“Machine Gods: Religion in Games”
A July 16, 2013 article on the utilitarian nature of how gods and miracles are treated in video game narratives.
Category: Sports & games
“The curious religions of multiplayer video games”
A July 14, 2013 Q &A with Dr. William Bainbridge on the research he did for his book eGods, which studied the religions in online multiplayer video games.
“Better Representing Muslims: A Few Ideas”
A June 13, 2013 article from Escapist Magazine on the representation of Muslims in First-Person Shooter (FPS) games.
“‘Bioshock Infinite’ snap judgment: Taking to the skies, and taking on religion and race”
A Dec. 7, 2012 Entertainment Weekly preview article on Bioshock: Infinite which goes into detail regarding some of the religious and racial aspects of the game.
Jason Anthony
A writer and games designer. His games, including Shabbat-Put! and Sacrifice Play have been staged in the U.S. and U.K., and earlier this year he staged a fully-gamed church service at Union Theological Seminary. His largest project to date is a belief agnostic, fully-gamed new religion, Ten Year Game, which started in fall 2011.
William Bainbridge
William Bainbridge is a sociologist of religion, science and popular culture. He is co-director of Human-Centered Computing at the National Science Foundation and a senior fellow at the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies. He teaches sociology at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. In 2013, he published eGods: Faith Versus Fantasy in Computer Gaming, […]
Atari Games Corp. v. Nintendo of America Inc. (U.S. Court of Appeals, 1992)
Read the decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals in regards to Nintendo’s lawsuit of Atari over the technology they used to avoid Nintendo’s licensing process. The Court ruled in favor of Nintendo granting them a say in what games could play on their technology. This set a precedent for years to come, the video […]
“Not Beyond Belief – How Religion And Gaming Interact”
A May 10, 2010 Gamasutra article by Christian pop culture writer Richard Clark. He argues that video games can’t, and shouldn’t avoid dealing with the subject of religion. It is a response to Kotuku’s “Religion In Games: Less A Leap Of Faith, More A Suspension Of Belief” piece from 2010.
“Religion In Games: Less A Leap Of Faith, More A Suspension Of Belief”
An April 5, 2010 first-person piece that explores the religion in video games for Kotuku-Australia. The author argues that video games and religion will always be in tension because video games place a high value on entertainment.