“The First Descendant” from Nexon Games has achieved a modest amount of notoriety in the few short weeks since its’ launch for multiple reasons… such as liberally borrowing most of its’ ideas and gameplay choices from better games as well as demonstrating some of the worst trends in excessive monetization (which even the best games have done) to using identical icons in their title that were previously used in another well-known loot shooter series, Destiny (okay, nobody usually does that). But now it is the ACTUAL PLAYERS OF THE GAME who are getting in on the controversies as well… by exploiting a part of the game that allows them to reap all of the benefits of completing missions without actually participating in them. It is called “AFK farming”… the practice of joining in other player’s missions and then going “away from keyboard”, setting up your controller to simply run in circles or perform a similarly repetitive behavior that bypasses the game’s detection system that would typically boot a non-contributing player out of the party. The result? The players who are actually participating in the mission do all of the work, and the “AFK farmer” gets the incredibly valuable EXP points that accompany the victory without lifting a finger to help. And in a game that is a cooperative experience at its’ core, this predicament creates the possibility of the worst possible outcome… a game full of players where nobody is actually PLAYING.

It has clearly gotten so bad that the developers themselves had to publicly address the issue, asking the players to do the right thing and be fully engaged in the experience if they are choosing to log in and play. And despite boasting over 10 million current players, one has to wonder how many of them are truly “playing the game” and how many are simply along for the ride. In a healthy gaming community, players seek to grow the base of the game that they love by inviting others to play with them, supporting the growth of newer players by joining them in missions that they’ve already played multiple times to help them “level up”, and behaving as active advocates for the game in general. But when the acts of the few are overwhelmingly outnumbered by the laziness and apathy of the many who are abusing the system for selfish gain, even a great game will become unfairly characterized in a negative manner and gain a problematic reputation that deters interested gamers from checking it out. And if you are already starting to figure out the parallels of where I am taking this, you are on the right track…because there is another massively multiplayer experience that requires the full participation of its’ entire community to achieve its’ mission, but oftentimes it is treated more as a spectator sport than the fully involved experience that it is designed to be. Yep, I think you know where this is going…

In the body of Christ, we all serve a purpose… and the operative word in that sentence is “serve”. Every follower of Christ has received the same commission found in Matthew 28, which is to go and make disciples throughout the entire world. But far too often, the final command given by Christ on this planet is relegated to pastors, teachers, and other individuals who possess official “ministerial titles” while we do our part by simply showing up to our local church body and considering that to be our “reasonable service”. While growing in our own faith is important, there is a prevalent “away from keyboard” mentality that can overtake even the most committed believer as we unintentionally shift the responsibilities of this cooperative commission to those we consider “more qualified” or in a better position to perform them.

Matthew 28:18-20 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

Acts 1:8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be ^[witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Perhaps we feel “too busy”, “too new”, or simply “too intimidated” to perform the actions of an experienced player, but this community of the body of Christ doesn’t grow by our observation, but by our participation. Similar to the community of gamers in “The First Descendant”, the challenges of sustaining our continual participation are real, complete with unique problems and distractions that we each face that are designed to pull us “away from the keyboard” and become passive riders as we hope that someone else will do all the heavy lifting as we just try to survive the challenges of the day. But discipleship is not a passive experience, and when we made the choice to follow in the Lord’s footsteps we didn’t sign up for a passenger ride…. we enlisted in a cooperative run.

1 Corinthians 9:24-27 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.

Nothing degrades the player base of a game like the global realization that it is full of bots and non-participants… and even a less-than-perfect game can survive for decades if the players of the game choose to create and actively participate in a thriving community that continues to welcome and grow new players. If we call ourselves followers of Christ, we are both disciples AND disciple-makers… and we aren’t instructed to wait until we achieve a degree or gain a specific title in our local church body to act on that status. It is our ACTIVE daily mission on this planet, and ALL of the obstacles and predicaments we find ourselves in are the very opportunities that the Lord presents to us so we can act on that commission. Paul and Silas received an opportunity while sitting in an undeserved prison cell (Acts 16), Philip found his while simply walking down the road (Acts 8), and Paul had one all by himself while he was waiting for his friends during an unexpected Athenian layover (Acts 17:16-34).

Our moments of participation won’t typically arrive in the form of an email that says “Your ministry opportunity awaits!”… it will typically come in the form of a message from a friend who simply asks “can you talk?”. And it is in these perishable moments of opportunity that our ability to act as ambassadors of Christ are revealed… not through our wealth of training and experience, but in our proximity to another fellow players’ deepest need and our willingness to be used by the Lord in that moment to help them. Let’s turn our “Away From Keyboard” message off, stop expecting others to do the in-person ministry work that we were specifically chosen to perform, and be prepared for the discipleship moments that will present themselves to us today… maybe in some places we wouldn’t have planned or preferred to be in. But selfishly reaping the fruit of a fellow player’s labor through passive observance is the antithesis of what a follower of Christ aspires to… we are “disciples” as a noun who “disciple” as a VERB… it is an action, not just a title. Let’s personally contribute our time and energy to these missions we have been called to, and do more than simply absorb the blessings generated by the hard work of others… let’s bear His fruit in our respective assignments today.

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