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Reviews
Poirot Becomes a Computer Game
April 12, 2004
Church On-Line
Churches are having to use their imagination to attract new members.
The 3D virtual-reality Church of Fools is just one idea, but does it have any chance
of building a congregation?
As you take your pew, you noticed that the person next to you looks just like you. Definitely
in a game situation.
Before you can go into the virtual church, you must choose what your character looks like.
This being the first service, options are still limited - hence the coincidence of two people who
fancied quiffs and baby blue Argyle jumpers.
Going into this online chapel is a little like playing a computer game - you use your mouse
to indicate where you want to walk, you right-click for options such as kneeling, and your
typed words appear in speech bubbles on the screen.
But while it may initially feel like a game, it is far more important than that to
its creators, the Christian website Ship of Fools, and its sponsor, the Methodist Church.
View from the pulpit
It is a recognition that relying on traditional ways of attracting congregations is risky.
Unless methods can be found of reaching out to new people, the fear for churches is that
one day they will simply cease to exist.
The thinking is that some people may be more prepared to wander into a website than a
church on the corner of the street. But for the project to be a success virtual worshippers
will need to feel like they have actually been to a service. So how does Church of Fools
measure up?
Protocol
It doesn't take many seconds from sitting down next to my new identical twin to realise that
behind every character is a real person, on their computer somewhere in the world, all come
to the same place for the same reason.
MISSION-SHAPED CHURCH
Additionally, the Anglican church has launched i-Church, to be run by its first web pastor Alyson Leslie
The launch is at the Sandown racecourse, as part of the Christian Resources Exhibition,
but people are taking part from Birmingham, Bradford, France, Perth and New Hampshire.
Most characters decide to sit in the pews - but a newbie from Wapping, who is getting used
to the controls, climbs the pulpit - quite against protocol.
Among the others there does seem to be a strange feeling of reverence, not very different
from the moments before a normal church service starts. "Babybear", sitting near my character,
whispers on screen: "I'm physically in North Wales at the moment, but it's odd,
I already feel like I'm in church."
You could easily make your character stand and shout something - just as you could
in a real church - but the reserve which would prevent you from doing this in real life
translates perfectly, even though people don't actually know who you are. Peer pressure
works online.
Crash
Then the minister and a character looking very like the Bishop of London walk in - the bishop
character is being played by the real bishop, the Right Reverend Richard Chartres, who is
in another office at the racecourse.
At that moment, just as he is walking towards the altar, the minister disappears.
His computer, on his desk at St John's College in York, has crashed and his character
is lost in cyberspace. The bishop carries on alone, and his character walks to the front
of the church where he starts to preach.
A latecomer arrives and sits down. Someone starts talking - their words again appearing in
speech bubbles. In real life you would need a ridiculous level of provocation before confronting
someone, but here it is weirdly distracting and you feel no worries about telling them to shush.
The bishop starts to preach - his words appearing above his character in the pulpit.
He says this new venture is like Jesus telling Simon Peter to "put out
into the deep and let down our nets for a catch" - an act of faith,
the rewards of which are not yet known.
And then a new character enters the church and starts swearing,
accusing the worshippers of the kind of activities forbidden by Leviticus.
Real life churches often have troublemakers too - but the virtual
world has an easier way of dealing with them. The moderator has
the option to "smite", ejecting anyone not entering into the spirit.
Daft
When Bishop Chartres announces the Lord's Prayer, everyone in the church starts typing
it, some in traditional form, some modern, some in French some in Latin. Although
it feels slightly daft, suddenly any notion that this is a game is gone.
These people are praying together, and that is as real as if they were standing in the same room.
That they are in a dozen different towns and countries seems a trifling matter.
The Reverend Jonathan Kerry of the Methodist Church says this experiment may teach
the real churches something about what newcomers expect from them.
In any case, there is no reason why churches should not go online - people comfortably
conduct a large part of their lives on the web, so why shouldn't they go to church there too?
For Bishop Chartres, going online cannot be a complete substitute. "I think the more
you live through the screen, the more you need face-to-face real time interaction," he
said after the virtual service had ended. But whether this is a taste of the future or
just an experiment, something about it felt real.
What better evidence could you need than one character asking, after the service had
ended: "Right, can we get a cup of coffee now?"
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