Meeting gamers where they are

We talk alot in the church about understanding our surrounding culture and subculture.  But do we really?  Are we willing to invest time and resources to meet and dialog with the the skeptics where they are (virtual places like YouTube, Facebook, blogs, and real places like theaters, college campuses, bars) and be willing to respond with cleverness and creativity with the ageless truths of the Gospel?

Despite the fact that YouTube has grown over the last couple years and is a little large to be called a subculture, the majority of churches or corporations out there wouldn’t know what to do or where to begin if they saw something with the potential to turn into negative publicity surface on YouTube.  But some do.

Let’s look at Electronic Arts — earlier this year, a hard-core gamer took some video screen captures of a glitch in the Tiger Woods golf title from EA showing how the ball could be played by walking over a water hazard and swinging as if the pond were dry land.

The savvy folks at EA noticed the video, then produced and posted the following as a clever video response, turning a big time tech disaster into a positive response and accolades from the gaming community.