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(Help in making God Game) Why Should God Want Followers If He is Powerful?


SilentScope001

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Um, this is all theortical at the moment, no game is actually being designed...but in the small case that it does, I got two questions to ask:

 

1) Is playing as an all-mighty god somehow "scarligeous" or "sinful"? I hope not.

 

2) In many God Games, God wants followers because Followers grant God special powers. This is absurd. Why should God pander to us human beings? And if God gain power through followers, can't God just create his own followers, then use the power he get from his followers to create more followers, becoming hugly overpowered because of his endless supply of minions?

 

So, I'm interested in avoiding it and instead ruling that the God (or Gods) has lots of power and that worshippers doesn't add or detract from its power. Like the Judeo-Chrisitan God (but you aren't going to play as the Judeo-Christian God, that's just too insulting). You got unlimited power, nothing can add or detract from your domain.

 

But then...uh...in which case, I get a problem. Why would God want any followers? Why should God even have a religion?

 

This is NOT made for Kavar's Corner*, in other words, I am not creating any sort of discussion. Rather, I am thinking of a God Game where we stop defiying the humans, making them as all-powerful people that the Gods must obey and worship, otherwise Gods won't have power. But then what goal should be placed for such a game?

 

Anyway, any help would be good, especially from the Chrisitan wing of the LF Board.

 

* Originally posted in Ahto and ham-handedly moved to Kavar's by tk102 then split, well ripped, back into Ahto. This is now strictly a discussion about game design. Religious concerns should be discussed in this thread.

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What would the point of the game be if you start off as all-powerful?

 

Erm. Maybe I was extraggating.

 

Might be better to assume that you are one of several Gods in the universe. Game goal would be defeating or at least trimpuhing over the other Gods. But of course, you don't gain power through followers, you already have power.

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Might be better to assume that you are one of several Gods in the universe. Game goal would be defeating or at least trimpuhing over the other Gods. But of course, you don't gain power through followers, you already have power.

Then what is the point of this thread?

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Then what is the point of this thread?

 

Because in the RL religions where gods have all-mighty powers and feud with each other, they have followers too. In games, they justify this by stating that followers fuel the power of the Gods, which I don't like. So I am taking that away. But then is there any incentive for the Gods to have a religion if they don't gain any power through having them?

 

I need to find a good reason for a polytheistic God to have followers, even though they don't really matter at all.

 

But I guess this thread was a bad idea...

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Perhaps an omnipotent being seeks adulation or some form of companionship. In greatly scaled down terms, beyond the "urge to merge" and perpetuate the species, why do individual humans have children? Besides, as potential followers with wills of their own, the creations would present a challenge to God/gods. If you think about the joy people get from overcoming a challenge, perhaps such beings derive a type of pleasure from people willingly following/worshipping them. And if you have a pantheon of gods rather than a simple monotheistic being, perhaps they would be competing with each other to see who could get the most willing followers.

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But then...uh...in which case, I get a problem. Why would God want any followers? Why should God even have a religion?

 

Why do so many people have pets? They cost a lot of time and money to feed and keep healthy, and their measurable return contribution to you is questionable (unless it's a big strong dog that can help keep you safe). There is little material benefit from having one, yet millions of people do anyway. :)

 

Perhaps they want someone to care for, to help make their existence less lonely and empty, and feel like you're making a difference for another being that's dependent on you? :)

 

Or perhaps they want someone to show off all their power for? Ever played a game where, by the rules, you're supposed to be one of the most badass beings alive, and still you struggle at every turn and don't feel particularly special since everyone else around is as powerful as you? :)

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Perhaps they want someone to care for, to help make their existence less lonely and empty, and feel like you're making a difference for another being that's dependent on you?
Yes, but those pets live in our houses, and usually we have steady contact with them, they even give us the honour to pee into our beds from time to time. Nothing I could say about the classical human - god relationship.
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Yes, but those pets live in our houses, and usually we have steady contact with them, they even give us the honour to pee into our beds from time to time. Nothing I could say about the classical human - god relationship.

 

They live in your world, usually have steady contact with you via prayers, and even give you the honor of polluting your creation from time to time? :p

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But forgive me if this was stated already, but what genre would this game be?

