Simulating religious faith

dc.contributor.authorOldenburg, Aaron
dc.date.accessioned2017-04-28T12:45:14Z
dc.date.available2017-04-28T12:45:14Z
dc.date.issued2011
dc.description.abstractThis article surveys various differing approaches to religious simulation in gaming and interactive art, and reports on the design of a specific faith-based game from the designer’s perspective. It looks in-depth at one of a series of short experimental videogames that explore the use of game mechanics to simulate various aspects of religious faith. A number of serious and casual games have been produced over the years by companies catering to religious audiences. These often merely add religious themes to mechanics appropriated from popular games. An example of this would be Cougar Interactive’s Zoo Race (2008), which thinly drapes the narrative of Noah’s Ark over a racing game. Although there are a small number of independent games that have begun to approach religious and spiritual ritual, such as Ian Bogost’s Guru Meditation (2009), most religious games do not attempt to simulate the internal cognitive processes of faith. This article argues that there are opportunities that these games are missing in creating original gameplay that adds to a deeper understanding of their subject matter. The author demonstrates the idea that games, which through their rules have shown that they can provoke emotion and reflection in the player, can also simulate certain processes of faith.en_US
dc.format.extent15 pagesen_US
dc.genrejournal articlesen_US
dc.identifierdoi:10.13016/M2626G
dc.identifier.citationOldenburg, A. (2011), 'Simulating religious faith', Journal of Gaming and Virtual Worlds 3: 1, pp. 51-66, doe: 10.1386/jgvw.3.1.51_7en_US
dc.identifier.uri10.1386/jgvw.3.1.51_7
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11603/3889
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherIntellect Limiteden_US
dc.relation.isAvailableAtUniversity of Baltimore
dc.subjectvideogamesen_US
dc.subjectreligionen_US
dc.subjectindependenten_US
dc.subjectart gamesen_US
dc.subjectProceduralisten_US
dc.subjectexperimentalen_US
dc.titleSimulating religious faithen_US
dc.typeTexten_US

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