There’s a fascinating post over at Terra Nova today, positing that religions might qualify as virtual worlds. It raises some interesting points, and is certainly thought provoking, but I don’t think I’m quite convinced.

Certainly, there are similarities, but I think it’s a bit of a stretch to say that because two things tap into the same human desire for easy success according to clearly defined rules of progress, that they must be the same kind of thing. Even if we allow that a religion is false, and thus has a “fictional history” and attendant cast of fictional characters, and that it offers a sense of achievement and reward for otherwise meaningless actions, it still lacks what is, in my mind, the fundamental defining characteristic of a virtual world, which is, well, a virtual world.

believers do not inhabit, or have access to, some other virtual realm, reserved for people of faith. They operate entirely within the same world as the rest of us. They may interpret that world differently, even incorrectly, but if you argue that being wrong is the same as being in a virtual world, then we have to describe everyone as being in one at all times.

Emphasis mine:

possibly the best rpg this year on PC, 25 Jul 2007 By P. Milner - See all my reviews

Fun: 4/5

From what ive seen and read about this game it has the potential to be great!!! it has loads of depth and the graphics are truly great, a good RPG needs to have a great story and gameplay to be great and this looks like it has both over 60 hours of gameplay like the days of Final Fantasy 7.

3 different endings which you have control over on your actions in the game….. RPG fans this is a must!!

im really looking forward to this and will be counting the days!!! i gave this 4 stars because i never give 5 unless ive played and liked it.

Here’s a thought: how about you don’t review it or rate it at all unless you’ve played it? Do you even know what “review” means? Muppet.

Oh, it’s a review of The Witcher, by the way.

I honestly have no idea what to make of this.

Apparently, in Resistance: Fall of Man, one of the levels involves a gun battle in the Cathedral of Manchester, and the Church of England, upon noticing this, has vocally objected.

“Fair enough, “you might think, “it’s their Church, and a likeness of it has been used without permission.” What I’m not happy about is the Thompson-esque nature of their argument:

It is well known that Manchester has a gun crime problem.

For a global manufacturer to re-create one of our great cathedrals with photo-realistic quality and then encourage people to have guns battles in the building is beyond belief and highly irresponsible.

Quite aside from the dubious nature of their claim that playing games in which you have gun battles encourages you to do the same thing in real life, this raises a more troubling question. If Manchester has a gun-crime problem that can be exacerbated by Resistance, do they also have the associated alien invasion problem? And why haven’t I heard about it?