Boycott Civ 4

[Till]

Wow! There sure do be lots of intolerant dunderheads casting aspersions about. Is Civ 4 some of y'alls religion? Next thing you know some of you will be telling the Thugees that they can't be strangling people and robbing them to worship their goddess Kali. Such intolerance.

Well, this be Civ Fanatics Centre...
If the Thugees stop their rituals Kali will return and woe be upon us.
Only a fool would tell them to stop!

 

[SuperBeaverInc.]

Wow, the guy is obviously a nut.

 

[juni_be_good]

I can understand that someone dislikes the way religions are used in this game. But what about Christianity ? How can he (or she) say that Civ4 is more anti-christian than anti-islamic or anti-buddhist ?

 

[Teg_Navanis]

I can understand that someone dislikes the way religions are used in this game. But what about Christianity ? How can he (or she) say that Civ4 is more anti-christian than anti-islamic or anti-buddhist ?

I guess we could only make him happy by giving christianity a clear benefit - after all, it's the only true religion... how about modding the game so that the spread of christianity will replace all other religions in a city (instead of just adding christianity). Along with a new victory condition (you win if all your cities are christian), this could make civ4 a really well-balanced game.


(psst: irony)

 

[kamigawan]

Okay. For anyone who wants to complain that cIV doesn't give Christianity any special treatment, two words:

Baba Yetu.

Not to mention about the entire medieval age.

 

[salty mud]

What a dickhead. Pardon me.

Was Muhammod a highway robber, a cheat and a murderer? If so, that dude/dick is, quite clearly stating, the Christianity is the best form of Religion. Dick

 

[Sahkuhnder]

Sid Meier not only Anti-Christian, but a liar, a cheat and a fraud.

So the author doesn't like how christianity is handled in a alternate reality pc game. How exactly does this make Sid a cheat or a fraud? Was the game advertised as strictly historically accurate or was it fully disclosed that accuracy would sometimes step aside to accommodate fun gameplay? Isn't this an alternate history game? Aztecs with nukes anyone?

 

[Jayhawk_Colin]

I'm a catholic and i find teh game in no way offensive. I'm suprised those guys dont love the game. They could go on a Gihad agianst the other religions and make Christianity the only religion allowed.

 

[Tephros]

He seemed mostly upset about what the civilopedia said about Christianity. But as other people on his board pointed out, the things stated about Christianity were accurate, though a little vague. It is in fact true that more bloodshed has come from and within Christianity than other religions. Perhaps recently we can attribute more blame to extreme Muslims, but historically, Christians have been much worse. You can't change history just because you don't like it. Of course this is ironic because Christ did say to turn the other cheek.... And later when holy wars were brought up the guy mentioned Saladin (along with his comments about Muhammad)... but Saladin was relatively merciful when he captured Jerusalem. He wasn't quite as nice as portrayed in the movie Kingdom of Heaven, but unlike the Christian crusaders, he spared the civilians and only killed the military personal in the city... which in all honesty is a logical thing to do. In contrast, the christian crusaders who previously captured jerusalem killed every muslim man, woman and child. The crusaders were horrible, hypocritical fanatics much like many people who have professed to be "Christians" over the years.

 

[Sahkuhnder]

Civ 4 manual, page 77.

We know that people have extremely strong opinions about religions - in fact, many a war has arisen when these beliefs collide. We at Firaxis have no desire to offend anyone. However, given the importance that religions have had in human development, we didn't want to just leave them out of the game altogether; instead we have tried to handle them in as respectful, fair and even-handed manner as possible. (All religions in the game have the same effects, the only difference being their technological requirements.)

There are seven religions in Civilization IV (testing having determined that seven is the optimal number for gameplay). When determining which seven to include, we picked those religions that we thought would be most familiar to our audience. We do not mean to imply that these religions are more important, better or worst than any other religions.

We offer no value judgements on religion; we mean no disrespect to anyone's beliefs. We're game designers, not theologians.

I think that sums it up nicely. If anyone did get offended it was unintentional and they went out of their way to explain that right up front.

 

[majk-iii]

I'd like to see the Cult of Isis replace Christianity in the game, just to see those guys heads exploding in rage!

Angry people will always be angry... about what is less important.

 

[Charles 22]

I said this in another thread, and I'll expand on it a little bit. I hate it when people rant like this BerlinFreeper guy is doing. If you think a game is anti-christian and you're offended by it, then you shouldn't buy that game; end of story. I know he said his wife reviews games, but like someone else said earlier, the man is just preaching to the choir. I guess he's just exercising his freedom of speech, but I still find it very annoying.

You're failing to see his point. It's precisely because he's preaching to the choir that he is saying it -because- he wants to warn them, etc. How can he warn them if he doesn't buy the game? This guy's opinion, right or wrong, is so valuable from his point-of-view, precisely because he "didn't" know it had those elements, because there was nobody to warn him, hence, he then sees a misison to warn the like-minded. I'm sure he knows, or will shortly, that such verbiage is wasted on the likes of those who don't think anything close to how he does.

