Back

Was AFK; now back.

ROFL! I c ur noob face. I’ll xlate…

Most of you reading this (unless my demographic statistics are way off), are going to need some help. Here’s what I said:

"I was Away From my Keyboard (not on the computer; doing other things); but I’m back now (from whatever drew me away).

Rolling On the Floor Laughing! (This is hilarious!) I see your ignorant (as in ‘one who does not yet know’) face. I will translate…"

“Back...” That’s online gaming shorthand for “I have returned from whatever drew me away.” And I’m back writing the blog… at least for now.

In any MMORG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) you are usually connected with many other people, all interacting, chatting, and working with (or against) one another… all within digital worlds of great complexity, danger, and stunning beauty (Like World of Warcraft, RuneScape, Eve, and other MMORPGs). I’ll get back to this theme in a bit.

Though I was AFK for a while, nobody seemed to take much notice. There were no comments on the blog wondering why I wasn’t posting, and while that’s pretty normal for the blogosphere, that nobody in our fellowship at Messiah mentioned anything was a bit surprising… and TBH (To Be Honest)… a little disappointing. To be sure… that the blog now posts on Facebook probably accounts for the almost total lack of comments within the blog. It’s easier to click ‘Like’ than it is to post a continuation of the topic on the blog.

And with over a billion people on Facebook… well, it just makes sense to repost a blog out to a social media stream. Not that I reach anywhere near 1 billion readers. Hahahaha… I’d be happy knowing I had any impact at all. It’s hard to see an impact with automated blog statistics hovering near zero all the time.

Now let’s run some numbers:

NationMaster website reports that the Lutheran population amounts to 104 million people throughout the world; this number includes not only Lutheran Church members, but also people who claim to be Lutheran. If only Lutheran Church members are considered, this number scales down to about 70 million (data provided by the Lutheran World Foundation). Europe is the continent which has the highest number of Lutherans: 66 million; in Germany alone there are about 40 million Lutherans.

Again, according to statistics provided by the NationMaster website, there are about 18 million Lutherans in the US. Even though there are no government surveys on religion, a number of studies suggest that there are 9 million Lutheran-church members in the US and 9 million Americans that claim to be Lutheran but are not members of the Lutheran Church.

Wikipedia states that: “As of December 31, 2009, the ELCA (that’s us) had 4,543,037 baptized members, with 2,527,941 of them counted as active participants in their congregations.”

Therefore, on a post that generates a lot of attention, say 13 hits (100% of this blog’s membership), I manage to reach 0.000005% of Lutherans in the US. LOL! Considered by ANY mathematical standard, that’s a whopping 0%. Woot!!!

Now, let’s get back to online gaming. There are currently upwards of 250 million people playing online games. Last year, online gaming was a $16 billion market…expected to top $30 billion in the next 4 years.

I have written about integrity, honesty, commitment, and faith on several gaming forums (think conversational threads). The language on threads is a whole lot more irreverent and raw than what you will find on our church blogs, but participation is off the chart! People are hurting and searching for meaning in their lives. They may not present themselves at our church’s doorstep, but they are out there! Perhaps you aren’t called to enter the unknown country of online gaming, but you could listen at work… at the coffee shop… at school… or just standing in a holiday checkout line. You don’t have to do much more than listen, and then offer a simple invitation for them to come experience the peace, the music, the prayer, the acceptance, and the love of our fellowship in Christ at Messiah (if you are not a member of Messiah, substitute the name of your church).

YBIC,

Dave