Procedural religion: Methodological reflections on studying religion in video games. (January 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Šisler, Vít
• Other Names: Campbell Heidi guest-editor.; Lövheim Mia guest-editor.
• Is Part Of: New media & society. Volume 19:Number 1(2017)
• Page Start: 126
• Page End: 141
• Publication Date: 2017-01
• Subjects: Analysis -- methodology -- Petri Net -- procedural rhetoric -- religion -- rule-systems -- video games; Mass media -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; Mass media and culture -- Periodicals; Information technology -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; Internet -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; 302.2305
• DOI: 10.1177/1461444816649923
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1461-4448

Abstract

The article discusses the methodological aspects of studying religion in video games. It examines the concept of "procedural religion, " that is, the representations of religion via rule-systems in games, and investigates how we can formally analyze these representations. The article uses Petri Nets, a mathematical and a graphical tool for modeling, analyzing, and designing discrete event systems, in order to analyze how religion is represented in the rule-systems of two different mainstream video games— Age of Empires II, developed in the United States, and Quraish, developed in Syria. By comparing the rule-systems of both games, the article provides empirical evidence on how game rule-systems migrate between cultures and influence local game production by providing local game developers with pre-defined formulas for expressing their ideas while simultaneously limiting the scope of such expression with schematized patterns. On a more general level, the article discusses what rule-system analysis can tell us about video games as cultural and religious artifacts.