. . . why doesn't anyone ever leave flowers or fish or other food at its feet?

Good question George!

Maybe because the villagers keep the food to themselves.

Exactly. What would be the good of laying good food on a gray rock for it to rot?

Yeah. *lol*

But the flowers would look nice though.

You might find this topic interesting, especially Arthur's post.

Thank you, ma'am. But despite the reservations Designer Arthur mentions, y'all DID call it an idol . . .

And to talieann, my fellow Newbie:

There are usually provisions for the priests and their families to eventually consume the offerings, after the god has had the good of them. Those in the Judaeo-Christian Bible are even explicit and aboveboard. Or they could go to the poor.

Of course, since Isola is egalitarian and communistic, there are neither priests nor poor.

I just watched one of my guys carrying a bouquet while labeled "Honoring the idol"! Said bouquet vanished as soon as he laid it down at the idol's feet--carried up like incense to the heavens?--which explains why there's no pile of offerings as evidence.

Maybe the Idol eats them?

(just kidding. )

I dont like the idol,so i used A Blast From The Future mod.

In fact, as I stated in a different thread (and should have copied here, if I'd remembered) I have a couple of time caught villagers laying things at the idol's feet. The moment they let go of the thing--flower, food, whatever--it vanishes.

That's a great idea emri!

And George, about the flowers, I don't know, maybe if all the flowers stayed there all the time they would start to pile up, I don't know. Maybe an idea would be if they stayed there only for a little while.

It's not that I think the offerings should stay there forever, since in real life (say, in cemeteries) such things get cleared away eventually, hopefully before they rot. But instant evaporation? I mean really!

I suspect this is a compromise between those on LDoW staff who like the idol and any there--and the many among the players--who are made uncomfortable by explicit paganism.

Me, as a convinced Catholic, I figure God can and does save hordes of good people by all sorts of dubious paths, so I'm NOT bothered! But evangelicals and those with Mel-Gibson mindsets can make cogent objections.

It may be, I don't know.

But I think the the most possible explanation for that would be more visual and programming than anything else. I mean, the IDEA of the cult is there (they take flowers to the idol) but if the flowers remained there, the visual would not be so nice after some time; and to make the flowers disappear after some time would take some programming effort that was not deemed necessary by them.

I think maybe, your concentrating on a small part of the game, and overlooking the intended objective. The idea was to put in puzzles for the "Villagers" to complete, to enhance the game play.

The "Temple" resembles Stonehenge, while the Idol resembles the Moi on Easter Island. These are historic artifacts which today are a merely curiosities and carry none of the deeply spiritual meaning they did to the "peoples" who erected them in ancient times.

So why can't I be briefly concentrating on a small part of the game without ignoring the intention, man?

Anyway, given that our villagers are here presented AS the people who have erected the artifact . . .

I don't see why our villagers can't have their own ideals as everyone does in real life. It wouldn't be too realistic if they didn't have their general sense of spirituality.

Many people view the villagers of VV1 as having a Chinese religion based on the idol, temple and their spirituality. The golden child as well seems to be like a Buddhist monk. Remember that this is just another opinion that was not announced by LDW.

There is a lot of room for every person to get comfortable with their villagers, although some people seem to pick out what they view as negative factors to their spirituality.

I didn't say you couldn't. My point is, that the puzzles were put in the game to present a challenge to the player, and enhance overall game play. They weren't really intended to be scrutinized on the level you have taken it to.
And my point, was that the Villagers aren't presented as the erectors of these artifacts, but rather as the restorers of them.

Would you say that the teams of archeologists who uncovered Stonehenge, and started it's reconstruction, imbue the same significance on it that the original clans who erected it did?

I seriously doubt that's the case. Indeed, we can only speculate on the original purpose of it. My point is that the Villagers don't "construct" these things, but rather reconstruct them. They may "honor" the idol, "relax" in the garden etc but they do so in a state of marvel more than one of religion.

That's a great point Rock! I forgot to consider that they ended up on the island and are trying to explore the mysteries of Isola and get to know their new home.

LDW really did leave a lot of room for comfort to shy away from religion. It does give you ideas about the original villagers that lived there, but our current villagers are foreign to the area.

I agree with Lyssaria that you've made an excellent point, O Mower of Rocks, and it's one I hadn't brought to consciousness.

However, if they're making offerings, it indicates that there's continuity of or sympathy with the original culture. And when we learn the back story of the city builders, we find that this is significantly the case.

As for your analogy, at least some of my Wiccan friends would declare that they do imbue Stonehenge with equal significance, if not precisely the same, as those who erected it.

And since I'm Catholic, if I were on a dig that uncovered a 1st-century church I would declare that I imbued it with EXACTLY the same significance as its first users.

But Lyssaria is right, too, about LDW leaving room for different players to, if not make different interpretations, at least pay more or less attention to the non-Christian religion of our villagers.

I think the game is more focused on survival as opposed to the villagers' personal spirituality. People adapt with their environment and situations and through their more spiritual actions they're adapting to their new home. One of the key survival tactics is to explore the area and learn as much as you can so you can to do this adaptation.

I live in a Christian community although I am not Christian but sometimes I find myself having to partake in the activities anyway in respect of my friends and community. This is different for everyone of course, just a little example

We, as the guiding hands of our villagers, are helping them survive and satisfy their curiosity of their new home. They are given the tools of the villagers of the past to survive and our villagers choose to honor their hard work and livelihood. Perhaps this island needs that level of spirituality for the villagers to survive, although the puzzles hint that it's just a part of discovering the island's history.

I respect everyone's belief systems and traditions and even partake in them without being part of that religion myself, this is what I see in our little villagers. The island was once someone else's home and I would restore it and respect the area as I would my own home. This is where the clever use of the word "honor" appears instead of "worship".

I would find it disrespectful if our villagers removed the ruins and built different things to make it more religion-specific. Just imagine if that rock was carved into a specific religious figure I would've had an issue with the game if that happened!

Well, I must add that I was only talking on the idea of the programming of the game - most on the looks than on the religious meaning of that.

Like Rock said, you'll have lots of "religious", or rather historical, inferences on the game - I got that as more of a recollection of rituals than anything else.

I see them as a new civilization establishing their own religious rites, and we might not forget that it's only a game.

So I think that calling that one religion or other is irrelevant - they have their own religion and that's all.

I was actually amazed by the proportion this topic got as we were only discussing if the flowers were supposed to stay there a while or not.

OH, and I must agree with Lyss - if the idol really had some specific religious meaning I'd have issues with the game to - and so would lots of people, I think.

The post that got this discussion rolling was:



I did mention that the villagers are free to have their own ideals as all of us have in real life! The key point is that the game was not designed with any religious specifics so the discussion probably did go too far >_<

As for the idol, I personally think it would be nice for the flowers to last a little longer than they do currently. I'm not sure if the programming would be too complicated to add in a little timer as opposed to instant evaporation It would be nice to open the game to see the flowers as a little surprise.

Ok, this thread has grown beyond the bounds of being helpful, or answering a question. It is rapidly deteriorating into a philosophical discussion.

Sorry, but I'm going to exercise my moderators rights and lock it. Feel free to appeal to the administrators (LadyCFII or Xay) if you feel I am out of bounds. They do have the power to over ride my decision.