Accept Christianity or else!

[bundy]

I will take christanity in most of times. I am going to be defender of faith!

 

[Shakes]

If your not a religious person it's a little like this: Imagine being a hardcore democrat and having to play as Bush in charge of a redneck/neocon America. It just doesn't feel right.

I think that would be a laugh a minute. Whether the developer made a game intentially funny or not, it would be.

 

[Aedwild]

Just a game, indeed. I'm an American, but I don't always play as one. I'm male, but I don't always play as one. I'm not much for war, but sometimes I start them just for fun.

How should religion be any different? I think that it has added a great deal of realism to the game. Religion has been responsible for a great many of the conflicts/genocides in our history.

Bingo! Here is someone who gets it... Once again, the rational human shines through....

Anyone else projecting their real life into the game or identifying with the game's play elements is just a little too wierd for me. Freud I am sure would have a field day with that. Do other American declare war a lot because our country recently invaded Iraq.

 

[tad_tad]

Once again, the rational human shines through....

I swear, there are at least seven or eight of us using the internet!

Anyone else projecting their real life into the game or identifying with the game's play elements is just a little too wierd for me.

Yuh-huh! If you start wars because you think that real wars are fun to start, you probably need help. If you start wars because it's fun to squash the AI or other players, I'm all for it.

 

[Novaya Havoc]

This is kind of a touchy subject, but does anyone else who is actually a Christian (in real life, that is) kinda feel obligated to go for Christianity and bypassing the other religions? It's probably one of the easier ones to get if you choose more pratical techs in the beginning and worry about religion later. But I've gotta say, if I've got a choice between Christianity and one of the other religions as my state government I generally pick Christianity.
Does anyone of another faith feel the same way about choosing their religion in the game?

Nah. For me, it's way too much work to switch over to one of the later religions. I stick with my first one (I go for Hinduism) and then monopolize on that.

I try to found the later religions first, so I can keep them contained and just go to town on the older religions. Honestly, I don't see the point of converting your state religion to Christianity/Islam/Taoism/Confucianism ASIDE from personal preference. There is no real incentive -- it's a lot easier to stick with Hinduism or Buddhism... maybe Judaism.

-B

 

[Karnak]

If your not a religious person it's a little like this: Imagine being a hardcore democrat and having to play as Bush in charge of a redneck/neocon America. It just doesn't feel right.

I am a Liberal athiest and I have no problem with that. I have played many Civs that way. It is fun to do other things.

As for the religions, well, I try to get kind of appropriate religions for the culture, but as the Egyptians last night I was beaten to everything before Islam and I crippled myself going for that one.

Still learning the game. I did the tutorial, but most of that was more basic than I needed.

 

[Myartar]

I had Judiaism as my state religion the other day and was trying my hardest to keep Christanity from spreading in my cities because my neighbors to the south (The Arabs) had founded it.
If that wasn't strange enough, I felt really odd when I caught myself mumbling something about wanting to destroy Christanity... I considered saying a Hail Mary just in case...

 

[Darth Gromit]

Personally, I'm a full on practitioner of Gardnerian (Celtic) Wicca. So, it's kind of fun to promote Hinduism (as the games only, and the world's historically most tenacious Polytheism). Many modern pagans incorporate Hindu concepts that fit into our broader spirituality anyway, so it felt like a great fit. held off on Monotheism and Theology specifilally to let the AI have Christianity and Judaism. I'm hanging on to Islam to spread later when I get another Prophet (my coven is Green Path, so I'll bet I'm gonna like seeing the little green moon everywhere - and besides, they're the best dressed missionaries in the game).

It was *very* gratifying to spread my little blue symbol to all of the cities and finally flip the leaders of America (Christian) and India (Judaism) into adopting Hinduism as their state religion. Imagining statues of Kali going up in town square, and Academies teaching the Rites of Inana to newlywed couples just down the street from the cathedral/synagogue is a hoot!

