Sunday, September 20, 2009

Religion in Video Games

A research colleague sent me a request sources for a literature review on religion in Video Games. While I have started to do a little research in this area myself I am at a loss to recommend specific resources. There just doesn't seem to be much published on the topic yet?!

So far I have come up with an older article on the Theology of PacMan and an article on Religious education and the challenge of computer games. Also there is book forthcoming entitled Halos & Avatars: Playing (Video) Games with God to be published by Westminster John Knox, 2010) which to my knowledge will be the first collection of articles on religion and video games (though I am open to correction if someone else knows of another on the subject). The book looks at variety of issues related to theological and psychological issues of gaming for religious culture. I have also contributed a chapter offering a narrative analysis of different genre's of islamogaming.

So if others out there know of articles, chapters or books on Religion and Video Games I would love to hear about it!

4 comments:

Stephen G said...

Last year at AAR there were a number of papers looking at things like World of Warcraft and religion. That might be somewhere to start...

LConnelly said...

I've just come across details of a conference in March 2010 and one of the areas it will be exploring is games and culture. further details on my blog http://connellyblog.blogspot.com/
There is also an article in the Washington post on religion and Second Life http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/15/AR2007061501902.html

or www.louiseconnelly.co.uk

Jeremy Shunk said...

Hello. I know this is a 3 year old post, but I'm wondering if there is still interest in the topic. Video games and religion are becoming a big deal in religious education studies, and I would say that in the next few years or so, there is going to be many good articles and books available. The first book by an author dedicated to the subject is due out in 2012. Have you had any luck finding any other resources in the past 3 years?

Soup Twin-1 said...

Yes, there is growning interest in this topic. A colleague and I are currently editing a book on Finding Religion in Gaming that looks such issues. I also recommend Rachel Wagner's recent book Godwired (Routledge 2011).