- Do You Use These Social Technology Tools?
- How Can the Church Bridge the Generation Gap Through the Use of New Technology?
- Why Make the Bible Available on a Gaming System?
In continuing the discussion about technology and discipleship, I want to consider the usefulness of BibleNavigator X, the new HCSB eReader for the XBox.
On his blog, Ed Stetzer wrote:
Why make the Bible available on a gaming system? The idea of making the Scripture readily available for the people in a language they understand and a format they can interact with has long been the desire of the church. In this case, the ability for small groups to easily gather around the TV to read a passage together opens the Bible to a more social experience. B&H has said that they hope youth ministers are open to using it, and have included bookmarks in it so teachers can jump right to the passages they’ve prepared.
I want to ask you these questions:
- Is this a good idea?
- Would you use your Wii or XBox to read the Bible?
- How might this be a helpful way of using current technology
- How could the church make use of this product?
- Have you used it? If so, what do you think about it?
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
There are a few pros and cons to the idea.
Pros:
-The Bible available to another group of people in another way.
-The Bible for a demographic that could be considered in some ways unreached (gamers)
-Makes it easier for displaying the Bible (as Ed said)
Cons:
-As a guy formerly addicted to video games, this would be an extremely distracting environment.
-Video games often prevented me from having the attention span to read.
Good thoughts, Ben. I’m a little concerned about the medium as well. Not simply because it’s a video came console, but because it seems “dorky.” That comes from my interview with Dr. Lewis and Dr. Steiner about how the Church engages culture. I haven’t asked them yet, but I’m not too sure either of them would be thrilled about this.
On the other hand, you’re right that it does have certain advantages as well. I’m just struggling to process those pros and cons in my head.
Will -
Just curious as to how it seems dorky? The XBOX 360 is the right platform for this… The XBOX is as much about media consumption as it is gaming. Microsoft has movie rental services (Zune and Netflix), social services (Facebook and Twitter), and music services (Last.fm) all as a part of the system. Bible Navigator X just happens to be the first eReader for the XBOX; I would be surprised if there isn’t more to come.
For me, it’s about making the content of the Bible accessible in all forms that people might want to consume it. It’s no different than putting the Bible on an iPhone or a Kindle or a computer.
Aaron, if you haven’t watched the video of my interview with Dr. Lewis and Dr. Steiner, you should do that. It explains what I mean by “dorky.” That’s not my term, by the way; it’s Dr. Lewis’ term.
Don’t misunderstand me, though. I don’t think it’s a bad idea, just one that brings with it a set of questions and concerns about how the Church engages culture. The way Dr. Lewis puts it is that we may not be offering real change, just more of the same with a different brand on it. Her point, I believe, is that we need to think not just about our content, but about the implications of how we deliver that content as well. You said, “The XBOX is as much about media consumption as it is gaming.” And you’re absolutely right. That’s my concern. The Bible is not merely a product to consume, so if we put it in this context we just need to be aware of the possible challenges socially and spiritually that come with this medium.
I’m glad they have the HCSB available in a new and creative format, but like Ben mentioned, it comes at a price socially.
“Dorky” is my word, and yes, I think I would apply it here.
I watched the news youtube clip on the Bible Navigator X site, and I have to repeat Dr. Ian Malcolm’s words from Jurassic Park: “Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.” How accessible is this medium? Are we reading the Word on the xBox 360 or butchering It or just making It another fixture? Granted, youth rooms might already have their DDR tournaments, but this seems like nothing more than a glorified Powerpoint.
I’m not a gamer, but I live with three of them and love them dearly. Granted, my favorite game to play with my sons is the Wii version of Sorry. I’m used to it as an “analog” version that we play on the kitchen table, but I like the “digital” version with Mr. Potatohead because it’s neater and faster. We lose something in the digital version though. We lose the counting. We lose the tactical part of the decision-making. We lose the reading of the cards.
So what’s lost in an xBox version of the Bible? If you put on your Marshall McLuhan hat for a second, texts — any texts — don’t transfer to this medium. Books are cool and require a great deal of reader participation to come to life. McLuhan didn’t have video games (not even Pong!) when he wrote his theory, but I think that we could say that games are a hot medium and, thus, offer more stimulation on its own to come to life.