On the flipside, the Taoists (French) have started Yin-Yanging my cities like crazy, and I really don't mind. A) Their my allies and can use the extra cash and B) It'll help set me up for the switch to Religious Freedom. Truthfully I wish the others would do it too, then I could end up with 5 or so happy faces and +50% tech per city. I'm looking forward to that. Both for the bonuses and because I support religious variety anyway. Different people are at home in different faiths, and the game models that very well.

And playing Russia as the aggressively proselytizing world capital of Vishnu and co. is one of the great things about this version of Civ. It's a great stimulus to the imagination to play these scenarios out and fill in the backstory in our heads.

 

[Hentooth]

As I dont have the game yet, I can only imagine how the religion aspect affects it but I would love to mod it so certain religions have positives and negatives, such as one religion increases the population as it does not believe in contraception, another religion gives out bonuses to a peaceful religion as the people are happier and vice versa.

Its a shame some people would find this offensive. As many wise people have already said - It's only a game!!!

 

[Carthage Barca]

I am a christian, and yes I've found myself in the game trying to avoid the other religions. Usually I'll dodge founding hinduism and Buddhism, but I will found Judaism and spread it until Christianity is avaliable, anyone else find it weird that buddhism is usually founded before hinuism?

 

[Tactician Zhao]

Religions need modding, when I get the chance I'm gonna clean them all out in favor of Cthulhu and other mythos cults. Dont you want to be eaten last?

as you say this I am sitting here wearing my EoD shirt.. changing lives, one gill at a time!

 

[wilebill]

I happen to be a devout Christian, but that does not in any way influence what religion I would choose for my civ. My last game in Civ IV as the Americans, I discovered Judaism, made it the state religion, and did we ever clean up! Oy veh!

I only wish they had made the religions more individual in their effects and put in more of them.

 

[niffweed17]

I don't have the game yet, but I had given the issue of which religion to pick some thought. I, by the way, am an atheist. However, I still think that some of the religions are more accurate than others. If i had to rate them all:

Buddhism- mostly inaccurate
Christianity- totally inaccurate
Confucianism- not really a religion per se IMO
Hinduism- not enough knowledge to make valid judgment
Islam- totally inaccurate
Judaism- not enough knowledge to make valid judgment
Taoism- fairly accurate

Therefore, I was thinking about trying to develop Taoism as a religion. However, I would be satisfied with trying to develop any religion really, except Islam and Christianity, which i despise. However, the more i read about it, the more it seemed that developing an early religion was crucial, and with a quick look at the tech tree, judaism and hinduism both seemed like viable options.

 

[Seanirl]

This is kind of a touchy subject, but does anyone else who is actually a Christian (in real life, that is) kinda feel obligated to go for Christianity and bypassing the other religions? It's probably one of the easier ones to get if you choose more pratical techs in the beginning and worry about religion later. But I've gotta say, if I've got a choice between Christianity and one of the other religions as my state government I generally pick Christianity. In some ways I wish the game gave different traits for the different religions, but that would get Firaxis in a LOT of politically incorrect hot water.

Nah, I kinda feel like going for Islam for a laugh... though I might be less inclined to crush nations with Christianity... for liek... 5 seconds Smashy smashy!

 

[Unregister]

Just a game, indeed. I'm an American, but I don't always play as one. I'm male, but I don't always play as one. I'm not much for war, but sometimes I start them just for fun.

How should religion be any different? I think that it has added a great deal of realism to the game. Religion has been responsible for a great many of the conflicts/genocides in our history.

Exactly.


Games are a way to get away from reality and who you are. Just because your christian and you pick judaism as your religion in CIV 4 means your a bad christrian.

its like Tad_tad said...I'm not gonna go around shooting people like I do in counter-strike...games are meant to be fun, if you can't have fun with Civ 4 (because of the religion factor)...then thats kind of sad.



I think the religion in the game is very cool, and it sparks some cool conflicts with the AI civs, causing for tense relations...I just generally pick the religion my neighbors are, or whoever is winning in points/has a great military. I could really care less about the real religions.

