You know, I've been looking but haven't found any reaction from the Christian right on Spore. The way I see it, one could argue that Spore supports either argument. From a literal stance, it is clearly supporting the fact that evolution happens. However, one could easily argue that it is also supporting intelligent design drivel by placing the player in the seat of the "god" that desides how evolution plays out...

Anyway, if anyone sees any articles about people freaking out about the game, please do post them, I'm really curious if any of the religious types are noticing the media barrage and whether there are responses to it, or attempts to coopt it as part of their argument...

Itīs only because Jack Thompson isnīt a catholic to the point of fanaticism that we havenīt heard anything from them.

Actualy it was the "militat atheists" who were upset about this one. ^^

Any actual articles though?

Thats a good point I hadn't thought of actually.
I never really thought people would get so angry over such in-offensive games but that was before I read an article which said MGS4 was obviously created to train the devil's army of sinners how to fight in some battle when the earth gets overtaken by demons..... Some people are just plain bizarre.

Splitter:
Thats a good point I hadn't thought of actually.
I never really thought people would get so angry over such in-offensive games but that was before I read an article which said MGS4 was obviously created to train the devil's army of sinners how to fight in some battle when the earth gets overtaken by demons..... Some people are just plain bizarre.

Oooh, do you have that article? Sounds like a hoot!

What if evolution IS Gods plan? The Bible was written for people who lived 2000+ years ago. Maybe "let there be light" is talking about the big bang? I'll buy that before the "God put fossils in the ground to test our faith" line.

Anyway sounds like its going to be a fun game.

PhatmasterJ:
What if evolution IS Gods plan? The Bible was written for people who lived 2000+ years ago. Maybe "let there be light" is talking about the big bang? I'll buy that before the "God put fossils in the ground to test our faith" line.

Anyway sounds like its going to be a fun game.

Well, I think I'm thinking more of the people who take the bible literally. They are the ones that are far more concerned with evolution being "wrong." We are talking about the people who say that the fossil record was put there by god 6000 years ago or so just to test our faith...

Spore, by Will Wright's words, was meant to spark some kind of discussion, though it was very minor to a lot of other things too. Getting people to think about the topic is enough for him, and he probably expects some kind of flame war to go down somewhere, though he never intended.

If anything, Spore seems to teeter between Evolution and (Un)Intelligent Design more than anything else. I say Unintelligent because, well, just look at some of the monstrosities out there.

Aconite333:
Spore, by Will Wright's words, was meant to spark some kind of discussion,

Will the discussion be about dicks? I think it will.

sammyfreak:
Actualy it was the "militat atheists" who were upset about this one. ^^

No matter what, no matter how hard you try, someone will be offended.

Also you forgot the "N" in militant.

The fundies are too busy still screaming about all that hardcore in Mass Effect. They don't check their email that often, so they didn't get the memo yet.

And on a personal note: can we stop saying "the evolution debate?" There are also people who refuse to believe that Bono isn't a robot, but we don't refer to Bono's humanity as "the Bono humanity debate." This is like the media calling things "controversial" because they found one guy who did no research to say he's against whatever they're talking about.

You know, like with Mass Effect.

And no, I don't know why I picked Bono as the potential robot. Potential ALIEN robot.

Three words: evolution is a lie.

Also, monkeys don't live several million years. Ergo, evolution is a lie.

Didn't the New York Times just do a piece about how Spore does a mangled version of evolution anyhow? There's no randomness to the game, ergo it doesn't really go into the fundamental principle of random genetic mutations.

I'm kinda hesitant to declare Spore to be a statement about evolution. Honestly, the idea of a bunch of kids in biology debating evolution based on what they learned in Spore seems like a bad idea.

@Jeffries:

True true. The only game that should foster debate in schools is BioShock, so the kids don't have to read Rand and Nietzsche and turn into little snarky jerks for the rest of high school.

Because gamers are never little snarky jerks.

Woe Is You:
Three words: evolution is a lie.

Also, monkeys don't live several million years. Ergo, evolution is a lie.

Thank you!

I am honestly surprised there hasn't been more of a ruckus from religious types.

Spore is about creationism, not evolution. The player shapes the creatures intently and consciously. Evolution is a matter of unbiased consequence.

I don't think I met anyone who fancied this game to be scientific or enlightening. It might be original and grand, even groundbreaking, but it won't be teaching anyone how life is formed and came to be the way it is today. You might just as soon mistake my own pecker for a broomstick.

And there are four words in the phrase 'evolution is a lie,' not three.

meatloaf231:
I am honestly surprised there hasn't been more of a ruckus from religious types.

Prolly cause they don't have to consider it fact since it's a video game. Hell, this book:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_and_First_Men

would be banned by schools all over the place because of what an areligous, anti-individual message it has. Instead, because it's sci-fi, people just shrug and assume it has no relevance to their beliefs.

zachbob2:

Woe Is You:
Three words: evolution is a lie.

Also, monkeys don't live several million years. Ergo, evolution is a lie.

Thank you!

