SGR Games, LLC has created “Vatican Wars” (formerly “Priestville”), a new online Facebook game. Think of it as “Mafia Wars” meets the Church.
The game divides players into either Templars (socially conservative) or Crusaders (socially liberal), and then allows them to “serve as Catholic priests,” take positions on social issues, and elect a Pope.
According to a press release by SGR Games, the test run of the game, involving 30,000 players, had some shocking results.
First, the game’s creators were horrified by the lengths some players were willing to go to become Pope.
“It was horrifying,” said Cheyenne Ehrlich, founder of SGR Games. “We had three reports of a player being blackmailed into quitting the race for Pope in the game. And the amount of player bullying we saw turned our stomachs. It was so awful that, on several occasions, we considered ending the game.”
In order to prevent future bullying and blackmail, SGR changed the game to allow not only cardinals, but all players, to vote for who becomes Pope.
The second problem the game creators noted was that they had a difficult time getting non-Catholics and ex-Catholics to play the game because they “can be incredibly dismissive of Catholicism and Priests.”
“The most frequent question we would get asked about the game by non-Catholics was, ‘Do you get to touch little boys?’” said Ehrlich. “Since we didn’t want to make the game about sexual abuse, we decided to use the tendency to instantly dismiss Catholicism around social issues as a way to bring non-Catholics into the game.”
Ehrlich sees the game as a way to engage people in debate.
The game’s creators also see the game as a useful tool for “increasing Mass attendance, religious practice and interest in the Priesthood.”
According to statistics gathered by the creators, the game has positive influences on Catholics who attended Mass less than once a week.
30% said that once they started playing the game, they attended Mass more often.
45% of young men said that playing the game made them more interested in becoming a priest.
83% of Catholic clergy surveyed said they would recommend the game to members of their parish.
76% of Catholic clergy surveyed thought it would be a useful tool for bringing people back to the Church.
Call me a skeptic, but I have serious reservations. I see the game as polarizing and unhelpful to the laity’s understanding of the priesthood.
By forcing players to choose a side, the game contributes to the view of the Church as two fighting tribes rather than a unified body. The fight of the Baby Boomers in the Church is not that of younger Catholics. Whereas the Baby Boomer fight might have been about “liberals” and “conservatives” in the Church, younger generations of Catholics are not fighting against one another, but largely against the rising tide of apathy, New Atheists, secularists and the great animosity towards Christ and His Church. “Vatican Wars” is not helpful in advancing Christ’s call, “May they be one.”
Furthermore, the game presents a seriously diminished view of the priesthood. By allowing players to “serve as priests,” it flattens out the priesthood. “Anyone can do what a priest does,” the game suggests. By reducing a priest’s actions to merely debating theology and taking positions on social issues, it makes the priest into more of a politician than In Persona Christi – the only individual who can forgive sins and call down Christ’s Body and Blood in the Eucharist. The priesthood is not a game; it’s about the salvation of souls. This Sacramental diminishment of the priesthood offsets whatever benefits the game-makers say might result from playing the game. A diminished priesthood means a diminished Church.
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Excellent analysis of the major downside, Tim. Games are not the answer to bringing people back to the Church or helping them understand the faith.
Wow, this has got bad idea all over it! I totally agree with your points Tim.
It seems all this is going to accomplish is a dimished understanding of Catholisism and the priesthood. I think you are spot on with your analysis. Thanks.
I agree with most of your points on why this is a bad idea. The idea that only Baby Boomers see the issues that divide “liberals” and “conservatives” is, however, ludicrous; in Catholic terms, one of the major disagreements between the two groups is over precisely how well this silly game represents the Church. Is the priesthood really about power? Can anyone who wants be a priest? Should we have the Pope democratically elected by everyone? If you answered No, No, No, you’re a conservative; if you answered Yes, Yes, Yes, you’re a liberal. This disagreement is important and it won’t be going away any time soon.
After reading about the game, I went in to play it myself. I find it to be interesting, and see your points below but I have to say I really enjoy the daily readings. I have not read the Bible on a daily basis in a long time and the realization that I was reading three passages a day was a welcome surprise. I am still figuring out the game part of it all but you should definitely check out the reading section.
As someone charged with helping to spread orhtodox faith among my peers (almost all of whom have Facebook accounts), this game troubles me. As you say, it flattens out the priesthood and encourages divisiveness. I know firsthand that people benefit more from knowing what the Church actually teaches and why than from being allowed to meander aimlessly through the myriad sources of misinformation out there. Combine this with the fact that the game portrays the reality of the Church incorrectly (everyone gets a voice in whether/how the teachings of the Church change) and the fact that people IN THE TEST RUN are already blackmailing each other to the point that it frightens the game’s designers, and this is a recipe for disaster. The designers ought to have trusted their instincts and scrapped the game. I see it chasing many more people away from the Church by affirming their dissent than drawing them to it.
I know this is a minor quibble, but historically Templars, the Poor Knights of the Temple, ARE Crusaders! They are on the SAME side, not in opposition. Their order is founded to assist poor pilgrims, and St. Bernard of Clairvaux defends the RADICAL new vocation of armed knight-monk. Conservative they are NOT. Most Templars and Crusaders aren’t priests; only a few Templars and military chaplains are priests.
This game seems to be for people who engage in fuzzy-wuzzy history, and even vaguer “religion.”
I DO think games can help people to better understand the mysteries of the Catholic Church, much as games can be used to help people learn difficult concepts in schools. It’s wrong to dismiss them. I would prefer, however, to see a game that has a closer emulation to the real world by creating roles for the laity to play as well as the priesthood and ensuring game balance by giving priests power over certain areas - such as distribution of the sacraments - and the laity power over other, equally important areas - such as the spreading of the Gospel and the raising of the next generation of Catholics. Focusing solely on the priesthood is part of what creates the 2 dimensional effect as it makes the priesthood seem all-powerful and thus implies that power, rather than service, is the heart of the priesthood.
I am not thrilled with the idea for this game. Right from the start the name “Vatican Wars” gives a bad image. Choosing sides is polarizing as stated in the article. I think it makes light of the Church and faith. I won’t be playing.
I think the game trivializes the sacredness of the priesthood and secularizes the structure and hierarchy of the Church.
I wonder what would happen if they made a game called “Rabbi-ville” or “Islam- town?” Only Catholicism can be trivialized like this.
Fascinating article.
Its very insightful that people fought so hard to be pope in a fake game. Imagine what they do in real life. It really demonstrates that people don’t understand Catholicism. Their need for power diminishes their concept of everything Christian.
The other fascinating thing is that you can’t think about a Catholic priest without thinking about sex with children. This will be the undoing of the church in future generations.
I play it, and its funny, but 75% of the players are conservative…
I fully agree with all your concerns. And yet I cannot help but see that God is using even this dubious thing to bring His grace to ever more people. So for that, Deo Gratias!
I hear the same company are going to do a Nazi Wars FB application and like the Vatican Wars application where you can’t mention the war the Vatican has waged on children, in the Nazi Wars application nobody is allowed to mention the War. The idea of creating a game application based on an organisation that is culpable in the facilitation and cover up of gross physical and sexual abuse against children is quite insulting.
Nice one!
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