Honoring Your Audience
What does it look like to honor someone? It may be a moment of silence or a flag at half-mast. If you're in the military, it could take the form of a salute, or in some cultures, a bow. A more significant act could be to organize a parade with a marching band and floats. Or, if you want it the honor to endure, you could cast a statue or carve their likeness into the side of a mountain. My personal favorite way to honor someone would be throwing a party with a big cake. I'm a massive fan of both parties and cake.
When I try to remember what the Bible says about honor, the first verse that comes to mind is Exodus 20:12, which says, "Honor your father and mother. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the LORD your God is giving you." This is an amazing verse because who doesn't want to live a long, full life? If I had to wager, I would guess that this is the best-known verse on honor. But, if you were to do a quick search, you would discover that the Bible is filled with verses about honor. When God repeats a theme, I try to take notice because it means it's important to Him, and He wants us to grab hold of it.
The idea of honoring your audience may sound a little strange in the games industry. A lot of time and energy goes into writing articles, giving talks, and creating online courses dedicated to extracting value from players. It can begin to feel like an "us vs. them" mentality where developers constantly look for some tactical advantage to leverage customers.
This juxtaposition is to be expected, though. Almost everything Jesus said about the kingdom of God sounded upside and backward compared to the world's wisdom. Take what He said about greatness, "If you want to be great, you must be a servant of all the others." It's hard to see how that strategy makes sense in this world. But it's precisely what Jesus did during his life on earth. I believe this is the same path we must follow if we want to be great game developers.
So, what does it look like practically to honor your audience? For me, it starts with acknowledging that we are all created in the image of God. I've often thought about getting the words Imago Dei tattooed on my hands to remind me to see people the way God sees them.
It can be tough to see people clearly because they can often look like challenges to overcome, puzzles to solve, or a means to an end. With so much of the industry's focus on improving metrics and making the financial numbers work, it's easy to start thinking of people as numbers on a spreadsheet rather than whole human beings. This is probably why some studios hire physiologists to help engineer compulsive game loops or explore mechanics that start to resemble gambling, such as loot boxes. Things can start to look a little fuzzy when there are a lot of zeroes on the line.
When I see players how God sees them, some of the other things Jesus said start to make more sense. Like when he taught that we should love our neighbors. When asked for clarification, Jesus went on to tell a story that explained a neighbor is anyone you come in contact with. As a game creator, I believe this principle goes beyond my personal interactions and extends further out to all the experiences I create. This means that part of honoring our audience includes loving them.
The cool thing that happens when you start loving people is that God shows you even more ways to love them. It's this reflexive couple between loving and seeing. One of the things that God showed me is that Jesus said that he not only came to give life but that we might have it more abundantly. An abundant life is a fully formed, overflowing life. It includes all aspects, which means I can't simply pick and choose specific areas of a player's life to respect. I need to honor all areas of their life— including their time, attention, intelligence, and resources. It also means that the games I create should add to the abundance in their lives rather than distract or subtract from their lives. In some small way, the game should be a blessing to them.
As game creators, we have an incredible opportunity to touch millions of lives through our work. How we choose to see and treat those lives is of eternal importance. Someday, the world will stand in front of the Lord, and He will remind us that "when you did it to the least of these, you were doing it to me."
