This focus group highlights the similarities between religions and games. We will explore similarities in the structures and communities of both religions and games. Both sanctify beliefs and narrative structures in their connections between its members. This course has an important implication for games studies since the modern home console has been around for 30 years. This is a myopic time frame to be studying. Fortunately for games, religious studies have been present in academia for hundreds of years. This class will facilitate understanding the current similar structure games and religions have and the influence religions have imposed on game narratives.
Topic examples:
-American censorship of religious symbols in early video games
-1994 and why Japanese games started censoring religions symbols
-Fervency and the power of agency
-Looking into specific game series to analyze their religious influences
-Similarities between “religious studies” and “games studies”