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Keywords:

religious studies, games and religion, game studies, panel

Abstract:

PANEL PROPOSAL Of all the manifold elements and dynamics of culture, religion stands out as a highly debated topic in our recent times. Although religion is widely considered to be only of private concern, it permeates many layers of media, politics and cultural discourse in general. Digital games are no exception to that connection. Many games, from niche games to AAA, feature elements from different religious sources. Among other things certain games display characters from mythology, make allusions about events from religious history, or play with a plethora of religious signs, symbols, and rituals. The scholarly fields of the History of Religion or Study of Religion traditionally try to map how religion is being engraved in cultural products, and to analyze and interpret the ways in which culture and society are shaped by religion (and vice versa). In recent years various scholars of media and religion alike, have found that the ever growing cultural landscape of digital games is a highly interesting topic for new research concerning the depictions, transformations and practices of religion by individuals and other actors. Academic interest in religion and digital games has been slowly developing over the past years. Different themes have been discussed, such as the depiction of Islam in games and opinions from Muslim game developers (Šisler 2008); the role of myth and mythologies in the world-building of MMOs (Krzywinska 2006; Aupers 2007); or the construction of postmortality in games (Ahn 2011). This initial surge was followed by diverse attempts to conceptualize religion and digital games from the point of view of the Study of Religion (Campbell et al. 2014). Discussions emerged on how to analyze religion in digital games and the connection between religious actors, gamers and games (Heidbrink et al. 2014). Some examples include religious identification in RPGs (Bezio 2014); the relation of dystopian settings and religion (Bosman 2014); the concept of ‘god’ in the genre of ‘god games’ (Wiemker et al. 2014); and so on. Such activity has culminated in various scholarly groups (e.g., the International Academy for the Study of Gaming and Religion) and journals (online – Heidelberg Journal of Religions on the Internet; gamevironments), indicating interest in this field is rising (Heidbrink et al. 2014; Zeiler 2015). This panel takes the discussion to DiGRA by gathering scholars from both sides of this intersection of fields, who have worked in this area of study and would like to start an exchange of views. We want to ask how they approach the research of religion in games and how they link their work to the specifics of the medium. The first question wants to explore similarities as well as differences of how to conceptualize the highly malleable term “religion” in games. The second question focuses on games as a medium of multimodal meaning-making that relies on interaction with its players. We propose a panel consisting of up to six scholars, two of which may still be selected, who will present short statements of ca. 1000 words on the aforementioned questions and who will then engage in a moderated group discussion. The current list of speakers consists of Frank Bosman, Souvik Mukherjee, Lars de Wildt and Jan Wysocki. Theologian and scholar of religion Frank Bosman has been working on utopias and Christian religion in the cases of various first-person shooters (2014), as well as the characters of Nephilim and Lilith regarding the explanation of evil in the world in three role-playing franchises. Souvik Mukherjee brings his expertise as a professor for English literature into the field. He worked on classic Indian boardgames that use the philosophical and religious concept of karma as well as on the meaning and usage of the Indian concept of avatar in digital games. Lars de Wildt is working on a qualitative study of the production and appropriation of religious representation, rituals and identities in mainstream digital games. Together with colleagues from Heidelberg University Jan Wysocki published articles on theories and methods for the analysis of religion in digital games. His upcoming doctoral thesis will dive into the construction and transformation of gods in digital games. Giving scholars of religion and games the opportunity to present their own approaches to the field and share their insights we hope to open up a vivid conversation and new research possibilities. DiGRA is the perfect platform for this endeavour by being a nexus for cultural scholars who also possess a thorough knowledge of the studied medium. This circumstance allows for a detailed discussion about traceable religious motifs in games and their possible meanings in the game context that connect to discourses of religion in the present. BIBLIOGRAPHY Ahn, Gregor (2011): Multimortalität – Multivitalität. Konstruktionen von Tod und Postmortalität in den Computerspielen The Void und Venetica. In Gregor Ahn, Nadja Miczek, Katja Rakow (Eds.): Diesseits, Jenseits und Dazwischen?. Bielefeld: Transcript, pp. 121–150. Aupers, Stef (2007). “Better than the real world”. On the Reality and Meaning of Online Computer Games. Fabula, 48(3-4), 250–269. Bezio, Kristin M. S. (2014): Maker’s Breath: Religion, Magic, and the ‘Godless’ World of BioWare’s Dragon Age II (2011). In online - Heidelberg Journal of Religions on the Internet (5). Bosman, Frank (2014): ‘The Lamb of Comstock’. Dystopia and Religion in Video Games. In online - Heidelberg Journal of Religions on the Internet (5). Campbell, Heidi A.; Grieve, Gregory Price (Eds.) (2014): Playing With Religion in Digital Games. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Heidbrink, Simone; Knoll, Tobias; Wysocki, Jan (2014): Theorizing Religion in Digital Games – Perspectives and Approaches. In online - Heidelberg Journal of Religions on the Internet (5). Krzywinska, Tanya (2006): Blood Scythes, Festivals, Quests, and Backstories. World Creation and Rhetorics of Myth in World of Warcraft. In Games and Culture 1 (4), pp. 383–396. Šisler, Vít (2008): Digital Arabs: Representation in Video Games. In European Journal of Cultural Studies 11 (2), pp. 203–220. Wiemker, Markus; Wysocki, Jan (2014): ‘When people pray, a god is born… This god is you!‘ – An Introduction to Religion and God in Digital Games. In online - Heidelberg Journal of Religions on the Internet (5). Zeiler, Xenia (2015): IASGAR: The new International Academy for the Study of Gaming and Religion. In gamevironments (2).