 

[Darth Gromit]

It doesn't seem all that crucial that you stick with an early religion unless you spread it all over the place and build the Shrine. Even then, you can just spread around your new religion first, and then switch over in one turn of anarchy.

For instance, in the above example, I've started out with Hinduism, and spread it all over the world. The Shrine is getting like +30 gold per turn, and all of my cities get the build speed benefit of Organized Religion. But for 'historical flavor' and for little green moons, I'm going to let Islam take the title. At the very least, I would want to build the Shrine and spread Islam to all of my cities before switching, so that I retain the build benefit.

After this, the Hindu shrine would still be raking in 30 gold per turn, and the new Islamic shrine would build toward that. With the country industrialized, building scads of missionaries and moving them around would be no problem. Pretty soon I'd have two cities with +30 gold (and all econ improvements). If I'd thought about it this way when I started, there'd be no reason not to have 3 or 4 religious cities with their faiths spread all over the world (provided I had the shrines), and just let the cash roll in.

 

[Darth Gromit]

I happen to be a devout Christian, but that does not in any way influence what religion I would choose for my civ. My last game in Civ IV as the Americans, I discovered Judaism, made it the state religion, and did we ever clean up! Oy veh!

I only wish they had made the religions more individual in their effects and put in more of them.

Rock on! I think this is one of the best parts of the new game. Imagine the world with the Jewish equivalent of the Christian Coalition leading America and dealing with the Buddhist Party running British Parliament, for instance. Gives a lot of character to individual maps and conflicts and alliances, and that can make each game memorable and unique (rather than cookie cutter, like Civ 3 sometimes felt - until I found Rise and Rule).

I'm not sure about individual effects for religions, besides the obvious politcal issues, there's also the problem of certain religions not matching your gameplay style. Like with civics, I wouldn't choose "mercantilism" because I like International trade. I wouldn't want to shy away from a potential religion because it didn't have the right benefits. Besides I like the founding/holy city system the way it is. And whereas governmental policies feel right in a pick and choose fashion, religions being phenomena that develop and which you (as ruler) can assist in a mutually beneficial arrangement feels right too.

 

[Paradigne]

This entire thread has me ROFLMAO... I guess some of you people never played Dungeon Keeper?? I LOVED it, because I was the bad guy!!! What about KOTOR?? Never played the dark side???

I am in NO WAY saying religeons other than your own are evil, but if you can play "evil" in a game, why can't you play an alternate religeon???

 

[BrandonIT]

Just a game, indeed. I'm an American, but I don't always play as one. I'm male, but I don't always play as one. I'm not much for war, but sometimes I start them just for fun.

How should religion be any different? I think that it has added a great deal of realism to the game. Religion has been responsible for a great many of the conflicts/genocides in our history.

I don't disagree with your last statement, but the inverse of that is also true.

Religion has been responsible or the impetus for many of the great wonders, humanitarian, and civil actions in our time. I'd say the good usually more than balanced out the bad, even assuming you don't like religion.

I'd have to say I do feel a bit of guilt founding some of the other non-Judaic religions, but it's just a game. I'm not going to start praying to any other god just because his religion happened to pop up first on my screen.

Remember, it is just a game and has absolutely no bearing on my life, my faith, or my salvation. Or anyone else's.

 

[Jayblue21]

I'm a Christian and I like to study other religions as a hobby. When I first played I told myself I didn't care what religion I ended up with because its just a game! By chance the first I got was Christianity..completely random.. I thought wow thats kinda cool. For some reason as I played on I felt like I was full of the holy spirit, and I must carry out the lord's work! So I had a good time building tons of missionaries and converting the heathens! I noticed myself building plenty of Christian temples and ignoring the recommendations for any other religion as I laughed to myself.

Anyways I think religion is a great new layer of strategy. The next games I played I didn't care what religion I got, but it was fun to play out a religious 'hero' fantasy in that first game. That's what makes video games fun.