Winning the World

September 23, 2005 9:41 PM

Winning Souls to Christ in The World of Warcraft. There is a trend of Christian gaming enthusiasts who have flocked to Blizzard’s popular World of Warcraft game to proselytize, by violence if necessary, as evidenced by one guild leader who has engaged in “conversion duels on multiple servers where he challenges other players to duel with him. If he wins, they accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.”
posted by The Jesse Helms (31 comments total)

I say we mix those people with these people and see what happens.
posted by secret about box at 9:49 PM on September 23, 2005

Hahah.

Actually, I have some coworkers who would probably try this. At lunch they either 1) talk about Star Wars or WoW or 2) try to convert me. Landover, like the Onion, is going to be giving people ideas soon. Crap.
posted by sohcahtoa at 9:49 PM on September 23, 2005

I wish people would keep their imaginary friends to themselves.
posted by bshort at 9:52 PM on September 23, 2005

(Yeah, it should be noted that Landover is satire. Actually, it's probably funnier if we SPREAD THE WORD without telling people . . .)
posted by secret about box at 9:53 PM on September 23, 2005

Definitely satire, check out this link from "gay boys" in the article. And I like the ad for the What Would Jesus Do thong.
posted by Roger Dodger at 10:08 PM on September 23, 2005

Landover is a parody site, in case anyone didn't know.
posted by delmoi at 10:09 PM on September 23, 2005

I was really hoping this was real. unfortunately I noticed the landoverbaptist URL when I hovered the link. Oh well.

Dwarf Paladins for Jesus.
posted by thanatogenous at 11:12 PM on September 23, 2005

What happens if he loses a conversion duel?
posted by Yelling At Nothing at 11:15 PM on September 23, 2005

"If he loses (which he never has) he will give them 6 pieces of silver."
posted by thanatogenous at 11:18 PM on September 23, 2005

this is awesome. I'm not christian (agnostic, if you were curious) but more power to these guys. Fucking hysterical.
posted by shmegegge at 11:21 PM on September 23, 2005

"game to proselytize, by violence if necessary, as evidenced by one guild leader"

Digging to the bottom of the barrel, we see. (I'm not talking about the dork on WoW)
posted by Dean Keaton at 11:38 PM on September 23, 2005

A pity its not real. Of course, if the missionaries show up on the infected servers and start healing plague victims, they'll get a ton of converts.
posted by pandaharma at 12:10 AM on September 24, 2005

Jeez, didn't this first make the rounds months ago?
posted by nightchrome at 12:16 AM on September 24, 2005

"If he loses (which he never has) he will give them 6 pieces of silver."

It would be more of a fair wager if, when he loses, he renounced Jesus and promoted Satan until the re-match.
posted by Balisong at 12:23 AM on September 24, 2005

Dean Keaton.

I heard you were dead.
posted by shmegegge at 12:24 AM on September 24, 2005

Fortunately a fake.

It would be a real shame if a bunch of sanctimonious true believers took over a fun online community to use it as a propaganda mouthpiece.
posted by TheophileEscargot at 1:55 AM on September 24, 2005

Are you talking about furries and otherkin, TheophileEscargot?
posted by loquacious at 2:06 AM on September 24, 2005

I briefly played a female Vah Shir (cat thingy) character in Everquest. Never again. GET AWAY FROM ME YOU FURRY FREAKS!!!
posted by chrid at 2:44 AM on September 24, 2005

HAY GUYZ IS THIS REAL????
posted by jimmy at 8:21 AM on September 24, 2005

Why can't they create games (or music) which promotes UNDERSTANDING of the Bible?

Just a thought.

I wouldn't have that much of a problem with mainstream Christians if they would just *comprehend* the stuff they're spewing at me. Want to quote that bit about "better to spill your seed upon the ground?" Then how about understanding Hebrew laws involving widows at that time. Or better yet, how about understanding that Jesus was all about stripping away the old Mosaic law?

Instead, we have "Bible Trivia" - which reduces its philosophy to 3rd-grade-history level nonsense - and these faux action games that mainly feature the lead character going around killing demons with holy water or somthing. They really think this is going to convert anyone? They're only making money selling to themselves. Which is fine if that's your intent, but drop the piousness.

I mean, seriously. 90% of the problem of Christianity is that it's gotten so dumbed-down (mainly thanks to cookoos like these throughout history, starting with Paul) as to lose all its good points. The negative aspects are so much more easily communicated through bumper stickers.
posted by InnocentBystander at 8:46 AM on September 24, 2005

Holy don't play dat -- something a friend of mine wrote. Christians would do well not to reduce their faith to entertainment; it helps both the faith and the entertainment.
posted by brownpau at 8:56 AM on September 24, 2005

If he loses the duel, shouldn't it be 30 pieces of silver? Just for a bit of Biblical tie-in?
posted by sotonohito at 9:24 AM on September 24, 2005

Has life always been so Jesusy? It's starting to get really annoying.
posted by dopamine at 9:58 AM on September 24, 2005

Christianity: so dumbed-down as to lose all its good points.

Christianity: easily communicated through bumper stickers.

Christianity: reduces its philosophy to 3rd-grade-history level nonsense.

(Actually, give me 3rd grade history any day. It may be over-simplified, but at least it's not a complete pack of lies).

InnocentBystander: Jesus was all about stripping. I mean, seriously.
posted by cleardawn at 10:06 AM on September 24, 2005

Who is this Christ? Ythrl is the only true GOD!
posted by thanotopsis at 12:34 PM on September 24, 2005

Metafilter: Christianity:
Metafilter: Landover is a parody site
posted by weston at 12:41 PM on September 24, 2005

Dean Keaton.

I heard you were dead.
posted by shmegegge at 12:24 AM PST on September 24


You heard right.
posted by Dean Keaton at 4:07 PM on September 24, 2005

"The time is short. We don't know how long it's going to be until the Lord returns," Moore said. "If we wait three years to get this game out and the trumpet sounds, it's been a great adventure for me, but it hasn't brought anybody to Christ."

Just goes to show that nothing short of the Rapture is going to solve the MMORPG endgame problem.....
posted by gnomeloaf at 6:45 PM on September 24, 2005

Wow. If they exist on Ursin, my guild will slaughter them.
posted by baphomet at 8:14 PM on September 24, 2005

Just keep 'em offa Feathermoon! You can't roleplay Christ if he never existed in the first place. Oh, wait a sec...
posted by NationalKato at 8:20 PM on September 24, 2005

As fake as this link is, I still remember seeing a Christian Wookie missionary on Tatooine less than a month after Star Wars Galaxies launched. I tried to explain to him that because Star Wars happens a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, it's almost certainly a pre-Christian world inhabited purely by ignorant heathens, and that he was therefore doing a terrible job roleplaying.

He did not, as I recall, appreciate my theory on his status in the game. Oh well. Let the wookie win.
posted by mdbell79 at 1:00 AM on September 25, 2005