Make Bible-based online games, PHL bishop urges game devs

With online role-playing games (RPGs) popular among many Filipino youths, a Catholic bishop called Saturday for online games based on the Bible.

 

Manila Archbishop Antonio Tagle made the call at the first Catholic Social Media Summit in Marikina City, as he lamented violent RPGs can influence the youths the wrong way.

 

“I hope there are more games based on the Bible in the Internet. Why don’t (game developers) create games based on the Beatitudes where the more hungry people you feed, the more thirsty people you quench with drinks, or more prisoner you visit in jail, the more successful you become,” he suggested, according to an article posted on the youth-oriented YouthPinoy website.

 

Tagle also urged the young to avoid violence-based Internet games, which he described as “base, raw and primitive.”

 

Instead, he said they should patronize and promote games that are Bible-based and “noble.”

 

Tagle also called on the Catholic faithful to spread Christianity on the Internet, using social media as a forum to proclaim the Gospel.

 

“The world of social media is both an instrument of evangelization and a field to be evangelized,” he said.

 

For his part, Fr. Stephen Cuyos of the Communications Foundation for Asia urged youths to install Bible-based apps in their mobile gadgets.

 

Cuyos cited the “Journey on Jesus: The Calling” app, which is available on Facebook.

 

The app describes itself as the “first ever video game about Jesus,” where one overcomes obstacles, fulfills missions and participates in miracles.

 

Its maker, Lightside, claims to makes games that are authentic to the Bible. — TJD, GMA News