Tower Defense Concept Art Faces Scrutiny
The upcoming Tower Defense game has the potential to be an amazing financial and growth opportunity for Splinterlands, minus a glaring problem that will restrict its growth and cause a real marketing headache for them.
A few days ago when the leaks began, I had hoped I was wrong about what I saw, but sadly yesterday's reveal indicated my instincts were correct. Splinterlands has used image references to Satan and the occult in this upcoming game. This imagery is a poor choice on Splinterlands' part for many reasons, not just on a personal affront to my faith (and 1. billions of others), but it's a marketing DISASTER. However, the concept art images aren't the only problem here. When you include real occult images, the gameplay meaning also becomes cringe worthy at the very least in using Christian beliefs as a sort of mockery. I'm assuming it's unintended of course; however, it could really turn future Splinterlands' players away from the platform and even worse, send current faithful gamers away as well. Let me explain why in this post I've been dreading to write for days as I do not wish to speak ill of Splinterlands when I love it so much. Hopefully this post will strike up a needed conversation to the top members of the Splinterlands' team and changes will be made so we can go on as gamers and not as religious crusaders when discussing a crypto game.
Reasons Why the Occult Pentagram Images are Unacceptable in Upcoming Game
On a personal level, the pentagrams displayed in the new Tower Defense game made by Splinterlands are against my Catholic Christian beliefs, but on a professional, theological level, they strike at the heart of Christianity itself. I feel I have room to speak on this topic, because of my background. My degree is in religion; I have a Masters in Theology and come from a multi-religious family. I was a happy high school religion teacher for 10 years. Please keep my professional background in mind while you continue to read as I am not just speaking from my own personal beliefs but from actual knowledge. Therefore, here's why I don't think Splinterlands wants to keep the current concept art for the new Tower Defense game.
The Pentagram is a real image with power behind it. It offends many Christians, and for marketing purposes you don't want to offend anyone. I've never understood why a business wants to involve itself in political issues (unless that is the very creation and meaning behind the business), because you ostracize others and lose potential revenue.
When you're using fantasy, lore, etc. to build a beautiful story in Splinterlands, I understand the value of using Christian references. At the same time, this is a GAME, and the occult's imagery is NOT something to mess with. There are reasons why Christians do not engage in those images. It's not just that it's offensive; it's that there IS ACTUAL POWER behind them. They are used to desecrate what is sacred to Christians. You might defend the position of using occult imagery because we want to "love all people and their beliefs," but when the occult's very beliefs are a an attack on Christian beliefs, it's must better just to avoid it altogether. Stick with mythology, fantasy, magic, fairy tales, etc., but do not try to use REAL images that conjure what Christians believe is evil for a game.
According to the developers of the game, the basis behind Splinterlands' Tower Defense is to save souls. The game premise includes these monsters needing to be saved so you take the tower and cover the occult image with your monster as was explained during the recent Town Hall, and they will fight for the soul. While I love the concept of saving monsters in the game, it's too deep when you ACTUALLY include occult pictures. Saving souls in real life isn't a game, and looking at occult imagery and monsters together just seems to mock the very understanding of what a soul really is.
For the purposes of understanding a soul, let's say a monster is like that of an animal. Animals have souls, but not in the sense that we understand them. They do not have free will and intellect to the level that human beings do. Therefore, when you start to water down terms like "souls" which is something sacred and add REAL occult images to continue your theme, it doesn't have that powerful "wow" factor you're looking for in a game. Or maybe it does, but it's the WRONG wow factor. Yes, perhaps we want to save our monsters from imminent death, but to use terminology like souls, salvation and then put the occult mixed in with it is in my opinion stepping across the fantasy line and now bordering on mocking it all. I'm DEFINITELY certain that was not the intention when Splinterlands added those occult images. In fact, the intention seems to try to give VALUE in saving souls, so certainly you can keep with this idea of saving the monsters but please remember that actual occult (from the Christian's perspective) believes in doing whatever it can to destroy souls. As a scholar of humanities and theology, I get what you're trying to do, but this is a GAME. Let's please keep to the realm of gaming and the realm of soul-saving separate, or at the very least, keep the occult out of it. I'm not interested in my soul being destroyed today thank you, and I feel many Christians will also not be taken in by the look and ideology behind the game mechanics. I will not in good conscience be able to recommend this game to any of my Christian friends. They will look at me like I've lost my soul, and that's no game!
Continuing with the occult theme, in the Tower Defense game Splinterlands has included conjuring spells in the Tower Defense game. The good news here is, you remove the occult stuff, and then spells can return to the fantasy and magic that it is. However, you enter those occult images, and we just went from fantasy to a very dangerous reality. Splinterlands will again find itself in a marketing nightmare as soon as those occult pictures are released. The concept of conjuring spells is a VERY REAL concept in Christianity versus the occult. You have actual Latin chants that are used to call upon the dark souls of Hell to destroy souls. There is actual evil in the world, but let's say you don't believe in that. That's fine, I'm definitely not here to convince you of that. What I am hoping to point out to you is the marketing nightmare these images can bring about for the game among over 2 billion Christians, and there's just no reason to even go NEAR this stuff and endanger potential revenue. It's just all WAY too dark, intense and highly controversial, so why ruin your game and your marketing with these images?
When you stay in the realm of fantasy, you can do nearly anything. For example, did you know The Lord of the Rings by Tolkien is actually about Christianity, more specifically the Catholic Church? Tolkien was a devout Catholic and used language, creativity, imagination, mythology, etc. to create light, dark, evil, goodness and in the end hope which is the most important element. If you had no idea that The Lord of the Rings was actually sending you Christian subtleties, then yay! What a win! He was able to share Christian concepts without blatantly showing specific Christian imagery. That's brilliance. Splinterlands can do the same here, and I think then you can talk about saving monsters and conjuring spells and all those amazing features that we all love about fantasy games, but once you mix fantasy and reality together, you've complicated what should be just a game people go play at the end of a long day. I would imagine many people don't want to look at pentagrams after the end of a long day. They want to escape to a fantasy world, not be reminded of what they politically need to stand up for as Christians.
Thank You For Listening
I hope this post has been helpful. I truly pray someone on the Splinterlands' team sees this and reconsiders the artwork. It's so offensive to me, and I would imagine to many other Christians who know about the occult. We just want to play a game. We don't want to have to actually battle for our souls in why or why not in good conscience we should be supporting Splinterlands anymore. Please PLEASE reconsider your images.
Thank you to any and all who read this post. I appreciate that you took time to read it, and I hope if someone agrees with me will send this onto those who need to see it. I'm open to any discussions people want to have on this topic as well. Feel free to make comments. Thanks.
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Please remember my post is not meant to be financial advice and is just my opinion.
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