why is it whenever someone decides to make a game with religious overtones, it throws gameplay and creativity out the window? Are there no righteous coders out there? Are all programming geniuses atheist? Or do the companies figure "Eh, grandmas will buy these because they have Biblical scenes on the covers, and give them as gifts to their dismayed grandkids. Why make an effort?"

(If anyone's truly desperate to see a selection of these, I'm sure I could dig up a few reviews)

I'm not talking about the aesthetics of playing Super 3D Noah's Ark *, incidentally, or any misgivings about introducing such themes into a game; more the fact that the games really are awful to play.

*Actual title

Evonne: It's a point, certainly, but there are many examples of games over the years where none of these things are present, and yet they're hugely successful. You could start with Pac-man, or Tetris, even the pokemon games; in fact Nintendo have a (ebb and flow) approach of trying to keep their games family-oriented. It's not necessary to make a game where you play Jesus clutching an armalite rifle to make it playable, so why hasn't anyone?

Answer 1

If I'm being brutally honest, the reason that christian videogames suck is that they're trying so hard to cram an agenda down your throat that there's no room left for character development or plot.
This is, of course, due to the people that either produce the games, or who want them produced. If someone approached RockStar Games with an idea for a christian free-roamer, it could be brilliant.
Or maybe Squaresoft for an RPG. But the ideas proposed by the agenda-setters smother any kind of creativity by not allowing suggestive nuance or detail. This is exactly the reason that most christian metal sucks too.

Answer 2

But why entertain the thought of killing; shooting, stabbing, blowing up stuff, running over people, dealing drugs, stealing, etc.?

I agree with what you are saying about all those great games that came out back in the good old days.
With the way the world is today, our children are easily led by those who create those violent games.
I still have my old Atari and the old Nintendo, but what kid today will find interest in it, without asking me for the Grand Theft Auto - San Andreas game, or Scarface: The world is Yours video game that has a lot of violence and adult content?
How can the good old games compete with the destructive games they have out on the store shelves?

I think the movie industry has the same thing going on.
It's like watching that old movie, "Breakfast at Tiffany's", then watch "Basic Instinct". What was shocking then does not shock us anymore.
I hope you can understand what I was trying to say...

Answer 3

I even have an thought. You play as an archangel a normal miasma-like presence is making angels fall without doing something, forcing God to make new ones. and you're able to stem the circulate of the presence before you fall too. i'm not a Christian and don't oftentimes supply advice to them, yet that's approximately video games for Pete's sake.

Answer 4

The purpose of secular video games is to entertain. Christian video games have an ulterior motive, with entertaining being a secondary objective. The same goes for educational games.

Answer 5

The companies that make video games for Christians don't make them "to make games." They make them to get a message across. The same reason that movie tie-in video games are bad. The main aspect they're going for is "recreating (or marketing) the movie" and not "having a good gaming experience."