This board game will surely destroy the world.

[Beardo]

http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2008-11-17-playing-gods-game_N.htm?csp=34

Playing Gods' satirizes religious violence

Wholesale slaughter of innocents is nothing new in games — board or online — where players adopt godlike figures to whack others along their way to victory. But a new board game replaces ancient gods or invented goddesses with game characters from major religions of the modern world. Playing Gods: The Board Game of Divine Domination bills itself as "the world's first satirical board game of religious warfare."

FAITH & REASON: What gamers are saying about 'Playing Gods'
Three-inch plastic figurines include Jesus bashing people with a cross, Moses slugging away with the tablets of the Ten Commandments, the Buddha with a machine gun, and a turbaned fellow with a bomb and a dagger vaguely hinting at Mohammed, all to be set loose to "force the people of the world to worship you." The game was introduced in September at DragonCon, the annual pop culture, fantasy and science fiction convention in Atlanta, where it caught on with "religious folks with a sense of humor" as well as skeptics, says its creator, Ben Radford, 38, of Rio Rancho, N.M., managing editor of Skeptical Inquirer magazine.

Radford says "much of the world's violence is rooted in religion," so he thought directly mocking various images of God and religious followers would "make more social commentary" and "pierce the pretensions of extremist religious zealotry with humor." Players can choose among the five figurines or make one for themselves with stickers for a "god" who resembles Oprah, a stein of beer or Satan or add a word label such as Islam, technology, even "the Almighty Dollar." Says Radford, "I didn't want to leave out a Muslim figure just because it might be offensive. The game is satire. But I went out of my way to be innocuous. The figure is not named. It could be any Muslim leader.

The figurines move across a global game board drawing cards that promise wrath with natural disasters or woo converts with kindness or cleverness. Colored chips represent each god's sects or followers. A typical steely grey wrath card would "Bring down the Darkness: Kill two sects," while a sunny yellow conversion card recalls Elijah's showdown with a priest of Baal in the Bible (1 Kings 18:38). "Another god's follower challenges you to prove you exist; you fry him with lightening in front of a crowd. Gain one sect."

But just like sexy magazines on a family news stand, the most potentially offensive cards come in a separate wrapper.

"Overemphasis on guilt drives millions to depression and suicide. Kill three Christian sects," it says under the image of the wrathful Jesus. "Endless 'War on Terror' provides terrorist job stability. Gain three Muslim sects," says a card with the Middle Eastern bomb thrower image. Still, Radford argues, Playing Gods is a statement of peace, "not anti-religion. It's anti-zealot, anti- people who kill for their beliefs, whatever those are." The way to win the game, however, is by a combination of killing and conversion. "I have to be honest with you: Killing is very popular. When people become Gods, they like laying down the locusts and the other Old Testament plagues," says Radford.

In that respect, Playing Gods resembles the video game tradition it emulates — fantasy violence for entertainment, says Carl Raschke, professor of religious studies at University of Denver. The game's perspective "has no basis in historical reality and doesn't actually represent any religion. It just appeals to people who hate religion to begin with — the hip subculture of militant popular atheists," says Raschke.

"These people are fanatics, for the most part, themselves. Their thinking is rigid and hostile and not much different from jihadists who don't use their minds or study what they are dealing with. They start from their own dogmatic perspective." Offensive? Says Raschke, "Of course it is. But it sounds too stupid to go far." The $39.99 game is available online and in independent game stores but, Radford acknowledges, "the big chain stores aren't going to touch a game like this."

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Himuro please dont kill us.

[close]

[TVC15]

HOLY FUCKING SHIT!  MINE!

[Beardo]

HOLY FUCKING SHIT!  MINE!

 

spoiler (click to show/hide)

The game sucks

[close]

[Bloodwake]

This is perhaps the best board game ever made.

Purchase confirmed.

[muckhole]

  Where do you find all these awesome games, Beardo?

spoiler (click to show/hide)

The game sucks

[close]

Awwww

[Eric P]

i just want it for the plastic figures.

which is what i am guessing most people want it for.

[Robo]

M.U.S.C.L.E. didn't destroy the world, so I think we're safe from board games.

[Beardo]

M.U.S.C.L.E. didn't destroy the world, so I think we're safe from board games.

I dont know, I bet jinfish and Himuro are plotting right now to bring the western world to its knees. Probably using the plastic figures from the game!

[Brehvolution]

Is that buddha....... with a mini gun?

[E-DuB]

Is that buddha....... with a mini gun?

That's a selling point! This looks fuck-awesome

[Bloodwake]

Is that buddha....... with a mini gun?

YES IT IS

[Ganhyun]

Awesomeness this is.

Or could be.

[Himu]

Where can I get these board pieces

[Human Snorenado]

There's a long tradition of assassins from the Middle-East- in fact the word "assassin" itself I believe is derived from a society created by noted madman Hassan i Sabbah.

[Tauntaun]

Dude pussed out on muhammad piece,  taco confirmed. 

[Beardo]

Dude pussed out on muhammad piece,  distinguished effete fellow confirmed. 

What are you talking about. They got Muhammad down perfectly.

