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David Gaider wrote...
Xilizhra wrote...
Obviously this something many people are pessimistic about, because of Gaider's earlier (bizarre) insistence about no atheists existing on Thedas. However, we did get him to concede that they'd consider the option of expressing doubt, which is a decent step closer to allowing it to be roleplayed, and I see no reason why we should let supporting the option die out.
I'll say this much: when the original thread was up, I asked the rest of the team what they remembered of the original game, and we all agreed that "atheism" was not something we'd ever supported as a viewpoint for the PC. And by supported, I mean something that-- whenever the topic arose-- we would make sure we included it as an option. Anything we consider "supported" is something we would make sure to maintain consistently throughout the game... that's a design term we take seriously.
Yes, there was indeed the occasional dialogue option to express it-- something you guys obviously remember better than we do (writing something over six years will definitely do that, let me tell you). I don't know if we would consider that "supported" as I defined above, but you're correct that it definitely pops up. Probably because, at the time, such an option seemed appropriate, and I wouldn't have a problem with that even now.
The part where I get stuck, and am clearly quite poor at expressing the exact point where my support for this idea breaks down, is where "atheism" stops being "I doubt that the Maker actually exists" to being some kind of political view... as atheism often is in the modern world. More secularization than atheism, really. There's a strong streak of anti-religious organization present here on the forums, and when the topic is broached it seemed to be done in the sense of "I should be allowed to go on a crusade against all religion", which is really the thing that I believe is out of place in our setting. Being able to occasionally express doubt, sure... but in order to make such a view supported we would need to provide a full path for such a stance.
The forums being what they are, they will automatically interpret that as in only the extreme opposite must then be the truth-- I'll never be able to express ANYTHING anti-religious and therefore must myself BE RELIGIOUS OMG!... which of course is simply not so, but I guess if you intend to freak out about it go ahead and get it out of your system.
And that's as far as I'll go on that topic. Thanks.
For what its worth, I got more than a little testy with you in the original thread because I read your comments as, "there was no expression of doubt in the maker in Dragon Age ever, you imagined it all, you crazies" but I pretty much agree 100% with your comments here.
The option to express doubt, where appropriate, is all that I think is needed. It helps the player role play a character that might be a little unsure about chantry teachings on the maker if the the fancy takes them. When that doubt turns into a sort of active desire to bring down the chantry and create a secular Thedas, that would be something that would make more sense in a post enlightenment Thedas, if at all.
Basically, for me, the more options we have to role play different kinds of PC's the better. That can't be at the expense of the story the writers want to tell. Its quite clear that a sort of swords and sorcery Richard Dawkins doesn't really fit into the universe the writers want to make, and I think most of us get that.
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