I’m under the assumption that we are vastly under-utilizing the imaginations and resources of developers and consumers in the bible apps arena. Sure, there are bibles, reading plans, libraries, audio libraries, and video tracts that are solid for building the faith. But, that’s it. There’s nothing else, unless you are looking in the “kids” section and much of what’s there gets little attention from it’s target audience, let alone the genre.
But, I think this is something that can be solved. We’ve got to look at the potential situations we aren’t addressing and then create the opportunity to grow personally and with one another in a way that would be receivable.
To that end, I tossed some thoughts up at twitter hoping to get some conversation and probably poke an imagination or two. Here are the tweets:
At a gathering there were 3 iPads, several iPhones, and a few other smartphones. Bible apps weren’t the topic. Nor was gospel music. If you want mobile to be an intentional response for faith, you’ve got to build something that threads those social moments, like games.
Am honestly shocked that there’s no game that can be played across multiple devices published by Christian/bible developers. Missed [opportunity]? For as much as Taboo, Scrabble, etc are played at gatherings, why not use mobile there too? Folks already have devices out on social net[works during gatherings]
There’s more than enough subject matter in the bible alone to create a solid mobile game. Where’s the imagination and execution for this? Or, is asking for such taking aspects of “fellowship” outside of a comfy space. If games go social+mobile, do [people] connect/mature faith?
If games for religious/community gatherings go social+mobile, does that break/mend social fences?
There are a few things here, and each could be their own conversation. But, I want to know your thoughts. Why aren’t we seeing more social games targeted towards small groups? For all the funds that many churches are spending on mobile apps that are simply brochures (much like their websites and printed programs), why isn’t that energy being put on making social games that engage their communities on existing social networks, or community-specific one’s?
One project that I came across (tweet) is Ebenezer by Old Testament Adventures. From the website:
Ebenezer is a point & click adventure game in the style of Monkey Island based around the Old Testament story in 1 Samuel 8-12, where Saul becomes king. It is currently under development for iPhone and Android.
For more information, including how this is being put together and how you can contribute or get involved can be found on their website.
So far, that (and Bible Navigator X which we talked about before) seem to be it. Do we just not have the imagination to do on mobiles in faith gatherings what people are already doing in faith gatherings, but might have little to nothing to do with the gathering itself?
I was sitting with a young friend of mine and his frequent companion was the Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP). It was a bit of an attention diversion in some respects, but given some of what I learned about him in that time, it proved to be one of the few pieces of technology that was able to hold his attention and have him cultivate some knowledge.
