Not The Babylon Bee:
ROME – Recently Inés San Martín of Crux brought to my attention a notice in PC Gamer about a Polish software developer who’s announced a new computer game called “Pope Simulator.” Apparently it opens with a conclave in which the player is elected pope, and then presents various scenarios that require decisions.
“Our idea assumes the possibility to use, among others, the pope’s so-called ‘soft power,’ and consequently influence the fate of the world and interfere in international politics,” Ultimate Games CEO Mateusz Zawadzki said announcing the game.
A spokesman for Ultimate Games told me they’ve spent about $72,000 developing the game and that they haven’t set a price yet for it, which is projected to launch in 2021 for PCs and later on consoles such as Xbox and PlayStation, but probably the price tag will be in the range of $9 to $19.
I got a laugh, because my experience over more than 20 years is that a free version of “Pope Simulator” – admittedly without a slick graphics interface – is already the favorite indoor sport of the Catholic Church, and has been ever since I can remember.
Almost every Catholic, it seems, has an opinion about what the pope should do or not do. Especially in the social media age, folks also have ready platforms for expressing those opinions. In addition to reporting on the actual pope, a lot of our time on the Vatican beat is spent covering potential “Pope Simulator” adepts with a following and a cause.
Go here to read the rest. Go here to look at the Pope Simulator on Steam. If it is possible to play popes of other epochs, it would be Pope Julius II for PopeWatch!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdfkD6DErjQ
It is rumored that the next pope will be elected by mail in ballots….
Sounds like an interesting game. I might want a copy, if only so that, when I read infuriating things like this, “German bishops’ head calls for changing Church teaching on homosexuality,” I can at least pretend to drop the hammer.
I incline to agree with Don that it would make a better historical game. Call it Papal States. Your objective is to successfully manage international diplomacy and maintain the territorial integrity of the Patrimony of St. Peter as a physical sign of your secular power, while also managing your breakaway clergy in the other European powers. Historical scenarios would include the Reformation/Ottoman invasion of Europe, French Revolution/Napoleonic Era, and the Italian Rissorgimento.
Definitely wish I could drop the hammer on the German Bishops.
Excommunicate the lot of ’em and place the entire country under edict.