WI: More Western MMORPGs had a priestly class of a more explicitly Christian bent?

[alter]

In the Warcraft Universe, the faith of the Human race was increasingly retconned into a more "spiritual but not theistic" leaning from Warcraft 1 onwards, eventually resulting in the religion of the Holy Light which is kinda like Unitarian Universalism mixed with Buddhism, but keeping the aesthetics of the Catholic Church.

In contrast, the South Korean MMORPG called Ragnarok Online has explicitly based its Acolyte and Priest class on the Catholic Church, though the deities these characters worship could range from a vague, not really Christian concept of God to the Germanic god Thor.

Most importantly in this game, the main attack of the Acolyte class against Undead mobs such as Zombies and Skeletons is their Healing skill. This skill heals humans, but damages Undead monsters. Their other skills are also Christian-based, such as the ability to make Holy Water.

When they later on get to become Priests, they get other anti-Undead skills, such as Turn Undead, which could kill an Undead mob in one hit with a chance, and Magnus Exorcismus, which is an Area of Effect skill capable of killing both Undeads and Demons, another type of foul creature in the game. Aside from these offensive skills they can also say prayers onto humans which help them, such as Angelus, and Kyrie Eleison.

I've read an article from back in 2009, that the Russian Orthodox Church considered releasing an MMORPG in which players could RP (Role-Play) as Priests and have similar skills.


Would it be possible to release such a game in the Western World today, in which either the whole game is based around Christianity, or one of the classes which the player could become is so heavily based on Christian principles? How would it turn out?

 

[marathag]

Would it be possible to release such a game in the Western World today, in which either the whole game is based around Christianity, or one of the classes which the player could become is so heavily based on Christian principles? How would it turn out?

Even back in the day, Chivalry and Sorcery, avoided the Christian Cleric, and that was set in Medieval France, and mostly dealt with the split in Laws between Church and State

 

[Empress Ryzal]

In contrast, the South Korean MMORPG called Ragnarok Online has explicitly based its Acolyte and Priest class on the Catholic Church, though the deities these characters worship could range from a vague, not really Christian concept of God to the Germanic god Thor.

Most importantly in this game, the main attack of the Acolyte class against Undead mobs such as Zombies and Skeletons is their Healing skill. This skill heals humans, but damages Undead monsters. Their other skills are also Christian-based, such as the ability to make Holy Water.

When they later on get to become Priests, they get other anti-Undead skills, such as Turn Undead, which could kill an Undead mob in one hit with a chance, and Magnus Exorcismus, which is an Area of Effect skill capable of killing both Undeads and Demons, another type of foul creature in the game. Aside from these offensive skills they can also say prayers onto humans which help them, such as Angelus, and Kyrie Eleison.

It's more or less a Church of Odin. He's referenced countless times in various priest gear and even the archbishop skill called "Odin's Power" which you get by equipping either version of Bible of Promise.

Would it be possible to release such a game in the Western World today, in which either the whole game is based around Christianity, or one of the classes which the player could become is so heavily based on Christian principles? How would it turn out?

Not sure if the market for it is even large enough.

It will be a breathe of fresh air, that's for sure.

 

[FillyofDelphi]

In the Warcraft Universe, the faith of the Human race was increasingly retconned into a more "spiritual but not theistic" leaning from Warcraft 1 onwards, eventually resulting in the religion of the Holy Light which is kinda like Unitarian Universalism mixed with Buddhism, but keeping the aesthetics of the Catholic Church.

In contrast, the South Korean MMORPG called Ragnarok Online has explicitly based its Acolyte and Priest class on the Catholic Church, though the deities these characters worship could range from a vague, not really Christian concept of God to the Germanic god Thor.

Most importantly in this game, the main attack of the Acolyte class against Undead mobs such as Zombies and Skeletons is their Healing skill. This skill heals humans, but damages Undead monsters. Their other skills are also Christian-based, such as the ability to make Holy Water.

When they later on get to become Priests, they get other anti-Undead skills, such as Turn Undead, which could kill an Undead mob in one hit with a chance, and Magnus Exorcismus, which is an Area of Effect skill capable of killing both Undeads and Demons, another type of foul creature in the game. Aside from these offensive skills they can also say prayers onto humans which help them, such as Angelus, and Kyrie Eleison.

I've read an article from back in 2009, that the Russian Orthodox Church considered releasing an MMORPG in which players could RP (Role-Play) as Priests and have similar skills.


Would it be possible to release such a game in the Western World today, in which either the whole game is based around Christianity, or one of the classes which the player could become is so heavily based on Christian principles? How would it turn out?

The concept of the priesthood/the "good" powers being able protect the flock from evil forces/monsters (By destroying or repelling them) and curing illness are hardly exclusive to Christianity. Basically any faith system worth its salt provides has rituals/philosphies around the universal desire for security and comfort as well as claiming authority/the answer to the universal question of life and death (Which explains the generalization of the "cleric" to deal with undead: since its clearly unnatural and against the order laid down by the religion's "powers that be")

Not sure if the market for it is even large enough.

It will be a breathe of fresh air, that's for sure.

