Can I Play Your Testimony?
It's an unusual question, at least at this moment—but that is changing. Each year an increasing number of personal narrative games are released. And what is a personal narrative other than a different way of saying a testimony?
Testimonies have become a trusted tool in evangelism and discipleship. A strong testimony connects us at the most human level, provides encouragement and hope, and, most importantly, creates space for praising and worshipping a God who is continuously good, merciful, and mighty. Why are testimonies so powerful? I believe a key to understanding the power of testimonies is the paradox of strength and weakness. In the book Strong and Weak, Andy Crouch writes, "Flourishing requires us to embrace both authority and vulnerability." To help explain this paradox, Andy provides this chart:
Considering this diagram in the context of testimony, we can see that the most impactful testimonies are both high on the authority and vulnerability axes. Everyone sharing their testimony should be maxed out on the authority axis—because it's their story. The vulnerability axis, however, is highly variable.
I hate to ask this question, but have you ever heard a weak testimony? An example may be this: "I grew up in church, and I've always pretty much been a Christian, and now I'm here." The reason this testimony lacks power is not that the person doesn’t have a story that involved gang life or living on the streets as a crackhead before coming to Christ. Instead, it is anemic and, dare say, boring because the person didn't allow themselves to be vulnerable. How much more powerful is the testimony of the person who says, "I've been a Christian as long as I can remember, but even though I grew up in church, I've struggled with self-hatred and comparing myself to others. God has had me on a healing journey, and I'm here today because of it." We all struggle in different ways, but not all of us make ourselves vulnerable enough to share our struggles. Nevertheless, to be fully human requires us to be vulnerable. Crouch writes, “We image bearers are bone and flesh—strength and weakness, authority and vulnerability, together.”
In the last thirteen years, I've worked on two games about cancer. Most people know of the first one, That Dragon Cancer, where Ryan and Amy Green allowed the world to step into their testimony. The second game, however, much fewer people know about. It was a game called Galaxies of Hope, and it focused on encouraging and supporting the neuroendocrine tumor (NET) community. The experience brought together firsthand stories (testimonies) from the perspectives of patients, caregivers, and physicians. With audio narration from interviews and environments designed to express the emotions of the narratives, it created a deep, authentic experience for those in the community. We brought all our knowledge and expertise to the project as a team. Nevertheless, the real strength of the game and the primary reason it connected with its audience—was the authority and vulnerability of the interviewees.
Someday I hope to release a testimonial game of my own. To be vulnerable with you, I must confess that my wife and I have struggled with our marriage. We hit our low in the fifth year of our marriage. We lay in bed looking at each other—wondering how we had come to a place where we weren't friends and didn't even like each other. We're now in our seventeenth year together, and God has helped our relationship tremendously. Still, there are days when friendship is hard.
I have begun work on the game, yet so far, all my efforts have failed to secure a publisher. These failures, thus far, have become another part of my testimony that I hope God uses at some point to encourage people. I'll share with you the concept trailer of the game; outside of a small group of people, I haven’t shared it. The goal of the video was to convey the emotional depth of the game and conceptually demonstrate the play experience of moving between symmetrical and asymmetrical play. Let me know what you think.
