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Actually, for the thousands of Christians who love PC-based video games, it may be an answer to prayer. The Interactive Digital Software Association says 60 percent of all Americans purchase computer and video games. There are probably more Christian gamers out there than one might think, but they remain an uncounted segment. In 1999, the video-game industry (which includes computer games and their console counterparts, like Sony's PlayStation) pulled in $7.4 billion, about $697.5 million of which came from PC game sales.

Of the 215 million computer and video games sold in 1999, plenty were of the nonthreatening variety, including (according to research firm PC Data) the top three PC games of the year: Roller Coaster Tycoon, Sim City 3000, and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. But shelf space at stores is overpopulated with dark and intense titles. Sure, many have been concerned about the most violent games, but until recently the makers of games like Unreal, Diablo, and Doom met little real opposition.

That all changed when two students stalked the halls of Columbine High School almost three years ago with rifles and trench coats. In the aftermath of the massacre, the boys' video and written memoirs indicated an obsessive love of Über-violent games like Doom and Quake. Hand-wringing turned to blame-sharing, and everything from the music of Nine Inch Nails and the movie The Matrix to video games spent some time under society's glare. Eventually the heat faded and the continued success of such games showed that interest in the genre had only increased. But some continued to stalk violent video games like the demon hunters so common to the genre.

One of these was a computer programmer and gamer from Oregon who had conceived of an action-packed role-playing game for Christians. Ralph Bagley pitched his vision for a high-quality "first person shooter" game that involved all the tension—but none of the gore—to several investors. None bit, but Bagley pressed on. In the furious national aftermath of Columbine, however, several of the same investors called him back and expressed a desire to get involved.

About the same time, a local company that had risen to the heights of the gaming industry with the blockbuster success of Seventh Guest and Eleventh Hour was closing its doors. Designer Graham Devine had accepted a position with id Software (creator of Doom) and would eventually become the main designer of Quake 3. His former staff was suddenly unemployed. Bagley made some calls and was able to assemble a design team almost immediately. N'Lightning Software Development was born, and work on its debut game Catechumen commenced immediately.

Bagley was committed to creating a game that he would want to play. "We intended to show the kids that being a Christian is not a position of weakness but of strength," Bagley says. "We wanted to show that the dark side is not the winning side. It's Christ that's the ultimate winner."

The game is set in Rome, A.D. 171. The persecution of Christians by Emperor Marcus Aurelius continues unabated. In order to protect and preserve the faith, new converts are personally discipled for a period of at least one year. During this time they are called Catechumens. In the game, the player is the Catechumen, and his job is to search the Roman catacombs for captured Christian brethren, including his mentor. The path involves mazes, battles, puzzles, even a fight with a lion in the Coliseum. The payoff is ultimate victory, both physical and spiritual, and involves a showdown with Satan himself.

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February 19 2001, Vol. 45, No. 3