The MMORPG market IS pretty much already saturated to bursting, so it'd run into the problems any new game in the genere has. But I can't imagine they'd be the only class so its hardly likely to be a game sinker on its own. My concern is... well, a fully realistic Christian priest (as opposed to merely making the religion they practice overtly Christian) are the sheer limitations such a class would suffer from. The clergy weren't exactly adventuring types, being more scholars/advisors, political figures, ect. living a lifestyle in a small area to attend to their flock/monestaries/studies/whatever. It also raises some very sticky theological questions when you get into the question of them using divine powers at all: I mean, even your Old Testament Prophets weren't going around throwing miracle-level mojo around based on their own will (And most clerics aren't going to be that "blessed"); they were in nearly all cases either acting only as conduits of God's power on explicit orders or temporarily channeling/near God's actions. Pressing a button to, say, heal a wound because YOU decided the person ought to be healed dosen't fit that well.Now, you could always randomize or have a very complex "God" algorithm to determine just what will or won't happen in any given situation, but that robs the player of effective agency and force them into a quite literal "Spray and Pray" situation reguarding their effectiveness at a task/in a party.

 

[Neoteros]

Well, pseudo-shrine maidens with healing/summoning powers is a decades old J-RPG trope, to the point that even local depictions of the Catholic clergy and faith (or of any fictional, monotheistic religion with an organized clergy) have been influenced by it. You just need to have someone with enough balls to go all the way, preferably in the golden age of the genre.

There was an old PlayStation game with a Protestant reverend as one of the main characters, Koudelka if I remember correctly.

 

[FlyingSquirrel]

It also raises some very sticky theological questions when you get into the question of them using divine powers at all: I mean, even your Old Testament Prophets weren't going around throwing miracle-level mojo around based on their own will (And most clerics aren't going to be that "blessed"); they were in nearly all cases either acting only as conduits of God's power on explicit orders or temporarily channeling/near God's actions. Pressing a button to, say, heal a wound because YOU decided the person ought to be healed dosen't fit that well.

Yeah, the mainstream Christian world view doesn't really sit well with all the human use of magic in the typical fantasy RPG. If you wanted to do this, I'd say the best bet would be more of a straight historical setting where magic and other supernatural elements are mostly absent.

 

[Aisha Clan-Clan]

The reason for the lack of christian-flavored or at least ones that hint at it at all is due to a combination of fear of bad PR from religious types plus the same but for ah certain types of liberal. Avoid the rise in moralism after the 70s by removing even just Carter's presidency for one POD to it would help.

 

[Neoteros]

The reason for the lack of christian-flavored or at least ones that hint at it at all is due to a combination of fear of bad PR from religious types plus the same but for ah certain types of liberal. Avoid the rise in moralism after the 70s by removing even just Carter's presidency for one POD to it would help.

D&D not being deemed demonic and hellish would help, too.

 

[Aisha Clan-Clan]

D&D no longer being "deemed demonic and hellish" in the 2010s anymore OTL hasn't led to it though yet.

 

[Empress Ryzal]

Pressing a button to, say, heal a wound because YOU decided the person ought to be healed dosen't fit that well.

Make them mostly be passive skills, with the active skills being stuff mostly belonging to the exorcism or ceremonial branch of the skill tree. Have the algorithm be based on how many faith-related quests you routinely perform or how well you follow certain restrictions like pacifism. Other characters will also be judged using similar metrics. If you have multiple competing faiths, you can even have that affact things too.

The effectiveness of support, then, becomes less "spray and pray" and more "you get blessings from the faith you follow, with priests simply being a very helpful amplifier".

Then again, seeing as Orthodox priests are known to straight up bless military equipment, including weapons, we may be overthinking this. That said, it seems easiest to just make the "heal" ability make medical items or skills stronger. So, for example, a priest can anoint you with oil to help your regen, while a doctor or nurse can straight up heal you, but when used together they synergize.

The clergy weren't exactly adventuring types,

It depends on the type of priest, realy.

While most would be those who stay at their designated area, you can have the class explicitly be missionaries or crusaders who travel all over the place. There was, after all, even a Pope who rode into battle during the Crusades, so it's not unprecedented. And then you get to some folks like Mormons who are basicly tailor made for this kind of thing, they even have their own signature mount.

Additionally, if this MMO has undead and demons duking it out with adventurers in broad daylight, you'd think that many faiths would react accordingly and start training exorcists en masse, so your priest class would be less about support and more about being the single strongest anti-darkness DPS class in the entire game, similar to Battle-build and Magnus Exorcismus-build Archbishops in Ragnarok.

 

[alter]

It also raises some very sticky theological questions when you get into the question of them using divine powers at all: I mean, even your Old Testament Prophets weren't going around throwing miracle-level mojo around based on their own will (And most clerics aren't going to be that "blessed"); they were in nearly all cases either acting only as conduits of God's power on explicit orders or temporarily channeling/near God's actions. Pressing a button to, say, heal a wound because YOU decided the person ought to be healed dosen't fit that well.

In the Ragnarok Online universe lore, an Acolyte or Priest doesn't have magical powers on their own, instead they basically say a mental prayer that they want to Heal a fellow human, or render an Undead inanimate, and God agrees, granting the cleric the power.

This seems similar to Transylvanian Theistic Unitarianism (in which there is no original sin, just humans choosing to be evil because of their free will, and there is salvation for all of those who repent) and the theology of Harry Potter (where even Voldemort had the chance to repent and have a good afterlife, if only he felt remorse for his actions).
This seems to be a widespread view among more religious Eastern Europeans, not just Transylvanian Unitarians, but even among not-too-strict Catholics, and Calvinists. That more "legalist" religious transgressions, such as free love and dabbling in the occult don't really count as long as you were a force for good, human well-being and love, rather than of force for bad, causing harm and hate.