Parents raising kids today face a daunting challenge: trying to manage the myriad ways our children interact with screens. Even for parents who are actively engaged, setting boundaries and utilizing parental controls, it can still feel overwhelming to corral all the options our kids might conceivably take interest in.
That’s especially true in the realm of video games.
Many popular games draw users into gripping narratives that are, unfortunately, often drenched with content concerns. They can be sensual. Profane. And often, extremely violent. And that’s to say nothing of the worldview issues that many games can contain.
But while the world of video games can be a vast and troubling landscape, some Christian gamemakers are planting their flags on the field.
TruPlay, a four-year-old Texas-based company, is one such gamemaker. It offers Christian parents an alternative gaming platform. And it’s striving to create games that not only avoid content pitfalls, but ones that reinforce redemptive faith messages as well.
In an interview with premiernextgen.com late last year, TruPlay CEO Brent Dusing said, “Our mission is to embed Biblical truths into exciting and creative storylines. … The average child is on a screen for 52 hours per week, but there’s almost no digital content that is high-quality and also conveys God’s truth. TruPlay is building a fun, world-class entertainment platform to invite children into a world of hope and God’s truth.”
TruPlay’s games are available via app for iOS and Android devices for an annual subscription fee of $119.99 (which breaks down to around $10 a month) or a monthly rate of $12.99. As of this writing, that subscription features eight games. The flagship game is a fantasy action-adventure/tower defense title called Heroes of Rhym: Battle for Eldavar. Other titles include Isabella’s Leap of Faith and Maple and the Forest of Words, adventure platformers for young children; Stained Glass, a puzzle game in the vein of Candy Crush Saga; Ava & the Mirror of Truth, which brings to mind Angry Birds; and action titles Little Light and Lumi’s World of Light.
TruPlay is also developing what it calls the RhymVerse, an interactive fantasy world for kids ages 5 to 12 that features animal-like characters.
Dusing has big hopes and dreams for the influence TruPlay could exert in the future. ““This is about transforming a generation using God’s truth, God’s hope,” he told Premier Next Gen. “One of the reasons the world is so dark is that Christians have failed to be at the forefront of transformational technology and new media. As Web 3.0 becomes a reality, Christians need to be there.”
Looking at TruPlay from the perspective of a dad with three kids, I have a couple of thoughts. These games definitely seem aimed at a younger audience, at least in terms of what’s being offered right now. The draw here is what I mentioned above: avoiding content pitfalls while gently reinforcing faith lessons at the same time.
I like that approach, and I suspect it may appeal to many Christian parents with young gaming fans.
I also think that several of the games offered look a bit like lightly reskinned versions of casual gaming classics like Candy Crush Saga and Angry Birds—both massive mobile gaming hits. Some might criticize that strategy, but I can see the logic in imitating games that have already found huge success in this space. After all, if your kids don’t want to play these alternatives, they’re not going to engage with this platform for long.
In a broad way, where TruPlay is at today reminds me of the trajectory that both Christian music and Christian movies have taken since the 1970s. Early on in those genres, there was a lot of imitation of secular successes, especially in the music world. But those imitative beginnings eventually gave way to a broader expression of creativity in which faith-based artists weren’t merely offering a sound-alike alternative, but forging their own identity and having an impact in the mainstream marketplace.
I wonder if Christian gaming will follow a similar path. After all, game creators like TruPlay have to start somewhere, and I think this is a solid beginning for parents looking for faith-based video game alternatives.
3 Responses
-“One of the reasons the world is so dark is that Christians have failed to be at the forefront of transformational technology and new media. As Web 3.0 becomes a reality, Christians need to be there.”
I couldn’t agree more. Lots of people say words have power, but I believe the power of words to engage and persuade people is greatly exaggerated. Your words have no power over someone who:
A. Has a hard time visualizing and understanding what you’re talking about.
B. Doesn’t believe you really know what you’re talking about.
C. Doesn’t believe you have his or her best interests at heart, or believes that you are just trying to exploit him or her or just trying to make his or her life miserable.
D. Doesn’t really care what you think.
Pictures, movies, games and in-person experiences can shatter mental barriers that words cannot even scratch. So we Christians should not count on words alone to get our point across. Therefore, I am thankful that TruPlay exists, and I hope they develop more and better games in the future.
-Well said.
-While content concerns are valid, I don’t think this platform will last. Whether or not the game is faithfully safe won’t matter much when it isn’t fun to play with. There’s other factors to consider when building any game. Do the controls feel good? Are the graphics beautiful and pleasing to look at? Does run well? Charlie Church Mouse had a lengthy intro. Not very impressed with that. Left behind was just plain boring with ridiculous guitar riffs in an empty city. When I installed that on my PC back in the day, I was expecting some survival RPG. Boy were my expectations sky high compared to what I got. The problem is faith based games do not balance lessons with enjoyability. You’re better off following the rating systems like the ESRB or PEGI depending on your region