As part of The Conversation’s Uncommon Courses series, Associate Teaching Professor of Religious Studies Michael Naparstek discusses his course Religion and Gameworlds.
What prompted the idea for the course? Most of my research is in Chinese religions, and I find it fascinating that popular video games — like many popular films before them — draw from the mythologies, cosmologies, unseen powers and heroic narratives found across the world’s religious traditions.
Recent examples such as “Black Myth: Wukong” and “Raji: An Ancient Epic” draw explicitly from mythologies and religious narratives of China and India, respectively, putting the player in direct contest against pantheons of gods. Meanwhile, games such as “Sid Meier’s CIV VI,” where players develop an historical civilization from the Stone Age to Space Age in a quest for global domination, explicitly utilize religion as ways to develop and conquer the world.
At the same time, the interactive experience of a video game makes it an especially interesting place to study religion.
Read the full article at The Conversation.
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