I spoke up about something - and it changed

I've got a really cool story to tell that I'm pretty pleased about.

It all started with a new online game called The Ship. It's a game based on Valve's Source engine. If you're familiar with online games at all, that means it's based on the same world as Half Life 2 and Counter-Strike: Source. If none of that makes any sense to you, don't worry. It's not important to the story.

The ship is based on the classic murder mystery scenario with the scene set on board a Victorian sailing ship. (Think of Agatha Christie's Death on the Nile and you're probably close.) Each player plays the part of a passenger whose mission is to secretly murder another passenger whose name they are given at the start of the round. The tricky part is that at the same time someone else is trying to kill them. You don't know who's trying to kill you, and you should try to be as sneaky as possible in pursuing the person you're after as well. It makes for some pretty intense gameplay.

As if that wasn't all tricky enough, you also need to avoid security and take care of your bodily needs. You need to eat, drink, sleep, socialise, wash and even go to the toilet. This means there are certain times you are vulnerable. Someone could potentially get you while you're asleep or "on the throne". The game has a very humourous, cartoonish feel and it's a lot of fun to play.

The game has an inventory system and you find lots of clothes, weapons, books and so on scattered around the ship. Each item is accompanied by a witty description. Amongst other well-known books, the game includes the bible as one of the items you can interact with. Its description was, "Epic fiction about an angry, omnipotent guy known simply as 'God'." I was a bit surprised and saddened to see that there.

The reaction I had to this was just one of disappointment, more than anything. Up to this point I was enjoying the game but now it had turned on me and I felt a bit insulted, as if it implied my beliefs were intrinsically wrong. I felt that God was being misrepresented as well and I wanted to express this to the company who made the game. I don't see God as an "angry omnipotent guy" at all.

The game is published by Outerlight, who I was pleased to discover are actually based in Edinburgh. I e-mailed them to express my sadness about this unnecessary, anti-Christian remark in the game. My initial couple of e-mails were handled by Ed Wilson, their Technical Director. He assured me that they were taking my concerns seriously and that the team would discuss it further.

A week or so later I heard from Ailsa Bates, the Operations Director at Outerlight. We communicated back and forth on the issue over the following month. Her opinion was that it was only intended as a joke and that everyone in the office had found it funny and didn't really see why I wouldn't be able to see the funny side. She suggested if I was able to come up with a better description they could change it. I sent a few suggestions that I considered quite witty along with one that my mate Greg came up with simply saying "A good book." (I also suggested making the bible a weapon so you could "bible bash" people, but Ailsa reckoned that'd be even more controversial.)

Today is a special day because I finally saw the fruit of my labours. As of the latest patch that I installed on The Ship today, the description of the bible has now changed! It has change from an epic fiction about an angry, omnipotent God to "A good book." It was so cool to see that! It's not about being proven right or anything like that. I'm just feeling more like, "Wow! I expressed my opinion on something and someone decided to change it, just because of what I said. I feel strangely valued!"

It's making me realise that I do actually have influence if I have honest, respectful communication with someone. I could have easily written off Outerlight as a nasty, anti-Christian company but through talking about it, I found where they were coming from.

It's nice to be heard.