CONVICTED -- Need Game Suggestions

[Angyl]

My wife and I have been avid gamers for YEARS. We've played lots of games we enjoyed together like the Might & Magic series, Heroes of Might & Magic, Nox, Elder Scrolls, and MMORPGS from UO to DAoC to WoW.:yay

Always in the back of my mind, at least, there was a tickling, faint nagging about this, but I ignored it, until recently. The Spirit has convicted both of us pretty much at the same time to stop playing fantasy/magic games of any type. Not to start an argument or convict anyone else, but the reasoning boils down to if God said it's a sin to imagine sleeping with another person, we think it may likewise be a sin to imagine being a spellcaster. :doh

So we cancelled our WoW accounts, and uninstalled many of our games like Neverwinter Nights I & II, Baldur's Gate, et al.:hehee

Bored...:panic

What else is out there in the RTS, strategy, online fun, or multi-player kind of arena that doesn't involve magic of ANY kind? Any suggestions? :idunno

[JohnnyHye]

I don't know if I'd throw all fantasy/magic themes out the window. It is exactly that - fantasy. It's up to you to look at each one and decide if it goes "over the line" in any particular case, but I wouldn't get rid of them ALL. Then again, I don't know any of the ones you mentioned, except I've heard of WoW and know a little about it.

CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien were both Christians who wrote fantasy stories with magic, etc. It is our human nature to be creative and to imagine and dream about things even if they're not physically possible as far as we know. I think this only becomes a problem when you dream and imagine things that in some way make you so powerful in your own mind that you don't need God and eliminate Him from your life in your fantasy world. So to imagine that you're an all-powerful wizard who lives his life with his faith in his "magic" and power, you are eliminating God. But to play a game that involves a wizard like Gandalf from the Lord of the Rings, a character who symbolized (but didn't equal) Christ, and played a part in a story about a flawed mortal (frodo??) who in his flaws (sin) overcame adversity and temptation with the help of the supernatural to do what was right, in spite of how easy it would have been to succumb to greed and sin - this type of thing is fantasy that promotes a Christian message and values, and uses magic only as a fantasy element which is not something to be worshipped.

Anyway, I like Splashdown, Navy Seals, NCAA '07 (and soon '08), Madden football, EA Sports baseball, Taxi Driver, True Crimes - streets of LA, and many other games on my PS2 (which I'm sure are available for PC also). I don't have any fantasy/role-playing stuff.

[MasterDummy]

I used to play everquest and I was hooked on it, some people called it evercrack, because it was so controlling, you had to meet the other people and level up with the friends you met in the game. I went cold turkey by destroying the CD's.
It is not the magic in the game, it is the time you spent in the game.
I have now Final fantasy 12, Dragon warrior 8, Might MAgic 9, Suikoden 5, Grandia 3 and Wild arms 4, but I have no desire to play much of these games, maybe God is helping me.
You have realize that you can not let these game control you, just play a game for about a half-hour to a hour.
I was an alcoholic, but God stopped cold and trying to get drunk don't make sense to me now.
I don't have a bad feeling if I have a glass of wine for dinner, but that have been a year now, it hard to find the wine I want, the kosher type.

If somebody ever tells you 'once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic', that is a lie, because Jesus can and will make you a non-alcoholic virgin and He can control your game habit, if...

[Live-n-grace]

I have LOTR Online and it is quite good, especially if you're a fan of the LOTR.

[Angyl]

Yeah, I beta'd in LOTR... I thought it was "all right" Didn't convince me to leave WoW at the time, though.

[MrMannn]

City of Heroes. All Super-Heroes all the time.
Right now there is an alien invasion going on. Cool Beans.
COH is my addiction.

[Angyl]

OOOH... COH... forgot about that one...

[No2Flesh]

It is not the magic in the game, it is the time you spent in the game.


You have realize that you can not let these game control you, just play a game for about a half-hour to a hour.



These 2 quotes really stood out to me, having been addicted for years to online gaming. I wasted untold hours doing it.
It was hrs not spent with my family, not reading my bible, not actually working to improve the house etc...just about anything except watching TV would have been more productive (and healthier for my body)..I still play (a war game) some but not all the time like in the past.

I would advise Christian gamers to control the time spent doing this.
But dont take my word for it, ask God.

[NewWorldOrder]

I know this is in the men's forum, but maybe you and your wife could find a new hobby. My DH and I are also avid gamers, but we have gotten into to shooting, of course, now I'm pregnant and won't be going to the range for a while, but that's life. But we both really enjoy it, and I was just starting to get proficient. He really likes it. I'm not saying you need to take up learning about guns, just saying that there must be something out there that you have always wanted to try doing, and maybe this would be a good time to learn.

[Guy4God]

I hear ya...gaming is hard for me too. I can't play FPS games cuz I get dizzy, but most of the 3rd person perspective games are loaded with magic, spells and extreme graphic violence. I know that I have freedom, but where does that freedom end when gaming? Witchcraft and magic is expressly forbidden in the Bible, whereas violence is condemned, but not specifically named as an abomination.

I enjoyed Gears of War because you could turn off the gore...it was a fun game and not too bad filtered. I love the Prince of Persia series, Ghost Recon...looking forward to Assasin's Creed, Mass Effect and Too Human (even RE5, if it's not too graphic). What about Star Wars games? The basic story is good against evil, like LOTR, but let's face it...The Force is new agey, eastern mysticism, and the use of the force is akin to magic, is it not? I mean, I am really looking forward to Star Wars: The Force Unleased...it is gonna be a sweet game...:thumb

I just bought RE4 today...haven't played it in a couple years, and hands down, it is a great game.