[Ganhyun]

Dude pussed out on muhammad piece,  distinguished effete fellow confirmed. 

What are you talking about. They got Muhammad down perfectly.


(Image removed from quote.)

But they don't say it is Muhammad.  They say it could/is some random Muslim. If he did call it Muhammad, alot of Muslims would come after the game and him like they did that Danish cartoonist.

[Tauntaun]

But they don't say it is Muhammad.  They say it could/is some random Muslim. If he did call it Muhammad, alot of Muslims would come after the game and him like they did that Danish cartoonist.

Zackly,  plus that dude looks like a ninja or something.     Pussy.

[brawndolicious]

In Islam, it is forbidden to make pictures or sculptures of Mohammad as that would encourage idolatry.  This is probably why the artist decided to just cover his face with a turban thing since no one knows what he looks like.  Even Muslim religious paintings and movies show him with a scarf over his face.  I think that any Muslim will instantly notice this about the sculpture, but not get angry.

I'm more pissed off about the Christ piece as it just looks like a hobo.

There's a long tradition of assassins from the Middle-East- in fact the word "assassin" itself I believe is derived from a society created by noted madman Hassan i Sabbah.

The word "assassin" comes from the word "hashishi" (it's hard to write the arabic pronunciation in English), which means a person who smokes hash....of course.

They were an assassin group that I believe worked for the Syrian king and they would smoke hash for divine power or something, before their missions.  They did two missions against Saladin (enemy of the Syrian king).  In the first mission, Saladin was laying siege to a Syrian city and they got right into his tent and just left a death threat on his table.  The second time, the assassin got caught by Saladin and then he ran away.  Still scared the crap out of Saladin.

I heard that the Assassin's Creed game was based on them.  Very loosely based on them.

[Phoenix Dark]

Dude pussed out on muhammad piece,  distinguished effete fellow confirmed. 

What are you talking about. They got Muhammad down perfectly.


(Image removed from quote.)

Explosion or circumcision, make your choice

[CurseoftheGods]

Dude pussed out on muhammad piece,  distinguished effete fellow confirmed. 

What are you talking about. They got Muhammad down perfectly.


(Image removed from quote.)

Did you even read the article you posted?

[TVC15]

There's a long tradition of assassins from the Middle-East- in fact the word "assassin" itself I believe is derived from a society created by noted madman Hassan i Sabbah.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hashshashin

Even more interesting:  the words "assassin" and "hasish" have the same origin.

[Bebpo]

There's a long tradition of assassins from the Middle-East- in fact the word "assassin" itself I believe is derived from a society created by noted madman Hassan i Sabbah.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hashshashin

Even more interesting:  the words "assassin" and "hasish" have the same origin.

Wait, was this the group that you played as in Assassin's Creed?  Because reading that it sure sounds like the AC team copied all there stuff out of that article.

[Fresh Prince]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hashshashin
Even more interesting:  the words "assassin" and "hasish" have the same origin.

The power of the Hashshashin was destroyed by the Mongol warlord Hulagu Khan, but several Ismaili sects share something of a common lineage. During the Mongol assault of Alamut on 1256 December 15, the library of the sect was destroyed, along with much of their power base, and thus much of the sect's own records were lost; most accounts of them stem from the highly reputable Arab historians of the period

Mongols isn't there anything they can't do? 

[TVC15]

There's a long tradition of assassins from the Middle-East- in fact the word "assassin" itself I believe is derived from a society created by noted madman Hassan i Sabbah.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hashshashin

Even more interesting:  the words "assassin" and "hasish" have the same origin.

Wait, was this the group that you played as in Assassin's Creed?  Because reading that it sure sounds like the AC team copied all there stuff out of that article.

It was a copy.  Recall in Assassin's Creed they removed all mentions of religious groups and whatnot.  Also, The Assassins were generally just as (if not more) concerned with killing opponents of their own religion rather than the invading Christians.  But yeah, in the back of the major assassin keep of AC, there's even a sort of version of the "garden."

It's an interesting little part of history.  I liked reading up on it a lot.  I <3 Crusades shit.

[brawndolicious]

They were apparently muslims with really weird beliefs (hash for instance).  They allied with christians sometimes because of this and as I mentioned above, it is believed that they may have allied with the Syrian king whom they disliked when they set out to kill Saladin (which obviously failed).  It's too bad that we don't have more information on the crazy bastards.

[Cormacaroni]

Is that buddha....... with a mini gun?

Ain't got time for bodhi!

[muckhole]

And for god's sake it's Jinfaaaash

I ain't no fish.

Sometimes Jinflash. And now, sometimes Jinflish.

[Tauntaun]

And for god's sake it's Jinfaaaash

I ain't no fish.

Sometimes Jinflash. And now, sometimes Jinflish.

What about Jinflesh?  Like a Jinfash fleshlight?   

[muckhole]

It's a slow but steady evolution.

[CurseoftheGods]

[The Sceneman]

Where can I get these board pieces

ummm, buy the game?

[drozmight]

Lets make a board game about hashish smoken persian assatisins.

[brawndolicious]

They should have had an "Almight Dollar" figurine that looked like John Cusack.