To see what I mean, switch it around. Could you put Wii Sports in a novel?
Why not?
As far as I can tell, no other book is on the xBox and probably for good reason! It’s counter-intuitive. So yeah, doing something because it seems cool and not because it does something well? I think that’s the definition of “dorky.”
Dr Lewis -
The thing with Bible Navigator X is that it actually was done really well! We’ve gotten a lot of compliments on how well its translated to a HDTV reading format. I don’t see how utilizing a medium for displaying content is “dorky” – we’ve just done something similar to what everyone else has already done by putting the Bible on the iPhone or the a PC.
I’d be curious to know what you consider to be “lost” by putting the Bible on the XBOX (or, more generically, an HDTV screen). What I’ve seen gained from it is an incredibly easy to read text, higher interaction with the Word of God in my small group, and a chance to have a conversation about the Bible in a community of people (Gamers) who don’t have a lot of religious content in their medium in general. I’ve literally had people tell me that using Bible Navigator X is the first time they’ve read the Bible in years. I don’t see how we have, in any way, butchered the Word.
Please understand that we didn’t do this to seem “cool” – that’s the least of my worries and I have little expectation that I’ll ever be deemend “cool.” Instead, it was an opportunity to make the Good News of Christ available in a new medium that – from my own personal life and lifestyle – we knew could make an impact in the lives of people worldwide.
And, to your point about crossing medium, novels on the Halo game series have been New York Times best sellers…
I wish you the best in your endeavor, Aaron. Don’t get me wrong!
This is more academic ponderings than anything else.
Oh, I realize that. I didn’t say Halo. Halo’s a story. We have a set of Zelda graphic novels on our shelves, so I’m aware of that media crossover. But I didn’t use a story as an example. I used Wii Sports.
Can we make Wii sports into a novel? The reason why is getting at what I’m talking about here.
If we were to make a story/quest game like Moses in the wilderness or David looking for Saul (although that sounds really lame), that’s one thing. This is different because you’re not using the platform as a platform. You’re not making the game out of the Bible. You’re making the Bible into a visual aid.
I can’t tell you what’s lost in using the XBox Bible this way because I haven’t experienced it (yet) myself. It is different than my use of the Bible on my iPhone (or my palm phone before that or my string of PDAs before that). Like every good conservative Evangelical girl, I have always carried my Bible with me. Really. And the iPhone version is no different than my pocket Bible except this — I can adapt to whatever version the speaker is using more quickly and I have search capabilities. When I’m surfing, BibleGateway lets me C&P what I need for a blog post.
Have I lost something in that use (and perhaps this should go in another of Will’s posts)? Probably. I would have to think harder to realize what exactly. But replacing a purse Bible with a phone Bible is just a matter of convenience. I have a camera on my phone too, and there’s tons lost with that over a regular camera.
Let’s get *at* this from a different direction. . . . You’re aware, I’m sure, that when God put the Text in the hands of the common person a la Gutenberg, He created an amazing revolution. Not just in the Church, but in society and politics and culture at large. Kenneth Cmiel talks about this revolution in literacy even. That because we could have the Bible in our own two hands and in our own tongue, regular people wanted to learn read!
I imagine, Aaron, that you and I are on the same wavelength in this. We both the sort of people that really like to see the Word **for ourselves** while It’s being read.
I had a friend who recently said to me, “Oh . . . no. I just close my eyes and listen. I just listen to It. I just want to listen to the Word.”
That intrigued me. And baffled me. What’s she getting by just listening that I’m missing by flipping to the next reference in my Thompson Chain?
Another way. I don’t know your eschatological leanings, but no matter. We can all agree that Scofield changed the way people-in-the-pew read the Bible. The dispensations started to seem real and even organic to the Text.
One more . . .
What is lost when we turn the Bible into a novel? Like Left Behind? Or into a comic book? I still see Bible stories in flannelgraph when I hear them read.
This really is — even as you describe — no different than Powerpoint with better resolution. So that it’s more convenient to use is a benefit, sure, but not a revolutionary one.
Really, there is a reason that no other books are put into this format. Even books that people could read together — company manuals or oral stories.