I'd like to make a counterpoint to Gardeningdeb's post.

As someone for whom faith is also important, I find the idea of forcibly converting people by destroying their articles of faith to be obnoxious and abhorrent. Missionaries forced their faith on others, children were taken from their tribes and "had the Injun beat out of them" to make them convert, people have been butchered, and the cultures of entire peoples have been lost because of the frothing need to make others believe as they did.

Faith through fear and violence will breed resentment and warp the core of that faith-- just look at the Westboro Baptist Church, picketing the funerals of dead soldiers. How is that about love?

I like that there's the option to use kindness and positive God-powers to convert the masked people. If there was also an option to allow the masked people to tear down their own idols instead of having the visiting tribe do it, it would sit much better with me.

I find the converting people part somewhat tasteless no matter how it's done. But it's just a game, so I try not to associate it with anything real.

What I really find aggravating are those yellow heathen bully children. They are obnoxious and out of control. With some practice and tricks you can learn to deal work with the other yellow guys, but the kids just run around and -- here's my big complaint -- make people drop things. I've lost TWO rare collectibles this way. Given how VV goes, it's not likely I'll see them again in my playing time. Chasing after the collectibles has never been one of my favorite aspects of VV and this just makes it annoying.

Still, it's shaping up to be a good game. Seems easier to figure out what's needed for the puzzles than some of the other VV games, and once you get the hang of the heathens it's pretty smooth sailing.

I have to agree with the last two comments, though I love the game. 'Converting the heathens' just sounds so bad to me(knowing what came/comes about with real religions converting the unbelieving). That's really the only thing that bothers me, but then I have to remember it's a game.

i think it a great game i think ldw have done a good job on it

I am about to ??? that rascal yellow mask kid... ::whimper::

same i lost 3 rare relics because of that kid!

I let anger get the best of me, have since prayed about it, and apologize to anyone I may have offended. I tried to delete this post, but it wouldn't let me, so I'm putting this here instead. I am not apologizing for the above post, just the one I am currently replacing.

GardeningDeb, I think we're all just making comments about our own reactions to the game. No one is criticizing your comments or your reaction, just because ours have been different. I think it is the nature of mature people that they can have a rational conversation about something while they disagree or just have different viewpoints.

And I think the people that have responded are also religious people, so it's nothing to do with "dissing religion".

Anyway, it's time to focus our hate where it's really deserved: The yellow-masked kid who makes us lose relics!

Well, IMO there's nothing wrong with talking to someone and convincing them to join your religion, like the villagers do. Someone said that they would prefer that the heathens tore down their own idols, and you can do that- just keep track of who was previously a heathen, and only use them to destroy idols.

We do want candid discussion of the game and its impact on everyone who plays it, but we want the discussion to stay focused on each individual's own personal opinions. I don't believe that anyone has made any comments that directly criticize other members here, despite the fact that there are some strong opinions being expressed. We are monitoring this discussion to make sure that it doesn't 'stray across the line' established by our Forum Rules. I will ask that people refrain from taking the discussion too much into the area of 'real world religion' since that inevitably leads to flame wars and/or personal criticism. The game is, after all, about the inhabitants of Isola and their history - not about Planet Earth and its various cultures. We will remove any comments that we believe stray over the line or invite others to do so.