BTW, my seeing his viewpoint to some degree doesn't mean I necessarily agree or disagree with him, only I wanted to point out some things you apparently didn't consider.

 

[Charles 22]

Just for my personal take of the game. There are elements in my mind that resemble thinking that is opposed to the general Christian worldview, such as the liberalism tech being some great boon in the game. Science closing monastaries is a load of rubbish too (as universities had their start through the monks, and indeed monastaries still exist today).

Other than those things I've pointed out on this board before that I thought this game was basically based on religion, though not so much Christian necessarily. I can't remember the last game I played that had so many quotes from the Bible as well as some very beautiful medieval monastic type music. Weighing the positives and the negatives therefore, particularly when comparing it to the general pc lot, I see no reason to assume it's anti-Christian, but more of a neutral.

 

[Tulkas12]

He seemed mostly upset about what the civilopedia said about Christianity. But as other people on his board pointed out, the things stated about Christianity were accurate, though a little vague. It is in fact true that more bloodshed has come from and within Christianity than other religions. Perhaps recently we can attribute more blame to extreme Muslims, but historically, Christians have been much worse. You can't change history just because you don't like it. Of course this is ironic because Christ did say to turn the other cheek.... And later when holy wars were brought up the guy mentioned Saladin (along with his comments about Muhammad)... but Saladin was relatively merciful when he captured Jerusalem. He wasn't quite as nice as portrayed in the movie Kingdom of Heaven, but unlike the Christian crusaders, he spared the civilians and only killed the military personal in the city... which in all honesty is a logical thing to do. In contrast, the christian crusaders who previously captured jerusalem killed every muslim man, woman and child. The crusaders were horrible, hypocritical fanatics much like many people who have professed to be "Christians" over the years.

A) The Moorish invasions were terrible as well.

B) In war you should clean out the previous inhabitants. Irl war should be so ugly that no one ever wants to partake.... ever.

C) THe last sentence in your quote worries me, is it accurate? sure. Is it a reason this guy is complaiining Civ 4 is anti-christian? Yep. All religions have their zealots. All religiongs (that have been around any time) have ugly pasts.
One of this guy's issues was how kindly Islam was described and how badly christianity was made out. I hear this. They both have ugly pasts. Your carte-blanche of the crusades shows some of chriostianities ugly past, but it ignores that Islam provoked the crusades and blah blah blah.

I'm just making the point that no one is really right about this crap anyways. You could talk for days and days about it and get nowhere. Let the man protest the game, I'm going to go play. I can't take any PC stuff seriously, had they described christians as evil, haneous, martians, I'd prolly conquer the world with them a few times .

 

[AvianAvenger]

I see no reason to assume it's anti-Christian, but more of a neutral.

The movie that plays each time you start a new level (the one about evolution) is a pretty big slap in the face to all religion's due to its ~this is how it Really happened~ type of deliverance.

Other than that i thought the religions were implemented quite nicely, but what they are lacking is a scienetology type religion, considering that a religion is just a system of shared beliefs... they need a system where disbeliefs can spread, i always hate it when the entire world is buddhist or hindu.. meanwhile im in the dead center with judism and about to get pummeled by all of them.

 

[Sahkuhnder]

The movie that plays each time you start a new level (the one about evolution) is a pretty big slap in the face to all religion's due to its ~this is how it Really happened~ type of deliverance.

What you seem to be complaining about is that they put science ahead of religion. Remember, this is a science and tech-advancement type game. I can't think of many religious discoveries that grant new technologies.

As you mentioned this is not strictly anti-christian, but simply, well, just putting science ahead of religion. If you consider that a slap in the face to you then that is of course your right to believe as you see fit.

 

[AvianAvenger]

What you seem to be complaining about is that they put science ahead of religion. Remember, this is a science and tech-advancement type game. I can't think of many religious discoveries that grant new technologies.

Not, Quite... i was just pointing out that the rest of the stuff that guy(not the guy i quoted) was ranting about seems fairly minor compared to that movie that plays at the dawn of time.

If you consider that a slap in the face to you then that is of course your right to believe as you see fit.

I never said anything about me getting slapped, dont make assumptions.
I am religious, but i couldn't care less... its just a fictional game to me that i enjoy playing, no different from a movie or book. If the game tried to make the claim that all contents were non-fictional then i might be a bit peeved off, but it doesn't so i couldn't care less.

 

[Zhahz]

all i can say is...LOL

i seriously bursted out laughing when i read that.

Agreed. The person who wrote that should be locked away before they hurt someone. Dangerously insane people should not be allowed to roam free!

 

[Sahkuhnder]

I never said anything about me getting slapped, dont make assumptions.
I am religious, but i couldn't care less... its just a fictional game to me that i enjoy playing, no different from a movie or book. If the game tried to make the claim that all contents were non-fictional then i might be a bit peeved off, but it doesn't so i couldn't care less.

If you consider that a slap in the face to you then that is of course your right to believe as you see fit.

I'm not assuming anything, that's why I started my statement with the word "If".

 

[Bill3000]

It's Free Republic. Why are any of you suprised?