Sim Church

I thought of this great idea for a video game. Lately I've been playing "Pirates" a Sid Meir x-box goody. Meir tries to put together somewhat realistic games. You might know him from his Civilization series. good stuff to burn a few hours and brain cells. But today lightning struck.

Church! would be the best selling game, ever. Both heathens and brethren alike would love to dabble in the workings of a simulated church. First you'd choose a time period your church started. First Century to the present. Granted there are a few hundred years your church might be dominated by a liturgical overlord, but it'd still be great. Teach your priest to speak Latin! Uh oh, you're out of communion bread. What to do? Make a quick batch or cancel communion?

I think a great spin-off and second series could be Church!: church of Christ. This version would be a little different. You'd choose how your church started for starters. Was your church: planted, a missonaried, or most likely, came from a split. It'd be easiest with the last option because your leadership would already be pretty much cemented and your members would all be like-minded. From there you would navigate your church through the perils of modern church politics. Uh-oh! those song books are getting old! Do you replace them with the blue "Faith and Praise" book or the red one? Does our church invest in a powerpoint projector system? How do we get our church to not plateau.

You'd have to adjust the budget yearly depending on what your church wanted. Every now and then your secretary would quit and you'd have to find a new one, "The search is on! Who will you get to answer the phone?" You'd also have to work with the preacher. Send him to seminars. And sometimes hire and fire. There would be the "Fire Em!" button when member approval dropped too low. Then you'd have to find a new person to hire. But who? Old? young? Bible degree? You get to choose!

And every now and then you'd have a natural disaster type event.
"Youth group uses guitar at Friday night devotional! Members are angry. Other churches disfellowship you!"
"Minister mentions chewing tobacco as a sin! Rednecks threaten to leave!"
"Maroon carpet begins to fade!"
"Instrumental music accidentally played during communion! College student reprimanded!" "Couple goes missing during lock-in! Parents upset!"
"Preacher's daughter gets pregnant while not married!"
"Rat found in kitchen before potluck! Visitors leave!"
"Preacher disagrees with the Eldership! Your church splits!"

And that would eventually be how every game of Church!: church of Christ ended. Everybody leaves.

Paul "just for kicks" Murphy