Ever heard of being open-minded? I mean, im glad you have an opinion, but it seems a bit stupid to just believe everything that goes against it is a lie.

Im personally quite suprised that noone has taken a step back and thought that this is just another game. Which is exactly what it is.
You could even argue that its because their insecure and feel the need to defend their belief system because they think that if they dont then they might just start to realise it could be wrong.

Ah you never know whats going to piss off the christian community next. The Golden Compass got attacked cause there were some animals that were actually shapeshifting "demons" and apparently that really got em riled, but they don't seem to mind evolution in this game (I will NOT refer to it as a theory.) Maybe it's because the player starts it off which supports the Intelligent Design theory but maybe they just havn't found it yet.

You make a good point, it is far more like Intelligent Design.

Its strange how that seems to be the forgotten middle-man of religious views.

Atrer:
... but they don't seem to mind evolution in this game (I will NOT refer to it as a theory.) ...

But a "theory" is exactly what evolution is. It is the highest honor that can be handed to anything in science. Other examples are the "theories" of thermodynamics and gravity. The only thing higher on the hierarchy of science is the realm of mathematics.

zachbob2:

Woe Is You:
Three words: evolution is a lie.

Also, monkeys don't live several million years. Ergo, evolution is a lie.

Thank you!

Well, we didn't evolve from monkeys. We evolved from apes. Common misconseption. Ergo, you're aregument is misinformed and invalid.

Atrer:
Ah you never know whats going to piss off the christian community next. The Golden Compass got attacked cause there were some animals that were actually shapeshifting "demons" and apparently that really got em riled, but they don't seem to mind evolution in this game (I will NOT refer to it as a theory.) Maybe it's because the player starts it off which supports the Intelligent Design theory but maybe they just havn't found it yet.

Actually the reason the Catholics - not the Christians - were so riled up is because at the end of the book series, the kids up and kill god, because then they can do whatever they want.

the monopoly guy:

zachbob2:

Woe Is You:
Three words: evolution is a lie.

Also, monkeys don't live several million years. Ergo, evolution is a lie.

Thank you!

Well, we didn't evolve from monkeys. We evolved form apes. Common misconseption. Ergo, you're aregument is misinformed and invalid.

I thought he was making a witty joke by saying four words and using the wrong tense in the sentence.

Ugh...I need to get out of this thread before it devolves into the screaming match they always do in forums. The ultimate proof of evolution being a fact is watching the religous right's argument against it evolve over the past century. First it was the monkey thing, then it was carbon dating, now they're making the "it's just a theory" argument.

If they want to believe that 'The Flintstones' is the literal way human society existed 5,000 years ago, that's their business.

zachbob2:

Woe Is You:
Three words: evolution is a lie.

Also, monkeys don't live several million years. Ergo, evolution is a lie.

Thank you!

I can't tell if you two are taking the piss or are actually serious.

I'm going to let my hopeless optimism play here and assume you're taking the piss.

If The Sims didn't raise any arguments for mercilessly bricking up the various occupants using your omnipotent, omniscient powers in toiletless bathrooms until they died of starvation or something much stinkier, SPORE is just a drop in the bucket.

Interesting Fact: Those who take any translation of the Bible other than Greek/Hebrew (original written in) literally are misinterpreting the Bible. Languages never translate over exactly word-for-word and there are bound to be numerous mistakes. For example: A major one is that Jesus was born in a stable at an "inn." "Inn" in Greek can be translated to "upstaris" or "den" (Why would his parents even go to an inn if his father went to his town of origin where he had family???) The Christmas movies about Jesus's birth are simply misinformed religious teachings.

@Atrer don't confuse extremists with the whole body of the Chatholic Church. 90% of Chatholics are average people with sane beliefs that want no harm done to others or themselves. (I personally did not care about The Golden Compass, it's just a movie)

Evolution? Oh wait, did you mean EVILUTION?!

Sigh.

the monopoly guy:

zachbob2:

Woe Is You:
Three words: evolution is a lie.

Also, monkeys don't live several million years. Ergo, evolution is a lie.

Thank you!

Well, we didn't evolve from monkeys. We evolved from apes. Common misconseption. Ergo, you're aregument is misinformed and invalid.

Yes but the apes evolved from monkeys, according to evolution

Its a freaking game, GET OVER IT.

Interestingly enough, their E3 trailer kind of addressed the issue of evolution and intelligent design in the game. Aside from that and various mentions from the creators of the game themselves (read: Will Wright) I haven't heard anything about the issue. I was expecting more controversy, myself. Maybe none of the anti-video game people have paid any attention to it because of the E10+ rating, I don't know...

zachbob2:

the monopoly guy:

Well, we didn't evolve from monkeys. We evolved from apes. Common misconseption. Ergo, you're aregument is misinformed and invalid.

Yes but the apes evolved from monkeys, according to evolution

Apes did evolve from primates, but primates have been around since the eocene, 50 million years ago.

I can't wait for them to burn Will Wright Effigies and cry "THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!"

the whole idea is absurd, but I'm sure Fox News will run it.. after what they said about Mass Effect, I'm sure they'd run anything controversial related to games.