 

A racing game. Featuring all gods. Racing clouds.

 

Mhmm maybe instead of a game where your are a god influencing others. What if, you play a person who influences a god. The thing is, the game will end completely based on the players personal opinions and actions and the god's ability to understand.

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Also tee kay that game is awesome.
I have the original Black & White but not B&W2. I agree, it's a cool game except for the constant "Worshippers need food!" and such whines -- I mean what kind of a prayer is that? The best is when you drop a rock on a house and the villagers start worshipping the rock.

A racing game. Featuring all gods. Racing clouds.
I think you're on the right track, but I'd do waterslides instead of clouds.
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I bought B&W but it didn't run on my very old computer back then. So I returned it.

 

Now I think I could get it, but it seems I'm addicted to abandonware games (due to them being free and all). B&W is actually based off the Populous series where you control a God and fight other Gods, altough you are using your followers as cannon fooder. This game was considered the first "God games". It was even made by Peter Molyneaux itself.

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Not the way I actually think of it, but if it's for a game, you might find it interesting.

Product testing / quality control.

 

step 1 God creates a world of followers

step 2 See which ones fullfill their programming as a way of working out the "bugs" in creation.

step 3 Those that fulfilled their purpose more or less are kept, those that didn't, aren't.

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Product testing / quality control.

 

step 1 God creates a world of followers

step 2 See which ones fullfill their programming as a way of working out the "bugs" in creation.

step 3 Those that fulfilled their purpose more or less are kept, those that didn't, aren't.

 

But then if everyone were created in the same way, and it was simply a question of getting rid of everything that was in some way different, everything would be the same, hence, nothing else would really happen. No new problems would arise once you've erradicated all the "anomalies".

 

Right? :)

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Anyway, any help would be good, especially from the Chrisitan wing of the LF Board.
Dang! How about some feedback from the Agnostic to the ever so slightly leaning towards Athiest Wing of LF! :lol:

 

A god game would be original IMO but it would probably be heavily controlled in what could go into the game as to not make it too blasphemous. Like what Manhunt 2 has proven that there is a limit to what violence is allowed in videogames (even to today's standard) an example of a god game would have to conform heavily to various social standards to be released, not to mention it would have to steer cleer from insulting people of different faiths as showing the Christian-Judaism god (or any other god for that matter) might insult a gamer of another faith if the game shows a foriegn god to them as being superior. Kids are easily manipulated by the media, especially through videogames and thus in extreme cases some children may begin to question their faith if this particualr god game showed a negative appeal towards religion. Of course a god game could be made purely from fictional gods or even mythical gods from the periods of Ancient Rome, Greece and Egypt as i doubt that would insult a lot of people nowadays but using an actual god from a current faith may be a little tricky to do within a videogame IMO. Of course if it's all just for fun, then i really don't see what would be the problem with this, of course the exceptions to that would be the hardcore religion fanatics, and no one really cares about them anyway. :lol:

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I'd definitely play such a game were it to be made! Especially if it was in a modern American setting - you could be a new god, and try to convert as many christians over to your new religion as you could through awe-inspiring idols, best-selling books, television shows or by bestowing magical powers upon some people to act as your prophets.

 

I'd especially like it if you could dictate the tenants of your new religion. It would be a lot of fun if you could require all your followers to make sacrifices, attend all your church's services in the nude, have anyone between the ages of 11 and 15 considered unclean, or something like that.

 

The specially fun part would be annoying all the fundies. :D Damn, I'd buy that right now it if it was out!

 

Actually I think that I do know what I am talking about. Scope said, " 1) Is playing as an all-mighty god somehow "scarligeous" or "sinful"?" I only put in my two cents.

 

Having an opinion automatically make it a valid one? :)

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Of course if it's all just for fun, then i really don't see what would be the problem with this, of course the exceptions to that would be the hardcore religion fanatics, and no one really cares about them anyway.

 

You see, I'm a religious fanatic. :)

 

Anyway, good feedback. I'm going to store it and hopefully see if such a god game that I am thinking in my brain right now could in fact be codeable. I think I may very well got a pretty good idea of how to procede thanks to ED. Thanks all.

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